To Sleep...Perchance...to Sleep? Ever again???

We may be short, we may be petite, we may be small of stature, but we are strong of lung and loud of voice. Especially the younger ones. Especially between the hours of 1 and 4 am. We have an infant here who thinks it's super fun to wake everyone up in the middle of the night. 

It's a two bedroom house, and the girls' room is, shall we say, dainty. I have this dream of my daughters sharing a room all their growing up years, of becoming best buddies, of me walking by their room and hearing "Mom's coming, shh be quiet!" So far it's not working, they just make each other cry. 

Five out of seven nights, the plot goes as follows: baby, HS, goes down around 7. She falls asleep easily, thwup thwup thwuping on her pacifier. Her big sister, B, goes down about half an hour later, usually after trying to wheedle out an extra story and/or song. 

But then...

Around 2 am, we hear a cry. Suddenly startled out of a deep sleep, we lay in our comfy warm bed, holding our breath. Will she put herself back to sleep? A moment of silence, and then, a louder cry. "Where the heck are you guys?" We wait, not wanting to be too quick to attend her, so she doesn't get the idea that she can just call and we come running (yeah, I know you're laughing). 

The crying intensifies, and the solo becomes a high-pitched, wailing duet. Two crying girlies. Two parents trying to hide. Finally, Tom gets up, takes B out to the couch, tucking her favorite blanket around her legs. And then we let the baby continue, if she wants. Sometimes she stops, sometimes she starts and stops. Mostly, we try to wait until 3 am or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. Then I feed her. Then she sleeps. We all sleep.

Until...

4 am. Maybe 5 am. More milk. Seriously? The worst is when she wakes up again at 6 am, because it's too close to regular wake up time, and if she happens to wake up B, then we're all up at 6 am. Oh joy. 

A few months ago we did sleep training, because HS was waking up every two hours. We wound up with either Tom or I on the couch, and the other in our bed with B. After a week it would work...for about a week. Then she'd just keep waking up earlier, and earlier...These times, I kind of wish we had three bedrooms. Or an extra bedroom, so we could let the baby cry without bothering the big sis. Maybe we can convert the attic??