Sleep issues

We have definitely had a hard time getting sleep ever since we had Joshua. He still woke up multiple times at night until he was 14 months old then would only wake up once a night about 5 nights a week. He would do that until he was 2 then at age two he would only wake up 3 nights a week and has done that ever since. He has been a difficult night time sleeper, I remember waking in and out of our room and Joshua's room at night to get him to go back to sleep. Then for naps I would have to drive him around or walk him in the stroller to get him to go to sleep. I would have to do that even at age two! He still 'needs' me to lay down with him at night to get him to go to sleep. Sleeping with Joshua is definitely a struggle.

When we had Will I wanted so badly for him to be a good sleeper. At first he woke up a lot but that was what I expected. At 2 or 3 months he gave me three nights of sleeping 8 hours solid, but that was the end of that. He now wakes up every hour and a half to two and a half hours at night. I must say I have the best napper ever, but only for the last two months or so. Up until then I would walk around, bouncing as I walked or on a ball to get him to go to sleep. Now all I do is close the drapes, turn on the fan, give him a kiss, tell him I love him, lay him down with his paci and blanket, then walk out the door. I don't hear a single peep from him until an hour and a half to two hours later. It wasn't that easy in the beginning though, there were a lot of tears shed, because Will didn't like the idea of being in his bed alone. That only lasted a few days. His naps are a beautiful thing and I am so glad God has given me such a wonderful napper!!! He will also put him self to bed at night, unless he is over tired.

Last night Joshua woke Will up at least twice, so once again I didn't get much sleep. Tonight Joshua is going to sleep in our room in a toddler bed we are borrowing from our friends. I am praying our baby will sleep longer at night now. If the changed sleeping arrangements help us get more sleep we will do some rearranging.

Keeping my day normal

A lot of people do not understand why we have to follow a routine for Joshua.

Yesterday was his birthday. We got up, he played with his cousins all day, and missed his nap because of his birthday party in the afternoon. He was grumpy all afternoon and evening because he missed his nap, crying at most situations he didn't enjoy. That night we went upstairs to read books in bed at 7:45pm, like normal, and fell asleep around 8:15 or so. at 9:00pm for about 45 mins he was awake and screaming and crying, because of something he was remembering from the day. Then at one point he didn't want to wear his pull ups anymore because they were hurting him.

At 11:45 he was back up screaming and crying and asking for cocoa milk, which we do not give him in bed at night. He was very mad at us for not giving him his milk and kept on screaming and crying. We told him if he wouldn't calm down we would spank him and did. Finally after the spanking and giving him a sip of water he calmed down and went to sleep. At 12:15 am he was back up screaming and crying because Ryan, a boy at his party, had a toy of his (this happened earlier in the day). He was screaming and crying until 1:00am when we finally caved and gave him his milk so we could get some sleep. He slept from then until 6:30 and is up and crabby as ever.

This is why we keep to his routine, nap at 1:00pm, in bed reading books at 7:30 or 7:45. He is asleep, hopefully, by 8:30pm and no matter what time of day we put him to bed he is up around 6am. If we put him to bed and he sleeps at least 10hours that night he is a lot happier in the morning. If we go to Church on Wednesday night and get back late, go to a friends house, if he watches too much TV, or anything exciting happens before bed we reenact what happen last night. So when people tell me it doesn't matter what time he goes to bed because children are flexible. That is NOT the case for him, unfortunately he has always been a horrible sleeper from birth and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

I am sure our baby inside was wishing he never has to come out of there. It probably doesn't sound like a very happy place when Joshua goes off like that. I am looking for a very normal day today.

Please pray he gets better at sleeping during the night. Every night we pray he sleeps in until 7am. One of these days that will actually happen.