One Night At A Time

  This past week, bedtime has been a nightmare.  My kids have always gone to bed without a problem, usually around 7:30, leaving plenty of mommy/daddy time or just me time if Jacob's working.  But this past week...aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!  Picture me kicking and screaming and crying and pulling my hair out in a glorified FIT...no, temper tantrum....set on by the frustration of this week's bedtime.  Literally, I have been in tears every night, sometimes multiple times.  And I've not been the only one in tears, either.
 
  What brought this on, you ask?  The girls now share a room.  Have you EVER tried putting two small children in a room together, unsupervised, and told them to go to sleep?  It's almost like they look at you and laugh, saying, "Yeah, right."  So bedtime has been stressful, tearful, and long.  The girls have been exhausted during the day and I've found myself very tempted to be super lenient on discipline during the day because bedtime is so dreadful.  It was once my favorite part of the day.  Full of snuggles, songs, stories, and more snuggles.  We still have those things, but I assure you bedtime no longer stops there.

  So, in the midst of this crisis that I know "shall pass", I've decided to list all of the blessings associated with this new bedtime arrangement.  Here goes...

  - Creek, the reason the girls now have to share a room

- We have to go in there at night because they are playing, not fighting

- They both have soft, comfy beds to be told to stay in

- We hear some pretty sweet giggles over the baby monitor

- The sight of two small kids scattering and racing to their beds when the door opens is quite humorous

- We get to spend more time with them??? HA!

- It has been discovered that they have a secret language, like twins!! (this is very cool, by the way)

- I've been reminded that Jacob and I are a really good team

- I've realized even more how awesome and involved my husband is

- They are healthy kids and want to play, not so sick that all they want to do is stay in bed

- They are already close and will grow so much closer through this

- The eventually do fall asleep (well past 10 most nights)

- We've experienced a patience that can only come from the Lord

- It's put me on my knees in prayer even more for them

- Last night took an hour and a half less than the first night took...PROGRESS!!

  Maybe there will be more blessings out of this.  I pray there will be.  My kids are great. They are kids.  And they will act like kids.  They will stay up past their bedtime.  Add to that the fact that they are giggly, squealy little girls and, I mean, what little girl doesn't love a sleepover, right?  It will get better.  It has to, right?  But if you hear a really bad temper tantrum tonight, around 10 pm....it's not the kids :)