Sleep

Do you sleep? Are you a morning person? Well I don't on both accounts. How is it that some people are morning people? I just can't wrap my brain around it. My mom is a morning person and it always drove me crazy as a kid because I was not and I am still not. I remember on Saturday mornings when I did not have soccer to get up for she would come in my room at 8 or 8:30ish in the morning and tell me it was noon-"its time to get up! Its almost noon!" I would scowl at her and she'd keep coming back every half an hour so it is not like I got any more good sleep! Don't you know teenagers sleep? I mean they kind of revert back to babyhood in a way-they're bodies are growing like mad and they are tired, plus they stay up late so....Anyhow so I am not a morning person, we've established that right. Well it gets worse when you have kids! Young kids, babies and toddlers and well honestly I am not sure at what age they start sleeping in? First of all my husband and I seem to always walk around here in sort of a zombie like state. It is not as bad as a newborn waking up every 2 hours and who knows how long you would be up, but we still have to get up a lot. Our son has nightmares or very loud dreams so we can't sleep through it.  We often have to go into his room to calm him down or to just tuck him back in. So again, broken sleep. Then  our 13 month old wakes up like clockwork at 6:20a.m.! WTF? Well our son did the same thing only it was 5:45 or 6 a.m.! Thankfully we discovered this wonderful gadget called the "Good Night Light" it is wonderful. It has a moon for night and when the sun comes out you may get out of bed-you of course must be reasonable with it. We started when he was 2 or a little past 2 and it took a good month for him to understand the concept and we slowly set 10 mins longer every week and now it is set for 7:15 and he often sleeps longer then that! Now if we could get our daughter on the same mind set? I can do 7 but not 6-for whatever reason I just can't. And people say well try putting her to bed later....well that does not work actually it just makes it worse, and it is scientifically proven as well. You should put your kids to bed earlier not later, sleep begets sleep as Dr. Marc Weissbluth has said. It really is true because when our daughter or son go to bed late they wake up even earlier on most occasions! Like this morning our daughter woke up at 5:45! She went to bed 45 minutes later then her usual 7p.m. bedtime and well there you go...this has happened pretty much every time she goes to bed too late on her biological clock. Unfortunately, I am dumb and still stay up to have a little "me time" with my husband at night. I've tried going to bed early- the other night I went to bed at 9p.m. which is early for me and it took me forever to fall asleep and my sleep was not great, plus I got up 4 times with our son!  Now I know there are people who may have it far worse then me, or some that may think what the heck is wrong with your children!  I don't know but this is our life. I know I am not alone though, I know parents of young children often dream of their lives before kids and the wonderful sleep they used to get. Some are morning people who go to bed early regularly and their kids sleep soundly all night so they can go all day and not have any real problems, I wish in some ways I were like them. I often wake up feeling like I've been hit by a train b/c I am still so tired and could use at least 2 more hours of sleep. Once I get over the initial shock and grumbling and get my coffee I start to feel better and even for-go the a.m. nap when my son is at preschool and my daughter is napping so I can either get work done or get a work-out in, but by afternoon 2ish, I am dragging and feel so worn out and could use a 20 minute refresher. But the guilt sets in because while my daughter is taking her 2nd nap my son wants me to himself to play or work on crafts etc....I admit I will turn on the t.v. or his xbox sometimes because I am so tired I just can't focus on crafts or I just can't play another tickle me game or pretend with super heros. Does that make me a bad mom? No, I think it just makes me normal. On top of all of the other crap that needs to get done, dishes, laundry, dinner it is hard to muster up the energy for it all somedays, most days.  I have to look at my days often and think okay, I am tired but what is priority? Today I had to try to get more sleep while my baby girl slept so I could survive the day-now what suffers is my work out-I'll either do it this afternoon while she naps again but then my son doesn't get any "me" time. So its all so hard wouldn't you say? What will probably happen is we will go to the Y this afternoon so I can work out but then see, once again I am putting the kids in childcare with someone else....should I feel guilt about that too?  This blog is turning into a guilt blog and not a sleep blog-but it all ties into each other.  Sleep is what I need in order to get all of these things done during the day, and not feel so burnt out and well...tired! Ya feel me?

Must Have's

As a stay at home mom I find there are a few things you must have in order to survive-at least in my house.  These are in no particular order...

First, thank you to my mom for purchasing me the Shark Cordless Stick Vacuum! I do believe this is my favorite thing in this house. I use it nightly to vacuum up all the dirt, hair, crumbs etc...what really does it for me is that I can see exactly what I am cleaning up! I feel better about it for whatever reason. Now what would really do it for me would be a Dyson, but those things are so darn expensive-maybe for an anniversary gift. Ha Ha isn't that sad that is what I would want?  So if you are a mom out there, carpet, no carpet this is a wonderful powerful tool to have. It also has a great attachment to get cracks and hard to get to places in furniture or better yet great for your car! Car seats=crumbs galore here so I love love love it! Thank you mom!

Okay, Second, Booze. I am not saying to drink every night, but have a bottle of wine/beer or whatever your poison is on hand for those especially tough days when you feel so tired and overwhelmed you can have yourself a little sippy cup of your own after the kids go to bed.  Of course if you don't drink or like to then that is another story but it is one of my musts.

Third, Camera, duh! Okay so I am a photographer but really you have to have a camera in your house! You can get pretty great point and shoot digital camera's for pretty cheap these days and it is so important to capture your kids as they grow. Mine love looking at their photos, although sad to say most of mine are on my computer or external drive because I just don't have a lot of time to put together books. I will someday but in the mean time I'll keep them stored and show them and share with family and friends. If you are like me you live far from family and many of your best friends so it is great to receive photos as well as to get!

Fourth, some kind of work-out equipment. If you have more then one kid and stay home it can get tricky and tough to make it to the gym. You should be concerned with your health and set an example for your kids that it is important to be healthy and to take care of yourself. I used to go to the gym daily but then I had number 2 and it got hard to do with nap schedules for her. So thankfully we have an elliptical and weights so I can work out either durning her naps while my son is at preschool or when I can squeeze it in. I still go to the gym but I just can't make it there reliably at the present time so small children taking 2 naps a day still=get a treadmill, elliptical, jogging stroller or free weights and DVD's! I am currently on the P90X program which is great but hard! I would like to try the Xbox 360's w/Kinect Biggest Loser sometime after I finish this round of P90X. So just do it! Get in shape!

Fifth, a computer with internet! Like OMG how could I survive with out it? We as mom's/ dad's need to stay connected, especially as a stay at home parent! You can easily get isolated and lose contact with the outside world and do nothing but read and watch Elmo, build blocks, color all of that but you have to have contact with other people like you so you can vent or talk to via email or Facebook. I mean come on who doesn't anymore? If you don't I really don't know you and I don't know how you live like that? I need my computer time:)

So I think those are my Must Have's as a stay at home parent. I know there are a lot of little things that are helpful and things I wish I had but right now this is what saves me and makes my day's do-able!  You should try it...