Go the F*** to sleep!

 Sleep. It's overrated.

Whoever made up that saying needs a punch in the face.

If Kaelyn won't sleep then no one's sleepin in our house! That's my saying. I thought once she was past the infancy stage sleep would get better. She had me fooled for a long time and was doing great with sleep. Sure we had some adjustments to overcome when we first moved into our house. She has never been one to cry when you try and put her down for bed or naps. She always went to sleep right away. Our only hurdle has been keeping her asleep the entire night. She liked to wake up around 2am. Well, things have been a lot different around here the last few weeks. My new saying now, thanks to the book is- Go the F*** to Sleep!

http://youtu.be/3MkOieIdhY0

(If you haven't heard of this book it's great! The link under it is for a You Tube video of a grandma reading this book to her grandbaby. I have shared this video before. There are a lot of videos of people reading this book. Samuel L Jackson has one too.... but since he narrates well, pretty much everything I figured I would give a shout out to this Grandma instead.)

It all started with the naps. She just didn't feel like taking them. She would be quiet in her room for awhile so I didn't see any harm in her not sleeping. Then at about dinner time her crazy side would come out because she was exhausted! There was no reasoning with her. Some days she would nap, others she wouldn't. That doesn't work for me. I need a schedule! One day I even climbed in her crib to see if laying with her would help. Yes, 6 month pregnant 5ft tall me climbed in her crib. As if getting in wasn't hard enough I hadn't really planned my exit strategy. For a minute I really thought I would be stuck in there until Aaron came home from work. We still had her in her crib because..well...were lazy I guess. She had never tried to climb out of it and once we were pregnant with the nameless one we knew Kaelyn would be moving rooms and getting a new bed so we just decided to keep her in the crib until we got her new room ready. (Which is still not ready) Sometime within the last few weeks she has found her athletic side and managed to find a way to pole vault out of her crib without making a sound. I would hear her throw all her animals on the ground but never heard her climb out until she was knocking on her bedroom door to come out of her room. Awesome. Aaron took the rail off the crib. Problem solved right? Oh no, the problems were just starting!

At first she thought it was cool that she could just climb into bed on her own. She was grabbing all her books and playing around. Once it was time for bed we laid her down, read a book and closed the door. SCREAMING started within seconds. Not just any screams, serious screams. I am certain she wrote letters to the Linda Blair fan club and learned how to channel the noises that girl made in the Exorcist.  (Regan was a name I liked for the nameless one but now that I know that's the name of the girl in the movie it's officially not an option!) She didn't have the green puke but had green snot so it was close. Screaming isn't even the correct word for the noises she was making, I have never heard her make sounds like this. She would beat her head on the door and if you tried to go in her room she would push on the door to keep you out. We tried letting her cry it out but once the self abuse beings with the head banging on the door you have to intervene. She thought she broke her bed and that's why the rail was off. The only way she would sleep was if one of us would lay on the floor in her room until she passed out. This only works for a few days because sleeping on the floor when you are pregnant is simply awful. After a few nights of this, trying everything and no progress Aaron put the rail back on the crib to show Kaelyn she didn't really break her bed. Problem solved. Nope. We heard some noises in there but nothing major, no big thuds. We figured that it was just her tossing out her stuffed animals. Aaron and I were watching some TV on the couch when I saw her little face peeking around the corner from the kitchen! It's official, she is a cross between an Olympian and MacGyver.

She acted terrified of the bed now. Saying she was scared of it. Wouldn't even let us put her into it. Was she having nightmares???  Maybe letting her snuggle with Aaron while she was half asleep and he was watching the Walking Dead the other night was a bad idea... I was starting to think we would have to be those parents that co-slept with their kids until they were 10. Um no...we don't co sleep in this house. She is almost 3 she can sleep in her own room. Sure, she comes into our room when she wakes up early in the morning and we aren't ready to get up or if there is a wind storm and we are paranoid a tree will land on her room. (If you think we are crazy for that one just come peek at our backyard. You will understand.) But there will be no sleeping in our bed every night, or us sleeping on your floor. Go the F*** to sleep! I was feeling tortured, I knew that some of the reason she has been acting out more lately was because she was tired. Now the exhaustion had hit me and you just can't throw tantrums like a 2 year old. I would think about how awful it is going to be when new baby comes if she still isn't sleeping. I tried to tell her she would feel better if she just got some sleep. However, trying to explain that to a toddler doesn't really work. So last night we made an attempt with the crib again. No luck. We decided to lay her in the guest room (her soon to be new room) with a few books. She was out within 10 minutes. I didn't know if I wanted to do a happy dance or cry. Weeks of issues changed in 10 minutes!

She slept for 11 hours straight. She went the f*** to sleep!

Moms- Have you had sleeping issues out of nowhere with your kids? If so PLEASE help me with any tips that worked for you! Thanks. :) Cross your fingers that night #2 goes just as easy!