Tuesday 17 November 2009

To sleep perchance to dream

Back on my favourite topic: sleep, or lack thereof. We've had a difficult few days with Rowan and, to a lesser degree, Finn. Finn is suffering from night terrors at the moment and is regularly waking, screaming and difficult to calm down. Well I say waking, but he's probably still asleep and only does calm down when he gradually wakens. At least this is happening in the evening, before we go to bed, so it isn't too disruptive for us although he runs the risk of waking all his brothers, especially Sean. It's not pleasant to see Finn in such a state either.

Rowan has an ear infection. Ever since he had the RSV virus when he was just a few weeks old, Rowan has been the most "sickly" of the boys, although he is so robust that he hardly warrants that description. When he does have something wrong with him though, he is miserable and he lets us all know it. He'll yell from his bed in the middle of the night, holler uncontrollably when you try to comfort him, argue at the top of his voice when you try to quieten him (Rowan only does loud) and is not one for going back to sleep easily like his brothers. Bringing him into the bed is like introducing a bag of eels beneath the quilt: any hope of sustained periods of sleep soon evaporate. Add into the mix Rowan's insistence on getting one of us up if he needs a wee in the night and him and Finn flouting the "six means stay in bed; seven is wake-up time" rule and you might understand our current weariness.

Fortunately Angus is settling into a routine against this backdrop of nocturnal mayhem, even if we are having to lift him for a feed before we go to bed. He is great when he wakes, with lots of smiles and ga-ga's and hardly a cry as he is fed, changed and put back down. He's generally going from 2345 to around 0630. If only the others would do the same.

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