A lot has been been going on during this last month of a post-less blog. So much in fact that blogging has been an impossible feat. No worries, though, because Momma has made some mental notes.
A couple of weeks ago, in the middle of the night before I was to get up and run a 5k, host a bridal shower and then a bachelorette party and also get two kids to soccer games….. I heard CL’s first yell of the night. Remember her attempts of trying to get one of us to come get her out of her bed? For a reminder you can click here. I was already looking at only 4-5 hours of sleep after I stayed up late icing the shower cake and had an early rise for the race. So when I heard, ‘Mommmmmaaaaaa! MommmA! Mommmmyyyyyy!’ I quickly got up and got some water for her and went in there. Usually a little sip is the best way to get her back to sleep. She took a drink and quietly laid back down. Within seconds of me laying back in bed, I heard again ‘Ahhhhhhhhhh! Mommmmmmmaaaaaaaa!’ A little more forceful this time. I elbowed Daddo who swears he never hears anything until I wake him.
Daddo and I are both determined to get through this short time of her not sleeping well. All of our kids go through these phases more than once. They realize they don’t like sleeping in their own beds; whether they’re scared, lonely or just feel our bed is more comfortable. They all try to one way or another make their way into our queen-sized private quarters. And poor CL is still realizing that as the fourth child, she’s dealing with parents who have seen all of the different kinds of attempts at getting our attention, melting our hearts, changing our minds or just being manipulative. She gets no where and quickly gives up on whatever her ulterior motives were. Same goes for the sleeping schemes.
Daddo went in there to give her the quick hug he does before he lays her back down for what usually ends up being the last time until morning. This night though he walked back into our room holding her close to him saying she’d pooped. The almost two year old has pretty much potty trained with the #2 simply because she can’t stand the nastiness in her diaper. So if she did go while sleeping she’d be super mad. I got up and looked in the back of her diaper and saw it was clean. He said again how he definitely smelled poop but we concluded with the possibility she just tooted and it lingered. Maybe her tummy hurt a little. Let me mention that all this time in our room and in her’s we haven’t turned on any lights yet and can only see what ever light our eyes allow in the darkness. Dating back to our first couple weeks home as first time parents, we stick to the rule of nighttime quiet and little stimulation to keep nighttime and daytime understood. We don’t want to rouse her or her brothers any more than we have to when ever we get up with a kid at night. So Daddo took her back to her bed once again. Seconds after he laid down in bed she hollered again for him but not in her usual soft and sweet voice. ‘Daaaaddddyyyyy!’
With a grunt and toss of the covers he stomped back in there. I heard her cough and cry a little, then he said ‘Momma come in here.’
He told me to turn on the light, and it was only then that we realized the extent of our problems. This wasn’t just a kid who was trying to get in our bed. This was a sick kid. There was throw up all over her mattress, pillows, blankets, clothes, in her hair from wiping it out of her face; splattered across the floor and down the crib rails. Jake had it on him from holding her when he smelled ‘poop.’ Therefore it was in our bed after he had come back to lay down while we ‘taught her a lesson of independent sleeping.’
And as I lifted one of her soaked blankets, I saw there was dried throw up from when we allowed her to cry her self back to sleep a couple hours earlier in the night.
I had to put the poor baby in the shower as Daddo stripped the bed complete with her stuffed animals and pillows. As he sprayed everything with the water hose outside, I dressed her in new pjs and put her in bed with a clean sheet. I was thinking that was all she had in her and the rest of the night would be uneventful. Daddo got on the couch because of the throw up on his side of the bed. I was too stubbornly tired to change my sheets and carefully laid in bed clearly away from where any chunks were possibly lying. To make a long, gross story short, I was in and out of her room three more times, with three different sheets and finally only a diaper-clad toddler by sunrise. I woke up at 6 am with only about 3 hours of sleep. I was a little shocked still and a bit angry at how the night had gone. Obviously we can’t control germs and illnesses, but when your plan doesn’t go as you wanted and actually backfires literally in your face (and hands, and clothes) it’s a little unnerving. If we had just turned on the light or just paid more attention to her surroundings, we easily would’ve noticed the mess. If we had gone straight into her room the first time she cried for us earlier in the night, then the mess in her bed would’ve been smaller.
One of the best traits for a parent is to be STUBBORN. I get that honestly and although it doesn’t help with a lot of other aspects of my life, it is truly a blessing to have when you’re parenting and trying to ‘guide’ your children. That stubborness definitely backfired that night, as it will again many times in our journey as parents. But that same stubborn attitude we have to have as Momma and Daddo will help our kids too. And it helps us keep going. Even with little sleep that day, Daddo and I still had to keep going… he got the boys to their soccer games, and I ended up winning 3rd in my race.
Be stubborn. Don’t give in. Lead your kids and be consistent. Sure, you’re gonna get some throw up all over you sometimes, but most of the time you’ll get your way. And that’s the best way.
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