Where I am right now is the bottom bunk of my boys' bed. I'm here every night, folks. I've read every other boy off to dreamland, but this one remains wide awake. This little guy is attached to my arm, so I'm blogging with one finger on my phone.
I'm utterly exhausted, but I cannot sleep because I'm frankly pretty uncomfortable. I know if I get up right now this guy will cry for me until the whole house is awake. And that seems like a pretty selfish move just to get to climb into the fluffy comfort of my own bed. He was sleeping well in the new bed up until the last few weeks. I sneak out once he's fallen asleep but he wakes almost hourly and cries till I'm laying by him again.
Some of you may tell me I need to let him cry it out...that he really should get used to sleeping without me by his side. And he will. But right now, he's still very little. I can't say why he's going through this needy stage right now, but all too soon he will be grown, all too soon he'll no longer want to climb into my lap. And I know I will miss these days so much.
Now that I have older boys I wish I would've spent more time with them, rather than training them to do without me so I could get a few more minutes of sleep. My children come first right now, not to spoil them, but because they need to. When an ounce of frustration creeps in, it helps to remind myself:
The days are long, but the years are short.
Oh I so agree! I love these little moments with them. I often pause with Melanie at night when she's sleeping before returning her to her crib after a middle of the night nursing session. I love just looking at her sweet little sleeping face, knowing soon enough these days will be over. That is why I just smile patiently when the doctors raise an eyebrow... "She's not sleeping through the night???" No she's not and I don't mind one bit ;)
ReplyDeleteThese moments become so much dearer the older I get! I think after several years of never sleeping through the night mothers become somewhat conditioned to it...and of course, God is always there to give the grace to handle it well!
DeleteI have never been able to answer yes to that question! I say, "They sleep for five hours in a row." I consider that success!
DeleteWe have a system in this house. I am man-on-man defense with the baby, and Jordan plays zone with the others. I think they're winning though, because all of our children don't sleep well. Philomena was our starting player with sleeping through the night, but she has fallen to sibling pressure and loves to climb into our bed. I just laugh about it now, but I do have hopes of it all improving once we move. I couldn't think of a better reason to wake up than to see a sweet baby or child!
ReplyDeleteAidan, Gavin, and Liam are really good sleepers, but it took Liam until he was about 2 1/2 to sleep through the night. The oldest two have slept through the night mostly since they were 2 months old, but I think that has a lot to do with eating schedules. My nursed babies are the last to sleep well at night.
DeleteI'm so glad the older boys sleep well. I pray for the health of my children that they do sleep better. I never thought it could be related to iron deficiency, but I just ran across a study linking iron deficiency and sleep disturbance. Have you ladies heard of any connection?
ReplyDeleteI haven't done much in the way of iron deficiency research, but it wouldn't surprise me!
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