Monday, January 4, 2010

The Bedtime Blues

I hate a bad bedtime.

You know the kind. Where there's lots of whining, negotiating, dragging of feet (the three year old) and crying and screaming (the 15 month olds, and sometimes the three year old, too!).

I have to work very hard not to let it ruin my whole day.

But it is so frustrating to me that four children who go down like champs for the naps can fight bedtime so hard.

Fortunately this is not an every day occurrence, but tonight was one of those nights.

It's not too bad when one child has trouble going down, but when two or more have trouble, it's a real struggle for all of us.

And when everyone is FINALLY in bed and quiet, there are still dishes to be done, laundry to fold, and picking up to do--the things that usually get done in the extra hour plus we spent getting kids to sleep tonight. And I just don't want to face it.

By 8:30 p.m. I am ready to be done for the day. After 14-hour days, plus getting up some at night, I am ready for the chores to be done and to have some time to catch up with my husband or do something for myself for a change.

Three babies plus a preschooler all day is physically and mentally demanding and by 8:30 my patience is limited and I'm reaching the end of my physical capacity, too.

Seems I need to learn how to do a quick recharge for nights like tonight. And I need to not let it ruin what was a pretty good day. The boys were lots of laughs, and Amelia and I got to bake together. As I just pointed out, it was a 14-hour day, so I guess letting the last hour and a half cancel out all the good is really silly.

Just gotta shake off these bedtime blues!

6 comments:

The Gausman Six said...

Bad bedtimes are horrible. Our 7 month old trips can't negotiate yet but boy can they scream. You have my empathy & the hope for a better night tonigh.

Christy AKA Trippin' Mama said...

Thanks! It wouldn't be so hard to take if we knew they'd all sleep all night, but we're still struggling there too. Ugh.

Tonight will be better, I'm sure. (I hope!) And their happy wakeup this morning and antics this morning quickly erase the bad night.

The Gausman Six said...

Ahh...sleeping through the night...I remember you fondly. Ours were doing well (i.e. 8 p.m. to about 6:00) but have recently entered a rough spot. Now we're back to getting less sleep than we did when they were teeny tiny!

Suzy said...

Funny how one bad thing can color the entire day. Or maybe not so funny. :)

Megan said...

Man oh man, can I relate to this one! I think I was actually nodding my head as I was reading this! Hope you have a smooth bedtime tonight!

Christy AKA Trippin' Mama said...

Megan, thankfully the three nights since I wrote this have gone smoothly. I just need to remind myself of that one those bad nights!