Sleep Deprived

I've decided that its just never going to happen....I'm never going to get more than 4 hours of sleep at any given time. Maybe when the children are in college.

I feel that I must be doing something wrong when it comes to getting my kids to sleep because they just don't do it! Emma was a bad sleeper as a baby. She slept through the night very young, maybe three months, but then around six months it stopped and she's been getting up at least once a night ever sense. As we got closer to Aiden's birth she did get much better and was only up maybe once a week, but at that point I wasn't sleeping because of my giant belly so it didn't really matter.

Then my little prince Aiden arrived. As most of you know, he has his issues. He has a wide range of allergies which upset his stomach and we still haven't really gotten to the bottom of what is wrong with him. This mean lots of crying, especially at night. He usually goes down around 7pm and is up at 11pm and 4am and usually 2am also (although some nights I do get lucky without the 2am wake up!). I've been told to just let him cry by numerous people but you can tell the poor kid is in obvious pain and isn't just crying because he's spoiled. When you feed him his stomach gurggles like he hasn't eaten in days! So I get up...and up...and up.

There is the rare occasion that Aiden only gets up once in the night. This would be wonderful but for some reason Emma feels she needs to compensate and ALWAYS wakes up with nightmares or a cough on those nights. So I get up!

So why am I the only getting up you  may wonder. Where is my fabulous husband? The lucky man sleeps right through it. All of it! We even put a monitor for Emma next to him in bed but does he hear it? Nope! I think he would sleep through a nuclear bomb if it exploded near our home. And I could wake him, and do once in a while. But I lay there thinking "Well if I'm already awake why wake another poor soul? I might as well just get it over with!" Don't get me wrong. He is a great help. If I asleep already for the 11pm feeding and he's still awake he does it no questions asked and if I wake him in the middle of the night because I'm just too tired to get up he never complains. He's just so lucky that he sleeps right through it all.

I even had the fabulous opportunity to have my mom come one night to sleep over. She felt bad that I was so tired so she offered to keep the monitors for me so I could sleep. I had this feeling that there was no way it was going to happen but was optimistic. Guess what?! The batteries in Aiden's monitor died and I got up because I could hear him screaming! Really?! What are the chances??

Sometimes in the mornings the kids sleep in until 7:30 or 8am which is wonderful. Unfortunately I think there is a conspiracy against me because its always these mornings that something or someone else wakes me up at the crack of dawn. Let's see....the other morning it was the man next door blowing his leaves, a few times the trash truck, once in a while its Alex's 5:30am alarm clock or a cat jumps on me wanting to be fed. This morning is was a text message! And if I'm super lucky and none of these things wake me it's a morning that we need to be up early for school or work or a doctor's appointment.

I would love take the constant advice, sleep during the day while your kids sleep, but that seems nearly impossible as well. Either I'm at work (don't think you guys would like it too much if I was sleeping in the back instead of helping you!) or the two kids just refuse to nap at the same time. It always happens, I get one down and race to get the other one asleep and by the time that's accomplished the first one is up!

So when you see me and see the giant bags under my eyes and read about all of the dumb things I forget to do on a daily basis. Or if I don't call you back or answer your facebook post....just think of this post and how sleepy this poor mommy is! A incredibly happy mommy, but a very sleepy one!

Mommy Brain

Ever since Aiden was born I fear I am suffering severely from "mommy brain". Thought it would be funny to make a list of all of the hilarious things I've done (and not done) in the past 7 months....

1. Went to the store 3 times specifically for a part for my breast pump. Didn't come back with the part until the 3rd time....not sure what I bought the other 2 times!

2. When getting ready for bed I put my contacts in. I had worn my glasses all day and apparently felt it was a good time for contacts.

3. Got out of the shower and realized I never washed anything....what the heck did I do in there? Had to get back in and actually "shower".

4. Constantly rinse something in the sink and leave the water on.

5. Took me 4 Sundays to remember to start taking my birth control pill on a Sunday!

6. Made chicken broccoli alfredo - served it and then realized I never put the broccoli in (hubby said lets just eat it the way it is!)

7. Grabbed my coffee mug to run out the door but never put coffee in it.


8. Looked at the video monitor and freaked out when the baby wasn't in the crib. Realized a few seconds later that I had put him in his swing!


9. Usually find out how many scoops of coffee I put in the machine once I pour the first cup (almost always lose count!).


10. Washed and dried a load of the children's laundry and never added any detergent. Everything came out stained and stinky. Had to do it all again!


11. Sorted the white and darks. Loaded the whites into the washer. Then loaded the darks on top of them.

Do you have any good mommy brain moments to share??!!