And some days we did, especially during our staycation week when my brother and nephew came to visit.
But I was a bit too optimistic!
There are always bad nights, even in August, but I hadn't realised just how much I need a month of taking life at a slower pace. Switching off the alarm clock on the last day of school is one of things I like about the school holidays.
Gradually over the month the kids would sleep in a little later, we would do less, often not leaving the house until mid afternoon. There would be nights when I would get a magical eight hours of sleep!
But not this year. With the home help arriving at 6.45 am every morning I often found myself still wiping down surfaces at 1 am. Not good. Other nights I stayed up late because I dreaded the ring of my alarm clock so much that I would put of hearing it as long as possible. Even more stupid. I know that some of my friends struggle with insomnia, and I have no idea how they cope. I felt permanently tired and grumpy, and sometimes dizzy and faint as well.
Can you bank sleep? Having started the new term feeling absolutely exhausted, I now believe that you can. In the past two weeks since the kids went back to school I have spent my days trying to organise everything so I can get to sleep as early as possible. But it's not really working yet. I've a huge 'to do' list as well. So if I turn down invitations, and say 'no' to night's out, it's not you, it's me. All I'm dreaming of right now is sleep...
Note:
Lack of sleep is a huge problem for the parents of kids with special needs, and a major theme on this blog. Here are some of the other stories:
I've written about driving on two hours sleep...
http://www.lookingforbluesky.com/2011/04/two-hours-sleep-and-long-drive-ahead.html
The effect of having a teenager who stays up late and smaller kids who get up early...
http://www.lookingforbluesky.com/2011/08/dearest-children-please-choose-sleep.html
On being woken early on a Sunday morning...
http://www.lookingforbluesky.com/2012/06/necromancers-at-dawn.html
I told you I was tired: this post was meant to be titled "I dream OF sleep' Oops
ReplyDeleteWhy did the helper have to come at 6.45 in the holidays? Couldn't she have come at any other hour of the day to give you a hand? No wonder you are exhausted. I often have an hour's sleep just before going to pick up DD - just to tank me up for the evening. Be kind to yourself now that they are back at school. xxx
ReplyDeleteI've been finding it harder and harder to sleep lately too... just so much to think about and 'do'! The more spare time I have to do it now the kids are back at school, the harder I find it to get on and 'do' anything as the lethargy kicks in... need an energy boost tablet methinks! hope you get some soon (sleep, I mean, tsk) ;)
ReplyDeleteSleep - never appreciated it when I had it, and now its gone *sob*
ReplyDeleteIt is so exhausting not getting enough sleep! Are you like me and stay on the computer for too long when in reality we should be turning off the light and going to sleep? On that note... night night xx
ReplyDeleteP.S. It is 10.34pm here! :)
I have another problem - I'm a "night hawk" and my children are 'early birds'... now you combine this. Impossible.
ReplyDeleteI tend to find the less sleep I get, the harder I find it to actually get to sleep. I regularly work at my computer until gone 10 at night, but have to be up for work at 3.30am every day. I often find it really hard to switch off, having just been at my computer working and then knowing I have to be up in a few hours. The effect is grumpiness later in the day, Mother Guilt and feeling hungry ALL THE TIME!
ReplyDeleteI too am a night owl who finds my evenings precious after the kids have gone to bed. But they're settling later and later these days, meaning I'm sometimes up blogging til 1am. Then the dawn chorus of two boisterous boys starts my zombie-like mornings, getting them ready on automatic pilot.
ReplyDeleteCan't imagine how hard it must be for you. I prescribe lots of naps (if you can) while the kids are at school. Housework can wait.
xxx
6.45am help? Ouch...that's early. Surely they could have offered you a better time slot knowing that you need to rest? :(
ReplyDeleteI really can't imagine what it must be like for you. I know I struggled with sleep when MC was a baby but thankfully TC is great. Problem is though, I kind of got used to it with MC...got used to being up every few hours so my body just adjusted. Now when TC wakes me in the night it knocks me sideways.
Hugs xx
@Midlife Singlemum - getting Smiley up and showered s the hardest bit and since she wakes fairly early, unless the help arrives early I'll have half of it done anyway! Xxx
ReplyDelete@Steph - I hope your sleeps pattern sorts itself out soon.
ReplyDelete@Jane - It will come back :)
ReplyDelete@Jane - It will come back :)
ReplyDelete@The Bright Side of Life - sometimes yes :)
ReplyDelete@Petra Rovere - Desperate: I have a bit of that with a teen who stays out late and kids who get up early!
ReplyDelete@Molly - grumpiness, guilt and hunger sound about right to me! You always manage really cheery tweets in the morning too :)
ReplyDelete@Donna - Housework can wait, but work can't! And I know what you mean about the kids settling later as they get older xxx
ReplyDelete@Heather Lucas - That's the thing, 20 years of not enough sleep is way too long! xx
ReplyDeleteI dream to sleep is perfect ;-) I know what it's like to function on little sleep but the difference for me now (not when my boy was younger) is that I can go back to bed some mornings. Sometimes it's not just ok but necessary to put aside to do lists and sleep. As my mam always said 'sleep is nutrition' She's right too. It's for the mind what food is for the body ;-) I do hope you get some catch up sleep soon.
ReplyDeletexx Jazzy
I'm convinced that you can bank sleep for a few weeks, I don't care what the experts say. Just a lie-in on a Sunday until maybe 10.30am used to keep me going on only 4 or 5 hours while my children were small, and by the end of the summer holidays we are all waking up early again of our own accord, after weeks of lie-ins (my husband is a teacher and he and we all have to get up at 6.30am).
ReplyDeleteSleep!!! Oh I know how precious that is. I sometimes get up at 4.00 for a while but if I am lucky go back to sleep again. Our bodies seem to have their own ideas about sleep that don't fit the modern life style at all. I find the anxiety about not sleeping is nearly as much of a problem as the lack. The inflexibility of the world is the problem isn't it. X
ReplyDelete@jazzygal - I've always believed in here importance of sleep too, and my MIL used to say that children need it to grow, which makes a lot of sense :) xx
ReplyDelete@jane Rowena - I am so glad that it's not just me :)
@Foxglovelane - I am so lucky that I rarely have trouble sleeping once I am horizontal, and I can only imagine how desperate it must be to lie there in the middle of the night wanting really badly to sleep but being unable x
In good news, Smiley was in Respite last night for the first time in 3 months, and I am really feeling the difference today :D
ReplyDelete