Embracing my sleeplessness

Sleep, or lack thereof, is a running theme in this blog and my life in general. If anyone had told me how little sleep you get as a parent I would have, I don't know what. I wouldn't have believed them, I suppose. I get no f---- sleep. That's the damn truth. I didn't get much sleep with Graeme and now with two kids I get none. Yesterday morning I just sat in bed and cried like a big whiny baby at about 7AM. I can't say that I "woke up and cried" because I hadn't really slept. Steve took extreme pity on me and went to work late, and then volunteered to come home early. But, by noon I'd composed myself (an exciting shopping trip to Rite Aid provided just the retail therapy to snap me into a good mood - never know what treasures you'll find in the "home goods" aisle). Last night I decided to embrace my sleep-deprived state. I get so sick of people saying, things like...."These years go so fast." "Embrace every moment." "You'll be sad when it's over." Yeah, yeah. I'm sure their right, but in the meantime I'm a walking zombie and basic hygiene like applying deodorant sometimes takes too much energy (I wore it yesterday so surely there's some leftover to get me through day 2, right?). So, in my embracing mindset I decided to enjoy this gift of sleeplessness. How did it go? Well, G-boy went to bed late because his parents were too busy watching a really bad American Idol to get him to bed (yup, our fault all around). Ian squawked and fussed and did his baby thing until about 11PM. Great, this is going so well. I hit the pillow immediately and was thrilled (seriously) when Ian slept until 12:45. Wow! I almost got 2 full hours of sleep. This embracing thing really works well! Ian ate, fussed, and was back down around 1:30 and then about 2:45 he was moving again. Amazing, almost another 1.5 hours. I've practically had a full night's sleep and it's only 3AM! This time he just wanted a little taste and so I was back on the pillow at 3. I lost track after that, but there were 2 or 3 more pacifier-replacement sessions, nibbles, and rockings. Just when we were all settling into the home-sleep stretch I feel I little poke on my face. G-boy is up at the fine hour of 5:53AM. This is great - I get to spend so much quality time with my boys around the clock. Graeme climbed into bed and played with my hair. It's really quite comfy to have four people in a queen size bed (damn, why didn't we buy that king bed). Finally at about 6:45 Steve took Graeme downstairs and Ian and I settled into our best sleep yet until about 7:30. So, all told I probably had about 6 hours and I feel great. Got my deodorant on and even wore earrings.