Once upon a time I had a baby who liked to sleep with me and when I put a mattress on the floor where his crib was he started sleeping through the night at around age 1.
Once upon a time I had another baby who refused to sleep without me and didn’t sleep through the night with or without me for 4 and a half years. Now she sleeps through the night every time I tuck her in.
It took me months to try and get back onto a normal sleep schedule.
I still don’t have a normal sleep schedule.
By 7:30 pm I am so tired I don’t want to be up. I don’t want to talk or play with children. I don’t want to have important conversations. I want to lie down with a book or a stupid sitcom and go to sleep when my eyes give out.
This often happens by about 8:30, sometimes 9 pm.
I try to stay up longer. I really do. I want to enjoy the spring warmth and sit back and relax. I want to have adult time with DH and not be asleep like a kid when the sun is still setting.
On one hand, sleep is good. My naturopath doctor says get sleep when you’re tired. So I do. But I feel like I miss out on life.
On the other hand, I now wake up at 3ish or 4ish am and cannot for the life of me get back to sleep.
My life begins at 4 am.
By 6:30 am I am tired and want to go to sleep and if I don’t get coffee immediately then the entire household falls apart and everyone will be late.
I manage till mid-afternoon. By mid-afternoon I want to have a nap. Only I can’t nap because I have a chatty 5 year old who wants to play and talk and go to the park…
By the time dinner is done and the late afternoon/early evening activities are over I’m ready for bed.
And the cycle begins anew.
Sleep will remain an issue for me despite the fact that I no longer have any babies around.
This weekend we’re spending an evening with another couple. Dinner reservations were made for 7:30 pm. Perhaps I can start my cycle of going to bed a bit later this weekend. I sure would like to spend the summer evenings out of doors, rather than in bed zonked out like a zombie.
