and to think i signed up for this

today i woke up on the wrong side of the bed. literally. i literally woke up on the wrong side of gemma's bed. and it has been all downhill since then.

here's the story:

last night i stayed up later than i wanted to because i got caught up reliving lincoln's glory days. luckily calder stayed asleep when i put him in his crib so i thought to myself, maybe tonight i will get some decent sleep.

about 2:30am i wake up to gem screaming "mommy! mommy!" (i just taught her to say mommy and daddy, instead of mama and dada yesterday - cute but she also uses it to whine, not so cute). i stumble down to the end of the house and without thinking, scoop her up and tell her she can sleep in bed with me and daddy. she is elated.

when she was sick with that fever we let her sleep with us. now that is all she wants to do. she will run into our room, jump in the bed, pull up the covers and say, ni-nite! she will even do this when i bring her up from a very messy dinner and i have the bathwater or shower running.

linc and i used to say to each other, oh i can't wait for gem to come for us in the middle of the night for comfort. it will be so sweet. reality hits you hard, bro.

back to the story -

so for the next 2 hours gem is laying in between lincoln and i, wide awake, with a huge grin on her face. occasionally she would poke me in the face and point out things. or reaffirm to us that we are indeed her mommy and daddy. meanwhile i am shushing her and hoping lincoln is sleeping ok. his back is acting up and that is not good for us.

about 430 i hear calder start whimpering. some nights he settles down on his own. sometimes he just wants his bink. other nights he wants a bottle. last night was such a night. i go downstairs to make the bottle and tell gemma to stay put and go to sleep.

i'm in calder's dark room when i hear the scary movie sound effect of the pitter pattering of tiny feet. gemma had jumped out of the bed and was darting around upstairs looking for me. she comes barreling into the room talking as loud as possible. i've learned that getting the baby to go back to sleep after night feedings requires almost absolute quiet and darkness. she's in his room grabbing things, poking him, pulling down toys. and i am shushing her to no avail.

then she goes and slams the door to the master bedroom. i am hoping lincoln is still asleep because he is like a hibernating bear. do not wake him.

i get calder settled and gem has climbed back into the bed. it is now about 5am. normal wake up time is around 7. i am exhausted. i grab gemma and calder's monitor and head to her room. there i cram myself with her into her twin bed with all her dolls and blankets. she begs for me to sing rockabye baby. "baby ca" she says. i manage two songs then shush her once more and try to go to sleep.

i wake up about an hour later to her passed out sleeping diagonally with me barely on an inch or two of mattress. i creep back to my own bed where linc graciously lets me sleep for maybe an hour.

then both kids are up and ready to go.

oh and the pups peed in the downstairs bathroom. and not all of it went on the potty pads (pico can't always hold it cuz of his diabetes, i don't know what myla's excuse is).

then internet troubles. issues with the online banking. more frustration.

calder has decided he wants to eat every 2 hours instead of 3, but then likes to spit up for the next 15 minutes after he eats.

gemma almost smeared chocolate pudding all over the living room carpet. i grabbed her so quickly and roughly that the poor thing has a huge red mark on her arm.

gemma also has decided to play rough today and tried to kick calder in the head, somersault on top of him, and use the couch cushion to vault herself over us. wits end i tell ya.

then came naptime. it is getting harder and harder to get her to nap. i still don't know how long i should let her scream for. but today, since everything else has gone wonky, she figured out she could leave her bed. so she did just that. i let her play for a little bit while i folded laundry. but then she slammed the door on me. i opened it and told her it was naptime and to get in her bed. she did with the new pout face she likes to sport. as soon as i left she started her screaming.

a couple times i heard her open the door. i snuck up the stairs and saw her trying to climb over the baby gate we have blocking her door.

"get back in your bed!" she couldn't see me so she looked around all wide-eyed and scampered back into her bed.

eventually the screaming stopped. i went to check on her to make sure she hadn't passed out or something and the dang bedroom door was locked. she is just too smart. fortunately i was able to get it opened and found her asleep in her bed. hopefully she will sleep for a long time and we can start over. fingers crossed.