Bedtime Craziness

Bedtime at our house is a constant struggle.  Between the five kids there are five very different routines. 

Tommy - At 12 years old he pretty much puts himself to bed.  He likes to get his sleep and will even opt to go to bed earlier than his usual bedtime if he is at all tired.

Conor - He would prefer to stay up all night and sleep all day.  Basically the nightly routine for Conor is that he sets up a sleeping bag in Joey & Logan's room (because he insists on sleeping with them instead of his bed in the room he shares with Tommy) and pretends to go to sleep when Joey goes to bed.  Then after Joey falls asleep he sneaks out of the room and either watches tv or plays video games until 9:30 p.m. on school nights and much later on weekends.  When he finally does go to bed he either sleeps on the floor in his sleeping bag or climbs into Joey or Logan's bed depending on his mood and bed availability.

Joey sound asleep in our bed

Joey - He goes to bed when asked and falls asleep within minutes.  Perfect right?  This instant slumber somehow results in a middle of the night wake up and a trek to Mommy and Daddy's bed at least 3 nights a week.  Sometimes he wakes up Logan to accompany him, sometimes he brings 2-3 stuffed animals with him, sometimes he comes in by himself.  In any case, he climbs right into our bed and spends the rest of the night firmly between us.  He has gotten really good at this (or I have gotten really used to this) because frequently I won't even wake up in the middle of the night when he sneaks in. 




Logan - This is our night owl.  He can stay awake far past any of the other kids.  He entertains himself with hand shadows, talks to himself, etc.  Musical beds is Logan's favorite pasttime when the lights go out.  If Conor is sleeping on the floor he may ask to do the same.  Within 5 minutes he will want to be on the top bunk with Joey.  Within 10 minutes he will want to be back in his bed on the bottom bunk.  Logan always wants me to snuggle with him, which I am just now starting to resist doing.  Mainly I am stopping this practice because I always fall asleep with him and then my night is shot.  Any hope of having any time without the kids, or any time with Jeff is gone if I fall asleep with Logan.  But I must say I miss it.  He is a great snuggler and I know that the clock is ticking on how long my kids will want to snuggle with me.  I cherish every minute of snuggle time but I also can't just ignore my husband every night to snuggle with Logan.  Working on a balance... instead I sit in the chair in his room until he falls asleep (which can take over an hour some nights!). Somehow Logan has also taught himself to wake up in the middle of the night and has recently started sneaking in our bed too.  It is a good thing we upgraded to a king sized bed this past year!

Emmie - The princess has her own lengthy bedtime routine. She needs her warm milk every night and also requests that we pat her back.  I have clocked over 1,000 back pats trying to put her to bed in one night.  She also likes us to lay on the floor next to her bed until she falls asleep- you can imagine how comfortable that is.  And she wakes up crying several times a night.  This whole waking up in the middle of the night thing is fairly new, probably within the past 3 months or so.  We also have to baby proof her bedroom door since her newfound freedom in a toddler bed allows her to get up and wander the house at all hours of the night.  Just last week we found her playing Hungry, Hungry Hippos in the game room in the middle of the night in the dark.

So basically a typical night in our house looks something like this -

8:00 p.m. - Jeff puts Emmie to bed (lasts 30 - 45 minutes)
8:30 - 9:00 p.m. - I start the pajamas, teeth brushing, books, etc. routine with Joey and Logan
9:00 p.m. - Lights out for Joey and Logan
9:02 p.m. - Joey is asleep
9:30 p.m. - Conor and Tommy go to bed
10:00 p.m. -  By this point I have told Logan to be quiet at least ten times, allowed him to get a drink of water twice, watched him move beds at least three times, listened to all of his stall tactics (I'm hungry, I have the hiccups, the tag on my pajamas is itchy, I'm not tired, etc.) and I am at my wits end!
10:15 p.m. - Now I have either given up and left Logan in his room awake, given up and climbed into bed with him, or he has given up and is finally asleep
Midnight - Emmie wakes up screaming and Jeff goes in her room (takes about 15 minutes and another 1k back pats to get her back to sleep)
1:30 a.m. - Joey climbs in our bed
3:00 a.m. - Emmie wakes up screaming again and this time I go in her room (more back patting required)
3:02 a.m. - Emmie screaming has woken up Logan who is now on the way to our bed and takes over my spot while I am in Emmie's room.
3:15 a.m. - I attempt to find a spot in our bed that isn't taken up by Jeff, Joey, or Logan.  Which usually means I am on the very edge of the bed being kicked by Logan for the remainder of the night. 
6:00 a.m. - The alarm goes off and I am left to wonder if I ever went back to sleep or if I have just been awake with my eyes closed since 3:15 a.m.

Now last night a miracle occurred - everyone stayed in the beds they fell asleep in and no one woke up in the middle of the night!  Does that mean Jeff and I got an amazing night's sleep?  Nope.  We both woke up in the middle of the night out of habbit.  What kind of cruel cosmic joke is that?

I do obviously look forward to a time when all of the kids just go to bed and stay in bed.  But, I also want to enjoy them being little.  And don't get me wrong some of the sweetest moments between us and the kids have occured during those middle of the night visits.  Whether it be Emmie inching closer to the edge of her bed to be closer to me, or Logan holding my face in his hands and telling me he loves me, or Joey wrapping his arms around my neck in his sleep, those moments do tend to make all the craziness of our nightime routine worthwhile.