Nocturnal Wakings

Two nights ago Gilana woke with a start around 11 pm and screamed in terror for her Mommy and Daddy.  We rushed in to comfort and sooth her back to sleep, but she would have none of it!  Sweet Gigi was traumatized and refused anything to do with the pack-n-play she had been sleeping in for about a week.  Camelia had been learning to sleep in the nursery while Gilana enjoyed her temporary quarters in the guest room.  Everything was going great, but then this sleep-depriving snag hit us hard!  We thought through possible reasons she might have been struggling, did research on how to help her, but that night dragged on with a whimpering babe refusing to leave her Daddy's loving arms. 

He attempted taking her to bed with us, but that made her want to be a
        monkey jumping on the bed...
                        and we certainly didn't want her to fall off and bump her head!
So Momma decided not to call the doctor, but rather try and get the wee lass back to sleep.

Every attempt to lay her down resulted in lengthy and fearful wails, so Byron eventually decided to sleep in the room with her.  She woke several times an hour till 5 am after Byron had finally retreated back to bed.  We bolted out of bed at the sound of the Guest Room door opening with Gilana crying her way down the hallway towards the stairs.  Huge scare and relief that we had awoken!!  We then determined to put Gigi in the nursery with Camelia.  It worked and they both slept!

Every bedtime experience since that night has been a trial.  Nap times the last 2 days have been multi-hour crying sessions with us attempting to comfort Gigi in whatever way possible.  We even had her puppy-doll scope out the room for possible troubles, then report back to Gilana with the good results.  She wasn't buying it.  Last night Camelia went to sleep beautifully, but Gigi again fussed.  I prayed with our whimpering darling and sang her lullabies to sleep.  She finally gave in to exhaustion and collapsed into a ball on her mattress.  After this she slept excellently, despite Camelia's cries during the night whenever she lost her pacifier. This afternoon Gilana cried for nearly 2 hours as Byron and I continually went in to the nursery to check on her.  She refused to lay down, and propped herself against the rail as I once again prayed and sang her to sleep.  Gilana then fell asleep STANDING!  She had crumpled into mush on the mattress by the time her Daddy and Uncle Goggle came to see this darling anomaly. 

This evening was a different matter entirely.  Gilana and Camelia had their baths at Mopsy and Popsy's house followed by a walk home in the stroller.  After turning on the nursery fan and some soft lullaby music, I gave sweet Gigi a bottle to drink on her own as I nursed precious Camelia.  This was followed by a bedtime story and prayers for Melly as Gigi and I tucked her in and gave her kisses.  Then Gilana drank the rest of her bottle plus and entire second one!  Gilana and I prayed together and I settled her down in the crib, awaiting the howl.  Nothing.  She was tired and ready for bed!!!

Our girls are now officially sleeping in the nursery together, and we are SO grateful!!