It’s near 4AM and I sit on my computer not so much by choice but as an effect of the trend that has been occurring in our house for what feels like the past 4 years…  Kids waking me up all night.

Tonight we got home from a (amazing) production of The Lion in Winter and put ourselves to bed at around 1AM.  Here is a time line since that point…

1AM – move Disney off the bed and onto the floor in our room, which used to be the only place (at home) she would sleep.

1:10AM  – Disney wakes up and wants a special blankie, so I run downstairs and get it for her.

1:27 AM – Disney wants to sleep in her room (WOW!) so I carry her there and put her to bed.

1:49 AM – Disney wants milk so I run downstairs and get her some.

2AM – Disney wants to sleep in our room, so back on the floor she goes.

2:29 AM – Disney wants to sleep downstairs on the couch, so I carry her down.

2:42 AM – Disney wants a light on…  I try to wait it out…  She persists…  Light on.

3:04 AM – Disney wants back upstairs.  I get her and bring her back to our floor.

3:31 AM – Disney wants in our bed.  I cannot sleep when she is there so I tell her no.  She cries until 3:40 and wakes Christopher.  I put her in our bed.

3:49 AM – Christopher is back to bed after being awaken by Disney.  Disney is now in our bed along with Lisa and Charity.  No room for me to sleep.

3:55 AM – Unable to sleep from stress and kids in bed, I start this blog and think about the big day we have tomorrow…

I love the kids and I love everything about my life, but I realized today that I probably have not had a good night’s sleep in 4+ years.  Even on the rare occasion when a child is not waking me up, my body has been programmed not to sleep through the night — waking up at the sound of a feather hitting the ground.  I really don’t believe I have had more than 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep since 2004 and no more than 5 hours sleep total for a night since that time as well.

I have always prided myself on not needing much sleep – seeming to be able to function at a somewhat normal level with an amount of sleep that would leave others dragging…  But I am starting to realize some negative health effects from my major sleep deprivation.

• I have gained over 50lbs in the PAST 2 YEARS, yet I eat no more than I have and exercise no less.  In fact, I would guess I get more exercise as I run up-and-down stairs dozens of times per day.
• I have become clumsy at times – falling down the stairs, stubbing toes, etc…  Which I never used to do.
• I have trouble concentrating at times.  Where in the past I have been able to count on a laser focus — especially when there was an important task to be completed.
• I have lost some zest for my hobbies starting to see them more as chores that interfere with a possible chance for rest.

Now, I want to keep this all in perspective.  I am far from a zombie, and I am not dragging through the days.  On a daily basis my life is still the most wonderful and blessed of lives.  My family is simply the best, my friends second to none, and I simply love the gifts I have been given.  Each day I still feel is the best one yet in my life.

Yes, I still live with the knowledge that I am the luckiest person on earth!

I guess this is just a life lesson to me — I have been wrong all my life.  Sleep is not an awful consumer of time that deprives you of the joys and the accomplishments that can only be achieved and realized by being awake.  (You cannot 2x the quality/quantity of your life by eliminating [waste-of-time] sleep as I once thought in my younger years)

I am just so tired of being so tired.  It’s 4:18AM now, time to find some place to lay down and see if I can’t get at least 1 hour of decent sleep tonight.  SUPER FUN DAY TOMORROW — CHURCH, FAMILY BREAKFAST, BIRTHDAY PARTY, GIRL SCOUT EVENT 🙂 !!  Wahooo!

UPDATE:
4:30 AM – Return to bed, Disney awakes cries to be covered with her blankie.  Wakes Christopher.  Fill Christopher’s bottle, change his diaper, back to bet at 4:44.

5:09 AM – Disney cries as she does not have enough room on bed.  I move to sliver on my side and have trouble sleeping.  My last check of the clock and it is 6:18 AM.

7:23 AM – Christopher wakes up and wants bottle.  Charity barks to go outside.  I ignore her, she continues.  Back to bed at 8:30 or so.

9:08 AM – Disney and Sammie wake up.  It is time to get up for the day.  Me and kids get up, I try and let Lisa sleep a bit since she no-doubt is disturbed by all the over-night action.  She probably doesn’t get much more as the chaos of the day has begun.

9:27 AM – I am finishing this blog.  Time to get ready for our big fun day!  🙂

I am so tired…

I am too tired and lazy right now to write up anything, but upcoming are two posts.  The first is about an interesting day I had on Friday with a musician who came in and talked to the students.  What sort of musician?  You will have to wait for the post for an answer to that.  😮

The second post will be about the winter retreat we just had, essentially a 24-hour lock-in at my church, also known as the reason I am too tired to post right now.  Note the lack of an accompanying picture to complement this post which just serves to give proof to my tiredness. 8)

Why bother making this post at all?  Why to add to my diminishingly-increasing post count of course. 😉

Until tomorrow. 🙂

I think my lack of any exercise this winter has caught up to me.  I am having a very hard time sleeping lately.  I will go to bed, usually at a reasonable hour, and I’ll be able to fall asleep, but then throughout the night I will constantly wake up, then lay in a state of semiconsciousness for a bit, finally fall asleep and start dreaming again, then the process will repeat for several times during the night until I finally get up still exhausted.

I found a site that gave some tips and people seem to have had good luck with keeping a window cracked open for fresh air so I will try that tonight along with turning my fan on.  Yes, even though the outside temperature is under 40 degrees.  For the long term I guess I will have to start walking more and see if that keeps things under control.  I’ve already told people in my church small group so they will be praying for me as well.  Between all of these, emphasis on the prayer, I should be back to normal eventually.  I really hope I don’t have sleep apnea- I understand my dad had it.  If I have developed it then these little cures won’t really help.  Except for the prayer of course.  Well, I’m going to keep this short so I can get to bed sooner.  Goodnight…