Goodnight Already

Okay so I was going to title this "3 Year-Old For Sale". Seeing as how I don't want to go to jail, because I am kidding, I thought better of it. Let me paint a picture for you. Imagine a time when all the children were asleep by 8pm every night during the week. Dishes were done and the hubby and I could climb into bed and watch our shows on Tivo or read a book - Alone - Together. What a lovely time it was. Now fast forward to 3 months before my due date approximately the same time someone turned 3. LD has not willingly gone to bed since that time - 6 months ago. LD is currently up and screaming - in front of the room the baby is sleeping in. It has been so bad I was actually relieved when allergy season was here and I could give her Benadryl. Not that it actually had any affect, but I can dream can't I?

I know I wrote about this very recently but I had not wrote about the bliss that was once our evening routine. I miss that routine and I really need that 2 hours every evening alone with my hubby. It is our time to reconnect from the day and it helps us be a strong parenting team. Instead I am dealing with kids from the second I wake up to the moment I fall asleep and sometimes in between.

I am so tired lately I am drinking coffee and Red Bull almost everyday. I brought a Red bull to church on Sunday and our pastor said hi to us after service and said he hoped my Red Bull helped me stay awake during his sermon. Sigh.

What Day Is It Anyways?

I am so sorry I missed my Wisdom Wednesdays post, I have been a bit out of sorts. I didn't realize until late last night what day it was. LD our 3 year old has been giving us trouble at bedtime. This began just before AL was born and has not improved at all. Some nights I finally just give in and let her sleep on the floor next to our bed. Seems a little cold hearted I know, but I am trying to detour her from sleeping with us. LD and AL share a room so I am always worried about LDs screaming waking up the baby. (Or my screaming if we are going to be honest ;)) Does anyone have any advice for me on this topic? She is so dang stubborn I bring her back to her room every time and she still gets back up. I take things away from her just nothing works with her. SO I guess my Wisdom for this week is no matter how long you have been a parent there will always be struggles you need help with from fellow parents.

Wisdom Wednesday

Today I wanted to talk about Night Terrors. Now I am not an expert on this subject but I have been doing some research. LD started having Night Terrors a few months ago. It does not happen every night but it was happening quite often. Here is how they usually play out. We finally get LD to bed, hubby and I will watch a show or two in bed before we call it a night and LD will start screaming and come into our room. She screams sometimes up to 20 minutes. I pick her up and try to console her, I can tell by her eyes she is not actually awake, they are glazed over. She continues to kick and scream and I continue to try to console her or wake her up. Nothing ever actually calms her down so we just have to ride it out. I assumed she was having nightmares and was not fully awake, when I ask her about what she was dreaming about she can never tell me. I remembered my nephews having similar episodes to these and my sisters calling them Night Terrors. Here is what I found out.

• Night Terrors can be more common in families - so I don't want to say genetic but if a family member has them it is more likely for a sibling or relative to experience them.
• Do not try to wake the child up.
• Night Terrors occur during the transition into REM sleep. They are a sudden feeling of fear.
• There is no visual imagery produced during the night terror so the child will have no recollection of what scared them.
• There is not much a parent can do except sit with child to make sure they do not hurt themselves.
• It is believed they can be caused by stress and being over tired so making sure the child has a low stress environment and naps will help prevent them.
• Night terrors usually happen 2 to 3 hours into sleep.

LD usually kicks and screams during her episodes. She actually looks like she is trying to fight somebody off. I have heard of children getting up and running around the house. The episodes are very scary even for the parent. It just has to run its course we have only been successful twice at calming LD down. The first time she suddenly realized she had to go potty and as soon as she went she was awake. The second time hubby waved her blankie in front of her face and she became aware of the familiar "safe" scent and latched onto it and went back to sleep. Since I did my research I have made sure that she has a nap everyday (even if I am not up for the fight) and I am trying to be more calm about her accidents. I believe it has significantly reduced the number of episodes.

I would like to point out that I am not an expert, I am just a mom that did some research and has tried a few things out. Again they are scary for the parents and they are also frustrating because there is nothing you can do. I would also like to mention the Night Terror Tablets or Calming Tablets - the homeopathic ones, did not work for us. Have you dealt with this? How did you handle it?

As I said I did a lot of research and this is the site I found to have really good information that lined up with what we are experiencing.