All Nighter

It is no secret that we have had some horrible, horrible sleep here lately. Pretty much since Raegan was born three months ago, Harrison's awesome 7-7 night sleeping disappeared and it has been hard on all of us. Two or three toddler wakings each night left both Ben and I exhausted, and we couldn't even relish the times when Raegan slept for five or six hours. We've had so much upheaval with the new baby and the new house, that some regression was expected, but an overtired mama and papa and toddler do not make for a very happy home. Finally, after a major meltdown Sunday night (or would it be Monday morning since it was 3 a.m.?), we decided something had to change.

We've been doing the walk back routine after pop outs from bed during nap and when going down for the night for a week now, but not during the mid-night wakings. Instead, Ben had been going in, changing the diaper and reading a book, singing a lullabye, etc. - basically redoing the nighttime routine two or three times each night. Do you see the problem? We finally did. Why would Harrison ever again sleep through the night if he got two or three extra special times with Daddy just for coming out of his room?!

Monday night was the first night of the walk back routine for the 1 a.m. (and 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.) wakings. It wasn't pretty. The first one took 40 minutes and involved a lot of crying. Raegan was the only one to sleep through it. The next two still weren't happy, but they certainly weren't that long and involved either. Next up came nap yesterday. While it still took a while (30 minutes), it was a great improvement over Monday (an hour and a half, if my tired brain remembers correctly). Then last night Ben only had to walk HD back to bed two or three times before the kiddo feel asleep (in his bed -also an accomplishment!) around 7 o'clock.

Here is where the story gets interesting. Fantastic, even.... Harrison slept through all the way until 6:20 this morning! He almost pulled a twelve hour sleep, just like he used to back in the glory days!! While I have no idea how this will play out during nap today or bed tonight, I do know that he is a happier boy this morning which makes for a happier mama as well (even if Raegan didn't exactly let me enjoy HD's full night of sleep). This has to be the best all nighter we've ever had! Here's hoping for many, many more!!!