Battles

We've been fighting some major battles over here lately.  And I am e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d.  Join me in my exhaustion for a minute, would you?

Battle #1: Griffin doesn't sleep.  I have no idea what is going on with this kid, but he won't sleep through the night.  He takes a great morning nap and as far as "great sleep" goes...that's it.  He will sometimes take a good afternoon nap and sometimes they are about 30 minutes only.  So he's tired and ill by the time bedtime rolls around.  Once he's in bed for the night, he sleeps for about 3 hours and then starts waking up every 2-3 hours the rest of the night.  Only to be "up for the day" at 6am.  Although this week he's decided that 5am is his precious waking hour.  What is happening??  I've tried everything.  And I mean everything.  Even his pediatrician has no more answers for me, ha!  I really don't mind the early rising---if I can actually sleep through the night!

He's pretty happy for someone who never sleeps... :)

Battle #2: Hadley is almost 3 years old and she still has a paci.  "Baba" as she is affectionally known around these parts.  She's got a nice open bite from sucking on that thing and we are already saving for the braces she's going to have to have to correct everything, haha!  She only gets it at night now, but, she's a stinker and she'll disappear during the day.  I'll go looking for her and she's hiding under the blankets with baba in her mouth.  She knows she's not supposed to have it, so she does it secretly. I can't fault her in that, she got that sinful nature from me! ;)  I've even tried bribing her.  She really, really wants a big girl back pack. I tried to talk it up to her:
    "Here's the deal.  You can have your very own big girl back pack when you decide to get rid of baba!  It will be great!  You can pick it out yourself and carry it to school..." yadda yadda yadda.
     She was so excited about getting a back pack until I told her she had to give up baba in order to get it.  Then she looked at me and kind of shrugged her shoulders and said:
    "Well, I really, really like baba."

And that was it.  Like baba means more to her than a shiny, new backpack.  David put her to bed last night and she was talking all about a new backpack and told him, "But Mommy says I can't have one until I get rid of baba." *facepalm*

Dried milk on her face, hair in her eyes, this is my girl.

Battle #3: Hadley is losing her ever loving mind when we drop her off at school.  It just started a week ago.  She's been going for about a year now and has loved it.  She loved it so much we decided to send her during the summer. (Also because...hello mommy time!) She got moved up to the next class at the beginning of the summer and even loved that.  The girl talked all the time about "the big girl class".  But all of a sudden, she hates going.  She screams and cries hysterically and clings to me and I feel like the worst mother in the world.  BUT.  She has so much fun during the day.  She stops crying a few minutes after I leave and when I pick her up, she's participating in the class, playing with her friends, and tells me about all the things she did at school.  I've asked her if something happened to make her not want to go, I've asked her if she gets put in time-out, if someone is mean to her, etc. and she says no.  We've watched Daniel Tiger's "Grown-ups Always Come Back" video a bazillion times and sing the song.  Daddy took her to school today and she did the same thing to him.  She's going through some type of something because this is just so unusual.  And unnerving.  And heartbreaking for Momma. (But not heartbreaking enough to lose "mom time"!!)


I'm sorry, when did you turn sixteen??

I'm definitely trying to pick my battles and I think the first one I'll tackle is the sleepless nights.  I don't know how I'll do it, but something's got to give soon!  Some people are blessed with kids who sleep like rocks right out of the womb.  I was not one of those people, ha!  But I sure got some cute ones.  If I'm going to be up, at least I get to stare at their cute faces!

 

His "I don't think this is going to go how you expect it to" face.