Sleep Thieves

I have not had a good night's rest in 6 weeks.  BOTH of my children are sleep thieves.

It's 2 a.m. and I am awake--and they are both asleep...only because I am holding the infant and Charm City Daddy is literally sleeping in bed with the toddler who has a death grip on his neck to keep him from leaving her side. Poor man--he's still in his work clothes. TANGENT: The other day, we were at a work event and he had a Gerber Graduates cereal bar in his pocket. I asked, "Aww, Daddy is that for Olivia?" He answered "No it's for me!"

Olivia has decided that hourly visits to mommy and daddy's room are FUN. There is a party going on in there with a TV and hey--Lucas is in there too! Last night the visits began at 11p.m. and continued until 3 a.m. MAKE.IT.STOP. We are considering utilizing the lock on her bedroom door. Look how far we've come as parents in a matter of days. First we had a hard time parting with the video surveillance and now we've totally gone "Flowers in the Attic" lock her little ass in there until morning. It's just the sleep deprivation talking, right? Please give me some assurance experienced parents.

Desperate for some rest, I even attempted some early "sleep training" with Lucas two nights this week, too. That means I forced him awake during the day every 2 hours. I gave him a bath, nursed and put him in his crib by 9 p.m.  He did well both nights for the first stretch of 4-5 hours and failed miserably between 2am-4am his new witching hour where he grunts, yells, moans, clears his throat, pants--basically makes every sound without ever crying but still conveying his discomfort and dissatisfaction with us as his caretakers.

As a baby--Olivia started sleeping in her longest overnight stretches by ten weeks, and while I know all babies are different--I am holding out hope that Lucas follows suit in 4 weeks or SOONER. With Olivia, however, I'm pretty sure I pumper her guts full of heavy formula at night--as a secret weapon. I nurse Lucas exclusively--so I may have to reserve at least one bottle of formula for him each night--just to get some sleep.

Until then little 2 to 4 hour stretches of sleep is all we get--if not interrupted by an Olivia visits.