Round the Clock

The way i mama my kids there isn't that much free time; no bathroom breaks, lunch hours, no punch cards to time out and most definitely no 8 hour sleeps. Ah, i cannot wait for more sleep. That is one thing that i miss deeply. My husband and i reminisce the days when we were hard pressed to make it to Sunday brunch before the restaurants closed at 2 pm because we were still in bed. Can you imagine? Racing to get out of the house by 1:30 in the afternoon? Now I am overjoyed if my kids sleep til 8! Most days its 6:45 with little Satya waking up with a poop and a "MAMA! MAMA!!!" that's my little alarm clock. The worst part is on those rare days when she actually sleeps in but my tired eyes still open and wait for that little voice.
I was blessed with almost 4 months of sleep after Aiyana turned 2 and miraculously started to sleep 12 hours straight at night and before little Satya was born. Of course, it hardly counts because i woke up every few hours to pee in those last months of pregnancy anyway.
Since Aiyana turned 3 she will no longer sleep alone and she wakes a few times during the night if no one is by her side. She slept for 12 or 13 hours straight for one sweet year and then back to restless nights the week she turned 3. My husband and i rarely get thru a movie without one or both of the girls waking for boob or comfort. It's exhausting but my babes are little and this is just part of the territory. I am not into making my 3 year old scream for hours that she is terrified of sleeping alone because i "should" and because she is "supposed to" sleep on her own thru the night. I think babies and families are much more complicated and there are many more solutions to "problems" then we are led to believe. At the end of the day, i have to live with my children, their fears, my guilt and our victories. So whatever feels right for us is what goes.
We think we have a few more years before really good sleep returns to our bed.