Friday, May 23, 2008

Ants, monsters, and sleep

On Monday when I arrived at day care to get Ashlyn, they were outside playing. Ashlyn and a couple other kids were "playing" with bugs. Ashlyn was laughing at them, and when she saw me wanted to show me an orange bug. As she stood up, I realized that she was covered in ants. I tried brushing the ants away, which is when Ashlyn started screaming, "They're biting me." I started peeling off her clothes. The ants were under her clothes, and in her underwear. I'd thought that she was just freaking out because they were on her, but they really were biting her. She had angry looking bites on her back and bottom. Of course, she was fine after a bit. I just didn't even realize that black ants would bite. She's so dramatic, though, that when she told her daddy about it, the ants were "killing her." Killing her? "Yeah, I was dying."
The next morning, as Ashlyn was drawing, I pointed out that she got marker on her nose. She went to look in the mirror. When she came back to me, this is what I saw: She said "I'm a monster! ROAR!" Somehow I don't think she took me seriously about not drawing on herself, when my first reaction was to grab the camera. And, of course, I had to chase her around the house to get any pictures. Later in the day, she added a bit of green. Here she was stuck in Christopher's toy that I keep telling her to leave alone. My mom suggested taking her picture before rescue. Christopher started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks. It was glorious. I declared him to be the "world's most perfect baby," because seriously, whatever else they do, you can handle if you've had a full night's sleep. Since then, he continued to be a good sleeper. Then, he stopped. For the past 4 weeks, he has only slept all night once. He's been getting up once a night, twice sometimes. At first, I thought maybe he was going through a growth spurt (oh,and one week we were in France) but I figured he would go back to his good sleeping self soon. Now, I'm not so sure. I didn't do anything special to get him to start sleeping. I didn't change anything when he stopped, so I have no idea how to get him back to sleeping all night. On the up side, Ashlyn has been sleeping until 7 most mornings, so at least I'm not dealing with her at 6 am.
Even though he isn't sleeping as well, Christopher still remains pretty laid back and mostly happy. He is starting to realize that he could cry for reasons besides hunger and sleep, like just wanting attention. He has started making new sounds and is busy doing that much of the time. He also seems to be working on rolling over, though not there yet.


This is what I mean by laid back. He didn't even make a sound to let me know he wasn't comfortable. I started buckling him in after this.
I watched a friend's two girls on Wednesday, who are about the same age as my two. Just an idea of what life would be like with two sets of twins. For about 45 minutes, all four of them were asleep. I was afraid to do anything that might make noise and wake one. I figured one awake would wake all the others.
Christopher and Eavan. Eavan makes Christopher look skinny!
More to come I'm sure. Ashlyn said they were both princesses. I thought you needed a dress to be a princess, but I guess you can manage with just accessories.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Ants! Yikes!!

Sleep is my nemisis. Lila, too, slept through the night for quite some time. I thought I was the world's luckiest mother. Then, she started waking up once or twice. It was around the time she cut a tooth, then got a cold. Stupid me, I allowed it to continue. Now, I'm lucky if she sleeps through once every two weeks. I have it marked on my calendar to wean her of this next week. I have to get enough sleep for this and deal with two kids up if Lila wakes Olivia up. It sucks, I know. At least Ashyln is waking up later in the morning!

Great pictures!

Smitty 1, 2 , 3 and 4 said...

That little Ashlyn is a character. I love it. THe pictures crack me up, especially the one of her in the jumperoo. Hilarious.
Christopher has changed so much since your last post of him. I can't believe it. He is such a cutie (that has always been the case). He does look super laid back. My mom tells me that is always the case with number 2. Kelli's boy is the same. He rarely makes a peep. I thik Wilson is pretty laid back too. Maybe it is just a boy thing. Oh no, I did not just give credit to calmness to male genes...

The Dunns said...

So cute!

Ezra has been a super laid back baby, too, but the older he gets, the more he is started to demand equal time. :)

Don't know about the sleep thing -- good luck! But Ez recently stopped going down for naps on his own like he used to. I let him cry for a day (just 2 naps) and he was back to normal. Daniel started fighting sleep at 7 months and I let him fight it for another 6 before I finally got serious. I'm talking nursing and rocking back to sleep up to 10 times a night! It was awful. The only thing that finally worked for us was letting him cry. We finally caved and did it when he was 13 months and it was amazing. Took 2 1/2 nights and then, bam, he was totally back to sleeping through the night on his own. I know it doesn't work for everyone, but it has been a lifesaver for us.

Love Ashlyn's personality. Reminds me of Daniel. I've told the boys that if they get into Ezra's toys I won't help them get out. (Of course I do eventually, but it makes an impression.) :)

Unknown said...

Holly, Crying it out has been the only thing that has really worked for me too. That's why I haven't done it with Lila yet! I don't want her to wake Liv up. Attachment parenters despise crying it out. But, sometimes, you just got to do it. Two nights of crying is worth a more well-rested kid. Well-rested kid = well rested parents = less grumpiness and illnesses all around...

aunt tricia said...

FYI - baby oil works well to get marker and sharpie stains off skin.

Anonymous said...

I will have to remember that about baby oil.

Jackson was a really good sleeper in the beginning too. I think all it takes is about a week out of their normal routine and then all bets are off. Of course now he is in a toddler bed with no rails so he just gets up whenever he wants. Its anybody's guess whether he'll sleep all night or be banging on our door at 2am!

Harrisonjoy said...

I love seeing Ashlyn in her princess clothes! :)

Those two kids are beautiful....and I sure miss them!!

Anonymous said...

Being a princess is a state of mind!!!

Anonymous said...

I love the photos. Nora painted her face black the other day using watercolors. And, she got stuck in Ella's exercise saucer. So, our kids are normal, right?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

No. 2s are laid back...? I think WC is waiting for his first opportunity, the right time if you will, to show you what's really going on in that mind of his...! He is watching, listening and calculating...I'm looking forward to those posts! Now Ashlyn's face painting.. if she did that on a piece of paper it would be on the refrigerator right...bobdy art just does not seem to be appreciated as much as "regular" art. That would be a good idea: put a picture of her painted face on the refrgerator as a possible deterent or she'll get better at it...good either way right? Love, Bob/Dad/Pawpaw

The Matthaidess' said...

I love the pics of Ashlyn. They're hilarious!

Currently, I'm optimistic about the sleeping through the night thing with the baby, but of course, the baby isn't here yet -- YIKES!
Kellie

Anonymous said...

Jame - Sorry to slash a hole in your theory, but calmness does not bestow all boys. Hello! Have you ever heard the words "calm" and "Bo" in the same sentence? I think not. He is everywhere all of the time. But I will hold my breath for the #2 theory. I'll let you both know soon enough.