Sleep

Sleep is a hard thing to come by in this house.  I'm exhausted.  Both kids are up in the middle of the night.  Last night I ended up having to rock Xander for 20 minutes and then he went to sleep for another hour and then sleep again for 2 hours and on and on.  Last night had to be our worst night since Xander was 10 months old and I was 8 months pregnant.  Xander started sleeping through the night shortly after turning 10 months and slept through the night until recently.  I think moving Sterling into his room was a mistake because that is when all the wakings started to happen.  Sterling has never slept through the night, but was down to once a night wakings.  Then we had Opa's visit and the kids staying up hours and hours past their typical bedtime.  It's been 3 weeks of no sleep and it's becoming hard to function.  We've tried keeping them up, slowly moving the time down.  We've tried different nap times.  We've tried waking them up in the mornings to make the sleepy for naps and then ready for bed at the "normal" bedtime.  It has not worked.  

Yesterday we moved Sterling's crib to the playroom because I didn't want her sleeping overnight in the playpen.  It's too hard of a surface to have her sleep that long.  Naps were okay in there, but not overnight...IMO.  I'm not sure if she remembers the room but she woke up screaming and jumping, looking around like she was confused.  I gave her a 3 oz bottle to settle her down, but an hour later, she was back up.  I let her fuss and about 20 minutes later she was sleeping again.  Maybe we're just going to have to resort to the cry it out method.  It's hard for me, honestly.  But now that they are in their own rooms, maybe it will be easier?  

Xander has been a koala bear lately and not letting me go.  He holds on so tight.  I love his cuddles, but he also needs his sleep.  That's where I get torn at what to do.  Do I get him after he's been sleeping for 3 hours and starts screaming?  Should I rock him now?  Or should I let him cry it out?  Tough!  Although, I'm the one waking with each kid each time they wake, it still disrupts Nick's sleep.  It's been hard waking up in the mornings.  

How long do we give trying a new schedule a try before it does not work?  

Here's what we're thinking of trying for the next month.  Because we are having a hard time waking up in the mornings, we will go to the gym at 8pm, back home by 930, kids in bed, then we get ready for bed.  The problem with this is that at the end of the night, I'm exhausted from being on my feet all day.  So, I HAVE to make a sacrifice to do this, but I'm willing to.  In the end, it will definitely be helpful for us (to get healthy), and hopefully helpful in getting the kids on a regular routine that they can feel comfortable sleeping through the night...or at least only 1 waking.

Ok, well, thanks for listening to my ranting about my lack of sleep issues.

Have a blessed day!