One day we will look back and laugh...

This week has been awfully trying for us at the Teer house.  It has not been anything monumental on the jobless front.  Instead it has all been wrapped around the Sleep Wars we keep having with our precious little girls!  I thought I would post a synopsis of the events of this week because I know many of you would appreciate the humor we are still not quite able to see...yet...

Although the Sleep Wars were seemingly over before school started, Sleep Wars II started with the new school schedule.  Each day pretty much goes the same way.  Many excuses and complaints later, the girls are in bed with an hour to spare before they MUST be asleep.  The next hour is spent correcting, disciplining, and reminding them that it's nite-nite time and not time to get out of their beds and/or play and talk.  About 4 days ago, they decided to move to def-con 5.

Not only did we do the normal to bed dance as mentioned above, but both girls decided to go into hyper drive when it came to resisting sleep.  Our "love you!"s and "nite-nite"s were met with uncontrollable screaming and crying fits as we closed the door.  Imagine it, our quiet evening together being serenaded by massive amounts of temper tantrums playing like music in the background.  Obviously, self-control was at an all time low for the girls.  That was just the beginning...

The girls have decided to play specific roles in this war.  Meliya has become the informant and general know-it-all.  Everything we say is punctuated by, "I know" or "no, it's not."  Not to mention the "Caillyn's out of bed," "Caillyn's in the toy box," and other commentary that is shouted at us through the door or through the monitor.  She always manages to look like an angel when we walk into the room, despite having more stuff in her bed than before we shut the door.

Caillyn has become our adventurous explorer.  With every shut of the door, comes a new opportunity to do something forbidden and exciting.  As if on a secret mission, she proudly goes where Mommy and Daddy don't want her to go (with a smile on her face).  One night, it was completely emptying her toy box all over the floor and her sister's bed in order for her to hide in the toy box.  Another time was just perfect to pull out all the wipes from the wipes container and pretend to change the diaper on her bears and dolls, clean things, etc...  (Wet wipes everywhere are not fun to clean up when you are very pregnant and can't bend over.) 

Another mission came during the wee morning hours when we foolishly thought the girls were asleep.  Apparently, all of the sleep wars have honed their ability to be stealthily quiet during these adventures.  Unbeknown to us, Caillyn decided to venture out of her room to other areas of the house.  This was only discovered when we found evidence in her room.  She had pulled toys out of the main room and taken them back to play with.  The real shocker was when we found some of my sewing supplies buried in her sheets.  She apparently had wandered into the baby's room, which is in progress, where my sewing machine is currently set up and rummaged through my supplies until she found something interesting...my tape measure and my bag of hand sewing stuff (seam ripper, needle and thread, etc.).  Mommy was not happy!!!

However, the real SURPRISE for us all came a few mornings ago when Dave went to kiss Caillyn on the head.  Instead of sweet sugars being left on her head, he got a smack of strawberry shampoo.  Yes, our sweet little angel had been very successful in her mission that morning.  She not only found toys to take back to her room from the main room, not only found some interesting sewing stuff to add to her collection in her bed, but also found the shampoo in the bathroom and preceded in trying to wash her hair.  Dave had the wonderful experience of trying to wash our toddler's hair out in the kitchen sink...which she did NOT appreciate.

We are now experiencing what tonight will bring.  Will it be as exhausting and as daunting as last night's battle: 2 and a half hours of constantly putting Caillyn back in bed and removing things from the room?  Will it be better with only a little bit of intervention leaving everyone sane and relatively unscathed?  Only time will tell...

For those of you who are parents in the trenches just like us, turn your eyes towards the heavens for from there is where your help comes.  I wish, like everyone else, that parenting and life were easy.  However, I also realize that through these everyday struggles life happens.  One day can be a nightmare in which we want to forget, but it just may become a cherished memory we hold onto one day in the DISTANT future.