Sleep

I want to remember these things, because as time goes on I think I will forget.  What would I say if someone asked me, "How do your kids sleep?" At this point, this is what I remember...
Broadly, I would classify Grant my good sleeper and Elizabeth as well, not so good of a sleeper!  However, I can see that changing.  If I were to classify Brandon and I - Brandon is a good, really good sleeper and me, well not so good! 

As a newborn I was up all the time with Elizabeth.  At first, it was probably three times a night.  She was one until she finally slept through the night.  There were nights when we had to let her cry it out and she was stubborn!  In general, it breaks my heart to let them cry and I don't do it often or consistently.  When it comes to sleep I recognize that consistency is key.  I openly admit, I did not and do not follow this rule.  My kids don't have an exact nap time, bed time or rise time.  Instead I decided early on that I would follow my gut and do what felt right.  At the age of 3 years and 5 months, Elizabeth rarely naps.  If we are lucky she will nap once or twice a week.  On days that she does nap, she won't be able to fall asleep until at least 10pm.  So often times it depends on her behavior how much we push for a nap.  Today she wanted me to lay down with her to help her fall asleep.  After a few minutes she woke me up and told me she could do it on her own now.  Which I knew really meant, "Mom could you please go down stairs so I can play in my room instead of laying here watching you sleep!"  Elizabeth has always been an early riser.  I can't even begin to tell you the old TV's shows I used to watch in the early morning, as I tried to nurse her back to a slumber.  I am confident I have seen every episode of Coach and Wings!  However, I can see her daddy starting to creep into her.  She stayed up late over the holidays and the best part is that she would sleep in!  It used to be that no matter what time she went to bed, she would still be up before seven.  There were a few days where she slept past 9:00 am!  WooHoo!  Now when she is a teenager and sleeping into the afternoon, I will not appreciate this.  Plus, I don't understand this "sleeping the day away" phenomenon and personally just can't do it so it drives me crazy!  But her biggest challenge now is getting into bed and staying in bed.  One night Brandon and I just laughed at all of the excuses she came up with:
"I need to go potty." (who is going to say no to that?!)
"Can I have some water?" (might be why we have to go potty?)
"It's too dark in here." (seriously, this girl sleeps with no less than four night lights and a lamp on! I don't know how she falls asleep with all of that light!)
"That flower thing on my wall...mumble mumble mumble" (go back to bed!!)
"I can't find monkey."  (usually is found in less than 3 seconds by daddy or me)
"It's hard, I just can't sleep." (in a super whiny voice) 
"Grant is crying and I can't sleep!" (valid point - no one is sleeping!) 
Last night I pulled a trick out of my hat.  I found Grant's Happy Tummi, colic wrap I used when he was a baby (thank you Aunt Amber).  It has an herb pouch that smells like lavender that you warm in the microwave and then you slip it into a chenille wrap.  It's warm, it's soft, it smells good.  What's not to like! I'm thinking maybe I should get one for myself!  So I give it to her and tuck her in and she is very entertained and relaxed by this idea.  She only gets out of bed once to ask a questions about it.  She quickly falls into a deep slumber.  Perfect!  How many nights will this work for? Elizabeth will wake up anytime between 6:30 and 7:30 on a typical day.  Some times she creeps into our bed in the middle of the night and we don't even know it!  Our general rule is that if it is after 5:00 am she can stay, anytime before that she has to go back to her bed. 

Now, my little man Grant...He joined this world a few weeks early and was really not ready to be awake all that much.  I actually had to set my alarm to wake him up and feed him for the first month.  For the next few months he would maybe wake once in the middle of night.  Piece of cake! Then he started sleeping through the night around 4-5 months.  Then he started getting teeth, but still didn't do too bad.  He took two naps and went down easy.  This boy knows how to sleep!  At about ten months he gave up a morning nap.  That is supposed to make for a better quality afternoon nap right? Not so much.  If I get an hour and half nap from Grant that is good.  An hour is probably his average.  That is probably why he sleeps so well at night - he's tired!  Maybe he just prefers his sleep in larger chunks!  We had a great routine.  I would turn on his music, turn on his mobile, give him a kiss and lay him down (naps or at night), if he cried it was only for a few minutes and he was out.  Perfect!  A little crying was his way of self soothing.  Grant also has a sleep position.  I call it the "arm tuck."  He lays his head on your shoulder and tucks his hands and arms between his chest and yours and he is ready to sleep.  I have a lullaby CD that has a song on it that I love.  The song is called Sky Boat and is six and half minutes long.  I would hold him/rock him during this song and when it was over I'd lay him down.  Most of the time he fell asleep.  It was a magically song.  I put it on my phone.  I could put him to sleep anywhere!  And then it happened.  The magic ran out.  We would still do our routine with Sky Boat but then he would cry and this cry was loud and not soothing at all.  It was different.  But as soon as you picked him up he would snuggle down into your chest and fall asleep.  Brandon was awesome at doing this.  Having a child asleep on his chest is one of his favorite things.  He became the champion of getting Grant to sleep.  They would snuggle and watch some TV until Grant was into a deep sleep and then lay him down.  This is all great, but we know holding him for an hour is not teaching him great sleep habits.  But since we don't follow those rules it doesn't matter!  We will just enjoy holding him while he still lets us! Grant is into the slow wake up plan.  He will happily lay in his crib and take his time waking up.  I often will hear his legs kicking and know that he is awake. 

In my rambling sleep conclusion, I guess we just get what we get and have to play the hand we were dealt.  That hand seems to change all the time.  Each day is a new day and you just never know what it is going to bring!