Sunday, June 10, 2007

Talk About A Little Shut Eye!

It's always so exhausting when you hear your baby crying in the middle of the night. You hope that they will soothe themselves back to sleep, or, at least, if you have to get up with them that you can solve whatever the problem is in a jiffy. Either way, you battle with the torment of how it will all end while you wait in the darkness, and map out your strategy on how to get the most sleep.

Last night, or early early this morning, (whichever direction you want to go with that), Roman started crying. This is abnormal for him. He is a very good sleeper, and never even minds going to bed, for the most part. I have been blessed with my fifth child in this manner. Although on this night the cries were coming from the closet beside our bed. Yes, you read that right, the closet. First of all, before you call child services understand that our closet is HUGE! It resembles a really long corridor with a big vacant spot at the back. It all started when we were having all the company. I didn't want all the children, that were sleeping in the boys' rooms, to wake him from his naps, or even too early in the mornings. So I put the play-n-pack in my closet. I figured it was perfect. It was quieter than any other room in the house, and it was pitch black. Believe me when I say, that Den and I have both been jealous over the dark silent closet that he gets to slumber in, on more than one occasion. Our blinds are white paper roman shades so the sun shows no mercy for us in the mornings.

Anyway, Den got up with him at 5am, since that is Den's usual wake up call. He took him downstairs to try to appease him, while he watched the sports channel. However, since I am a light sleeper and a bit of a worrier I couldn't get back to sleep, and ended up going down after a bit. After being down there for a while, Roman began to get fussy and started to rub his eyes. A good omen really, so we decided to put him back to bed. So back in to the black abyss, we call our closet, for his morning nap.

Den and I laid on the couch and drifted in and out of slumber while the tv rolled on. You see Sunday mornings are lazy around here since meetings don't start until 3pm. It's been taking some getting used to, but we are getting the lazy Sunday morning routine down pretty good. Gold stars for us!! lol

So, pretty soon we are up milling around declaring how delicious it felt to have a sleeping baby in the house on our lazy morning. However, after a few hours the worry began to set in. You know, when you start calculating the hours that he has been asleep. You can't just enjoy the quiet, your mind begins to play games with you, like is he alive? Now keep in mind this didn't set in after only a half an hour, or even an hour, no hours were going by. In fact at 12:30pm even Levi was becoming a little concerned. You know it's a REAL concern when your twelve year old son begins quizzing you about the unnaturalness of a toddler sleeping in past noon.

Finally at 2pm, I headed upstairs, opened up my bedroom door, and stood at my closet door with my ear pressed to the wood. I couldn't hear anything, which was good right? But no, I had to open the door to see if he was breathing. So I begin to slowly, all the while grimacing, open the door. The door was creaking like crazy as I carefully let the natural light of the day stream in. Then I stood there listening, and yes, sure enough I could hear my toddler breathing. I smiled, backed out, and quietly closed the door again. When I turned to go out of my room Levi was standing outside my door too. I assured him that Roman was amongst the living, but he was definitely in slumber land somewhere.

We all talked about his crazy hours with relief, and that's when we heard the crying. FINALLY, Mr. Roman decided to join us on Pacific Standard time, and enjoy this fine Sunday afternoon. He ate like a horse, and was as happy as a lark. Den took off to church with Abram, and I decided to stay home with our runny nosed, sleepyheaded, midget man. Why can't we ever just be happy with things? When they don't sleep enough we worry, when they sleep too much we worry, and now I'm worried about how tonight will go with all those hours of sleeping already under his belt....hahaha Oh well....live for the moment, right?

6 comments:

la bellina mammina said...

That was really a sweet story, Trina. Well, I guess worrying and motherhood go hand in hand, huh?

So, did he sleep tonight? :-)

meNmykids said...

I totally understand the whole worrying thing. I have to check mine pretty often just in case. Right now I could do with a little of the Roman sleep syndrome in my own house. If that crazy sun would just cooperate maybe we could all get infected.

Angel said...

There *must* be something in the air, Trina! Sam did that exact same thing just this last week! Very unusual for him as well. And btw, your closet just might be bigger than Sam's room. ;)

Nadine said...

I totally can relate to that story. I've been catching up on all I've missed while having house guests this weekend. I love the picture of you and your boys shopping. Wow River is tall. The picture of your two boys together was cute too. Thanks for sharing. I love reading about how you view things.

Trina said...

La bellina mammina:Well it is the next morning and yes he did sleep all night. In fact it's 7am and he is still out like a light! yay!

Gale:I'm sure with 8 children you have been down this road plenty! heehee

Angel: Isn't it weird when they do something like this out of the clear blue? Yes, our closet is odd but great!

Nadine: Yes, River is 6'5", so he is very very tall! I am 5'10 1/2", so it's nice to have a son that actually towers over me a bit! LOL

Michelle said...

Roman must have been one tired boy! Sarah never takes a nap and when she does if she sleeps longer than 30 mins. I am always peeking in on her!