Sleep is for wussies anyway
You guys are so great. I fully expect to be knocked about the head and shoulders for using the word "despairing" when I have two kids who go to sleep on their own and are, for the most part, napping rock stars and POOR ME having to rock a baby to sleep for an hour in the middle of the night LIFE IS SO HARD.
I thought I would respond to some of the suggestions (you: ANOTHER SLEEP POST KILL ME PLEASE) and if you're not into that kind of thing may I direct you to Parenting (go there tomorrow, not tonight) where I have, for your reading pleasure, inserted myself into Playground Culture yet again, even though I know better, and RAN SCREAMING. Well, it was more like a brisk walk and the screaming was in my head (and then translated to blog post) but I'd really like to know what YOU would have done in such a situation.
ANYWAY.
Molly's 9 month appointment is tomorrow (or today, for those of you clicking over on your 10 am coffee break) and I'm going to pick my pediatrician's brain re: sleep and then Make A Decision. I fully reserve the right to make a decision to do NOTHING. But I'll let you know either way.
About cosleeping: doesn't work for us. It might have, if we'd kept it up after the newborn stage (which we did, I guess, with Molly) but Phillip doesn't sleep well and both babies would wake up (and then fall back asleep, but they'd wake ME up) so no good. I can't imagine trying it now (although we have, because at 3am we'll try anything) because that's, like, PLAYTIME!
About moving Jack out: I can see how it MIGHT work- he sleeps great at my folks' house in a strange room in a strange pack 'n play - but I can also see how I'd be dealing with TWO middle-of-the-night disasters. Jack loooves his crib. LOVES IT. Spends much of his AWAKE time in his crib. And when he's about to have a meltdown, offering the crib as a place to chill out almost always does the trick. I'm nervous to mess with his favorite space, you know? But maybe. And same with moving him after he's already been asleep... maybe I'm just imagining that my kids are this sensitive, I don't know, but that whole thing makes me nervous.
About getting enough to eat: it's hard to tell, since over this last week she doesn't want to eat ANYTHING. I know she's teething, so getting any solids into her is difficult (she was turning into a champion eater there for a while, all good things must end) and she's been rejecting bottles left and right. Today, however, was amazing bottle-wise, so the cereal-in-the-bottle thing is something to keep in mind. I'm almost positive she's not waking because she's hungry. We feed her because we don't know what else to do.
About setting up the crib in the living room: no can do. We'd have to take it apart and set it up in the middle of the room because that's the only place to put it. I HAVE thought about stashing her in the little bathroom off the kitchen, but then I imagine what the acoustics are like and crying it out in the bathroom just sounds mean.
BORED OUT OF YOUR MINDS?
We had the most splendid day. It wasn't the EASIEST day, since Molly took a short afternoon nap and bawled at me from the moment she got up till the minute I gave up and dragged us to the air conditioned mall, but it was one of those We Did So Much! days. A park with a view of the water, picnic lunch, fun friends, dinner at the mall (I could not. be. in. the. house. one. more. second.) where Jack ate an ENTIRE SLICE OF PIZZA and PIGS FLEW, and then alternately watering my vegetable garden and my little boy in the front yard. Phillip thought he had a meeting tonight, but for once his absentmindedness worked in my favor and the meeting is NEXT week, so he's giving the boy a bath. Molly's asleep. (FOR NOW.) I have leftover enchiladas in the fridge. I bid you good night.
2004-2010 Maggie Cheung. This drivel is licensed under 
You can start using your middle of the night time to talk to me on the computer. Because I'm apparently never going to sleep again (I know, probably too soon to tell, but it feels that way). :)
Sounds like you had a good day! Amazing how appealing the mall with its a/c becomes when it gets so hot outside. Darned city parks for not having the wading pools open yet!
Posted by: Carrie | June 04, 2009 at 06:56 AM
I'm glad you had a good day, even if it wasn't easy! After all this non-sleeping, you needed it!
Posted by: Jess | June 04, 2009 at 07:19 AM
Dinner and mall and P giving bath? Sounds like a good day! I miss the mall. I can't ever seem to get there with the schedule we're currently keeping. Grrrr. Sorry Molly is being such a pill.
Congrats on the later morning this morning! Yay!
Posted by: Christiana | June 04, 2009 at 07:35 AM
You and I have chatted about it before but I found the inverse was true with our son in terms of food. The MORE we feed him in the evenings, the more he wakes up at night - even too much at dinner can affect him. So we cut back on stuffing him at dinner, and he gets just water middle of the night. Once he realized he wasn't going to get any more chow during the night, the wakeups reduced quite a bit. She prolly doesn't need the middle of the night feed at her age either. But teething sucks. During teething hell our son got what we like to call Vitamin I with a teething tablet chaser every other night, because tylenol doesn't work on him. He slept easier for it, too.
Posted by: Redbecca | June 04, 2009 at 07:50 AM
forgot to add, PnP or moving a crib to the living room for one of the kiddos sounds like the best solution at this point. Whichever will sleep better in a different place once they wake up. Our DS is a super light sleeper so here is praying that whenever #2 comes along he/she is a heavy sleeper and can be moved anywhere anytime without waking.
Posted by: Redbecca | June 04, 2009 at 07:52 AM
Yesterday, I would have had sympathy. Not today. I spent four hours last night trying to get the child to go back to sleep. She was in bed by 8, up at 10, didn't fall back asleep until 2. These only happen about twice a month, but they are enough to make me doubt my parenting skills and think evil thoughts. I'm tired today.
Posted by: Lisa | June 04, 2009 at 11:13 AM
I'm so sorry none of you are sleeping. I have non-child-related insomnia (unless you count the furry children who claw me in the leg at 3:30 in the morning because they are bored and want me to play with them), and WHATEVER the reason, sleep deprivation is hard.
Posted by: Jenny Ryan | June 04, 2009 at 01:58 PM
No kids, so no advice. . . except that as a former grad school student who hasn't quite come off the schoolwork schedule--I tell myself I can sleep when I'm dead. Weird humor, I know.
Posted by: Kate P | June 04, 2009 at 09:37 PM