Sleeeeeeep!

Yeah, it's 11pm EST and I'm writing a blog post about sleep instead of actually, you know, doing that.

I tried using "doing it" at the end of that sentence but my inner teenage boy was laugh-snorting too loudly to ignore, so ... anyway & moving right along.

The thing is we're not getting enough sleep around here.  The problem is two fold - 1. I'm not going to bed at a reasonable hour, mostly because DH is getting home way later than is healthy and I'd like to actually spend time with him, and also I selfishly don't want to change my schedule. 2. LO is awakening most mornings somewhere between 5 and 6 AM.  Mostly leaning toward the earlier side of that range. Even when I've gotten to bed at a reasonable hour I don't function well for the day waking up at that time.  On the other hand, if I go to bed even later and then by some miracle am able to sleep until 7? My day is golden.

Wait, let me give examples for that: (a) Bed at 10pm but woken up at 5:30am - even with 7.5 hours of sleep I am a cranky cranky person until I've had enough caffeine & sugar. (b) Bed at 1am but woken up at 7am - only 6 hours of sleep and I am happy, and have less need for stimulants.

I know I could push back LO's nighttime sleep schedule - she currently goes to sleep anywhere between 7 & 8pm, but on the now rare days she's had a nap it can push back to 9pm (I'm now thankful that naps are rare as I'd rather have the evening hours free to relax than the daytime quiet) - but that won't, to the best of what I've seen from people who've done this for time changes, do much for her waking time (which actually seems to be earlier the later she gets to bed at night). I'm hoping it's a phase and that by age 4, and after the Spring time change, she'll be sleeping later in the morning. Until then, we'll skip trying to snuggle in our bed because she turns into a pointy appendaged octopus whose idea of snuggling is doing everything but laying quietly close to me or DH while we attempt to snag even a few more minutes of precious sleeeeeep.

The other sleep thing which has been going on for a while now is that we're back to her falling asleep in my lap while I'm reading or singing in the rocking chair and then I transfer her to the bed for the night. I love it: it's my favorite part of the day because she's usually not moving or talking but snuggled close while I read, it feels so cozy and connecting and makes up for so many of the stresses between her and I over the course of the day. I'm going to be ultra-sad when she finally decides she's too big for such things. Or she actually gets too big for me to lift and carry safely.

Sleep tight & don't let the bed bugs bite!