Sleep? Please?

I understood when I became a mom, that I would lose sleep. Babies need to eat during the night. I knew that. I figured that eventually my baby would sleep through the night, and then I would too. Lucky for me, that's exactly how it worked, the first time.

Quinn has been my worst sleeper, not sleeping through the night until about 15 months. A lot of moms go even longer with their babies. It's hard. Really hard.

Brennan is sleeping through the night about half the time, right now. And to be honest, our routine with him isn't bad. The problem I'm having now is that my children are taking so long to get to sleep, and then when they do, that's the time I have to do things that are hard to do when they're awake. After that I watch a TV show or two that I can't watch when they're up or I read a book that I haven't had time to read all day, and before I know it, it's late.

I think the boys would go to sleep earlier, but Ciaran gets up. He's learned to open every safety knob I've tried putting on his door. And he can take down the safety gates. So, he gets out of bed about 25 times before finally giving up. It's exhausting.

Tonight I'm actually sitting on the end of his bed, typing on my computer in the dark, hoping that my presence will keep him in bed and help him go to sleep. So far, it's not working all that well.

I think I'm living with a permanent sleep deficit and I'm not entirely sure how to fix it. For now, like most moms, I'm hanging on and hanging in. I mean, they're awfully cute once they're asleep.