Give me a woot, woot!!!

So I'd like to take this time to inform the masses that Little Man Eddie did in fact sleep all night long. In his bed. His very own bed. In his very own room. Rainbows, butterflies and the sound of music fill the air today! What a wonderful thing! I mean, I can't even begin to tell you. I pray that this second night of doing this in a row is not a fluke, but more like a pattern beginning to emerge. One can only pray.

He began to sleep through the night at 3 months, and continued on this way up until he was 13 months old. He then refused to sleep in his bed. After a month of sleepless nights and many of those which he fell asleep with us, we decided to try a toddler bed. At 14 months he went into it. And loved it. So he began to sleep once again. 10, 11 hours every night, without fail. And then one day.... say 4-5 months ago? I can't even remember, it's been so long. He started to wake up and ask for milk. Dh gave it to him despite my urging him not to do so. And what happened? He started to wake up every night and ask for milk. I made him stop giving it to him. But that didn't stop the little guy from waking up. We tried many things. We tried reading stories before bed time. We tried playing relaxing music. We tried the "super-nanny" routine where we walk him to his room 50 times before he was just plain too worn out to get out of his bed again. Still, it didn't work to keep him there. That driven, tenacious, little boy wanted nothing to do with going to bed when we told him to. He just kept coming out of that room. Bed times are the worst. (except for Princess Alexa, she's a piece of cake). So then after waking up several times a night, he would start to come into our room and sleep on the floor. When we would wake up, we'd find Eddie curled up with a pillow on the floor. Nice. But don't you know it? The smart little thing figured out that every time he woke mommy up, he would get taken back to his room. So he stopped coming to my side of the bed. He started sticking with daddy's side. And then he realized that the floor wasn't too comfortable after all. That little stinker started climbing into bed with us. Now I'm talking 3 or 4 times every night. Sometimes I was just so exhausted from getting up, that I'd just let him stay there.

Well, we had this bad habit of him going to sleep and then waking up around 1 am and coming into our room. If I woke up, which it was a 50/50 shot of me doing so, I'd take him back. If I didn't, then I'd get kicked at night and then wake up to my 2 year old son in my face. Not good. So I decided to try something. I thought maybe if we bring his bed into our room, at least he will get into the habit of sleeping all night long without waking up. (I know, I know, not a terribly romantic thing to do. But you have to make sacrifices, it wasn't terribly exciting having a 30lb kid kicking you in the ribs every night either. It all just needed to stop. And I was desperate!)BINGO. It worked. Well of course it worked. He was right next to us. I knew it would work. But honestly, that was the point. I wanted him to get back into the habit of sleeping all night long. Uninterrupted. And he did. Even if it meant having his bed in our room. It was in there for about 2 weeks? I think, I'm not sure. But every night without a single wake up, he did it. Effortlessly. It was nice getting a full nights sleep again. I had forgotten what that was like. I mean, I felt like I was up with a newborn, as they wake up that many times. So it was great.

The two week period was done and it was time to move him back to his room. Friday of this past week I did it. I moved his bed back to his room and told him about it. That afternoon I had him help me take the pillow and Mr. Bear off the bed, and then I took the bed down and carried it to his room. I told him it was time that he start sleeping in his own bedroom. He quickly screamed, "Nooooooo! I sleep in your room!" Awww. That was almost cute. But not. "Nope, it's time to be a big boy. Like Uncle Pat, he sleeps in his own bed in his own room." Since Eddie loves Uncle Pat, I use him often in stories to help him understand. So Eddie thought about it and hesitantly agreed. That night he went to bed ok. He did wake up at 1 a.m. and tried to get into bed on daddy's side. I saw him and immediately jumped up to take him back to his bed. He went and stayed. Oh until maybe 4:45 or so. And that time, I was really groggy and fell asleep after seeing the clock. Eddie stayed on dh's side of the bed until wake up time which is around 6.

Next night, Saturday. Really, really bad. He woke up at 1 am. Again. Ugh!!! This sucks so bad!! I put him back in bed, he came out, put him back, he came out. UGH!!!! He wouldn't stay. Then I realized he was hot. So I temped him. 100. Ugh! So I got him some water and we sat on the couch for a while. I turned on the tv as I felt bad. Maybe that was why he couldn't sleep. He had a low grade temp. Poor little thing. We sat there. Mostly in hopes that he would tire. But like I said before, he is stubborn. And didn't bat an eyelash. I got tired before he did. So I tried to get him into bed again. He kept coming out. I got aggravated. I mean, what am I supposed to do??? Beat him into staying in bed???? AAAGHHHH!!! He just wouldn't stay. Finally. Finally after a million tries. Or so it would seem. He just pooped out on me. Thank Goodness! It was nearing 3 am. I slept. At 6:30 am when Miss Alexa woke, I smacked dh, and said something or other inaudibly. "Hmmgggg. Shimmmghhh. Btllllllllll. Lacka. hmmmm."Dh says, "She's awake?" Me, "Yhmmmmmmmmm." I guess he got the message, as he hopped out of bed and left me alone to sleep.

Yeah. Sort of. The kids don't like to be without me. So when they see daddy, it's cool. But then they start to wonder, "Where is my mommy?" And then they come and pound on the door. And run and jump on me in the bed. Dh had to peel them off of me screaming and crying. Yes, I said both. After not getting enough sleep in the night Eddie also woke up very shortly after his sister. And like I said, crying and screaming b'c they wanted to be with me. Ugh! I had to bury my good ear in my pillow. (another long story...one works better than the other). So the kids left. And I slept.

Next night. Sunday. The first night that he actually slept all the way through. I didn't though. I kept waking up and peering over the side of the bed to see if he was there on the floor. But each time he wasn't, so I went back to sleep. Perfect! But maybe a fluke. I hoped not.

Next night. Monday. Yay!!! He did it again! This is truly a good thing. As I am quite cranky when I don't get my sleep! Quite! Well, I can honestly say that last night was very nice. I slept. Eddie slept. And no one on earth needs to worry about my dh. He slept. As too numerous a night to count, he sleeps even when I don't. Hence, me=mommy=RULER=da bomb. Daddy=sleeping=not helping=not da bomb. And that's being nice. Because this a nice blog. Thanks for stopping by! That's my story for the day!