Sleep, sweet sleep...

It's one of those things you give up when your first child is born....apparently you don't get it back until your last child has left the nest and even then, there's no guarantee. I think by then, the body generates some weird hormome so you can't sleep anyway. It seems like some kind of cruel joke some nights. When my girls were babies, we bought a book called "Solving your Child's Sleep Problems"....we were desperate. I don't think the book solved anything. I'm not sure our kids even have sleep problems....When you're not well rested, everything is a problem. Good ol' Dr. Ferber has made a killing off bleary sleep deprived parents who have bought his book. How do I know? I see the familiar blue cover on virtually every bookshelf in homes with kids. Anyhow, we got through those baby years. I solved the problem by taking our babies to bed with us....I know, I know...it's a big no no in some circles, but we took every precaution not to roll on them and they survived. Secretly, I loved it. Well you'd think by now I'd be getting my solid 8 hours a night, but it just never works out that way. When my oldest started Kindergarten, she started to sleepwalk ( a recurring problem). One night we found her curled up on the exercise machine....maybe she was doing a few midnight ab crunches? Recently the girls have had coughs which keeps me up for hours on end. Last night I had settled in by 10:30. The coughing started in one bedroom and spread to the next. Pretty soon two little girls were sardined into bed with us. I woke up at one point to one of them coughing in my face. I opened my eyes.... she smiled, "Hi mom." she said. As I got up to get water and prop up pillows, the dog started whining to go out. By now, I was exhausted, so I curled into one of the kids' beds and drifted off, leaving the two coughers with my husband. Maybe there'll be more rest during the elementary school years, with only the occasional sickness or nightmare. The teenage years, I'm told, are even less restful as you toss and turn, awaiting the comforting sound of the key in the lock.

Gotta go.... I need a nap!