Sleep Is Overrated

We seem to have a round of colds hitting our family. At the moment, Charlotte and I seem to be feeling the worst.

Charlotte has been having trouble sleeping for the last few weeks. I think it is mostly because she is really enjoying reading more and more and has a hard time winding down after reading.

The best way to get her to go to sleep for the last several weeks has been to lay down with her and snuggle. She is usually asleep in five to ten minutes.

Tonight, I offered twice to snuggle and she refused. Finally, about an hour ago she decided it would help. Between her cough and falling asleep on me, it took me longer than usual to extricate myself from her room.

Within five minutes of getting back to my bed, I heard footsteps in the hallway. I'm pretty sure, from the sound of it, that the footsteps included a trip downstairs. Sure enough it wasn't long until another sleeping princess arrived in my room.

This time it was Eliza Claire. She was apparently sleep walking as when I asked her what she needed she said, "I'm finished."

"With what?" I inquired.

"Washing my hair," she informed me.

Alrighty then. I helped her go to the restroom. On the way back to her room, she tripped over a chair in the hallway. You know, that chair none of the wonderful children ever put back all the way under the desk? Yep, that one. Not fun to trip over, especially when you are sleepwalking. Needless to say, it took a while to get her calmed down enough that I could leave her room.

So now I sit, ok, who are we kidding, lay here blogging instead of sleeping. My guess is that with the next 30 minutes Ruby will be in because she had a bad dream, or Charlotte's cough will wake her up, or some one will have an accident, or Michael's snoring will be loud enough to keep me from drifting off.

Such is the life of a mom. I recognize that this is but a season. One that will be gone too quickly. One I will eventually look back on and miss. Right now, I'd just like a good night's sleep.

If I look like a zombie tomorrow or any other day, you know why.

Jenn