I don't know about you, but when I have to get up at 5 AM every morning (that's right, my kids are early risers) I need to go to bed by 10 PM. No late news for me, and we tivo Craig Ferguson. So imagine my surprise being woken up at 11:30 PM by my bed shaking like a San Fransico earthquake. My husband's coughs have no break, poor man, until 1 AM. At 2 AM my six-year-old comes down stairs, "Mom, my stomach hurts." So we go upstairs to take a look. The whole upstairs is lit up like a Christmas tree because my four-year-old has thrown up in bed. Send the six-year-old to bed, clean up the four-year-old and run to the store for emergency gatorade. Set the four-year-old up and six-year-old comes out with two-year-old in hand. He is coughing so hard his "tummy hurts." Send six-year-old back to bed; rock two-year-old and put him back to bed. Tell six-year-old to eat a couple of crackers because goodness knows that I am too hungry to sleep and tell her to go back to sleep. Check on the four-year-old, she is sleeping--it is 3:15 AM. Lay down and hear ten-month-old coughing in her sleep. Sigh and close my eyes. 3:45 AM six-year-old, "Mom, I threw up." Clean bathroom, change pajamas, and wait for it to come again. Start reading (by the way, I have a cold and have lost my voice) a chapter out of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle <amazing book for kids about first-fourth grade>. Set up a bed on the floor for six-year-old and put her to bed; it is 4:30 AM. Lay down, close my eyes, alarm goes off at 5 AM. Get up, take shower, check on everyone.......
Ask Husband to Stay Home and I Take a Nap.
Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Why Sleep?
Gee Mom, I don't wanna go to sleep. Why is it that children have this aversion to getting the one thing that they need? I know it is hard to believe, but out of my four children, I don't have a single one that is a decent sleeper right now. Screaming and crying until their little bodies are so exhausted that they can do nothing but cry themselves to sleep. Why? Why is it so interesting to stay awake when really our bodies are yelling for us to stop. Let's just continue to be miserable instead of taking the cure?
Oddly enough, as I am writing this I see a lot of similarities in adults. Why do adults continue to do things that are bad for them? Why do WE stay up to watch the Late Late show with Craig even though it is already Tivo-ed? I am sure there is a correlation there somewhere. Maybe my children just are normal human beings--just small ones. I guess I should go try to save my seven-month-old from herself. I'll go lye her down....again.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Five in the morning on a Sunday. I bet you thought about sleeping in before you would roll out of bed, throw on your Sunday best and get to church late. You were wrong. Five am and you are up with a six month old who thought it would be fun to crawl out of her bassinet. Thank goodness you found her before she fell onto the hard floor, but of course she can't go back to sleep without being comforted--i.e. fed. So, now you are wide awake with nothing to do but walk around as silent as death himself because if any one of your family members wakes up you will be a dead duck in the water.
Even the thought of food is out of the question. They are like that old dog at your grandpa's house. He can't hear a thing--not you yelling for him to come, not a window breaking as someone sneaks in to steal the TV, not even a cat scratching at the door--but he always comes running when the food pours into his bowl. Your kids instinctively hear the crackle of cereal bags, or smell the rich bacon you are dreaming about right now. You know that the second you even think about the ham and cheese omelet or powdered french toast with strawberries and whip cream, they will wake up and come running into the kitchen to mimic the seagulls in Nemo (for those of you with too young or old enough kids, the sea gulls' only line in the movie is "Mine" repeated a hundred times) Oh it may just start out with the two year old, but within seconds all three of your older ones are up and running which in turn wakes up Dad and the dog who then wake up the baby you just so successfully put back to sleep.
So, instead you wait impatiently as the clock slowly ticks away each second. You think about all the things you could be doing instead. Of course sleep tops the list, but soon the mountain called your "To Do List" starts coming to mind. Work out, clean the tub, toilet, dishes, etc., shopping, dinner planning, call your doctor about that thing, call your sister who is probably up with your niece, call your mother just to annoy her because she is a grandmother now so she is sleeping blissfully, get caught up on the ironing, sewing, laundry. Each item your dismiss, because why would you want to make that much noise or go through that much trouble. You finally decide to surf the web. After all your typing only makes minimal sound and you won't have any breakfast smells or early morning lights to try to hide. So it is now five-thirty am, and I only have one more half hour before I can have the french toast.
Even the thought of food is out of the question. They are like that old dog at your grandpa's house. He can't hear a thing--not you yelling for him to come, not a window breaking as someone sneaks in to steal the TV, not even a cat scratching at the door--but he always comes running when the food pours into his bowl. Your kids instinctively hear the crackle of cereal bags, or smell the rich bacon you are dreaming about right now. You know that the second you even think about the ham and cheese omelet or powdered french toast with strawberries and whip cream, they will wake up and come running into the kitchen to mimic the seagulls in Nemo (for those of you with too young or old enough kids, the sea gulls' only line in the movie is "Mine" repeated a hundred times) Oh it may just start out with the two year old, but within seconds all three of your older ones are up and running which in turn wakes up Dad and the dog who then wake up the baby you just so successfully put back to sleep.
So, instead you wait impatiently as the clock slowly ticks away each second. You think about all the things you could be doing instead. Of course sleep tops the list, but soon the mountain called your "To Do List" starts coming to mind. Work out, clean the tub, toilet, dishes, etc., shopping, dinner planning, call your doctor about that thing, call your sister who is probably up with your niece, call your mother just to annoy her because she is a grandmother now so she is sleeping blissfully, get caught up on the ironing, sewing, laundry. Each item your dismiss, because why would you want to make that much noise or go through that much trouble. You finally decide to surf the web. After all your typing only makes minimal sound and you won't have any breakfast smells or early morning lights to try to hide. So it is now five-thirty am, and I only have one more half hour before I can have the french toast.
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