Nap Time

Before becoming a Mother (over 9 years ago) I never thought that my days would be run by nap times of the little monkeys that are my children! I also never thought that with each new child you add to your family the juggling act of nap time becomes more complicated. I had my son when I was eighteen and I have NO CLUE what I was getting myself into! Nap times were an enjoyable time full of cuddling and precious moments. Four years later my daughter came into the world and nap times became a bit less enjoyable. Its not that my daughter was a difficult baby because she was not she was sweet as can be but I now had a new born and almost five year old. I was blessed that my son enjoyed the quiet time in the house when my daughter went down for a nap and even participated in cuddling with his little sister while I was trying to calm her down for her nap. There were some days that were frustrating because nap time did not come together as smoothly as I had wanted but we all made it through this time. Two years later my youngest daughter was born and while she was a very easy baby just the added element of three children in the house (two which still needed a nap time) made any seemingly simple task as if I was walking a tight rope in a circus act!! Just trying to keep everyone on a set schedule with meals, nap time, bed time, bath time, play time, school, homework, and everything else that still needs to be done within a household each day well lets just say it was enough to make me insane some days! My youngest is now 2 1/2 and in that stage in her life where she thinks she does not need a nap so she fights it almost everyday but in all reality she does need the nap! Especially with her added health issues of sleep apnea and seizures in her case she REALLY still needs a nap! But in my house nap time has become a war zone! She refuses to lay down, gets out of her bed (we even tried putting her back in her crib and some how she kept getting out of it), cries, screams, yells, and still eventually ends up back down stairs. So what is a Mommy of three to do?! Some days I continually put her back in bed for over an hour until either she just falls asleep or I give up but this takes time and energy away from my other children along with things I might need to get done that day. On other days I give up putting her down for a nap after 2 or 3 tries knowing that by dinner time my daughter is going to morph into a monster and likely fall asleep for the night over an hour before she needs to which means she will be up that much earlier the next morning. S in the end there is no perfect way to raise three children I just try to make it through nap time everyday with some sanity still in tack for the next days adventure with my monkeys!!