What am I doing blogging at this hour?

Maggie is fully in the "in-between" phase: that terrible space between requiring a nap every day and being able to happily make it without. Her sleep confusion was compounded by spending three and a half weeks back in Utah without consistent naps or bedtimes, over-stimulated and over-indulged by grandparents, and on a different time-zone. Trying to figure out a schedule that really works for her has led to a host of interesting moments.

Here is one for example. Three-thirty last Saturday afternoon, she was watching Mia play on the computer. She had refused to nap earlier, and if we pass the three pm threshold, then a nap just means she won't go to bed at night, so we determined to let her just stay up in hopes for an earlier bedtime and a well-rested Maggie. Instead, upon walking downstairs we found this:


Of course, this set things up very poorly for the next day.

Sundays with church at 1 pm are the WORST for nap-times. Since we leave home around 12:30 in the afternoon and usually return at about 4:45, there is no space for Maggie to nap. She is cranky and tired the whole time we are gone, and will then fall asleep on the way home. Last week this, combined with Mia's utter-exhaustion after the first week of kindergarten, meant that when Jeffrey was asked to sit up on the stand at church due to his new position in the bishopric (the leadership of our congregation), both of my kids burst into tears, sobbing loudly: "I want my daddy." I, of course, got to "discreetly" escort them from the chapel, and try to calm them both down. Maggie then refused to go to her nursery class and fell asleep on the way home -- only to wake back up at about 6:00 (while we had company for dinner) crying, and then not go back to bed until after 9:30.

Monday was better, Maggie took a nap.

But, Tuesday I went to visit Mia's class at school and have lunch with her, since she had been having extreme anxiety about discipline and her teacher, whom she perceived as always "yelling" at them. I had dragged Mia out of the trees where she hid when the school bus pulled up and pushed her onto the bus in tears that morning. Then, I returned to the house and called Jeffrey on the phone sobbing. Trying to improve the situation for Mia, who had cried about going to school every morning / night for five days consumed a lot of energy last week. Hence, Maggie did not regularly nap, and fell asleep in the car running an errand at 3:30 on Tuesday, just in time to get enough sleep that she would not go to bed before the book group meeting at my house that night and instead was up until 10:00 pm.

And so it goes...

Early this morning, Maggie woke up at 3:30 am needing to go to the bathroom. I was proud of her waking, since I only started not putting her in pull-ups at night last week. But, after our trip to the potty, she could not fall asleep. And, neither could I.

This seems to be a regular problem lately for me, I don't know if it is pregnancy or worry or what, but I have spent a lot of hours up in the middle of the night, my mind racing on various topics: weight gain during pregnancy, decorating the baby's nursery, Jeffrey's new calling, Mia's kindergarten teacher, lists of household chores I need to accomplish, etc., etc., etc..

Finally at 4:15, when Maggie heard Jeffrey get in the shower, and decided she wanted to go to work with him today -- which I, by the way, thought was an excellent idea -- she also determined she was hungry. So, we came downstairs for a smoothie and toast. She chatted up a storm with me and her dad, said a morning prayer, asking that "Mia's fish could be healthy," and finally just fell asleep on the floor under my feet.

I have been trying to get up at 6:30 to have some time to read and pray before Mia and Maggie arise and the off-to-school rush begins. However, given how things have been going with naps, I don't know what this morning's adventures mean for sleep throughout the rest of the day. So, I think I will go off to bed, at least until my other daughter wakes me up...