>Sleep Not
>Are you tired? Like, really, really tired?
If you’re a mom, I’m guessing the answer is yes.
And that’s what this week’s Suburban Turmoil newspaper column is all about. Read it to find out what kinds of crazy things sleeplessness is causing my mom friends and me to do- and tell me whether you agree with my theory that if moms could only get a full night’s sleep on a regular basis, WE WOULD RULE THE WORLD.
>Just wanted you to know that I will still be reading and commenting here, but after today I’ll be coming in under my new blog identity! I’ve changed my focus!
>As a childless bachelor, I still have suffered long from bouts of insomnia (and rotating work schedules that fuel it), so I know a thing or two about sleeplessness. But I’m h’yar to tell ya…with the sleep deprivation that moms regularly experience, and STILL accomplish all that they do…I would tend to agree. United Moms with Rest would RULE THE WORLD.
>I just read your entry in The City Paper and I have to say that I know what you’re going through. 6 hours is about my max sleep time even though my 4 year old sleeps for a good amount of time now. Getting up for work as early as I do now I can’t imagine sleeping to even 8:30 let along getting to bed before midnight. I’m up doing SOMETHING that I normally couldn’t during the day. It is how it is and I’m not even sure if I would change it at this point.
>Thanks for addressing this topic. As a single mom, I totally cheat myself on sleep to catch up on household tasks once my son is in bed, and I know it has repercussions across the board…at work, at home with my son, on the phone with friends, etc. I can’t stay focused because I’m freaking tired! But there’s always so much to do that I cannot, in good conscience, just shrug and go to bed when I know the task list will only grow tomorrow. Maybe I need to spend some energy on simplifying and getting all Zen about it. By the way, your first commentor on the City Paper article completely missed the damn point and pissed me off by trying make it a martyr competition. I know it’s human nature to one-up with “you think you have it bad???,” but it adds nothing to the discussion. I didn’t want to create an account just to say that, but I feel a little better getting it off my chest here 🙂
>Thanks, Ana. And don’t worry about that commenter- She’s an Internet troll and only has negative things to say, ever. If I wrote that I was becoming a nun and giving all my worldly possessions to charity, I’m sure she’d find something bad to say about that, too. What she says doesn’t bother me, but the fact that there are moms out there who are that sad and bitter does.
>Why, why, did you have to say your 22 mo old doesn’t sleep through the night? Our first slept through the night at 3 months, (I know, I had no idea how lucky we were) so we were expecting our 8 month old to do it soon, but 22 months! Eeek!
>totally thought about creating an account just to post my thoughts about that first commenter too! GRR people like that make me mad. We ALL have our trials and hardships, why oh why do women belittle each other??? WHY? there is no point. You will still have your own trials and hardships when you are finished belittling…then what? GRRRR. But I do have to say that I am a homemaker. One child, 17months old. Not sleeping through the night yet either…BUT I can NOT do laundry, bills, dishes, shower,etc. UNTIL MY HUSBAND GETS HOME at night. So 😛 to that commenter. PLUS my husband JUST (a week ago) got back from a year in Iraq….and I survived. Working outside the home is no less hard then working in it. and vice versa. SHEESH. the point was we are TIRED MOMMIES. TIRED I TELL YA! All of us!
>Well, I just signed up and shared a little inside tidbit with little miss bitter. I worked from home (and I have no children) and it was hell. Taking care of personal items was a no, no since I was being paid to work, not do my laundry. I love people who only scream woe is me. . .their lot in life must be sooo horrible.
>I just have to wonder how Briggs and Stratton feels about all the time you spend on this site…
>All I have to say is that nikkiblue needs to drink a nice tall glass of STFU.Keep on keepin’ on, Lindsey.
>Oh, sleep deprivation sucks!! I am scared to think of how I will be in 10 years, I am so bad now. I’ll have to wear a name tag just to remember my own name…My boy wakes me up nice and early every day, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
>Oh, sleep deprivation sucks!! I am scared to think of how I will be in 10 years, I am so bad now. I’ll have to wear a name tag just to remember my own name…My boy wakes me up nice and early every day, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
>Geez Linds, how dare you complain about your cushy life? What with your four children, your budget concerns, and the job(s) you have which don’t actually allow you three, never mind eight hours to sit and work without interuption…I had my own business and was lucky enough to have a staff and set my hours to work 20 hours at my store. People were always saying they stopped by and I was NEVER there. Meanwhile, I was up until midnight posting invoices and answering vendor emails and then back to the store to work on displays after dropping my gal at school the next morning. I felt like I was ALWAYS working. The point is, we ALL have it tough. And, duh, you can’t have someone else’s life without the ENTIRE package, in your case stepkids, ex-wives, sleep deprivation, and all.
>Funny that this is your current post – I was just about post on my own blog about how no matter what time it is someone in my house is ALWAYS awake. Bathroom trip, bad dream, insomnia, snoring – whatever. Maybe I need some Fung Shui to settle this house down a little…I also think part of mommy sleep deprivation (or MSD as those of us in the “biz” call it) is that the arrival of a newborn is comorbid with supersonic hearing, which normally serves us all well but now that mine are 7 and 5, could well stand to calm itself just a little bit! I hear everything – a sigh, a cough, a blanket tangle – everything!
>PS – I read the article in question from yesterday – someone forgot their antibitter meds that day…Everyone has their own struggles no matter what their life looks like to others. So I must agree with Cube Farmer about the glass of STFU. Cube, I’ve got the next round!
>And yes, not-so-anonymous, I can see your visits even when you try to use a proxy server. And I’ve logged it all.
>I’ve been sleep deprived for oh..20 years now. See the problem is, even after they grow up, you THEN lay in bed all night worrying about them.
>I can’t even finish your article because I’m never sleeping. Four weeks of no sleep since baby was born. I want a damn nap!!
>Oh, and thanks for writing about it. Nice to know people are at least reading about it. Maybe next time someone bitches about a minivan driver they’ll realize that woman behind the wheel hasn’t slept in a few YEARS.
>I think the real issue – at least for me — is not that my child doesn’t sleep through the night but that even when I’m in bed I can’t turn my brain off! There’s always something to worry about whether its bills, work, what I’m going to dress the princess in, etc. I do try to work from home occasionally so that I can throw a load of laundry or two in.. but the child goes to school! I’m amazed you can write at all with Punky and Bruiser in the house. That’s some true mental stamina.
>Ok so please no one get all pissy with me, but when my son who is now 10, went to pre school at our local church 3 days a week another Mom told me how she out her daughter to bed at 7:30. that got me thinking hum maybe I should try that, so I slowly started talking to him about how we would start bedtime earlier. Well it took a while but finally got it. When his little sister came along after the nursing at all ours of the night we finally got her in the habit. She is 6 and still goes to bed at 7:30. But let me tell you she is like me and she REALLY needs the sleep. If they don’t get a lot of sleep they are not the nicest kids. I get made fun of by some friends then others wish they could get theirs to go to bed like mine. we will be talking at 9 to 10 at night and they are still fighting with theirs to go to bed on a school night. I do let them when school is out and on the weekends to stay up till they fall out. But during school it is strict bedtime except under special circumstances. Then I usually have to pay the price especially with my little grumpy princess. (she is not a morning person!) Anyways, I am not bragging by any means just saying that with a lot of effort i made a decision years ago and have stuck with it and it works for us. Give it a try but only when you are willing to stick to your guns.
>Sleep? What is that? Oh yeah it’s that thing I did at night before I had kids. Oh, how I would like a day to sleep in, or get up and do something like “rule the world” at an early hour of my own free will.
>Amy Z: I am having the same experience. Daughter #1 (now 2 1/2) slept 12 hours a night starting at 3 months old. Daughter #2 (now 5 months old) will not sleep more than four hours in a row. It is just now occurring to me that she may do this for a long, long time.
>Another toughie is when you get a taste of the good life (kids start to sleep in, get to bed with out hassle, sleep all night) and then WHAM-you go to Hawaii with your husband, have too many mojitos and a surprise baby appears 7 years after the other 3! Wow is it ever hard to go back to the land of no sleep…..All I want for my 40th b-day in March is to sleep at a hotel alone. Any hotel will do…actually even my car would do if my kids couldn’t find me in it!
>I have a six week old and a two year old. Everyone is like “Oh… you must be not getting a lot of sleep.. with the baby and all..”NO. NO. I AM NOT GETTING ANY SLEEP BECA– USE MY TWO YEAR OLD HAS DECIDED TO WAKE UP EVERY TWO HOURS.AHHHHH.
>Oh and even though I am tired, I just read the comments on the article and…. I AM SO JEALOUS. YOU HAVE DIAMOND SHOES??? Where do you even GET diamond shoes? Are they like Jimmy Choo or something? Do they make knockoffs at Payless? Like maybe cubic zirconia shoes? Cause I definately at least deserve me some cubic zirconia shoes…..
>We just hit 2 and half and don’t sleep through the night anymore. It’s torture.
>Gertie, trust me, you don’t want them.They’re too tight.
>The comments on that article are really so silly. Whether you are at home making dinner for your family or at work making money for your company or at home making money for yourself you are still F-ING TIRED. TIRED. TIRED. TIRED. TIRED. TIRED. TIRED. I am no less tired standing over the stove than I am sitting in front of the computer. It’s just harder to burn myself with the keyboard.
>I am so glad I’m no alone on this. I am tired all the time. And it’s not just from lack of sleep, but also from thinking constantly about my child – is he OK? Am I parenting him properly? Why is he having these meltdowns? Am I spoiling him? Will he hate me one day? Being a mommy is exhausting. When I’m at work I feel like I should be with him; when I’m at home I feel like I should be at work. I agree that ruling the world isn’t an option now (if it ever was). Everything seems like its on the back burner (including sleep) until my birdie leaves the nest, and lord knows I’m not ready for that. Let’s just say the days of laying around all day watching a food network marathon or 12 straight hours of coverage of the Golden Globes red carpet arrivals isn’t an option either. But maybe that’s a good thing. 🙂