Thursday, April 21, 2011

The new witching hour

I can totally handle the "old" witching hour. I've got that one down pat - whip out a boob to soothe Lexi and a craft to entertain Stasa. Easy peasy. 

The "new" witching hours are killing me though. For some reason these girls have decided to try to break me down between the hours of 1:00 and 3:00 AM most nights and last night was no exception. 

First Lexi wakes up and I can usually get to her before shes fully awake which keeps her from screaming like a banshee. I'll get her changed and swaddled faster than a NASCAR pit crew and then nurse her to sleep. Because she looks so precious and is so cuddly when she's asleep, I'll rock her for an extra 10 or 15 minutes before putting her in her crib. It seems like the minute I get settled in bed and relax into my pillow I hear the creak of a door and little feet padding down the hall.

Then it's back out of bed and into Stasa's bed to calm her down and get her to fall back asleep. Sometimes, like last night, I end up dozing in her bed while waiting for her to fall asleep only to be jolted awake by the banshee cry. I can feel my body tense from worry that it'll wake up the monster, but a quick check next to me confirms she's dead asleep. Finally. 

So I make the trek back down the hall to Lexi's room and start the diaper change, swaddle, nursing and rocking routine all over again. Only this time after I put her back down in her crib I wait a few minutes to be sure she's not going to wake up squawking. Once I'm sure she's fast asleep, I creep out of her room and check on Stasa one final time. Now that I'm sure they're both passed out, I drag my zombie self back to my own bed and am asleep the minute my head hits the pillow. 

Then sure enough both girls are awake again. After glancing at the clock I realize I've actually gotten closer to a couple of hours of sleep this time and it's time to get up for the day. 

Look at them...plotting their next move.

1 comment:

Julia said...

LOL love it. They are totes plotting their next move. Hope you get some sleep soon!