To Sleep...Perchance to Dream.

I'm sitting at my desk with the best intentions in the world. I want to write, no, I need to write, yet some sort of external force is preventing me from writing the post I had in mind for today. This 'force' as I shall call her has decided that the five minute cat nap she had in the car today counts as sleep and therefore she no longer needs any tonight......which kind of sucks, want to know why? Because I had actually planned on sleeping. You know that thing you do when you close your eyes and actually rest? Yeah, that one.

At the moment sleep is elusive. I desire it, I need it, yet it is always slightly out of reach. Something or someone always interrupts it. Usually one of the kids needing the toilet, a drink, a hug. There are Bogey men to chase, wet beds to change, illness to deal with. It also doesn't help that Miss 2  has now joined us in bed of a night. I know, I know, rod for my own back and all that....but I'm just too damn tired to do anything about it.

Then there is Hubby. Hubby has a tendency to want to grope at night time. He would happily sleep with his big, hairy body wrapped around my significantly smaller and rather more hairless version. Trouble is that it's kind of hard to exhale (or inhale for that matter) with the great lummox on top of me. 'Would you move!' I growl as best I can when having difficulty breathing. So, he grumps off to his side of the bed and then proceeds to fall asleep and snore.....loudly. I'm sure that it's his way of seeking revenge.

Even when they are all sleeping soundly it seems that I am not. I toss and turn. I think endlessly. I hear strange noises and imagine all sorts of things. The clock ticks pathetically in my ear. 'Sleep dammit, just sleep!' I tell myself, although it seems that it's not only Hubby and the children who don't listen to me...... I don't even listen to myself.

At some ridiculous hour I finally nod off, only to be awoken by an affectionate lick from the dog, waking me to take him on his morning run......so sleep is forsaken for another night.

But tonight I have other plans......

While I have been writing things have brightened, I am sipping relaxing chamomile tea given by a friend. Miss 2 has finally dozed off on my lap (Hallelujah!) Hubby is still at work. A few chapters of a good book are awaiting me. There is hope for me yet.

So sleep, my elusive friend, tonight I am seeking you. Please, please, please co-operate and let me partake in some much needed and wanted rest. Thank you!

Serious Sleep Aversion

My children seem to be opposed to many things......cleanliness, doing as they're told, sitting still, using tissues, eating their dinner, getting ready for school, watching sensible television......I could go on for hours. Miss Tornado Two is averse to the toilet. Mr 5 is not interested in removing his finger from his nose. Mr 10 is dead set opposed to eating fruit...or vegetables....or anything for that matter. And Miss 8? She's pretty much against anything that requires any sort of effort on her behalf. 'Do as you please' seems to be her catch phrase of the moment.

I can handle all of this, really I can. As much as I feel like I'm headbutting a brick wall for a large portion of the day I can deal with these minor misdemeanours that my children dish out.

There is one thing I can't handle however, and that is their deep and uncompromising aversion to sleep.

How can anyone be averse to sleep?  I hear you ask. What could possible possess these small people to want to be up to all hours of the night and then be bouncing off the walls at 5 am in the morning?

I have absolutely no idea.

I love sleep. I savour it. I obsess about it. I adore climbing into bed, burying myself under a million blankets and drifting off into the land of nod. Only to be disturbed....disrupted.....interrupted.
'Mum, I need to go to the toilet'
'I'm thirsty'
'My ear hurts'
'I have a sore tummy'
'I can't sleep'
'There's a monster in my room'
And Miss Two's favourite.......'WAAAAAAAAH!"

And they time it perfectly. Just as my mind begins to wander, my eyes start to flicker shut and I begin to disappear into a warm, safe and fuzzy world..

Only to be jerked back into the harsh reality of my life. The life of a Mother who's children do not sleep.

I secretly want to crawl deeper into my bed and ignore them. Or tell them to 'bugger off' but I always get up, deal with the problem, tuck them back into their beds and kiss them goodnight.
'I love you darling', I say.
'Now bloody well go to sleep'

To Sleep....perchance to Dream.

Until recently our darling Toddler has gone to bed at night without a hitch. Sure, she woke up continuously throughout the rest of the night but actually getting her to go to bed at the beginning was a doddle. This was always a call for much joy & celebration from the Man of the House and myself, we would happily plonk ourselves down on the couch for some much needed trashy TV and indulge. Last Tuesday was pretty much the same as usual, all kiddies in bed, house tidy (ish) and Hubby and I happily partaking in the latest rubbish on the box. That was until a little voice piped up from next to me "Mumma?". It was our darling Toddler. How on earth did she get out of her cot? I took her back down to bed, tucked her in and said goodnight. Five minutes later she was at my elbow again "Mumma?". The little monkey was escaping! That was it, once she had started with the Houdini act there was no stopping her, she came out continually until I finally stayed in the room with her and patted her.....for an hour and a half! Missed all my favourite shows and my downtime. Needless to say I was a very grumpy Mumma that night and even grumpier when Little Miss decided to join us at midnight in our bed and then proceeded to spend the rest of the night with her feet in my back. The next night was the same and now it's turned into what she thinks is a wonderful game. Unfortunately the pair of us are so sleep deprived that we are not much fun to be around at the moment. This equals much suffering for the Man of the House and the other three children who do sleep.

Sleep? Who me?

How to deal with this? If I could manage a coherent thought at the moment I'm sure I could deal with it sensibly and logically but I'm struggling to put two words together let alone deal with my escapee of a child! I think it may be time to move our little girl into a big girl bed.