Sleepless in NoVA

Since November I have had a few nights where I have had uninterrupted sleep. I mean, maybe 4 nights total. "How can this be?" you might ask. "But I thought your kids were such good sleepers!" Well, yes, they were, LOL, all of them. Something happened in November, and, well, that was that. We started on a rash of unrelated night-time awakenings for all little people in the family--accidents, poopy diapers, bad dreams, upset tummies, teething, dropped pacifiers . . . the list goes on.

Grce has by far been the worst offender. She got sick with a cold or something after we came back from Ohio after Thanksgiving, and she had a hard time sleeping while being all snuffly. Then she spent the month of December teething (and sleeping restlessly). Finally those teeth broke through right before and after Christmas, and she settled down for a few nights here and there (bad habits die hard and all, LOL). Then she got sick after being in the nursery while I taught at the co-op. After the first week, she got some tummy virus, complete with vomiting. Even after she was better, she still kept on vomiting once a night at some random time for a few more days, neccesitating not just comfort but also sheet changes in the middle of the night! She was better when I taught the second time, but she was obviously still weakened because she picked up what I am sure was roseola. She began running an extremely high fever that I had a hard time getting down for several days. She slept VERY poorly during this time, even during the day. Now she's got the classic trunk rash. She is still waking up a few times during the night.

The other boys have had their issues as well, particularly Jonathan. In December he started a phase where he would wake up in the middle of the night to go potty, but he felt compelled to make us aware of what he was doing. So he would come stand by the bed to tell us he was going potty until he knew we were awake and had heard him. Then he would go (in our bathroom), and he wanted one of us to go back with him and help him pull up the covers. Yeah. We stopped the tucking back in pretty quickly, but it was a harder task to convince him we didn't want to know about his night-time pottying! One night a week ago or so he came into our bathroom (why?!) and I woke up enough to realize he was sort of stumbling around aimlessly in there. I started saying, "Turn on the light! Turn on the light!" because somewhere in the recesses of my sleep-deprived brain, I realized that he must not be able to find the potty. And sure enough, a few minutes later, we heard the unmistakable sound of pee-pee hitting the back of our bathroom door. Argggh!!

At least he is once again waking up to go, however. He has had very few night-time accidents in his life-time, up until December that is. Then both he and Caleb began having accidents (but never both in the same night, LOL). Eventually I put them both back into pull-ups for a week or so because I was so tired of all the sheet-changing and night-time disruptions from them! This past week has been accident-free, however (except for the unfortunate bathroom door incident), so I am hopeful we have turned a corner here.

Add in a few random disturbances from Anna, Nathan, and Luke, and you can see that the end result is not much sleep. I have never had a period of time where there were so many disruptions from so many different people at night! It really has made me get run-down. For November and December, my mouth was just under attack by canker sores. I never had less than one, and I usually had more than one. When one would start to go away, another one would start. It was crazy. We finally had a good week of maybe 3 nights of good sleep after we got back from Bob's family, and that seemed to break the cycle in my mouth. But I know that I am just much more on edge than I normally am, and I think that is a result of not getting enough good sleep.

At our church care group, which meets the third Sunday of each month, we have been studying a small book called, "How Can I Change?" by C. J Mahaney and Robin Boisvert. The theme is sanctification, and how we can "close the gap between who we should be in Christ, and who we are in actual practice". Back in November, we all said an area where we really felt like we weren't living up to God's expectations. My area was how I easily get frustrated with the kids (particularly when we are running late, which is most of the time, LOL) and I know my responses aren't what they should be. So let's recap--I recognize an area of struggle, and immediately everyone stops sleeping, which makes me tired and crabby and more likely to fall into easy habits of cranky, irritable, selfish responses. Hmmm. Obviously the devil is not letting this go without a fight, LOL!

One strategy we discussed on Sunday was attacking sin, particularly "at the moment we become conscious of it existence". I am becoming more aware of my bad attitudes and calling them that, instead of just sort of stewing in them, waiting for them to work themselves out. The chapter also emphasized not just taking off sin, but putting on righteousness in its place. So if I criticize, confess that, and then consciously focus on encouraging and honoring others instead. Here's a quote: "If selfishness is a recurring theme, place yourself in situations where you are required to serve." Well, that's checked off, LOL! Nothing like the home environment to bring out areas of selfishness, as well as give opportunities to serve! So yesterday morning I started out grumbling to Grace, who was up early (on a holiday no less!), after being up several times at night. Obviously that was just selfishness talking, as what I wanted for myself was a good night's sleep. I started thinking about how I was serving Grace her cereal and taking care of her (and I certainly wouldn't change that opportunity!), and my attitude and perspective was changed.

So we'll see how I continue to do with all this, and how many new ways the kids can come up with to interrupt my sleep! The things I took for granted back before I had kids . . . you know, back when I thought I was so patient and even-tempered, LOL.