Time to put my foot down!

Does it seem like I write about sleep {or a lack thereof} a lot?  Hmm.  Weird.

Well---*NEWSFLASH*---my little kids(#'s 2 and 3) DON'T SLEEP!

Lately, it's been worse than ever:

Tyson will be a year old in just two days {*tear*}. So, naturally, we should be weaning him off of his bottle.  During the day, he does great.  Usually, he has just one, maybe two bottles.  At night, is a different story.  He has a bottle at bed time.  Then, he wakes up at least once, lately, twice, and has a bottle.  

I really need to buckle down, and get this job done. He needs to understand that he will not starve if he doesn't have a bottle at 2:00 a.m.  

So, I've been taking baby steps.  I have been shutting my bedroom door at night.  This way, I don't hear him cry until he's really crying.  Otherwise, I wake up at the first whimper, and I have to listen to him scream until A. I go get him up, or B. he goes back to sleep {insert sarcastic laugh here}

The next step is, to send my kids somewhere (one of their grandparents' houses) and take two nights to let him "cry it out". Yes, I have done this once already.  But then he got sick, and I caved.  So, the rest of this week will be spent working on this sleeping at night/no bottle thing.  By next week, if the problem isn't solved, I'll have to use more drastic measures--like sending my bigger kids to Grammies house.

The time has come

Tyson has never been a sleeper.  I think I've written about 532 posts about it.  Then, in January, I finally took a couple nights to let him "cry it out", and it worked.  He was sleeping better.  Then, he got sick, and got teeth.  He's been sick in some form for a while now.  When he was sick or teething, and he'd wake up at night I would get up with him, because let's face it: when you're not feeling good, you just want your mommy.  So I'd get up with him, feed him, snuggle him, even sometimes ::gasp:: bring him in our bed.  

Now, he's on the mend.  Not really sick.  BUT, he's not sleeping.  He's back in the habit of waking up at least once every night.  So, soon, very soon, I will be doing it again.  I will have to take a couple nights, send my husband and my bigger kids somewhere else, and I'll have to let him cry.  It's painful at the time, but soooooooooooooooo  worth it in the end.  Maybe I'll let Mike do it this time????

Knockin' on Wood!

I am knockin' on wood people---Tyson, that handsome little devil I spoke about here, did not, I repeat, DID NOT get up to have a bottle even once last night!  I really hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but I am a little bit excited ecstatic about this ya'll!  I do remember hearing him cry around 2:45, and thinking, that if he cries for more than the 30 minute limit I have had in my head for the past 4 nights, then I'd go get him.  Well, he must have gone back to sleep, because the next thing I heard (besides my wonderful husband sawing logs) was my alarm clock--that means almost 6 straight hours of sleep for this mama!  This may seem minor to you, but I honestly, could not tell you, the last time I slept for more than 3 hours in a row.  It was heavenly! Hopefully we are on the road to something new---cross your fingers folks!!!!

Something's brewing....

Tyson woke up at his usual, 1:00ish.  I tried to let him cry for a while, but since he wasn't giving up, and I was tired, I went to get him up.  ::usually, a 15 minute process at most.  change his diaper.  feed him.  hold him until he's for sure sleeping.  put him back in his bed::  Not this time.  Soon after I got Tyson out of his bed, I heard Tyler whining in a sad, scratchy voice.  I went to tell Mike that if he didn't quit whining in a few minutes, he'd have to go get him up.  (We would usually just put him in our bed or rock him, and within minutes he'd be sleeping again.)  Next thing I know, I hear Kayden and Tyler's bedroom door creeeeeeeeeak open.  This tells me Kayden is now awake too.  ::or Tyler activated his go-go gadget arms to open the door from his crib::  

So, I head to our bedroom to tell my snoring husband that he needs to get up NOW, because we now have all three boys awake.  So, he rolls out of bed.  Makes what seems like a 5 minute pit-stop at the bathroom, and finally makes his way into the boys' bedroom.  I hear him talking to Kayden, and finally they come out.  Kayden heads to his pillow on the living room floor, while Mike rocks Tyler, and I feed Tyson.  

15 minutes later, Tyson is sleeping, so I put him in his bed, go back to carry Kayden to his bed, and then I head back to bed myself. Within minutes, Mike and Tyler join me.  Tyler lays with us for a few minutes before he is squirming, and whining.  "Wah-er".  He wants water.  So, to the kitchen I go.  He has his water.  Still awake.  So, him and I go to the living room to rock.  I attempt to put him in his bed twice, and he wakes up both times.  Finally, at 3:02 a.m, he's sleeping and I'm able to put him in his bed.  Remember what time I got up with child #1?  1:00ish.  It's now 3:00ish.  Ugh.  

Now, the reason I worry about what might be brewing:  We were with Sydney and Karsyn this weekend (Mike's nieces).  They both had miserable colds and coughs.  Karsyn went to Urgent Care to find out she has an ear infection and the start of pneumonia.  It's coming.  Tyler sounded terrible when he woke up last night.  His throat sounded like it hurt.  Bad.  He seemed fine this morning, and I texted Sharon at lunch, and she said he seemed fine.  I just wonder what's going on, because he NEVER wakes up at night.  We'll see. 

Alle-fricken-lujah!!!

I think the ears were the problem! I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but the past two nights, Tyson has woken up just once!!!! It's amazing! I hope this is the start of something good! Pray for us =)

Sleep Deprived

Why doesn't Tyson sleep at night?  Why did God spoil me with Kayden?  Kayden slept through the night at 4 weeks old!  Tyler and Tyson---not so much!  At about 11 weeks old, Tyson was sleeping well.  9:00 until 6 or even 6:30.  Now, he's up between 12 and 1, then again at 3, and 6.....ugh!  I will take any help I can get.  Advice?  Encouragement?  Drugs?????

P.S.---yes, I get up with him every night.  Me.  Not his Dad.  Don't even ask....