To Sleep Perchance To Dream…

This is a typical night in our household… I try, for the most part not to think about how ridiculous it is because really my sleep pattern has been basically like this for 16+ years but here’s a sample…

10 pm- I am pooped and desperately want to go to bed.

11 pm- if it is a weeknight I am nagging #1 to get off the computer and get in bed, if it is a weekend I am wondering how I will stay a wake to greet #1 at his Midnight curfew

Midnight- either I have finally got Mr. Cranky-pants teenager off the computer and off to bed or he has just arrived home and I am telling him no computer and he must go straight to bed.

12:30 am- #6 gets into bed with the Ol’ Man and I.  He has just moved into a big boy bed so I no longer have to listen to him calling my name- he gets up and comes all by himself.

12:45 am- (a good night) #6 goes to sleep

12:45 am- (a not so good night) #6 tosses and turns and wants to sleep uner my arm so we basically wrestle until HE”S comfortable- this can sometimes take up to an hour

1:30 am- I finally fall back asleep

2 am- #5 shuffles in and squirms in between the Ol’ Man and her brother.

2:30 am- the Ol’ Man gets up and goes to #5’s bed

3:30 am- #6 wakes up and demands a “ba-ba” I try my best to ignore him, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In the occasional very weak moment I get up to get him a drink of milk in hopes it will keep him quiet.

4:oo am- (on a particularly bad night such as was last night) #4 shows up and squeezes in.

5:00 am- somehow, even if I have dozed off I wake up and then lay in bed , knowing I have to get up but cursing these children who are all now, finally sleeping.

5:15 am- I get up and think that I now at least have a few minutes to myself- start the coffee and wake up Ol’ Man.

5;30 #6 gets up- so much for some time to myself.

And yes, even though this is Canada Day I was up because the Ol’ Man is working and I always get up with him to have a cup a coffee and sit together for 10 minutes before it’s “time to make the donuts”.

For the most part I can deal with this craziness- but every so often I wake up thinking there must be a better way. And yes, we have at different times, tried methods of trying to get the kids to sleep in their own beds and through the night, with not much luck, however, I do know that eventually they do figure it out- and (except for trying to convince a teenager to go to bed at night and then try to drag him out of bed in the mornings) they all sleep just fine.

And somehow I can get myself going and really am quite energetic, in fact, I sometimes think about how super-charged I will be once I do get proper sleep. I know the lack of sleep was a factor in my marathon training and I am also hoping that by the time I do the next one, next year I will at least be getting a smidge more sleep. My pal even like to rub it in- as if I didn’t know, by sending me articles such as this one   Thanks a lot njb 🙂 !!

So I will carry on as the sleep deprived zombie I am-  I plan to shuffle through 5 k today- perhaps if I run slow enough I can catch a few zzzz’s.