Rough night

Since we have moved, Ryleigh has been slightly out-of-sorts when it comes to sleeping. I'm honestly not sure why. She is normally a pretty good sleeper, and as long as we stick to her sleep schedule, we have no issues.

Lately, she fights us when it is time to go to sleep, coming back out of room, crying, asking for more cuddles, etc. Originally, we thought perhaps it was just her adjusting to us again being a family of three-- most of her cuddle requests were at Daddy. Naturally, he was happy to oblige, missing his cuddle time with her as well. But now, we're worried she is getting into the habit.

More than that, she is waking up throughout the night, sometimes screaming, running across the house to our room. Again, at first, we thought perhaps she was nervous in her new room or just needed confirmation that we were still there. But when she would climb into bed with us, she would be wide awake. For at least an hour, sometimes more. And eventually, I would end up having to take her back to her room, where she would cry and beg to sleep in "Mommy's bed."

Last night she got up three times, starting at 2:45. The first time, I gently picked her up, carried her to her room, rocked her for awhile rubbing her back, and sweetly put her back to sleep. The second time, around 3:20, I walked her back, holding her hand, and told her that she had to stay in her room and sleep in her big girl bed until morning. The third time, at 3:40, I was mad. I told her to go straight to her room, and I just followed behind, making sure that she got in bed.

(On a side note, Mondays are Jesse's long day at work: 5:30am until about 7:00pm. Needless to say he was exhausted, and had taken a Benadryl to help with his allergies and get a good night's rest. So the whole time this is going on, he is sawing logs...)

So, after the third trip to Ryleigh's room, I got in bed, mad, and now wide awake. And yes, the baby had started kicking and rolling around, probably wondering what in the world was going on.

Well, within 5 minutes of getting into bed, I heard a really weird beep. Then again. And again. Being that this is a new house, we're still not used to all the little sounds we hear at night. I sat up, listening, agitated. When the beep did not stop, I got up to see what it was. I looked around, and it stopped. Of course. It made me slightly nervous, but whatever, I was tired, and just wanted to sleep! So, I got back into bed. And Jesse rolls over and says, "what was that?" I told him I had no idea, because it stopped on its own.

5 minutes later, it started again. And it was more frequent. We both sat straight up and headed for the door. Sure enough, it was the house alarm at the front door. And the "trouble" light was blinking. My heart started racing. Jesse and I do not have the alarm activated yet, but we did have cables run for activation last week when we ran our telephone/Internet lines. So, how can a disabled alarm be beeping "trouble?" We checked all around the house, turned on all outside lights, and came back to the alarm. I picked up the phone and the line was dead. Then I remembered some automated message I got from our phone provider (the same one who ran the line for the alarm) that there was going to be shutdown between the hours of 2am and 6am.

About that time, Ryleigh again came out of her room crying, and ran straight to Daddy. He just looked at me, both exhausted and frustrated, turned off the light, and we went back to our room. We all fell in bed around 4:10. Jesse's alarm went off at 4:30.

WOW. It was a long night.

I kind of wonder if Ryleigh knows that I'm going to need some preparation for the long nights that are to come when the baby arrives...perhaps she is just trying to help...I don't know. I do know that she cut some molars sometime over the past few weeks, which might have had something to do with her initially waking up. She also wakes up during nap time, needing to go potty. I'm thankful that she is learning, but man, I need her to take that nap!! Plus, she is a much nicer girl when she sleeps well; you can imagine how nice she has been these past couple of weeks...!!

Okay, I'm done venting now. I need a nap. Literally.