Winter Wonderland
Winter has come. Or rather, it will be here in a few days. Yet the days have been strangely warm. Fall is lingering, the trees are holding on to their leaves. But Christmas is just around the corner - decorations are hung, shining through the red and brown of the foliage.
We had snow, but back in October, wet slushy snow that took everyone by surprise.
Things in our house are different too - Ben hasn't slept through the night in ages. I can't remember when it started, but he wakes up, in the deepest darkest hours, screaming for someone to come, to comfort him, to hold him on the old battered couch in their room. In order to preserve Claire's sleep, we let it happen. Until it started happening earlier and earlier and for longer and longer. Dave spent whole nights, his long legs curled up, cradling the boy.
Now we're working on some other methods of soothing his fears - rubbing his back, telling him that he's our Big Strong Boy. And while the screaming has lessened, and we no longer have to rock him, he's still waking up and needing attention. It's straining. We are short with each other, with the kids. We're not well rested, and we're not performing our best. I'm tired of people asking me how I am, and telling them that things are bad, that we're all tired.
Tell me it ends, oh wise mamas of the interwebs, please?
We had snow, but back in October, wet slushy snow that took everyone by surprise.
Things in our house are different too - Ben hasn't slept through the night in ages. I can't remember when it started, but he wakes up, in the deepest darkest hours, screaming for someone to come, to comfort him, to hold him on the old battered couch in their room. In order to preserve Claire's sleep, we let it happen. Until it started happening earlier and earlier and for longer and longer. Dave spent whole nights, his long legs curled up, cradling the boy.
Now we're working on some other methods of soothing his fears - rubbing his back, telling him that he's our Big Strong Boy. And while the screaming has lessened, and we no longer have to rock him, he's still waking up and needing attention. It's straining. We are short with each other, with the kids. We're not well rested, and we're not performing our best. I'm tired of people asking me how I am, and telling them that things are bad, that we're all tired.
Tell me it ends, oh wise mamas of the interwebs, please?
Comments
One of my friends had a son with night terrors. I'm not sure how they handled it, but I remember how hard it was on the parents.
Elanor has some of those times during the night. Though Paul is good about not getting her out of the crib. He will soothe her back to sleep. Trick is, we will have Will in our room. *sigh*
We also have the flip issue. We are way too willing to soothe Will to make sure he doesn't wake Elanor. So Paul has started putting him in the bed with us. Which means we are getting less sleep. Or at least I am not sleeping as well for fear of rolling over on the little guy!
I said to Paul that I really think we need to use the time I have off between Christmas & New Years to start having Will cry it out. I am sooo not looking forward to it. But it beats sleep dep!
I hope someone has some sage advice for you! It is hard to know what to do. I hope you all get some rest soon!