No Sleep for Abbie & Ian & Tory

I woke up yesterday around 6am. I didn’t have anything to do or anyone to pacify, I was just feeling some remnants of my wake in the middle of the night mentality. I laid in bed for a long time trying to convince myself that I didn’t need to tend to anything. Eventually I started thinking I might as well roll out of bed so I could accomplish something constructive like reading the newspaper in peace.

The next thing I knew it was 8:20. This is a good half-hour later than I want to wake up. Someone is supposed to wake me up when I oversleep like that, but the kids were all happy to lie awake in their beds, patiently waiting for the food-giver to open their door.

That was the last time all day everyone was quiet when they were supposed to be asleep. The boys are still on three naps per day and Abbie on one, and they took turns blowing right past their sleep time.

The first nap is at 10:30 am. I considered pushing it back since they woke up late, but they looked sleepier than the Cub offense, so I set them down on time. Ian kicked, and grunted, and fussed long enough for me to reenter their room and reinsert the pacifier more times than the Cubs’ average LOB number. He finally dozed off after about 20 minutes, which allowed me to relax and concentrate on Abbie’s needs for all of about five minutes before Tory woke up.

When the 1:30 pm nap rolled around, I reached for the acetaminophen. The vaccines they received two days ago could still be bothering them and keeping them awake. They’re not acting cranky during wake time so I don’t know if they’re feeling pain, but the half-dozen poopy diapers Tory produced yesterday proves that he’s at least feeling some effects. If nothing else, their relentless attempts to shove my fingers in their mouths indicate there’s some teething pain.

Abbie stomped around her room for a bit longer than usual, but otherwise the afternoon nap started well. Then around 2:45, more than an hour before the nap is supposed to end, Tory woke up screaming. I reinserted his pacifier, and he drifted back to sleep without further reinsertations. This surprised me; his recent wont has been to whimper for many minutes before falling back into his afternoon nap. All was quiet until 3:30 when both boys woke up screaming with a pain that no pacifier could quench. I fed them a half-hour early while Abbie suspiciously cooperated by sleeping until 4:40, much later than her usual 4pm wake time.

The 5:30 nap is when I feed Abbie, myself, and then prepare the boys’ next feeding before they wake. Ian thwarted this plan by refusing to fall asleep, screaming for his pacifier while Abbie screamed for her beanie weenie. I made several pacifier trips by stuffing Abbie’s face with enough weenies to keep her occupied until I returned. When he finally fell asleep, I quickly finished helping Abbie eat and prepared a plate for myself, managing to sit down just as Tory started screaming. I spent the rest of the meal holding Tory with one hand and shoveling broccoli with the other.

When bedtime arrived, I was ready to set everyone down and enjoy a relaxing digital soak in the internet. The boys were cranky all night from how little they slept, or possibly they were feeling vaccination/teething pain. Either way they kept me busy to calm them down while fending off Abbie’s persistent pinching. The boys fell right to sleep when I set them in their cribs, I kissed Abbie goodnight, and set about vegging out in front of the computer.

Abbie, invigorated by that extended afternoon nap, was in no mood to sleep, and stomped around her room for many many minutes. I had to reenter her room several times, not to reinsert pacifiers, but to return her to her bed before she woke her brothers. I did still have to mess with pacifiers by returning the ones she swiped to their cribs. It took her about an hour to give up and fall asleep. Maybe that means she’ll sleep in the next morning. Then again, maybe that’s how I landed in this mess.