The downward spiral of a 2 year old's sleeping habits

It started out innocently enough.

We moved Ruby's pack and play into our room while traveling, to help comfort her when she woke up disoriented in the middle of the night.

And then when she would wake up at ungodly hours we'd pull her into bed with us to hopefully try and catch a few more minutes of sleep.

I guess it really started to go down hill the day we went to the Children's Museum in Portland. 

The plan was to go to the museum in the morning, leave around lunch time, tank the kids up with food, and have them fall asleep for the 1 1/2 drive home.

Instead they stayed awake the entire time, we had some trouble finding food, and I got really cranky. Really really cranky.

When we got home I piled the girls into bed with me and we all fell asleep in about 2 minutes.

I woke up before they did and had a minute to think about how sweet it was to all be napping together. 

This is the first time that we've had a family nap.

Then when I couldn't go back to sleep, I started wishing I had my phone to entertain me.

Soon after that, putting Ruby down for bed started taking longer and longer. We'd have to stay outside her closed door and reassure her we were still there when she'd start to cry. Which turned into keeping her door open so she could see us while falling asleep. Which then morphed into sitting on the floor next to her bed until she fell asleep, then sneaking out and quietly shutting her door.

You might be asking, what would happen if you didn't do that?

Well, she'd start crying and screaming. And honestly, Aleks and I are ok with that to a point. But in a house that isn't ours, surrounded by family (supportive, understanding family) who are also affected by a screaming two year old, we tend to do things differently than we would do at home.

There was one more group nap event. The girls were over-tired and amped up. I figured if we all were in bed together I could more directly encourage them to sleep. It took them significantly longer this time, Maia and Ruby were playing together and Ruby kept adjusting and trying to get the blankets "just right." However, I did think ahead to bring along my phone and a magazine in case I couldn't sleep. 

As you can see when we sleep together, my kids like to be all up in my business.

Two nights before we flew home, Ruby turned into hellion. She woke up when we snuck into the room for bed. "Mommy, cuddle!" was her refrain and Aleks let her into our bed. That was a rookie mistake because once you let that kid into our bed, she's not going back without a battle royale. I had resigned myself to the fact that she was just going to sleep with us and usually it's not a big deal. However, this night she was obsessive with the covers and could not hold still. She'd cry when the covers weren't just right and she'd cry if we tried to help her and she'd cry if we didn't help her.

I'll save you the gory details. 

Basically we didn't sleep more than 2 hours in a row that night.

The next night we found ourselves in a hotel due to an early morning flight.

Ruby and I shared a bed, and again, it took her a really long time to fall asleep. There was lots of shifting and spreading out of her blanket. Enough so, that it made me think she might be OCD. Can a 2 year old have that?

At any rate, the next day of travel was tricky. Ruby didn't nap. On our last flight from Denver into Wichita, Ruby started having a meltdown on the descent. Flight attendants be damned, I scooped Ruby into my arms and held her really tightly. Within 30 seconds she was fast asleep. Thankfully, the flight attendants just happened to look at the other side of the aisle when they did their final check. Ruby slept through the landing, deboarding, and collection of luggage. She woke up shortly before Aleks came around with the car.

Aleks and I had decided that reprogramming was going to take place immediately upon our return. Our first night back was tough. Sleep training a 2 year old is so so so so so so so much harder than when they are 6 months old. 

That first night Maia and I slept in the basement.

The second night was marginally better. Aleks did have to stand in the hallway for about 30 minutes.

However, there are 2 things.

1. Last night, Ruby slept through the night and only cried for 30 seconds before she fell asleep.

2. After a good night's sleep, the horridness of the past week has already started to fade from memory.

Tonight, bedtime was rough again, but I'm optimistic that we'll rest well.

You know, eventually they do outgrow this sensitive sleeping stuff and can be more flexible with schedules and sleeping environments. But, I've realized something. Just because they get older doesn't mean I'm going to get better sleep. The sleepless nights from late night feedings or 2 year old tantrums will give way to tossing and turning on the evening of their first sleepover and Prom night.

So, if you're childless and contemplating starting a family, consider this: good, consistent sleep may be the biggest sacrifice you make as a parent.

If I wanted to make this a happy ending I would put a picture here of my adorable cherubs and tell you that it's worth it. 

And it is. 

And it also sucks. 

But, if it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be a sacrifice. And when it comes down to it, I love my kids more than I love sleep.

I think...

Occupied travelers

We arrived home yesterday, late afternoon, after a long day of travel.

Our trip probably totaled 10 hours.

And the girls had to be sitting down for about 8 of those hours.

Thankfully, Maia is just getting to the age where occupying her mind is getting easier and easier.

Ruby still needs physical distractions for the most part.

I thought I'd share some of the things we brought with us to keep the girls entertained.

We picked up these books from Target. There are Baby Einstein and princess editions, but these are Mickey Mouse themed.

The books are 4 "pages" long with one sentence a page, so they are easy to read.

Not only do both Maia and Ruby like hearing the stories, but Ruby really enjoys pulling the books out and figuring out how they fit back in.

Also, after they hear the books a couple of times, they like to read them on their own.

My mom sent these to the girls as Christmas presents.

They especially loved the silly faces one and came back to play with them after all the new Christmas toys had been opened.

We picked up this wonderful toy at the Portland Children's Museum.

It is the PERFECT toy for Maia.

It's a magnetic board with different sheets that can slid in and out. The sheets are double sided and contain different pictures made out of shapes.

The shapes are wooden and have a magnetic backing.

The only issue is that precarious time when your 3 year old is pulling the the wooden blocks from the bag and placing them on the magnetic board.

However, I don't think we left any pieces on the plane.

Maia loved it so much that she asked to do "projects" during our layover.

And of course, it's Melissa and Doug. God bless them.

We try to limit screen time with our kids, but long travel days call for all kinds of resources. So in addition to books (thin ones that don't take up a lot of room; this time it was mostly Pinkalicious and Berenstain Bears) we also downloaded some of the kids' favorite tv show onto our iPads.

We had Dinosaur Train, Word World, and Daniel Tiger.

When I was little we were allowed a 1/2 hour of tv a day and it was usually Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Sometimes we got to watch half of Sesame Street if we were lucky!

Anyway, PBS has just put out a revamped version of Mister Rogers' Neighboorhood, but it is animated and called Daniel Tiger. There are the same opening and closing songs and philosophical and educational approach to the show.

Maia adores it and oftentimes I will hear her sing to Ruby "grownups come back" when I go running or "find a way to play together" when Ruby won't share.

And, of course, the girls' favorite puppet "Handy" (cousin to "Barfy") made a few appearances on the airplane.

(Barf bag puppet. Just be sure the bag is clean before sticking in your hand.)

Honestly, the actual traveling part of traveling is getting so much easier.

Now once our girls figure out how to be sweet, kind, non-screaming kids when they are tired, we'll be unstoppable!

Well, maybe not, but just happier and better rested.

Children's Museum Portland Style

In the days between Christmas and New Years, we decided to try out the Portland Children's Museum.

It was a little overwhelming at first, but eventually the girls jumped right in.

Maia is obsessed with phones.

Maybe because the only ones we have are cellular.

It's a really great museum. 

I'd say the Phoenix museum is still the best, but this one is right up there.

Christmas 2012; Salem edition

For Christmas this year we found ourselves in Salem, OR where Aleks' sister lives with her two girls.

You know, Kansas is in the middle of the country, but for some reason it's almost impossible to find direct flights.

Unless you're going to Denver or Chicago.

Luckily we only had one layover in Minneapolis.

Aleks and I always get really stressed out about traveling with littles and then our girls usually do really well.

They are becoming airport/airplane pros.

Now that Ruby is 2, she gets her own seat.

The spot next to us was empty and I was able to stretch out and get Ruby to take a nap.

Once at Nana's house, Maia and Ruby quickly reacquainted themselves with their cousins.

There has been lots of picture taking.

This one is really good at looking at the camera and smiling nicely.

This one, not so much.

Christmas morning came at 4:30 for the Sternfeld-Dunn family.

The teenage cousin was awake too.

While we waited for the rest of the family to wake up, the logical thing to do was make pancakes.

This teenager was a 4 year old flower girl in our wedding.

 Nana and Lola.

My girls love to pet Lola, as long as Lola doesn't move or look at them.

Maia says she's scared of the sound of Lola's toenails on the floor.

Sheesh, 3 year olds.

So many presents.

The Fisher Price Little People princesses were a huge hit with both girls.

And this toy, Symphony in B, is loved by all 4 of us.

The aftermath.

And then trying to get set up for the annual pajama family picture is always a challenge.

But we got one!

It was the merriest of Christmases.

Canta Carol Run 2012

I've been meaning to write this post for a week now.

It's just been a wonderfully busy, happy week of get togethers and parties.

But, I do want to update you on what I did last Saturday.

WSU has a summer program for our opera students called Canta in Italia.

We send students to Italy for a month to study singing, the Italian language, and perform.

As you can imagine, it's a bit pricey.

I'm on the board of directors and we are constantly trying to find ways to raise money for scholarships.

Since I began running a little over a year ago, I've participated in several races and found them to be wonderful events.

My brilliant idea was to host our own 5k.

I'm drawn to big projects. You know, like starting an opera company.

Let me tell you, planning a 5k is right up there with producing an opera.

We hired Clark Ensz, a running legend in Wichita and a 5k race guru, to help us develop the event.

He knows things like what percentage of different size shirts to order and how to make the registration process run as smoothly as possible.

We held the race on the Saturday after finals and called it the Canta Carol Run.

We had about 30 of our students caroling along the course.

Our kids can sing! 

They sounded great!

And Santa was there.

Well, "pretend Santa" according to Maia, "who gave me candy corn!"

I love a good race.

We had a small crowd, about 150 runners.

Which, I suppose is not horrible, but we were hoping for 400.

It also means that we've got 200 shirts leftover. (Let me know if you want one!)

One highlight for me was seeing a mom run with her son in his first 5k.

He must have been 8 or 9 and they were both beaming as they crossed the finish line.

Before the awards ceremony we had a rousing rendition of the "12 Days of Christmas" with some costumed runners from a local theater.

It was a fun event that went very smoothly and people seemed to enjoy themselves.

The plan is to have a second annual Canta Carol Run and hopefully word of mouth will help bump up our numbers.

If you'd like to donate towards scholarships or be a sponsor for next year's run, let me know!

And of course, we'd love to see you as a runner too.

All pictures were taken by the amazing John Ellert.