Sleep Deprivation

Corey and I have been severely deprived of sleep over the past three years and I know it's not going to get better anytime soon. The lack of sleep lately is definitely catching up to me. Just last week I caught myself putting face soap on my tooth brush before bed. Awesome. I have also tried to put the milk lid on a few sippy cups early in the morning on more than one occasion and tonight was the kicker...Corey actually fell asleep in our room around 6:30 while the kids and I were running all around him playing red light green light. So around 7:00 I put the kids to bed and here is where my lack of awareness/clarity comes to play. I went to check on all of the kids after I put them to bed and I noticed light seeping out from under Caroline's door...I put her to bed while leaving her light on. No wonder she cried so long before she fell asleep. Goodness gracious!!!

While I am on the topic of sleep, when really I mean a lack of sleep, I should document the sleep patterns of the kids to prove to them years down the road why the dark circles under my eyes are so bad!

Right now Jack is the best sleeper out of our three kids. He is generally a pretty heavy sleeper. He sometimes sleeps with his hands folded nicely behind his head like such an old soul. He does have his odd sleeping habits though...Jack occasionally roams the halls at all hours of the night, he often walks into our bedroom to tell us something very important like he needs to go potty or he needs chap stick, or the best one yet, "My pj's don't match" (sorry, he gets that from me), or sometimes Jack even camps out in front of Thomas's door on the floor. We have seen it all.

Thomas was a fantastic, routine napper and really a great sleeper until we took away the pacifier when he turned two. Ever since the magical pacifier has been taken away by the trash man our nights consist of his constant crying out for me. I mean constant. Almost hourly some nights. Just recently Thomas made it through the entire night without waking up and crying for me. We pray he is turning the corner. Despite some success with sleeping all night, Thomas continues to be an early riser. He is our 5:45 wake up call, not that we need one at that hour. We have talked to him in great length about laying back down and trying to rest until everyone else is ready to get up. He has managed to sleep in a little later and I thank my lucky stars we aren't starting our day at 5:45. OUCH.

Caroline has also been a great, routine napper and a good sleeper at night since about 6 weeks old. She did have some fiery nights in the first few months that flat out exhausted us and made us seriously think twice about whether or not we could stand the sleepless nights of having a fourth baby. HA HA HA! We better start mentally preparing ourselves now. Caroline is approaching one year next month and I am seriously thinking about taking the pacifier away now before she becomes so attached like Thomas was. That darn pacifier just comes in handy and makes life so much easier! Caroline does typically sleep all night and wakes up anytime after 6 for a bottle and then sometimes even goes back to bed. Not too shabby.

Corey always tells me we can sleep when we are dead (which also sounds like something my dad would say). So who needs a full night of sleep? There is time for that later I guess!