I Need More Sleep

I'm not one who does well on little sleep. I didn't do well when my kids were little. Alex, luckily, started sleeping through the night at three months--to bed by 6:30 p.m. and he'd be up around 6:30 a.m. No wake ups. No fuss. Anna never followed that route and she didn't sleep through the night until eight months old. She has always been an early riser and never needed as much sleep as Alex.

But lately, I have been envious of friends whose kids sleep in. When I say sleep in, I'm talking about 8 a.m. or so. In this house, sleeping in for mom and dad is 7 a.m. (and it almost never happens). My daughter wakes every morning between 5:45 and 6:15. (Thank God my husband is the one who usually gets up with her). I would do anything to have her first peep wait until 6:30. With Alex we trained him to look at the clock and lie quietly in his room until 7. He started doing this at about 2 1/2 years old. While Anna can tell the time on her digital clock, she has no desire to lie quietly in her room. When she's up, she's up and expects us to do the same.

Friday night my husband put the kids to bed later since I was out babysitting for a friend and it was...well....Friday night. So between 8:30 and 9 they were asleep. Both kids woke up well before their normal time ready for the day. Yesterday, it was a repeat performance.

It's not like I want to sleep until 9 or 10 a.m. But it would be so nice to wake up before the kids do and not be awakened from a dream or from a deep sleep. You'd think by the time kids were three and four-years old you'd recoup some of those lost sleep hours. Not yet. With both kids not going to bed until 8 or 8:30 most nights, I'm whizzing through evening activities of checking email, cleaning up, folding laundry and getting ready for the next day. But I have to be mindful and get to bed early enough to greet my wee one early. Doesn't leave much time for much else since I'm usually in bed by 9:30.

With hubby out of town, I'm back to doing nighttime and morning duty. And it's clear today--in all my grumpiness that I really need more sleep than this!