Lessons in Parenting

One of the parenting lessons that Rich and I have learned along the way is the difference in tiring your children out through exercise and activity versus having your children be exhausted due to lack of sleep. If you have learned this lesson as well, you know that tired children due to lack of sleep is not pleasant. Especially when there are three of them. Monday night was one of THOSE nights at our house.

We are fairly adament when it comes to sticking to The Schedule at our house and this weekend, the girls were in their cribs slightly past their normal bedtime. The later bedtimes combined with all the running around that occurred over the weekend finally blew up in our faces on Monday night. I should also note that the girls did not have great naps over the weekend either. Which is fairly typical for them.

Monday, after work, we needed to pick the Volvo up from the mechanic's place. I suggested that we pack the girls up and take them for the drive. This lead to another slightly late bedtime for the girls. Well, they went INSANE. Rich went into their room several times in an attempt to calm them down and as the clock progressed, so did the crying. Yes, it does pain me to hear them crying but I know that they are only doing so because they are exhausted and they KNOW that someone will eventually go back into their room if they keep screaming.

This went on for more than two hours. Finally, at 10:20ish Rich and I reached an agreement to bring all three of them into our bed and then return them to their cribs once they fell asleep. It worked at first. All three were lying on their backs. Anna, who was next to me, was having trouble keeping her eyes open. I could hear Allie breathing and assumed that she was asleep. Well, Em decided she wanted to flip over onto her tummy. That disrupted everyone and we were back to square one.

We then decided to revert to the old "Everyone Take a Baby" approach and off I went to wake up Grammy. Emily is definitely the most attached to me but she was in the middle of the bed so I decided to hand her over to Grammy. She flipped out. Rich said to me, "I'm surprised that you picked Em to go with Grammy seeing how attached she is to you." What was I supposed to do? Anna was lying next to me and I could see that she was enjoying that cuddle time. As a parent to three who are the same age, these situations are really just so emotionally difficult.

Rich ended up leaving Allie with Grammy and took Em. Anna curled up onto me and fell asleep in less than two minutes. I waited about ten minutes and then plopped her down in her crib before heading in to fetch Allie from Grammy's bed. I have to tell you that Allie feels so much heavier than Anna. I thought I was going to fall over trying to lay her down in her crib without dropping her. There is only a few pounds weight difference between the two of them but I could sure feel it.

Em was awake early the next morning but Allie and Anna slept until 9:00 AM. The girls tried to repeat Monday night's episode last night but there was no way I was allowing it. I told Rich that they needed to cry it out and that we were not going in their room. Well, wouldn't you know that after screaming, they stopped and I could hear Allie talking normally. I was not fooled; those little munchkins know exactly what they are doing.

I was at home this morning as Grammy had an appointment. I did not have to go into their room until almost 9:00. That's when I was positive that all three were awake. Finally, a morning where no one is crying. I should note here that this will NEVER happen on a weekend. Oh, no.