A WORD ON SLEEP

I love sleep. Can't get enough. Prefer to average 10 hours a night. Do I get it? Not really, I have kids. Two kids, one of which detests sleep and happily cruises on the minimum.

Funny thing, this sleep. My son likes to sleep. On nights when Sis is overnight at Nana's, the boy will sleep in until 9. Yep, NINE. Without Sis bouncing off the walls at 645am, he is happily content in REM bliss until then. He's got my internal clock. His sister on the other hand, needs a good 11 hours, but she's crashed by 730pm. Since she hasn't napped since she was 2, her bedtime is non-negotiable. That means, she's up early. Every. Day.

Lately, I've been striving to get up earlier. Enjoy those quiet house-creaking moments with a cup of coffee. Maybe watch the weather report on tv (which is somehow comforting). Even, dare I say, shower and dress? It would be so great to have some morning time to myself before the kids get up, but how do you justify getting up at 6 so that you can beat the little lady? I tried today. I had Husband wake me when going to work at 520am. But my love for sleep won out and I hit my internal snooze every 15 min. until Sis came in to say good morning. I even tried to nod off after she merrily went into her room to play until 730, but it's hardly sound sleep when you've got to keep one ear open for child distress.

Way back when I met my husband, he told me that one of the reasons he knew I was "the one" was because I loved to sleep as much as he did. Shortly after we were married, he realized he was wrong. I loved to sleep MORE. We often went to sleep together, but he would get up after I drifted off and stay up playing video games, or watching tv so that when he did finally come back to bed, it would be timed right for us to wake up together. We still have different sleep needs, but since there is no unlimited sleep availability, it's less of an issue these days. There is rarely a chance to sleep in. And rarely a chance to go to sleep early...what with all the house work, preschool prep, party planning, decorating, cooking and couple time needing to be done.

Back to my point. I believe that if I could somehow satisfy my sleep needs AND wake before the kids, I could be that much more well-adjusted. But at what cost? So for now, I will try to get up early. But don't call before 9...just in case.