the essence

It's so NOT a party

My body is all achy again today, but in a different way. Today wasn't bad, it was very uneventful all day & I made it a point not to go anywhere or do too much of anything (other than my four hours of work this morning & a piano lesson this afternoon).

BUT the whole girls sleeping in the same room thing is quickly tanking. I just don't know what to do! Maybe things will be clearer after a night of rest.

I should say that the first night of the girls sleeping together went pretty well. I did wake up around 5am (after working until midnight) to the sound of the girls laughing at each other over the monitor. Ray & I both got up trying to get them back to sleep & I ended up nursing Kate. Ray had to work at 6am so he just stayed up. I went back to bed & around 6 the girls were STILL up & I could hear Addison over the monitor saying "It's a party! Party with Kate!"

I went in, got Kate out of the crib, informed Addison, "It's NOT a party. Go to sleep," & put Kate in the pack 'n play in the other room.

The whole party thing is my fault. See, Addison kind of goes back & forth on her feelings for Kate. Sometimes she just loves her & other times I worry for Kate's safety when Addison is around. I didn't want Addison to be upset & do anything to Kate while they were sleeping in the same room so I told her during the day that she was having a slumber party with Kate.

oops

The second night was good. Kate is still fussing a bit when going to sleep in the crib simply because it's a different bed than she's used to & when Kate cries it really drives Addison crazy which makes her cry & then Kate cries even worse - it's a rather vicious cycle.

So, we've taken to putting Kate to bed first, letting her fall asleep, & then putting Addison to bed.

However, last night, after putting Addison to bed she started making noise & laughing at Kate & getting out of bed to see her. Naturally, all of this woke up Kate. No course of action seemed to work to get Addison to obey so the ultimate discipline was that we made her sleep in the pack 'n play in the other room that night.

Now, tonight, Kate has ended up in the pack 'n play & Addison is sleeping in her room. Our sleeping arrangement as it has been for the past several months. The night would have been much easier if we'd started that way but I was so determined to get them to sleep in the same room that I didn't want to give in. It wouldn't be so bad but Addison has taken to acting totally unaffected by every form of discipline the past two days. As in going so far as doing things like laughing while she's in time out. Or, tonight, getting out of bed to see Kate, me going in & getting her out of the room to discipline her, putting her back in bed, only to find her out again less than a minute later. So far, the most affective form of discipline for her seems to be isolation. But, it still doesn't keep her from continuing to do exactly the opposite of what I've told her.

So, I ended up leaving Addison in her bed tonight & taking Kate out because Addison was really wanting to have a "slumber party with Kate." Ray is working tonight but here could hear all of the ruckus out here & after it died down he came out just to give me a hug because he thought I might need one. :)

Thank you to Allison for her suggestion for music. We actually do play some Bible songs while they're going to sleep, which Addison really likes, I guess she just likes entertaining Kate & making her laugh more.

So, the achyness I'm feeling is a result of all of the tension that can be caused by a defiant & testing two-year-old. The bottle of red in my kitchen is definitely welcome tonight.

But, in all seriousness, are there any other suggestions or even words of encouragement or comraderie? Has anyone else had this problem? Should I just give up & resign myself to not having a guest room. Or, maybe take a break from this & try again when they're a little older?