night life.

sometimes i feel it's important just to record the daily, or nightly events in our life together...

background: elliot is committed to keeping us on our toes in the night hours. two nights this week, he slept from 7 until 5ish, but then the next two nights he has woken up around 11 and cried and cried. i instinctively think that something must be wrong with him, ear infection? digestive? uhhhh something else? brian says nothing is wrong with him, that this is just what he does. urg. it's a good thing that he is the sweetest little thing during the day!
so, here goes last night.

while i was out with some friends for dinner, oliver and abigail co-conspired to sleep together in oliver's top bunk. oliver goes through this speech every night where he explains that he can't sleep alone because he gets scared. i offer elliot every night, but he says elliot doesn't make him feel better, abigail doesn't make him feel better, leaving a light on doesn't make him feel better, or leaving the door open doesn't make him feel better. only nic or mom or dad make him feel better. he would like one of us to sleep in his top bunk with him every night. sounds reasonable. riiiiight.

so, last night, i suppose he agreed to a "second rate" solution by having abi spend the night. surprisingly, they fell asleep fine. elliot woke up at 11. i debated whether to let him cry as i tried to fall asleep only to wake up soon after, or just nurse him. guess which one i chose? the easier one of course. (i know, i know, this is probably the reason that he is still waking up at night. and just so you know, all of our other kids slept through the night at the appropriate time... i'm my wimpiest now.) so, i nursed him and laid him back down, only to have it backfire on me. i laid in bed listening to him cry for around 30 mins. then, at 2:30 he woke back up, we did the same song and dance, then at 5:30 it was repeated... only this time, as i was nursing, i hear abigail start calling me. and then daddy, and then mommy, and then daddy. really loudly. i remembered that brian had strategically placed the pillow over his head so he couldn't hear. and i remembered that abigail was in the top bunk and i really didn't want her to fall out. but elliot was latched on. so what to do?

i let him finish as she screamed and went to check on her. it turns out she had "lost" her blankie in the night. i searched in the dark while oliver begins his speech to abigail that she had promised not to be loud if she was going to sleep in there. she threw her blanket over the side of the bunk. whew. i found it in the dark. i said, "oliver go back to sleep."
he replies, "oh, this is so hell."
which is always nice to hear a preacher's son cussing at 5:30. (and i say this cussing is the preacher's fault because he got him a comic book once that said "what the hell?" in it. not sure why we haven't thrown it away, because it reminds oliver of the word every time he sees it.) i bring abigail back to bed with me and as soon as i drift back to sleep thinking of writing a post about oliver cussing, she asks for a sip of water. i agree. then all of us over-sleep until 8am.
except nic. he has avoided this whole circus and is dressed and ready for school when we get up. you gotta love that kid!

thankfully, coffee and morning smiles make all the bad stuff go away.