The last two days parenting these boys has been REALLY TOUGH.
So tough, in fact, that last night I crawled into bed in tears imagining doing this day after day, week after week, without Josh home by 4:30 to relieve me and help with the dinner & bedtime routine. Not only will I not have Josh's help, I will have yet another son who will demand attention & have needs that require meeting.
But Josh leaving aside, yesterday sucked. Whether or not I was thinking of doing this without him, it was awful. The boys were up off & on all night from their "noses not working" and I couldn't sleep myself from this cough I have. We stayed home the whole day and they were at each others' throats all.day.long. And on top of the lack of sleep and fighting, they were just not listening. They must have each had ten timeouts yesterday.
And because of being up all night, they "slept in" until 8am. Which meant that when I went to lay them down for naps, they were not tired. So for an HOUR AND A HALF I struggled to try & get them to sleep. They would not close their eyes. They kept talking, throwing their bubbas in the air. At one point they were both out of their beds playing "fight game" with each other. (Fight game is what they call wrestling/beating each other up.) At 1:50pm, I gave up and let them come out of their room. I didn't know what else to do.
Then all afternoon they were completely intolerable because they hadn't napped and were super cranky. Thank God Josh came home and took them to run some errands so I could have some peace and quiet. What I really wanted was a nap, but it was too close to bedtime at that point.
I was hoping today would be better. They slept mostly through the night (Logan was up for about an hour, 1am-2am) and weren't awake until after 6:30am. We had a good breakfast, I did a few chores around the house, got the three of us ready and we headed to the library. But the library was just another place to be naughty. They were not listening, trying to play fight game, running away from me. Once we left, I had had it.
And now it's nap time.
I tried to calm things down, mentally starting over when we got home. I let them "help" me make lunch, let them choose a story to read before nap time, but as soon as I turned off the light & closed the door, they started talking & yelling & horsing around.
Then pretty soon, I'm screaming, Jack's plugging his ears, asking me to stop yelling and Logan is crying because he's in timeout for the fourth time.
I am losing my mind. I can't sleep. I am sick & exhausted, not to mention eight and a half months pregnant.
My head is killing me.
I just want them to listen, maybe the third time I ask them to,
go to sleep when I lay them down
and not play "fight game" incessantly.
go to sleep when I lay them down
and not play "fight game" incessantly.
Is that too much to ask?
12 comments:
Oh man, I can somewhat sympathize with you.
I don't have toddler twins (yet) BUT, I do have a toddler and 12 week old twins.
And my toddler has been in time-out and had more spankings (yes we spank) in the last week than the last year put together!
It's like his ears stopped working!
And it's all day long, especially when I'm trying to feed the twins!
Hang in there, you can do it! I hope you get some much needed rest and that tomorrow is a new day with new patience!
Oh I am so sorry you are having a hard time. I think your boys are at one of the hardest and most exhausting ages (and you have 2!) Added to that lack of sleep and I imagine it is very very very difficult.
I wish for you much quiter and happier days ahead.
Boys are boisterously fun. You could bring them here anytime and Josh could pick them up on the way home. My kids would love to spend time with them!
Oh, my deepest sympathies. We all have those days. I wish we lived near each other to help out.
Have you read Love and Logic? It's the only thing that's helped keep the toddler boy under control
I feel you. I promise you that it will improve when your son is born. But you think maybe it won't. But in my experience, my Gustav's behavior improved a lot and became my little helper. Hang in there.
:(
No fun, sister! Sick days with busy boys are the worst. I often get stir crazy with Ferris.
Lets build our kids an exhausting obstacle course in a padded room! With a giant hamster wheel too! And maybe some sort of light up track around the entire room.
I wish!
I can completely feel for you!!! When I stayed home with my boys for 2 months I was in tears about every other day and the day you REALLY, REALLY need that nap it becomes a struggle! Wishing you the best of luck when your husband is gone. It's funny too because I would struggle so much and just want to scream and cry, but then when I would try to explain why it was such a rough day and then I couldn't seem to remember all the details. Mickey Mouse has given me many moments of peace:)
I can relate with the naptime struggles lately. I've been wondering if Claire's ready to give up naps but I don't know how we would get through a whole day without a break! The other day after 45 minutes of her getting out of bed and refusing to lay still she was crying and said, "You just scream, and scream and scream at me Mommy!" That made me feel even worse than I was already feeling! I wish I had some advice to get them to nap but I'm still trying to figure that one out! Sorry!
We have had lots of similar days here at our house. Maybe it's the age? I don't know. But I do have Jen's Love and Logic on hold at the library. In the meantime I'm reading a book called How to talk so kids will listen and how to listen so kids will talk. It's been helpful at difuseing some situations with my Reggie.
Hang in there!
I have 5yr old twins and we found separating them at nap time really helped. This started when they moved from cribs to beds. One in our bedroom, one in theirs. Sometimes, we could even quietly move them back together once asleep. Good luck!
Oh sweetheart, hang in there. My prayers are with you, I feel your overwhelmedness.
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