One night down, two to go...

Sleep has always been an issue in our house. As I have mentioned before, Ashley was a horrible sleeper. As a newborn, she was up multiple times a night for months on end. We took part in a sleep study with John Hopkins, did all the things we were supposed to, but she just didn't want to sleep. And honestly, she still probably doesn't go an entire week now without waking up once or twice at least one night a week calling for us or having a nightmare and needing some assistance. Lucky for us now, it mostly just requires retucking her in bed or finding her stuffed animal of the day to snuggle with.

At 18 months, she miraculously started sleeping through the night. That must be the magic number.

Audrey is finally having more nights of sleeping through the night a week than those where she wakes up. And if she wakes up, a little bit of water or a pat on the back cures all and she goes back to sleep. And guess what? She was 18 months old yesterday.

One thing that worries me when Ray is away is the nights. I worry that both of them will all of a sudden be awake all night long and I will be so tired that I can't handle it. Of course, I am sure I would be able to handle it if that did happen, but I am a perpetual worrier. I worry about everything.

Last night was a piece of cake. Audrey slept fine as did Ashley. Of course, it probably helped with Ashley that she slept in bed with me, but hey, it's almost her birthday, it's a special treat. And she liked the slumber party, as she kept calling it.

Only one mishap yesterday...Audrey fell in our driveway and scraped her cheek and chin. It was like slow motion when she fell and she was only a few feet from me.

Only two nights to go...and a million things to worry about.

What Happened?

I need coffee...no, seriously I do.

And we have run out of coffee at home. Neither Ray nor I thought to stop by the store to get any last night.

And then we had TWO kids who refused to go to bed last night.

Audrey, who normally is a read two books and put her in her crib, decided she would fight us tooth and nail last night. Finally, after almost two hours of trying to get her to calm down and go to bed and Ray and I taking turns working our magic, she went to sleep.

Ashley had a few crying fits in between there as well. Until she finally crashed. Not until after I went in her room at some point and she told me:

"Mommy, I don't like being by myself."

I don't either Ashley, I really don't.

It's getting better, really it is...

Ashley is getting better. Her cough, which the doctor said would probably last another week, is almost gone. She took her medicine this morning without screaming. She is still waking up a couple of times a night and scared the living shit out of me this morning by standing by my bed at 5:30am. But hey, sleep is overrated anyways. And Audrey is getting better as well. She slept better last night, I think we only got up with her 4 or 5 times. It's better than the previous night where we were up all night. Literally up all night. Ray told me yesterday that he actually fell asleep holding her while she was crying. That's how tired we are.

Act Now to Protect FMLA
The Department of Labor issued a request for information on the Family Medical Leave Act in December. It seems that FMLA is in danger of being scaled back. Being a working mom and knowing how precious those twelve weeks I had off were, I would be extremely upset if it were scaled back. I haven't had time to research what exactly is being scaled back or dates or anything, but I do know the National Partnership for Women and Families is asking all of us to submit our comments to the Department of Labor. See this website for details.

Sleep, sleep and more sleep

Last Wednesday night, Ashley had a nightmare in the middle of the night and came barrelling into our room. In the sleep stupor we were in, we told her to climb in bed with us and blissfully went back to sleep. For like ten minutes. Ashley is a very "active" sleeper and constantly tosses and turns. My alarm goes off at approximately 5:35am and I promptly turn it off as to not wake Ashley. Of course I fail to get out of bed and wake up again at 6:15am. Damn, have to completely rush to get out of the house. So Thursday night rolls around. Ashley cries out at some point in the night and Ray goes in to check on her. The next thing I know he is back in our room asking me if it was okay for Ashley to just come to bed with us. Sure, why not. And once again, a sleepless night. So Friday night (can you guess where this is going), same thing. Saturday Ray and I vow not to let her sleep with us, and we didn't. She didn't sleep too well in her room, but at least she was in her room.



And both girls have a cold now. Any bets on how long it will take Audrey to get another ear infection?

Really A Lot of Randomness

Our freakin' washing machine is broken again...

Go here and check out details for our planned mini-blogher. All are welcome!

And Dude! Disney Crocs! I am sure SJ is laughing at me now...

We are in Myrtle Beach just to get away and have some fun. It is currently 70 and Ashley is actually taking a nap. In a bed no less. Oh, and Ray and I get to go out for New Year's, yea for us. My parents have internet access, so if anything crazy happens, I will be sure to post. Otherwise, I am going to try and catch up reading all of yours and will be back in full swing in the New Year.

More Christmas in Pictures

Ashley has always been into dollhouses and such. And knowing how much she loves Disney and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, this gift was a must. Of course all the people to go in it sold out before I could buy them, but Ashley is good at improvising. This has now replaced the Dora Dollhouse in her room.

No Christmas would be complete without the Virginia Tech presents. Ashley and Audrey received matching outfits from our good friends Wendy, Matt and Ethan (and soon to be baby sister!!). And as a good girl, Ashley insisted on wearing this Christmas day. We are so good at brain-washing...
Ray's Mom normally gets me something from Virginia Tech, and I love my new sweatshirt. I also received Virginia Tech toe socks. Very cute. I am going to wear them on Saturday in honor of the game.
This is what a three year old looks like who hasn't napped in four days (and it's only 4:00pm on the 4th day).
TMX Elmo has been banished to the floor. Audrey is not too keen on him. He is kind of scary...

Informational Session

I know a lot of you have been having issues with blogger and making comments. According to Google, you should be able to log in with your blogger account. If you sign up with Google, it will attach your blogger information on it somehow because it did for me. I am unfortunately not the right person to ask how to do this, but it must have been somewhere in the whole signing up thing because I got it right.

Anyways, I miss those of you who normally comment, please come back!!

On to more good stuff - BEDTIME for a Three Year Old:

So our evening proceeds like this - pjs, teeth/hair brushed (she has a ton of damn hair), read two books, lights out. In a perfect world, this would mean she would quietly talk to herself until falling into a blissful sleep. In our world, this means crying, screaming, more crying, out of bed, back in bed, out of bed, I need medicine, I need water, I need to go potty, crying, crying, out of bed, in bed, out, in, out, in - get the picture?

What we have been trying the past few nights is when she does get out of bed, we do not say anything, just march her back to her room and back in her bed (yes, we stole this idea from Super Nanny, so sue us). Wednesday night I did this probably at least 15 times. I don't need to work out anymore, I get my exercise in my hallway in my house. It sort of works, it sort of doesn't. It sucks to have to hang out in the hall waiting for her to come out. Hopefully this is a stage she is going through and the novelty of driving her parents nuts will pass. And the only real reason we are fighting her on this is she tends to wake up her sister when she is gallivanting in the hallway. Fun times, fun times.