Insomniacs

Being the mother of four is certainly keeping me on my toes. Whether it's the tantrums of my two year old, the hormones and attitude of my six year old, the stubborness of my four year old, or the dependancy of my infant, there is never a day without something to challenge me (and that's saying nothing of the attention I should somehow be giving my husband! Good thing he has his new job to keep him busy and his mom to keep him company -for now). Every day brings something new. One challenge in particular we've been facing this past week is sleep. I personally have been struggling for a while but adding more sleep interuptions isn't helping. I used to take great pride in what great sleepers my kids were. They would retire early and all take naps, at the same time even, allowing me a "sanity break" in the day. Those days are gone and I miss them desparately. My two year old won't even nap anymore!
The baby is doing well to get back to sleep after her middle of the night feedings; I, however can't seem to "shut off" my mind once I put her back to bed. I lay awake dreaming up ideas for how to set up our new house when that day comes, or thinking of the tasks for the day ahead, or thinking of nothing at all, just not sleeping. Then, if I am so lucky as to begin to fall back to sleep, either it's time for the baby to eat again, or I get a visit from Allie. She has always been a good sleeper but this past week refues to sleep without all the lights on and doors open. Even then, she wanders to my room multiple times every night and tries to get in my bed; which I am adamantly against, so I take her back up stairs over and over and over. The other night, as I carried her back to her room, I saw that my father-in-law was also awake, reading in his study. On my third trip up to Allie's room, I found my mother-in-law awake folding laundry (mine), and after my fourth trip up, she stopped me at the top of the stairs and took Allie to her bed so I could try and sleep. No sooner did I get cozy in my covers than I got another visitor. Aubrey came down to our room having been awakened by a nightmare. I took her back upstairs and getting her back to bed, woke Alexis up. When I got back to my room, Adam was awake wondering what was going on. I laughed to myself at the irony that at 4:30am, my mother and father-in-law, my three oldest children, my husband and I, lay wide awake...while the baby slept! Perhaps I need to fill a family sized perscription for Ambien.