Naptime Nightmare

Aw, just look at those two sleeping beauties snuggled up on their Momma. I love these little moments. I could have stayed like this all day long. Unfortunately, good things like this never last. 10 minutes after I took this picture, Josie started to stir. I looked at the time on my phone and saw that she needed to be fed soon. I looked down at Sophie and knew that as soon as I moved she would wake up. I didn't want this to happen because I knew it would be hard to get her back to sleep. (This happens often if she falls asleep in the car before nap time. She thinks a 10 minute cat nap in the car counts as a real nap.) I tried to move as carefully as possible, but Sophie sat right up and smiled at me. I smiled back at her, put Josie down on her Boppy, and scooped Sophie up in my arms. I was taking her upstairs so she could continue her nap in her bed. Sophie wanted no part of this. As soon as she saw we were heading towards the stairs she began to freak out. "I sleep on the couch! No bed!" Uh, no. Her protests became louder when we entered her room. When I laid her down on her bed, the body thrashing and crying started. I sat with her for a few minutes before Josie started crying downstairs (she was ready for her bottle). I left one crying child for the next. I popped a pacifier in Josie's mouth, started warming up her bottle (a smart mom would have done that before taking Sophie upstairs earlier) and went up to attempt calming Sophie down again. She refused to lay down in bed and told me she wanted to sleep in my bed. At this point Josie starts crying again, so I caved in and took Sophie to my room. As we were walking there she exclaimed, "Yippee!" Stinker. As I was feeding Josie, Sophie was fairly quiet upstairs. Towards the end of the feeding though, I heard talking coming from my room. *sigh* So, as soon as Josie was full and had been burped, I laid her down and set off to find her sister. Sophie was awake and happy as can be in my room. Of course this mean mom had to change all of that by taking her back to her room. Again, I tried to get her to sleep. No such luck. Josie, who apparently doesn't like it when her sister gets attention, starts crying again. So, it was back downstairs to comfort one crying child while the other one cried upstairs. As I was soothing Josie, Sophie was in full out tantrum mode upstairs. I heard stomping, crying, banging and screaming. At one point I heard a bang and then Sophie started saying, "Ow!" I rush back upstairs and find that she had banged her head against the wall. Uhhh... So I kissed her, moved her back to her bed, and let the screaming continue. Josie was sleeping pretty peacefully, so I decided to move her upstairs to her crib. After I laid her down, I went in to Sophie's room for one final attempt at getting her to sleep. This time after putting her in bed, I crawled right in with her. Yup, I curled up on a toddler bed (and didn't break it!). I put my arm around her and just snuggled her for awhile. That was apparently all she needed because she fell asleep pretty quickly (I'm sure she was exhausted from her tantrums, too). I wish I could have done this when she first started fussing, but I couldn't leave Josie screaming downstairs. Maybe one day I will learn how to balance my time and attention between the two when they are upset. Luckily for me this is really the first time I've had this issue (the two of them crying at the same time for an extended period of time - usually if they cry at the same time I can get Sophie calmed down quickly), so hopefully it won't become a normal thing.

I am happy to say that once the girls woke up from their naps (basically at the same time - they both slept for an hour and a half) they were in good moods for the rest of the day. I love those little girls so much, even when they are running me ragged!