Bedtime

In preparation for the new baby, we decided to move Ethan and Ellie into the same room together. Now apart, they are little angel children. Taking naps and going right to bed at night as well. Together, they are naughty children from the dark side of the moon.

They play all night long, don't sleep in, and then are terrors all day long. One might wonder, do I feel like a bad mom - saying that my children are terrors?? Yes, I do. But that is honestly the only way to describe them on lack of sleep. Not to mentiong (and my dad would surely agree) patience has never been a gift that I posses.

Our kids go to bed at 8:00 p.m. and that is not something that Jacob and I are willing to move just to make our kids more sleepy before bedtime. But at the same time - does anyone out there have any suggestions as how to get them to just GO TO BED!!

We have a bedtime routine that we have been doing forever. Pajamas, brushing teeth, prayers, and stories. So a routine isn't our problem. And they don't necessarily get out of bed either. Every once in a while that does happen but it's not our main problem right now. The problem is that they are just in there playing. Talking, jumping in bed, playing with the lights/lamps, throwing books at one another and just plain goofing around.

We have tried reading to them lengthy stories but the playing is still going one after a month of sharing a room. We have tried putting them in timeout for goofing around. We have tried spanking - and yes, mom, we spank hard enough that it hurts. But we don't necessarily feel like that is the best solution either. But nothing else we can find, read, think of, or create in our heads is working. We don't want to be putting Ellie to bed early and let Ethan stay up a bit until she asleep, or have them fall asleep in seperate rooms and then move them together. I just want them to be perfect little children and fall asleep immediately when I tell them to!!

So seriously, before I feel like an utter failure as a mother would someone please tell me how this is done! I am beyond my wits end and need some kind of solution.