A letter to my girls

Dearest Daughters,

You know that Mommy loves you more than any person or any object, creation or idea in this whole wide world. Yes, the whole wide world. I consider it to be an absolute joy to snuggle close and "wock" and smell your baby hair but unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy are human beings and we require sleep in order to function so this activity is going to have to be limited to bedtime not 11:00 pm or midnight or 4:00 am.

Emily Blessing, you are most definitely a blessing even when you are screaming in the middle of the night. I love you, little one, and I don't want to see you upset or in pain so you need to use your words and tell Mommy what is bothering you.

Anna, Anna, Anna... my precious pumpkin, I am aware that you don't like to be disturbed while you are sleeping and if this does occur, you would like for Mommy to curl up on the floor next to your crib while you fall asleep. Oh, Anna, Mommy would love nothing more than to watch you drift off to sleep each night but Mommy's superhuman powers are waning.

And Allie, my big independent girl, thank you for quickly falling back to sleep in your crib after accepting a hug. Mommy appreciates your cooperation.

Love,

Mommy

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I started the above for yesterday's blog post and then wasn't able to finish it. The girls all have runny noses. No fever. No cough. Just snot. (Em and Allie ran around last night clearing out their noses with the bulb syringes - aka "The Boogie Machine.") I knew we were in trouble Monday night when Em woke up screaming three times before I could even get to bed myself. That NEVER happens. Anymore.

To make a long, painful story short, I was up quite a few times with Emily throughout Monday night. Twice, she woke up Anna and you NEVER EVER want to wake up Anna in the middle of the night. Some of the highlights of Monday night include Allie's adorable giggling while she was sleeping. Anna and Em, who were awake at the time, took that to be an open invitiation to start laughing as well. And then there is Anna, who I thought was half asleep, announcing, "Fix, fix," when I straightened out a lump in her sheets. And Em who had to say, "Choo choo," when we heard a train go by at four o'clock in the morning.

Tuesday night was bad. The girls would not go to sleep. I think Allie might of had it not been for the hysterical screaming of the other two. It took us until after 9:30 to have all three sleeping in their cribs. At one point, I thought we were going to have to splash Anna's face with cold water; she was stuck in crying mode and would not calm down. Em was up at 11:00 screaming. She ended up sleeping in the bed with us. She's doing this weird thing where her eyes are closed but she's crying out and rolling around. I think it may have to do with her nose being stuffed up but they have had these minor colds before and I thought she was mostly through this round of teething. I should mention that teething episodes have been bad here and there but nothing like this.

So, when Em was a baby she slept in the bed with me. She was a horrible sleeper and it was the only way for me to sleep. I would always hold her feet and legs against my stomach with the thought that she would have to kick me to move around and that would wake me up. When we moved into our new house, Em continued her bad sleeping and often spent many nights in our bed until their pediatrician told us that if she might never learn to sleep in her crib. Em used to sleep sideways in our bed with her feet on me. I remember one night when I had a dream that someone was smothering me with a pillow. I awakened to find Em's sleepsack and feet over my face. By nine months old, Em was sleep "trained" out of our bed.

Last night, Em continued to sleep sideways, as she does most nights in her crib as well. It was so precious to see her little face smooshed next to Rich. This morning, though, she had turned almost completely upside down and she was sleeping with her face in Rich's armpit.

I think their two-year molars are coming in. This is bad. Very bad. They have been drooling up a storm. Anna constantly has a finger in her mouth and Allie has been biting much more than usual. Two-year molars times three. OUCH!!