One Week on the New Bedtime Routine

We started a new bedtime routine for the adults in the Cradle Rocking Casa last week, and it turned out…interesting.  I thought I’d share how it worked out.

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The first night was Thursday, the 10th.  As promised, I went to bed with the kids.  And I laid in bed, wide awake, until 11:00 p.m.

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Friday the 11th, we were a little slow getting the bedtime routine started for the kids so we weren’t all in bed until closer to 8:30 p.m. (rather than our usual 8:00 p.m.).  I was sound asleep by 9:30 p.m., but I slept horribly!  Bad dreams and frequent wake-ups plagued me all night long.

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Saturday the 12th, we were so busy un-decorating the house from Christmas that I didn’t get any kitchen cleaning or diaper folding done during daylight hours.  Even though the kids were in bed at their normal bedtime, I got busy cleaning up and wound up staying awake until <hangs head> 2:30 a.m.  Hey – I mentioned I was a night owl by nature!  Once I finished the kitchen, the diapers, tidying up the living room, I was inspired by something and wanted to write about it so I got busy blogging, and next thing I knew?  It was the middle of the night!  Ugh!

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Sunday the 13th, the kids were down by 8:15 p.m.  Or so we thought.  Mr. Happy was sound asleep…until I tried to get out of bed.  The instant my feet touched the floor, he popped awake with a cry.  I jumped back into bed, and tried to nurse him back to sleep.

That’s when the Geek decided to get some ice out of the freezer, and the ice decided to come out in a big clump that broke into two large pieces that banged like a drum as they fell back into the ice bin.  Mr. Happy popped up, wide awake, and started bouncing.  The Geek was SO apologetic, I capitalized on his guilt and handed the wide-awake baby over to Daddy!  I only had a couple of little things I needed to do on the computer and I had every intention of heading off to bed quickly.

Before I could get to the office, Mr. Charm came out of his bedroom.  “Baby?” he asked.  I told him that Daddy had the baby, but he wasn’t happy with that answer.  I went back into his room and tried to put him to sleep, but he was still not happy with the fact that his brother was crying so loudly.  I turned on the white noise machine to try and drown out the cries and soothe him to sleep.

He came back out to the kitchen a few minutes later, pointing to his ears and saying “Boo-boo!”  then he dragged me into his bedroom and pointed at the white noise machine.  Apparently, it offends his ears.  Who knew?

Then he still wouldn’t go to sleep because of his brothers crying.  He kept asking for his brother, with this adorable, sad look on his face, pointing to his ears and saying “Boo-boo”.  Finally I traded kiddos with the Geek, and by about 10:00 p.m., both kids were actually asleep.  After finishing the things I needed to do, we didn’t get to bed until closer to midnight.

Then, Mr. Happy had such horrible teething pain that he woke me up at 3:00 a.m. and the two of us couldn’t get back to sleep until a little after 4:30 a.m.  Plus, he nursed every 2 hours all night long.  What a rotten night.

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Monday the 14th, we made the tough call to give Mr. Happy some acetaminophen for his teething pain at night.  I was almost done letting my fellow FPIES Mama’s on Facebook know what we had decided (their input had helped guide us in our decision, as our GI never bothered to call us back today) when Mr. Happy woke back up and needed to nurse again.  So I didn’t get to bed until almost 11:00 p.m., and he woke up again  wanting to nurse.  So sleep didn’t come until closer to 11:30 p.m.

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Tuesday the 15th, I thought I’d be clever and “stuff” Mr. Happy with an extra feeding at 7:00 p.m. – just early enough that he’d still eat at bedtime, but close enough that his little belly would be extra full and he’d maybe not wake up until after midnight.

It backfired.  He fell asleep!  I interrupted his feeding to quick change him into his pajamas and give him his acetaminophen, then raced to the bedroom to finish nursing him back to sleep.

Apparently, it was a power nap.  Charged him right up until he finally went down at 9:30 p.m.  Ugh.  So, I didn’t fall asleep until a little after 11:00 p.m.

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Wednesday the 16th, the Geek had his tooth yanked out of his head.  Consequently, he was on pain killers and not exactly feeling 100%.  Therefore, I took on the brunt of the bedtime routine duties for both kiddos, which made bedtime, um, late.  Then, in an ever-so-wistful manner, the Geek mentioned that he really  wished we had some bananas to make some more banana ice cream because that would sure make his mouth feel better.

Since Mr. Happy was in pain and not wanting to go to sleep yet, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone: put Mr. Happy in his carseat and drive him into beddy-bye while heading out to the grocery store to buy some bananas for the Geek.  (They recently opened a grocery store about 12 minutes from our house, as opposed to our previous 30 minute drive.)

It worked.  Mr. Happy was out within minutes of leaving the house (A-MEN!) and I arrived home with enough bananas for 6 batches of ice cream.

By the time the bananas were sliced up and in the freezer, and everything else was taken care of, it was after midnight before we got to bed.

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So, that was one week of my big attempt to go to bed when the children do.

I’d say I failed miserably.  

I did manage to get to bed earlier than my midnight-1:00 a.m. usual for 4 nights out of 7, so I guess that’s something, but still.  Didn’t exactly meet my goal this week.

As with anything in life, it boils down to two things:

1. Things IN my control.
2. Things OUT of my control.

For my part, if I want to have a chance at all to go to bed by 8:00-9:00 p.m., I have to prepare for it as early as three or four in the afternoon.

The kitchen needs to be clean enough that after-dinner cleanup is quick and easy.
Whatever laundry I’m doing needs to be done before the Geek gets home from work.
Any computer work I need to do needs to be done at naptime.

Because if I get OUT of bed for any reason after nursing Mr. Happy to sleep?  I’m not going to bed before 11:00 p.m.

On the flip side, there are things outside of my control.  I have kids – unpredictable is the name of the game!  They will fight bedtime, have teething pain, wake up in the middle of the night, drag out bath time as long as possible, and generally make things hard on their parents regarding sleep.

Furthermore, I have kids with medical issues.  They have reactions that make you worry and want to check on them as they sleep.  They have reactions that make it impossible for them to sleep.  They have reactions that make you get on the computer to seek out any help or advice you can get, even if you choose to give up sleep to do so.

Not to mention, it IS life, after all.  Who could have predicted the Geek would break a tooth in half this week?  The unknown can always jump up and wreak your plans. 

So, in the end, I learned what I need to do to get to bed early.

I’ll keep trying to make it happen.

But at least now I know that in reality?  It probably won’t.  

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Anyone else happy to just get in bed before midnight?