Sleep Who Needs It?

Sleep is a mysterious thing when it comes to kids. Prior to being a mom I wouldn't have given kids and their sleep habits a second thought.  With Gianna we were spoiled by her amazing sleep habits. She was sleeping 10 hrs a night by 3 weeks and eventually slept 12 to 13 hours a night. Sammy is a wonderful baby but he wakes up once or twice a night still. I know a lot of people would let him cry it out but I am just can't do it. He is also teething pretty badly and I think he wakes up in pain.  I am okay with him waking up because I know that soon he will sleep thru the night.

Gianna on the other hand is now 3 yrs old and is going through a super tough phase...She is no longer napping which is fine but the problem is that no matter what time she goes to bed she wakes up between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning.  If I get to her to nap (which is a huge accomplishment these days) she stays up until around 9ish and then is up at the crack of dawn. So we have abandoned naps all together and just do a stay in your room and read books rest time. The lack of sleep and early waking has put a huge strain on our relationship and made life pretty unpleasant. I am already getting up with Sammy 1 or 2x a night so when I have G at my bedside at 4:30am it is not fun.  This has been going on for 3 weeks and I am really wiped out. Not to mention the fact that I miss my sweet girl and I am sure she misses her nice mom.   I know I am crabby when I don't get enough sleep and so is she. Every day that hubby works and I am on my own I feel like I have accomplished such a huge feet by making it to bed time.

Bedtime has also become a big drama.  Each night she comes out of her room and asks me about 10 different questions.  After trying so many different strategies I think the one that is really working is the super nanny tactic of no conversation just putting her back to bed.  Tonight will be the first true test because she took a nap at preschool and will have renewed energy (ahhhhhh!!!). There have been plenty of nights though where she has pushed me over the edge and I have not been proud of the way I have handled things. I guess G is getting to see how human mom really is and that I make many bad decisions also. I make her apologize when she does something wrong and I do the same when I mess up.

So lately I have been getting her to sleep around 5:15pm...I know that sounds early but she is not napping and wakes up super early. I am praying that this will let up soon and even wonder if any of it has a spiritual element to it. Man can Satan mess with your family by ruining sleep. I keep saying this too shall pass I am just wondering if it could come soon.