Technical difficulties

The notion that getting Robbie and Ellie to share a room would be comical was wishful thinking. Last night was awful, and today hasn't been anything to write home about either.

Ellie screamed at bedtime on and off for 2 hours (don't worry, we checked on her and made sure nothing was really wrong) - she was just not happy about being put to bed in Robbie's crib in his room. Once she finally fell asleep (well past Robbie's bedtime as well as her own), we snuck him in and put him to bed in his big boy bed. Then we realized that Ellie had a poopy diaper but were we going to wake her up to change it? No way. Robbie had thankfully fallen asleep once his head hit the pillow so we thought maybe we were good for the night.

At around 2am we were awakened to the sound of Ellie happily exclaiming "Poopy!" from her crib, and as I approached their bedroom Robbie was already out of bed and swinging open the bedroom door to alert us to the situation. But he was happy as a clam, not at all bothered by the situation, all goofy-smile and bed head. So I changed Ellie's diaper and put her back in her crib and tucked both kids in again. Ellie wasn't having ANY of it anymore and started to cry all over again, which made Robbie bawl. Rob had come in by this time and so we split the kids up and they both spent the rest of the night in their own cribs. Apparently, as I slept / nursed Maddie in a fog for the remaining hours of the early morning, Rob spent quite a while trying to get Ellie to actually fall asleep again.

So whatever, this whole ordeal wouldn't be that hard if it were the only variable. But layer in the fact that Miss Maddie has decided that she would like to nurse every 1 1/2 hours, and has boycotted sleeping unless she is held, nursing or snuggled up in bed with her momma, and you get a very challenging situation. Everyone screams for mommy at the same time, and only one person gets her. The baby usually wins.

At one point Rob pointed out that we have spent the last 12 hours with at least one of our children (and at times all 3!) crying it out. And for the last 24 hours, we have simply been focusing our time and energy on getting. everyone. to. sleep. UNSUCCESSFULLY! Including ourselves.

We didn't make it to church, needless to say. I didn't make it into the shower until lunch time, and after taking 'breaks' to nurse Maddie after everything I try to do, I have given up on getting ready for the day (it's 2:30 already)! We tried to nap Robbie and Ellie in the same room again and it went over about as well as last night - a little crying, then a lot of playing and chatting and laughing, followed by Ellie monkey-jumping in the crib only to bonk her face on the side railing, which resulted in a fat lip. We put her back in her crib in her own room and left Robbie in his bed, which brings us to the present - I am nursing Madeline while she dozes in our bed, and Ellie is finally asleep but Robbie is 'resting' next to me, making me crazy and keeping me from a much needed nap.

On the plus side, I have figured out how to multi-task in new ways. I can now do most things, such as sleep, eat, use the bathroom, discipline the older kids, and read books to them all while nursing Maddie. I also know that I can function on less sleep than I thought I could. On the not-so-plus-side, this is insanity and it makes me want to eat pizza and ice cream all day long to cope with the cabin fever, the crying, and the exhaustion. I told Rob today this is why I feel like we are never going to leave the house! And then I do bad things like start to think about how I need to begin potty training, and it makes me want to throw in the towel. So we just don't think about that, and instead we buy another large box of diapers for each kid and pick our battles for the present moment.

Oye. My constant prayer and only goal right now is to get through the day with as much patience as possible, remembering that no matter how frustrating these moments can be, I am so blessed by each of our children and love them so much. And that one day I'll actually wish for these days again.