Life has gotten more complicated in the Gregg household.
If you read this blog, you know Sydney has always been a
night owl. She has tormented her mother and I since birth with her inability to
sleep through the night. She stays up as long as she can at night and often
wakes up crying and screaming a couple or three times during the night.
The other night, we put her in bed at 9 p.m. I fell asleep
at 10:30 and she was still awake, sitting in her crib talking to her stuffed
animals. Brooke fell asleep a half hour later with Sydney still jabbering away.
I am sincerely glad she does not get us on the other end.
While she may stay up as late as her little body will allow, and she is almost
always good for a couple “Mommy, I need a drink” or “Mommy, help me’s” in the
middle of the night, she is not a kid who wakes up at 6 a.m. in the morning.
She’ll sleep as late as 10 on the weekends. This allows us to catch up a tiny
fraction.
During the week, we just live like zombies.
Tyson has always been the good sleeper. But, as I said, life
is getting more complicated.
Since birth, Tyson has slept in a rock-and-play that sits
next to Brooke. Because of his heart issues, we wanted him next to us for
monitoring purposes and feeding purposes. At one time, we were feeding him a
fortified bottle four times a night. We are now down to three.
We decided a few weeks ago, he needed to transition to his
crib in the other room. He’s 10 months old now, and that rock-and-play is too
small for him. He no longer likes sleeping on his back, preferring to roll on
his side. So, he rarely gets through a night in the rock-and-play without a
couple of bouts of crying because he is uncomfortable.
We are trying the crib. He hates it. I think he prefers the
snugness of the rock-and-play, or perhaps he just likes having his mom close.
Whatever the reason, he pretty much cries as soon as you set him in the crib. Couple that with the fact he is eating more, getting more
strength and becoming more rambunctious, and you have another Sydney on your
hands. He doesn’t want to go to bed on time, fights you when you put him in the
crib and, no matter where he is sleeping, wakes up a couple times each night in
a crying fit.
Two kids who think they are rock stars and able to party all
night.
Typical night: Sydney jabbers away until 11, Tyson fights us
about going to bed after his 10:30 bottle feeding and finally falls asleep at
11-11:30, we wake Tyson at 2:30 to feed him, Sydney wakes up crying about a
nightmare or water or whatever at 3- 4 a.m., Tyson wakes up crying about 5 a.m.
because he is uncomfortable or unhappy, we wake Tyson at 6: 30 a.m. to feed him
and we both get up at that time for work.
And, honestly, there is often at least one more wake up in
there somewhere.
The other day, a woman at work said to me, “You always look
tired.”
“It is not a look, Jane. I AM always tired.”
My poor wife. She gets the brunt of it. Many times, when the
kids wake up, they don’t want me, they want her. Tyson will even refuse his
2:30 a.m. bottle from me, but, if Brooke takes it from me and puts it in his
mouth, he will drink it.
Now think about that: these kids are waking up either
because they are hungry, terrified by a nightmare or simply as uncomfortable as
hell and daddy is still not an option for them.
I am a plague in my own house. Daddies have feelings too,
you know.
Mommy may spend more time answering the call than daddy, but
she also has the ability to fall asleep any place, any time, in about 30
seconds. She’s still breastfeeding, so it is not uncommon for me to walk out of
the shower in the morning to find her pumping and feeding Tyson, with her eyes
closed, sleeping while sitting up. It is pretty incredible.
The other night, she had to feed Tyson because he wouldn’t
take the bottle from me. I swear, she set that bottle down, placed Tyson in his
rock-and-play and was literally snoring within 30 seconds.
There are many nights when, after I feed Tyson or deal with
one of Sydney’s outbursts, I lie in bed for another hour and a half just trying
to fall asleep. Once I am up, it is very difficult to go back to sleep, no
matter how tired I may be. Sometimes I pray for narcolepsy. Or an addiction to
sleeping pills.
That’s life in our fast lane. Baby, you can lose your mind.
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