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| Belle (my dog) and Smokey (my cat) are true Bed Buddies :) |
Oh how sleep eludes me! I have never been a "good sleeper"minus two times in my life - when I had mono and pregnant. How I miss those 12 - 14 hour naps ;) I know in this world there are good sleepers. My dad was one and my husband is as well. These men I love blow my mind. I tell myself I should go to sleep so I can get seven hours of sleep. That is a pretty long night for me. Six is average. I am functionable at five hours. Ooooh four is pushing it but I will try to rush to bed and yell at myself to fall asleep. Ouch here comes only three hours available to sleep but still doable. Oh no Oh no only two 1/2 hours - maybe a power nap will do it for the day. Nail biter under two hours and under one is it even worth trying?
That is my typical night before a big day. And that was before I had the spontaneous alarm clock of a child at two years old. It's like playing an all too important game of concentration but you really have no idea when the alarm will buzz. Don't get me wrong I don't just watch the clock tick I attempt to lay down in bed, read, watch tv, send out an e-mail or two, possibly a blog like this entry in hopes to "clear my mind" so that I will stop flip flopping in bed.
Now here is my husband's attempt at sleep before a busy day or early morning. Oh I need to get up at 6:00 am. At 10:50 p.m. he will announce to me he is going to bed, check on our son, finish little nightly ritual, climb into bed 10:58 p.m. I will keep him up chit chatting for ten to fifteen minutes because there is something about him going to bed that will rip the cord on my thought train. Sure I have seen him all day and talked several hours but it is in the quiet of that room that I have to ponder life's greatest decisions. We will officially kiss good night at 11:10 p.m. and he will be asleep by 11:19 p.m. - if that late!!! Come on!!! I sometimes hope his sleeping magic will drift my way if I go to sleep at the exact same time. I say my prayers including my nightly ritual of the Lord's prayer since I was seven. Funny what routines we carry from childhood into adulthood - take note parents these small actions do matter! And then I just lay there. Look at the clock, pet my cat, count sheep, flip sides, flip pillow, seek the cool spot with my toes and NADA!!! My legs jump, I try to clear my thoughts and they just push harder and faster through my thoughts, and the whole time I can hear the ticking of our digital clock. After 30 minutes (sometimes 20 if I am incredibly jumpy) I get up because I am about to lose my mind! And to hear the deep breathing of my sleeping husband is like rubbing salt in the insomniac's wound!
And if I could sleep a couple hours straight through a couple of days in a row maybe I could sleep train myself. But instead my adorable toddler is sleep-training me to be completely unfunctionable for society. Maybe the kid is a crazy genius who knows a sleepy mommy is a pliable mommy :)
So after a busy Friday ending with a fun hanging of the greens at our church and the possible overactive, overly congested toddler coughing up to the point of disgusting mess on himself (who of course has extra set of clothes), mommy (who does not have an extra set of clothes) and carpeting called it an early evening. Drew in bed by 8:30 p.m. Mommy in bed by 8:36 p.m. This is a RARE situation so rare my husband tapped me awake at 8:43 p.m. "Honey, do you really want to fall asleep now?" With a quick thought and a possible nod if you count my head hitting the pillow as a way to say I think so - better to get a couple of hours then nothing.
Someday's you have a stroke of genius. Mine was that permission and God-granted gift of sleep at 8:30 p.m. because the spontaneous alarm went off at 2:30 a.m. Ha ha kid I have six hours of sleep in me too! I will happily meet your challenge this evening and combat you with love, patience, and kindness instead of the groggy whine and plead for sleep even thirty extra minutes. That's good I had six hours because we were up until 6:30 a.m. Oh we chatted, I had grabbed a blanket and pillow for a true slumber party. We petted the dog. How our dog is such a saint. This is that teamwork aspect. She laid down between me and my son in his crib and just let us each take turns petting her. Wish her actions would trickle down to the cat who for some reason feels a quiet house needs to hear a cat meow every two hours - it's like playing wake the baby roulette. Except the cat never seems to lose but the house's odds are quite slim to nil. I changed his diaper, we rocked, we sang, we laughed, We told stories (I have to confess at 3:45 am I did not understand his twenty minute version of something but his lion and him seemed to think it was a roaring good time ;). A little after four I thought he had used up his energy sent out a quick couple of e-mails and then heard the cries - Pumped myself up like a boxing champ and ran into the ring for another ten rounds. Finally I fed him breakfast at 5:30 a.m. toast, cereal, and banana, and some milk. I enjoyed a bowl of mashed potatoes - close enough.
We watched Disney Junior cartoons which encouraged my son to be up for the day so that was promptly shut off. Crazy television!
And yes we both succumbed to sleep for several more hours! I have to give some thanks to my hubby for not only allowing me to take an early bedtime but took care of all the evening business, straightening kitchen, fixing our child's nightlight that went out, locking doors, and taking care of pets. My son who was the challenger but also my teammate for sleeping a solid six hours before our nightly shenanigans and then taking quite the morning power nap. God for hearing my prayers that I needed more sleep and allowing me the opportunity to lay down and conk out before 9 p.m. And my pets especially my puppy with her caring way to allow my son the opportunity to choose a soothing activity like petting her for at least fifteen minutes. And even the cat for only doing one round of waking the baby roulette. See in our household it truly is a team effort to catch some ZZZZZzzzzz's
May your HealthFULL Journey allow you the time to rest, to recuperate, and to refresh so that you can continue to make progress in your journey for complete Health and the opportunity to Feel Unbelievable & Love Life. 'Til we meet again. . .
Finally, my tiredness kicked in
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