Where's the payoff?!!

Jacob woke up at the ass-crack of dawn today - which is to say around 7am, which I realize is a normal time for most people to wake up. But he'd been up the night before until 11pm because I was so busy sticking to my guns putting Sabine asleep that I didn't get around to Jacob until 9:30 or so. And then it was of the utmost importance that we bake chocolate muffins (a recipe I whipped out of thin air) to go with the last few chapters of the book we were reading. We got into bed before 11, but he was so wound up from God-knows-what that he didn't fall asleep until 11.

So on the way home from an errand this evening, Jacob fell asleep. It was 5:20. Right now it's 10:20 and we've yet to have both kids asleep at the same time.

Sabine was asleep in the car too, by the way. I pulled into the driveway and took all our stuff in on the first trip into the house. I prepared the bed for Jacob and took down the dog barriers. I went out to the car and got the baby in first. Settled her into a corner still in the carseat. Then I went out for Jacob. I took off his shoes IN the car so there would be no messing around with that after I was already holding him. I took all the precautions. Laid him into bed on the pad, then went downstairs to get stuff done.

That lasted five minutes. Sabine woke up and I was sitting in the living room nursing her when Zach came home a few minutes later. I was all excited to watch Old School (which we finally got a copy of today) but Zach informed me he had to go back to work. Cue deflating balloon.

He insisted we could watch it when he got back home. "What if Jacob is awake when you get back home?" Catch the foreshadowing?

Not thirty minutes later the phone rings and I'm running around the downstairs like an idiot looking for the cordless. Then I ran upstairs for the second handset, which we keep in the bedroom. Smart, huh? I forgot to take it out of the room when I laid Jacob down. And of course it woke him. He's hungry. I bring him up a bowl of cereal, then continue my phone conversation downstairs. I feel someone watching me. He's behind me now asking for more cereal. Great. Sabine sees him and gets all happy. Jacob sees Sabine and gets all happy. It's suddenly a party and everyone is wide awake. And that's where we are when Zach walks in.

The next couple hours are devoted to getting the kids to bed. Everyone gets ready for bed and climbs in. I read books for a while and have Zach sway with the baby, but she stills only wants me at night. I sway with her for a while and then lay down in bed for the final round of getting Sabine to sleep. I simultaneously snuggle with Jacob and put the baby to sleep laying on my chest.

Twenty minutes later I lay Sabine in the co-sleeper. Successfully. Then Jacob coughs. That's the end of that. Another fifteen minutes and she's back in the co-sleeper. Asleep. I go downstairs and do some dishes. I go upstairs to check on the kids while I'm waiting for Zach to finish up his stuff so we can watch the movie. While I'm up there, somewhere downstairs Ginger shakes; her collar and tags make noise. Sabine's awake. Another round of nursing her and ten minutes later I attempt to put her down. Then Zach walks in the room and asks what's going on. I leave it up to him to deal with her and go downstairs. Two minutes later he comes down. She's asleep. Finally. We start the movie and it's 10:20. Two hours that shit took.

I've been so diligent the past few days. Why is this not paying off? When will it get easier? Maybe it won't. Maybe we will just have to get rid of one of the kids...