Confessions of a Sleep-Deprived Mommy

I usually like to keep my posts pretty upbeat. I try to focus on the positive. I try. Not today. Anna started sleeping through the night when she was 3 months old. I know, I know, that was pure luck. But it has been sooo nice! Then, in July, she started waking up every couple of hours when we were at my mom's house. Ugh. AND, I had to feed her every time she got up because there were other people in the house that I didn't want her to wake up - so the easiest way to quiet her was to feed her. Anyway, when we got home from vacation, she sprung two teeth within a week of each other, and I refused to feed her at night anymore. So the last month, she's been back to normal - sleeping all night, etc. Until 2 nights ago. Once again, every couple of hours. And to make matters worse, she has started pulling herself up in her crib - but once she gets up, she doesn't know how to get back down - so she screams until someone comes to rescue her. So, again, to quiet her, I fed her, etc. Last night, I made up my mind again that I was not going to feed her in the middle of the night - we're not starting that now! Between the hours of 11 and 2, Haylie got up 3 times. Why? I have no idea. But she insists on being carried back into her bed. Fine. Then at 2, Anna wakes up. I gently lay her back down and tell her it is time for bed. She cries, stands up, I lay her back down. This goes on for about 30 minutes during which time I feel like my right eyeball is going to pop out of my head - is it a stress headache? Is it a "I need more sleep" headache? Whatever. I go take some ibuprofen and leave her in her room to cry. Eric got up to try and calm her. He ended up in her room with her for about 20 minutes rubbing her back when I finally went in and told him that he should leave her - we can't create middle-of-the-night habits like that. So I gave her a dose of Tylenol and miraculously, she stopped crying and went back to sleep. I know that I've been incredibly spoiled up to this point, in that I have had some of the best sleeping babies ever. I think that is what makes it more difficult to handle.

Then, on top of that, my sweet little 3 year old has been replaced by some alien creature I do not know. I feel like all I do all day long is argue with her. It doesn't matter what the topic, it seems like everything I ask her to do turns into an epic battle. For example, if we're getting ready to leave the house, I'll ask her to go potty. Her response 9 times out of 10 is this: "I already went yesterday!" Umm...yeah...you gotta go potty more than once a day. Then I either have to drag her to the toilet myself or threaten a time out. Again, I realize that this is normal 3-year-old behavior and I know it could be worse. But, I'm not used to it, and I'm sleep-deprived so I am having a bit of trouble coping.

I love being a mom and I love my girls. I just don't particularly like them right now.