Haunting At Home, Or Just Old House Playing Mind Games?

I have never really talked about the things that go on in my home since I have lived here, but lately it seems to have gotten more common over the last 3 or 4 years. I have been in the home for a very long time, noticing little noises or other small instances but never really thought anything of it. But like I said, now it's gotten to be somewhat more active I could say? And considering I'm not an expert I would like the opinion of others, which is why I came here.

Also, I would like to explain I have experienced real hauntings in which I will share in other stories because they are in different places. But again I am no expert, and the hauntings I have experienced are extremely obvious and up close and personal. But in this case I would like more opinions from people who know their stuff, because its not really that obvious at all.

So to begin, I'll start out with the simple things. Mostly everything takes place upstairs in the 2 bedrooms. In my bedroom, while laying in bed, I will hear noises like tapping on the wall right above my head, sometimes scratching noises on the other side of the room. In my bathroom on occasion it sounds as if someone standing in there, as if weight is settling and almost like someone is playing with the water in the toilet or sounds of things moving on the sink. In the bedroom across the hall you can hear as if someone goes through the room, like searching for something. But I can't distinguish if these sounds are actually from of the supernatural or just the house settling because I'll get up from bed and go stand in the room and I won't hear anything else until I leave and get back into my bed. I'm not easy to scare, even when I hear these noises it doesn't startle me and I just go back to sleep.

I also pay attention to the reactions of my 2 large dogs. A little background on my dogs as they will somehow know when a cat will be in our yard even if all the windows are closed, they are very very keen and very protective of this house. They are so protective of me that they will not sleep on the floor, they must sleep in my bed lol. But their reactions are quite intriguing to me, being that they would attack any living thing that walks on my property if they feel it was uninvited.

They go about things very differently with the noises and sounds in the house. For instance, almost every night I can hear something upstairs that is seemingly either crawling or dragging itself from room to room very quickly. My dogs will stand up, my boxer will go straight to the bottom of the stairs and just stare while the hair on the middle of her back makes an instant Mohawk. I thought it could be a critter like a raccoon or something that gained entry into the home, but my dog have killed raccoons and other critters but they will not go up the stairs when these noises are being made. And by the way my boxer looks at the top of the stairs, she seems like something has spooked her. I will go up and check but my dogs won't follow, just watch and not make a noise. Of course, when I get up there the noise stops and doesn't continue until I have come back down. It just bothers me because nothing seemingly spooks my dogs unless it comes to this.

Other things I will see my dogs do, is when they are in the bed with me. It's weird because I'll wake up and they will both have their heads down, but right after both of their heads will pop up and simultaneously look in the same direction, which is the door to my room. Then in unison, they will slowly follow something and their heads will pan slowly from my door to the door that leads to the attic. Once their heads stop in the direction of the attic, they will just stare and stare and considering I'm already too tired, I just go back to sleep so I never figure out how long they stay like that. They don't bark or anything to my knowledge, just stare plainly.

And to the last part which deals with the phenomenon of sleep paralysis. This has been going on for years but in the last 4 years, 3 different instances have me troubled a bit. Now, like I said, I'm not easy at all to scare, so I don't go to bed having trouble falling asleep or scare myself with thoughts, I'm usually very calm.

The first of these 3 particular instances was kind of weird. I had woken up seemingly wide awake and had complete consciousness of my surrounding but I couldn't move or say anything. I didn't really fight back but I could hear something at my bedroom door which sounded like slow, yet very heavy, breathing. It had to have gone on for like 15 seconds, then when it stopped I had free control of my body. I just shrugged it off and went back to bed, figured I was "sleeping awake" basically, and since my dogs made no reaction whatsoever I disregarded the incident.

The second of these instances came maybe a year later. I woke up once again, seemingly wide awake, but this time my dogs were not in the room with me and it felt like someone was smothering me. I couldn't breath or move or speak. I didn't freak out but instead I got really, really mad and in my head I was saying, "Get the F#%$ Off Me!" It immediately stopped right after that and after about 3 minutes of trying to figure it out, I just went back to sleep.

Finally, the third instance is what has me troubled a bit. It was maybe 6 weeks ago. I was dreaming that someone was dragging me off the bed, I was on my stomach and was being pulled towards the top of the stairs. In the dream, or nightmare, I couldn't fight back or anything. When I got to the stairs I woke from the dream, only to find myself laying on my stomach about 10ft away from my bed. I still couldn't move but I could see the stairs from where I was at. Both dogs came up the stairs, but when they saw me they both retreated back down. For what seemed about maybe 3 minutes, I couldn't move or speak.

Now I'm not totally worried that this could be a ghost or anything, because I know that I do have a history to sleep walk, but this instance still has me somewhat intrigued considering the other 2 examples I have given.

That's pretty much the insider on the findings in my home. I don't feel scared or threatened at the moment because I don't know if there is anything to be scared of to be honest. I just thought I'd share to maybe get insight of what all this could be, from just my mind playing with me or even just a house settling due to age and weather changes? Or it could be something seriously trying to get my attention.

But all opinions and thoughts are welcome, sorry if this was so long. Thanks in advance for any help resolving these issues.