Sleep Is for the Weak

Our new reality seems to be that Charlotte goes to bed at 7:00 p.m. and wakes up at 5:00 a.m., perhaps earlier, and usually with a late-night wake-up (but these aren't too bad lately, as teething pain seems to have ebbed).

I'm so tired I could cry, as our days were full and long enough before these early mornings started. But now, after a summer of weird sleeping, we have to face facts: It's not weird any more. It's now normal.

So, crap.

Weekends are particularly brutal, as we'd love nothing more than to sleep in to, say, the late, late hour of 6:00 a.m.  Alas, 'tis not an option with our perky little girl. Sure, that means I can take her for a quiet walk around the neighborhood at 5:30 in the morning, both of us still in our jammies, but you know what? I'd really rather be sleeping.

We're a house full of crankballs at the moment, as Charlotte has NO patience for the fact that we're so tired we can't see straight, Chris is swamped at work and trying to deal with it while sleep deprived, and I'm trying to pick up the slack at home and still work full-time while sleep deprived.

The logical thing, of course, is to go to bed earlier, but this is very difficult with how much work our evening routine requires. There are mornings I'd rather not eat breakfast than have to pack one more freaking thing in a bag, there are evenings where I'd rather throw away my pretty dishes than actually wash them, and there are afternoons I wouldn't mind getting fired so I could take a nap.

I'm one more bad night's sleep away from getting sick from the next virus to come into contact with my skin. Chris is one more bad night's sleep from going postal at work. Charlotte is one more bad night's sleep from permanently becoming an only child.

I want to get one of those color-coded toddler alarm clocks that says "you can't wake up until the clock turns yellow" or whatever. I've hesitated, afraid Charlotte won't understand, but hell. I'm going for it. Why not? Nothing else works.

Finally, a very good friend of mine sent me a book I'll merely link to here. I recommend it for all sleep-deprived parents. You'll laugh. You'll cry. But you'll mostly just cry because you're so tired.

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