MommeeeeeEEEE, Jace is awaaaaaAAke!!

Under any other circumstances, hearing Lincoln tell me that Jace is awake would be okay. Maybe a little annoying (like if I'd just barely put him down), but okay. However, this morning at 4:24 a.m. (uh-huh, somehow those blaring alarm clock numbers are seared into my brain at such an obscene hour), it wasn't exactly the wake-up call I was expecting.

You see, Lincoln and Jace don't even sleep in the same room. Jace was initially in our master closet in his pak-n-play, then he moved to the closet in the guest bedroom across the hall from us. We called him 'Harry Potter baby' for sleeping in the closet, but it was the only way not to hear all his cute little noises at night. He has now graduated to the guest bedroom, still in his pak-n-play. Oh, he has a perfectly good crib in his bedroom (which he shares with Linc-a-stink), but we're not ready to surrender him to Lincoln's erratic sleeping patterns.

So Lincoln being in the guest bedroom yelling that Jace is awake at 4:24 a.m. means a few things: 1) The child-proof door knob cover on his door is apparently NOT Lincoln-proof, 2) The duct tape used to keep said door knob cover actually intact on the knob is not helping, and 3) It's still going to be a while before Jace can sleep in his own crib. Poor kid.



After my eyes popped open and Gavin informed me that Lincoln was awake (you think?!?), I walked across the hall into the guest bedroom, turned off the light (sorry your big brother blinded you, baby Jace), and gently took Lincoln by the hand back to his own bed. I grabbed my pillow and an extra blanket, and layed down on his floor. I can only assume Lincoln went to sleep quickly because I sure did--hard floor and all.

In my experience, eliminating napping is definitely the most difficult child-rearing transition. I'd take toilet-training any day over the song and dance I have to do to keep an exhausted child awake in the late afternoon. On occasion, it is simply beyond my capacity as a parent, and it is then that Lincoln sneaks in a little shut-eye (as seen on the side bar). And, oh, do I pay for it at bedtime later!! Otherwise, I'm successful keeping him awake (albeit ornery), and he's asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow--only to wake up at 4 a.m? No thanks. It's a lose-lose situation.

When restful sleep does finally return to my life, I'm not sure my body will know what to do with it.