Talk About A Long Night!

Douglas has taught himself how to get out of his bed.

Let me go back a little bit...a few months ago, before our last trip to Illinois, Douglas got out of his crib one time in the middle of the night. I think it was an accident because he didn't do it again for a while. Then we went to Illinois for a visit and on July 12 (my birthday!), he got out of the pack 'n play that we were using for his bed. And that was it...just those two times until this week.

Our house is kind of torn apart at the moment due to the installation of the new HVAC system - Douglas's room being in the worst shape of all. So, right now, all three of us are sleeping in the guest room/sewing room. Douglas has been sleeping in a pack 'n play and has been since we got home from Illinois in July. Two days ago, I was doing some cleaning/straightening in the sewing room and happened to have a storage tote parked right next to the PnP. Douglas climbed up on the tote and flipped himself into the PnP....and promptly got right out again. This went on & on for about an hour. It kept him quite entertained. He didn't put his new skill to use again until yesterday.

We had a playdate yesterday morning and on our way home, I noticed that Douglas looked VERY sleepy, so I expected that he would fall asleep in the car. Nope. We got home & I made some lunch. Douglas looked VERY sleepy so I figured he would fall asleep in his highchair. Nope. So, when he was done with lunch I put him in the PnP for nap time. And he promptly got out. And I put him back. And he got out. This cycle went on for about 30 minutes before I finally gave up. He didn't nap at his normal time but I finally got him to go to sleep around 3:30 and he slept for about an hour. This is about half as long as he's normally been napping. Needless to say, he was kind of grumpy and so was I. At this point, I really began to dread bedtime. As you all know, Tuesday is NCIS night at our house.l usually I would have Douglas in bed no later than 7:30 but since he napped late, I let him stay up. At 8:45, I put him in bed. And he promptly got out. And I put him back. And he promptly got out. And I put him back. This cycle lasted for an hour and a half. Allen got involved as well and Douglas got several spankings throughout the process. I can easily say that I was spent emotionally. Frustration was running HIGH and I even broke down crying at one point. Finally, at 10:15 I realized that he was asleep and this great wave of relief washed over me! The battle was over!!! I went to bed shortly after that but I should have known that although the battle was over, the war was still being waged.

Douglas woke up at 2 am and despite my best efforts to get him BACK to sleep, he just wanted to be up. I brought him out to the living room, gave him some juice, changed his diaper, rocked/bounced/walked him but still no luck getting him back to sleep. I put him back in bed and he promptly got up. And I put him back. And he promptly got up. And the cycle continued. I didn't want to wake Allen up (because, like I said before, we all are sleeping in the same room) so finally, after Douglas had been up for 2 hours, I packed him in the car and drove around the lake a few times. He FINALLY went back to sleep about 4:30 and stayed that way until just after 6am. I got him up & brought him out to the living room again, gave him his juice & cuddled with him until we both went back to sleep. Douglas woke up at about 8 (although I had been awake for a while before that due to him tossing & turning).

Needless to say, I am exhausted today and decided to forgo our usual routine (going to the library for storytime) and am blowing off our "new" routine (playdate with the kids we met yesterday). I am sincerely hopeful that today will be better than yesterday but at the same time, I have a lingering fear that today's battles will be much, much, much worse than yesterday's.

SO...if any of you mom's out there have ANY advice for me WHATSOEVER, my ears are open and I am listening!!!