Sunday, December 18, 2011

Descent into sleep madness

Last Wednesday, we slept from about 6:00 am until about 3:00 pm.  That was our normal last week--and I was trying to figure out what to do to fix it because it's just the wrongest hours I can think of.

Wednesday night, I got the kids into bed by 4:00 am, and the little kids at 6:00 am. Big kids were supposed to sleep a few hours before they had to get up for their one-day-a-week adventure with school. When I came to wake them at 7:30 am, I hadn't gone to sleep at all yet, and it turned out neither had Caleb or Anda, and Dan had only slept an hour or 90 minutes.

But they got up and I got them to school. Daniel, overtired, had a hard time letting me leave, so I was there until nearly 9:00 am. I came home and went to bed for my Wednesday night but it was clearly Thursday daytime. I couldn't fall asleep until 11:00 am. Then I had to get up and get everyone else up at 1:00 so I could take the little kids to see the big kids' Christmas concert (which was great--the kids performed a bunch of times and did well).

When we got home, Caleb and Anda went to bed by 4:00 pm, and so did the rest of us. Except, amazingly, Nathanael, who stayed awake playing computer games. Elijah woke up at 7:30 pm, and an hour later Nathanael crashed to sleep, and Benji and Dan woke up an hour later. And then Nathanael woke up at 11:00 pm. That's Thursday night.

So then Anda and Caleb woke up at 3:30 am for Friday morning, and Tim went to sleep for Thursday night at 4:40 am, and then the little boys and I didn't get into bed for Thursday night until 6:00 am, but then Elijah couldn't sleep because people were awake--until he crashed out at 8:00 am. Or was it 10:00 am?

Friday we were supposed to go to a homeschoolers party, but Tim had to call an emergency rehearsal, so we just slept right through the party--couldn't get there anyway, with no car and all.

So we woke up around 4:00 pm, and Anda and Caleb had been awake and on their own all day. Anda went back to bed at 8:00 pm, and Caleb drifted around until I forced him into bed at 1:00 am, many many many hours after he woke up the previous morning at 3:30 am.

With the big kids sleeping, I was delighted I could get the little kids into bed by 3:15 am. Everyone was asleep--success! So I made the cheesecakes for the ward party on Saturday and rejoiced.

I was ready for bed by 6:00 am, and then Anda woke up. And so did Nathanael, Benji, and Daniel. And then Caleb. And they woke Elijah. At 8:00 or 10:00 (sometime in there), Tim took the wide awake baby and let me sleep some.  Eventually he came back to bed, too.

So baby and I slept until about 4:30 pm. And then we had a crazy time getting ready for the ward party and going. The kids all sat at the table picking at their dinner and begging to be allowed to go home and to bed.

So we eventually came home and by now it was 9:00 on a Saturday night, and everyone went to bed. Everyone. Even me and Tim. I rejoiced in our miracle--our sleep schedule was fixed!

I rejoiced too soon.

Elijah woke up from what he considered at afternoon nap at 11:00 pm.  Nathanael, Benji, and Dan followed at 4:00 am (and Elijah hadn't gone back to sleep at that point). With everyone else up, Elijah was delighted--and he wouldn't go back to sleep.

At 7:30 am, I went to bed anyway, and Tim woke up from Elijah crawling all over him and Tim, who had been asleep the whole night, got up. Unfortunately, Tim hadn't slept at the right hours for his internal clock, so he was deeply exhausted still. I tried to sleep, but, being a mommy, I don't sleep well when kids are awake.

Elijah finally FINALLY came back to bed and fell asleep. 4 minutes later, my alarm rang to get people to church.  Dan apparently went back to bed at some point, too, because he was sleeping in the crib in my room.

I went back to bed, hoping to sleep some, and Tim took all the kids to church, where Nathanael promptly fell asleep and, while Tim was dealing with him, Benji slipped away and was caught by our home teacher--walking home by himself!

So Nathanael was carried home and put to bed (and didn't wake up until we woke him at 8:00 pm--he fell asleep around noon). Benji went back to church, finished church, but went back to sleep before I got up for the day at 5:00 pm--and he was also wakened at 8:00 pm but refused to stay awake.

Caleb wanted to go to bed at 6:00 pm, but gamely stayed awake until 8:00. Anda went to bed at 9:00 pm. Elijah had a short nap at 9:00 pm.

And we got to Sunday night with no resolution in sight--big kids are in bed on the right schedule. Nathanael thinks he's on Monday morning, but sleeping noon to 8:00 pm is totally unacceptable, even for us. I doubt Elijah will go to bed again until dawn because he woke up at 5:00 pm. By then, the big kids will be awake, and neither he nor I will be able to sleep....

This is more of a nightmare than before! At least in the past we were all sleeping at the same wrong time....


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