Tired

I am SO TIRED. Seriously, so very very tired.

I am not sure what happened to this child who formerly slept like the dead. I miss that child. Because THIS child, this child who has not been sleeping so much for the past few weeks, is EXHAUSTING ME.

We had two nights where she was up screaming like a banshee at 1:00 AM. Then we had some nights where she didn't scream, she just kind of moaned and yelled in her sleep on and off all night long. Nights where she wakes up needing to go the bathroom and then begs to sleep with Mommy or Daddy or Gabriel.

Yesterday, I took the day off and Dave and I drove to Ikea with the intention of getting a loft bed with a desk for Gabriel's room and a bed with a trundle for Lana's room, so that Gabriel can sleep with her occasion. (They both ask to be able to sleep in the same room on a fairly regular basis, so, I thought if her bed had a trundle bed then Gabe could sleep in there for a few nights and maybe Lana would go back to sleeping 10 to 12 hours per night.)

Anyway, we got to Ikea and were totally overwhelmed by the gazillion possibilities. And overwhelmed by how VERY MANY PEOPLE were there on a Thursday at 10:30 in the morning.

So, finally, after 2 hours of wandering around trying to find what we wanted, we settled on the Tromso loft bed and desk for Gabriel (you can see them here http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15558&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=11534&langId=-1&categoryId=15619&chosenPartNumber=50019950 and here http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10103&storeId=12&langId=-1&productId=50797 ) and we wanted the Robin bed and trundle bed for Lana's room. (This http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10103&storeId=12&langId=-1&productId=68614)

Problematically, they were sold out of the bed and trundle bed. AND THEY HAD NO OTHER TRUNDLE BEDS available either. NONE.

I'm sorry. This is freaking IKEA. Reasonably priced Swedish furniture solutions!! HOW CAN THEY HAVE NO TRUNDLE BEDS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE?? HOW???

And THEN, despite following their instructions for actually locating the boxes we needed for Gabe's bed and desk, we were not able to actually find them. We had to find an IKEA employee (no easy task considering the place was SWAMPED) and they took us to the aisle/bin where the boxes were supposed to be, and low and behold, the boxes were not there. So THEN a manager had to be located, who had to make phone calls, who spoke to someone who said that, "oh, yes, those desks had to be moved to different location because of x, y or z." (I don't remember). So, THEN, we had to go that aisle to find the desk, which was sitting in a bin marked, "MALM Queen Sized Bed Frame". Which the bin WASN'T, because it was filled with boxes of Gabriel's desk. So, heaven help any IKEA customers who wanted the MALM bed frame...

Anyway, we got it home and Husband put the bed and desk together and Lana was ticked because Gabe got a new bed and she didn't. So, we told her she could sleep in Gabe's room in her sleeping bag.

And there was much getting up and down by the children, and then there was much screaming and yelling about them not being asleep and lines were drawn in the sand about what was going to happen if a parent had to come into the bedroom again, and then, of course, we had to go back in, and then Lana was made to go and sleep in her own bed and all hell broke loose. By which I mean she screamed for about an hour (during which time I had a complete and utter meltdown because she has been giving us a hard time with sleeping for two weeks now and I've just about reached the end of my damn rope) and she finally fell asleep in her own bed, against her will, around 10:45. And then she was up screaming and yelling at 12:15, and she refused to go the bathroom, and then when put back in her bed she demanded to go to the bathroom, and then claimed that she was in pain but couldn't identify where, and I gave up and took her into the guest room where she fell asleep and I kind of fell asleep, except that she woke up every now and then to cry for no apparent reason for a minute or two, which would wake me up and then it takes me a while to get back to sleep, and then she would cry for a minute or two again and the whole stupid cycle began again.

Anyway, the point is, I'm tired. And fed up with this sleep nonsense.

This mornign she woke up and announced that she "NO SLEEP IN LANA'S BED. NO SLEEP THERE." And, frankly, I was tempted to chuck her and the bed out the window.

Anyway, I have no idea what to do about this situation. We have been to the doctor and she is not sick. Any advice would be appreciated.

Gretchen