It is no secret that we have sleep issues in our house. It took a few years, but we have finally accepted that young children = little sleep. We are okay with that and we have adopted a sort of musical bed routine that works for us. When both parents are available, Nathan and Hannah both start out the night in their own beds. Daddy reads Hannah 2 books and Mommy reads Nathan 4 books. Nathan is asleep within minutes. Hannah takes a little longer and several reminders to stop squirming, but at her age, Nathan was very similar so we have hope for the future. Mommy and Daddy are usually able to get up after they are asleep and have some adult time/Sarah time. Hannah usually joins us at some point and occasionally Nathan joins us as well, but that has become more and more rare. One perk we enjoy is that neither of them are up with the sun. Early for our kids is 7 or 7:30 and that doesn't happen often.
While Daddy is gone, all of us are in Mommy and Daddy's bed. It is a bargaining tool for good behavior with Nathan, not so much with Hannah. She loves her "Dorwa" bed and doesn't consider it a threat at all to send her to it. However, if I want her to actually sleep rather than play and/or talk all night, I have to lie in there with her to get her to sleep. Last night I did exactly that and Nathan and Sarah joined me. So the four of us started the night in a twin bed. Nathan was asleep in minutes and Hannah not long afterwards so I moved him to my bed of course. The most important thing, there was no meltdown! She slept until 7 AM and then joined us in the big bed. It was heavenly.
Nathan and Hannah both have sleep habits we could live without. Nathan is a snuggler, which I love, but it makes it hard when I have Sarah next to me. I have to make sure he is not near her so he doesn't actually lay on top of her. He also does this arm flailing thing which used to include leg flailing when he was Hannah's age. It can be a huge shock to have an arm smack you in the face in the middle of a deep sleep--if you happen to get to that state. He has improved from his old sleep habits which included rotating from head up to sideways to upside down, but now his sister has adopted that practice to her routine. Hannah will also frantically kick off the covers in the middle night if she gets hot. This includes the arm and leg flail with smacks to all parts of our bodies. The final sleep habit we have experienced as parents is the worst by far. Apparently, if your feet are cold at night, the best place to put them is down someone else's pants. We have woken up so many times to find one or both of Nathan or Hannah's feet down the back of our pants. Thankfully they are not in this stage at the same time. Nathan has moved on and he was very surprised to hear that he once did that and that his sister occasionally still does. The other night I made him laugh through tears by telling him all about it. (He was upset because he wanted all of us to sleep in the big bed since Daddy was leaving).
Tonight, I am blogging because they are all asleep. We enjoyed a beautiful day in the 70's today. We got to talk to and see Daddy on Skype with the cameras we bought. That is awesome, by the way. He showed Sarah and I around his apartment--Nathan and Hannah were difficult to lure inside with the gorgeous weather and our neighbors outside playing. Daddy is doing well. He had an interesting shopping experience due to the fact that he does not read French or Dutch. Let's just say that Frosted Flakes (or Frosties) do not taste quite the same in buttermilk. His trip to Belgium was not a pleasant experience. His flight was delayed almost 3 hours for unscheduled maintenance. I am all for fixing the plane before they leave so can't say I would be too upset if that happens on our trip. He was unable to make the flight from Amsterdam to Belgium and had to take the train, also delayed. I was rudely awakened by some woman in Brussels Airport at 5:30 AM letting me know my bags were there and she couldn't hold them too much longer. My heart skipped a beat when I realized my husband had not reached Brussels, but his luggage had and I couldn't figure out exactly what I was supposed to do about that. I mean, aren't you the people who caused the issue in the first place? Don't you know where he is? At least you are on the same continent as he is supposed to be, I'm not.
Most importantly, he arrived safely. He now has possession of his belongings and has found his way around. He had a good day at work today, but said he will need to work on his German as well as his French and Dutch. We've got a lot of work ahead of us! Better get to sleep myself. 18 more days...
**Sarah is 2 months old today! She had her first walk in the stroller last Friday, but enjoyed it much more today.**
3 comments:
i was just checking in with all my favorite blogs. wow. you are so impressive to me. sometimes i am so worked at the end of the day but still think about what 3 would be like. oh and the sleep thing is so true here too. the whole feet down the pants thing has happened to me but to hear it from you is hillarious. hope i can remember the humor the next time 2 year old toes and too long toe nails scratch my behind! okay... longest commment ever. still nikki~ you are impressive.
sleep issues....mine are backwards. I need someone to convince my three month old that she does need naps. I have heard of people arguing with two years olds on this issue but not newborns. She thinks 15-20min here or there is fine. I happen to disagree:)
As for the feet down the pants, thanks for the warning when some day she puts hers down mine I will be ready.
Love ya and keep going strong!
I must say you are more tolerant of small people sharing your bed than we are. Not that we don't get the occasional small person in the middle of the night, but it is for visiting only, and then back to bed with them. (Just last night we had a midnight visitor!)
I know this last stage of your journey before the big move will either seem like an eternity or a blink of an eye, but I know you will make it through with flying colors, no matter what. Until then, beware of cold feet!
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