Sleep

One of the hazards of being a parent is that no matter how hard you try, you can never get as much sleep as you need. I'm hoping that it's not a permanent thing, and when my kids are eighteen I'll be able to sleep again, but then there will be so many more things to worry about, I'm trying to be realistic but there are some days that I really miss my sleep.

Now, I'm not trying to get twelve hours of sleep a night. I'd be good with about six, a solid six. I just can't seem to get it. Some nights it's really hard to shut down and get to sleep by midnight. Some nights I can pass out before I hit the pillow, but wake up and can't get back to sleep. And that's just me sabotaging myself. Adding Keith and the kids into the mix and I'm pretty much guaranteed that a good night's sleep is out of the question. And my poor husband has it worse than I do. Keith says he has always had cycles where he sleeps great and feels great when he wakes up. And then he can't sleep, for long periods of time.

My kids, however, have no problems in the sleep department. Mackenzie has the benefit of being three and is able to sleep, her problem is that she chooses not to want to. The word NAP sends her into a convulsion of despair over what she's going to miss while she's sleeping. And she has already mastered the art of the stall at bedtime.

David sleeps like a rock. Has always slept like a rock. He is my idol when it comes to sleep. As a baby, he gnashed his teeth, I'd could hear him from the other room. I'd roll him over and he'd never wake up, just reposition himself and keep right on sleeping. As he got older, the gnashing stopped, and then he picked up snoring. Never knew a child could snore as loud as he does. And though it all, he sleeps. When his dad and I were separating and going through the divorce process, a friend told me to watch his sleep patterns for any restlessness, a sign he wasn't dealing well with our situation. He started biting his nails down to his wrist, but he could still sleep a solid ten hours without waking up. (He doesn't bite his nails anymore.) Keith and I watch him with longing and envy, wishing we could be out ten minutes after we hit the pillow. But for the last two nights, David has been having problems going to sleep. Monday night, it took him almost an hour and a half to fall asleep. He didn't know what to do. He came into our bedroom asking for help. I put him back to bed, rubbed his back and his head, and it was all I could do. Maybe if I had had some more sleep, I could have come up with a better response.

Now that we're back in school, we're up at 6:00 a.m. On school nights,the kids' bedtime is 8:45, pushing either time just causes trouble, and on a good night if Keith and I are in bed by 9:30 p.m.. We're up early for choir practice and the twenty minute drive to school. After school, we have Cub Scouts meetings and guitar lessons, and let's not forget homework. We're still trying to work in gym time, and I have meetings back at school and at church for a variety of reasons, Keith will have occasion to stay at work and take care of things he can't get to during the day, I try my best not to overschedule the family, and yet there are days it just can't be helped. Any wonder why we can't sleep?