Going into being parents I had a vague idea of some of the things that could prove to be challenging. I knew to expect sleepless nights with newborns, that the twos could be terrible, that potty training could go smoothly or not, but I didn’t realize that so many things could drag out for as long as they do. In 4 years I think we can probably count on our hands the number of nights where we have slept undisturbed and have felt truly well rested. There always seems to be at least one child who wakes up in the night and if one child goes to bed without a fuss, then it’s highly likely the other one will not go down easily.  Quite frankly, it’s exhausting.

I can only hope that this stage won’t last another 4 years, but who can say?  Phoebe has suddenly decided she doesn’t want to stay in her bed at bedtime, unless I lay down with her and for some reason it is taking her forever to fall asleep lately. I’ll leave 20-30 minutes later only to hear her calling out for me, but even more aggravatingly she has started to lie down in front of her door making it impossible to get in her room!  She thinks it’s quite hilarious and then Enzo ends up wanting to know what’s going on as I try to convince Phoebe to back away from the door. We’re working on leaving her door cracked and so far threatening to not let her watch TV the next day if she doesn’t stay in bed has been somewhat working.

Then you have Enzo who has to get up and pee at least once a night, but sometimes more than that and insists on a parent (usually Josh) to come and get him, which is probably for the best since I don’t want him getting hurt climbing out of his bed when he’s mostly still asleep. Sometimes Josh and I will surprise each other in the hallway late at night – him taking Enzo to or from the bathroom and me heading to Phoebe’s room or back to our bed, though generally if she calls for me in the middle of the night I end up just sleeping with her because I fall asleep while trying to get her back to sleep.

It’s a darn good thing they’re both fairly cute and have redeeming qualities or this whole lack of sleep thing would be a lot harder to bear.