Linking up with Amanda for some random thoughts!

*After a year and a half of back and forth sleep issues, sometimes it’s hard not to wonder if the boys have been secretly plotting to see how little sleep Mommy can live on before absolutely losing her mind. Around the time Jonah started sleeping through the night, Micah started have night terrors multiple times a night. Fast forward almost a year and we’ve FINALLY got the night terrors mostly gone, and Jonah has decided that sleep just. isn’t. happening.

I’ve started actually singing the boys to sleep at night (instead of just three songs like we used to), and that seems to really help Micah. Unfortunately, Jonah takes at least an additional hour to fall asleep most nights. That wouldn’t be as big of a deal if he didn’t also tend to wake up around midnight, 3 am, and then he’s up for the day around 4 or 5 am. He’ll sit in his room for hours refusing to nap once or twice a day, and he doesn’t even fall asleep in the car or stroller the way he used to. He will sometimes, but most of the time he’s just so exhausted he gets crazy hyper instead of passing out.

I’ve tried warm baths with lavender, making sure he has plenty of food and water before bed (so it’s not hunger waking him up), and his doctor even had us try Melatonin, but this morning he was up at 1 and 5 am again, and he still hasn’t taken a nap. The worst part is that I can’t just leave him in his room, because he climbs the baby gates, even when I stack two of them. He’s gotten to be an expert at getting the top one down fast, and then he just climbs over the lower one. They don’t have a door on their room either because Micah broke the door and ruined the holes the hinges screw into — and honestly, with as much trouble as they cause without a door, I’m kind of afraid to close them in where I can’t see them. They seriously shredded a toddler mattress during nap-time once, and those are basically a single sheet of thick plastic. I have absolutely no idea how they got the mattress cover off, but once they did they had the foam interior in about a zillion pieces in no time flat.

I really try to be optimistic and see the good side of things, but I’ve lost all my productive morning time (so I’m once again behind on laundry and dishes) and I’m absolutely exhausted throughout the day. I’m basically living on energy drinks, which is starting to give me pretty bad headaches. I hate to vent, I’m just hoping someone in the blogosphere has some new ideas to try.

*I’m super bummed that it’s not cooling off as fast as Siri told me it would 😛 I looked at my weather app and it didn’t have a single triple digit day for three weeks, but yesterday it hit 108 — can it be winter yet? I’m so looking forward to walks/runs when the sun is actually up, long days at the park, rollerblading and biking with the kids, and just generally being more active. Summers in Arizona are basically just 4 or 5 months of hiding in the air conditioning, and I’m excited for some fresh air. 🙂

*I’m always listening to podcasts, particularly ones about health, nutrition, and fitness. I found a new one last week, and I heard something that really hit home for me. Because my morning routine has been disrupted by Jonah’s wakefulness, I’ve been trying to multitask mom duties, computer/writing duties, and cleaning/organizing duties all week long. Spoiler alert, nothing has gotten done and I’m pretty sure the kids feel like they didn’t get much quality time with me. I’m stressing about the laundry or the 5 day decluttering I was supposed to participate in this week while I’m trying to play with the kids, or I’m worrying about how I’m going to workout or shower because they aren’t cooperating with naptime, or I’m late publishing a blog post but they won’t tolerate me sitting at the computer for more than 30 seconds.

In short, my stress levels go up and I do a terrible job of pretty much everything I wanted to accomplish that day. On the podcast, they mentioned that when something is stressing you out or gets overwhelming, particularly parenting or work, the answer is to fully engage in that thing. So when I’m frustrated that I can’t get anything done because the kids aren’t behaving, I need to take an hour and just shut everything else off and play with them. In the end, even though that time stresses me out because there’s always so much to do, the kids won’t be as clingy later and that mom time will refresh me too. The boys always behave better when I don’t have anything to do besides cuddle them and play…

 

I really don’t have much else on my mind today. Chalk it up to the lack of sleep, but I just don’t have much going on upstairs today.

So here’s an adorable picture of Micah wearing Paw Patrol sunglasses, and have a great rest of your day!

What’s on your mind today?