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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Who needs sleep?

A few weeks ago, not long after Brad and I had finally put Campbell down and got into bed ourselves, I woke up at 3:45 am to Brad jumping out of bed and running down the hallway leading to Peyton's room. I quickly followed him to find out what was going on and when I got to her room, Peyton was sitting up and screaming, "daddy, help me, they are biting me!" She was crying, screaming, and clawing at her legs. When I reached down to grab her and stop her from scratching herself, I then realized she was burning up. Turns out she had a 104 fever and was hallucinating, thinking that bees were stinging her. Seeing your two-year daughter hallucinate like that is truly disturbing, and I hope I never have to experience that again. Brad and I were able to give her some Tylenol, change her into lighter clothes, and then bring her back into bed with us so we could watch her and make sure her fever went down. Ever since that night, Peyton has slept horribly!! In her crib, she refused to lay down and go to sleep so she would actually fall asleep standing up, leaning against the railing. She absolutely had to have a night light or some sort of light on, something so unusual for her since she has always wanted the room dark at bedtime. She now has even claimed that it is scary being in the room by herself. She was so traumatized from the hallucination that she became scared of being in her own room. The girl is afraid of nothing. Well, except for feathers. That's right, my tough girly tomboy is afraid of the softest thing on the planet. Anyways. So, in an attempt to her to like bedtime again (and to finally move Campbell into the crib), we moved Peyton into her big girl room with her big girl bed. I should have known that my extremely busy, hyperactive toddler would realize that she is no longer confined to her bed and is able to get up as many times as her little heart desires. She literally gets up every hour, sometimes two or three times an hour. She has not been asleep before 11 pm for the past week and half since we moved her into her big girl room. The lack of sleep is starting to catch up on everyone. We are all grumpy, irritable, and snapping at each other. I have tried closing the door (she opens it with no problems even though the doorknob is from 1930), I have threatened her with spankings, I have given her spankings, I have lectured her on the importance of sleep, I have begged her, and I have cried to her. I even put a gate up in front of her door. What does she do? She simply removes it from the door frame, carefully lays it on the floor, and walks right by it. THE KID IS UNSTOPPABLE! Today, shortly after I arrived at work, someone asked me if I had been able to get any sleep lately and I just lost it. Talk about awkward! In between tears, I admitted that no, I haven't gotten any sleep for quite some time now. Campbell still does not sleep through the night, and now with Peyton getting up several times a night, sleep is nonexistent in this house. I have never wanted something so badly for Christmas, and it's not even April yet. I secretly fantasize about checking into a hotel room for a night (or two), and sleeping for hours and hours. Isn't that ridiculous? So here's to hoping. Hoping that Peyton will realize that sleep IS important and stay in her bed during the night. Hoping that Campbell will realize that she's almost seven months old and it's totally time to start sleeping through the night. Hoping that Brad and I will finally get some sleep. Wish us luck. We need it.

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