Sleep Deprivation

I've seen a lot of facebook posts on sleep deprivation due to babies waking or sleeping with parents.  I've also seen much wishful thinking that this phase will end soon.  I'm here to bust that bubble.  I'm guessing I'm not alone as I write from the perspective of a sleep deprived mom of preschoolers and grade schooler.  And yes, we have been woken up several times by our first grader this past week.  What is going on?!  I was once the parent of a preschooler who slept through the night completely, and babies/one year olds that did not sleep, but we longed and prayed that the day would come.  I want to say that we got more sleep when they were two and three than we do now. 

We have our good nights when only one child wakes us up, but last night was not one of those nights.  This weekend was not one of those weekends either.  First, our oldest came out of bed sleep walking at 10:00 PM, while we were still up in the family room, then again at midnight after we were sound asleep.  Then, at around 12:30, Gavin, one of the twins announces that he had a nightmare, but goes right back into his room, back to sleep the rest of the night after Brian tucks him back in.  Unfortunately, we were not so lucky with Ben.  Here's how our middle of the night/early morning hours went:

The exact times and what happened before Ben's consistent awakenings are a bit fuzzy to me, as Brian took care of putting the boys all back to bed on separate occasions, but I was awake enough to hear and see Ben in our doorway at around 1:00:

"Daddy?" (Waits for Daddy's "yes?" response.)  "I love you."  (Ben goes back into his bed, with Brian's assistance.)

1:30:  "Mommy?"  My response of "go back to bed, please" was not what he was looking for and therefore set him off into an eruption of rather loud fake crying, so first Brian gets up, then I go in and say, "Yes, Ben, what do you want to tell me?"  Ben responds with, "I love you."  Ah, now who wouldn't love being woken up in the middle of the night not once, but twice to hear that?  Me.  That's who.  Sure, it kept me from getting mad at him, but I still need my sleep.

3:00:  "Mommy?"  (Again in our doorway.)  "Yes?"  (I know how to properly respond this time, and immediately get out of bed to tuck him back in, realizing he likely keeps waking up because he's too cold so I add another blanket, hoping that will do the trick.)  "Hug?"  (Of course I hug him and say goodnight again.)

3:15  I hear coughing from Ben, so I get up to make sure he has water.  Ben jumps out of bed, saying he has to go pee, then jumps back in saying he doesn't.  Seeing how we were woken up EARLY Sunday morning with two bed wetters, I risk Ben becoming more alert by coaxing him to go to the bathroom. Willingly, he goes.  I get allergy medicine for him, hoping that will help with his cough.

3:30  Still more coughing and I hear an alarmed "Mommy!" from his bedroom.  He sounds congested and I hope the medicine kicks in soon.  Tuck back in again.  Give him more water.  Back to bed again.

I'm happy to report that the medicine finally kicked in and he (and his brothers) slept through the rest of the morning.  We woke up late, but everyone made it to school and work on time. 

Conversation this morning centered around staying in their own beds, in their own rooms ALL night.  Gavin proudly exclaimed that he only got up once and didn't crawl into our bed.  Yes, that is correct.  The boys like to take turns.  I'm sure it will be his turn tonight to keep this sleep deprivation game continuing on.