I think having a baby naturally means your sleep goes out the window. And having a preschooler, toddler and a baby means you become chummy pals with under-eye bags, coffee, and zombie land.
Lizzie and David do not nap. I am working on enforcing “quiet time” so they can let Lucy sleep, but sadly, this is a struggle. My mind wanders to possible fixes: getting an outdoor playset, asking somebody to finish building our basement, going for long drives during nap time. Our house is so tiny that one small outburst during quiet time wakes up Lucy.
And as soon as Lucy wakes up mad, my quiet time is over.
I actually started to wonder why I was getting so stinking moody. Um, hello – lack of sleep affects your moods. In fact, I found an informative article on Mattress Find about how a lack of sleep effects memory and productivity.
Yes, I am totally there.
Cue the zombie music.
But this will not last. Soon they will all be in gradeschool. I’ll have all the quiet time I could dream of!
But that comes at a cost. Lucy’s fat thighs will thin out and be as long as her sister’s. Her knees and elbows will no longer have dimples, and her fat smile will be that of a grown up girl.
So the exhausting days and wakeful nights are totally worth it right now. When they are all in their own rooms, I’ll go back to browsing mattress find for a new bed, so my zombie-like state of mind can finally experience a heavenly night’s rest. Is there such a thing?
But honestly, that day can take it’s time. Being a caffeine-addicted-zombie is worth it to have such amazingly beautiful babies to cuddle with.
I’d like to think that eventually I’ll start getting more sleep as well. My quiet time came because my oldest two became old enough to play outside together.
OH I needed this reminder this morning. I am EXHAUSTED today! But I have to remember that this won’t last long!
OOOOHHH my lordy I know what you mean in a painful way. My zombie brain got me badly today. I had a job interview to be the boss of a company I tutor for and I scheduled my interview for a time when I had to tutor. KABLOOEEEE!!! I could see my chances at landing the job exploding like a car in a Die Hard movie. I was SO upset! I’ve called the lady, and emailed… It would have meant my salary doubled and an end to these stinkin’ post baby doctor bills. All that will help me now is prayers and LOTS of them. Please please please Jennifer Schellhase, give a new mommy a second chance!
NOOO!!! Oh Aimee, that stinks hard core! I have totally been there. I actually agreed to watch a friend’s 3 yo son tomorrow at the exact time Lizzie has to be at ballet. So you know what I am going to do? (Pray for me!) I’m taking 4yo Lizzie, 3yo Shawn, 2yo David and 8month old Lucy to Lizzie’s ballet. While she is there I am taking David/Shawn/Lucy to the park. O.M.G. I’ll be really super tired at the end of it.
I hope you get a 2nd chance!!
Just stopping by to say that is one of the most precious pics I have seen in a long long time- very touching and sweet!
Babyhood is over in a blink of an eye- soon they are teens… hold on while you can !
just a note for those who are about to be in this situation. the key is to never let them get used to quiet for sleeping. when my baby was born the older boys were 4 and 5 and had unyet treated ADHD, our house was ALWAYS noisey and my lil man learned to sleep through it. I am sure some babies will just be lighter sleepers but if you train them to sleep through constant noise when they are littler it is so much easier!
LOL Lisa, I wish that was the case. I think some babies really are just lighter sleepers, because when Lucy was born, Lizzie was 3.5 and David 20 months. There was not a single quiet moment in the house from the day she came home. She usually slept pretty good, this new “I need quiet to sleep” thing is new in the last month or so.
My oldest is an incredibly light sleeper. I think it truly is just the way some babies are and not what you did to help them sleep through noise. I tried everything when he was a baby but he ALWAYS woke up if there was any noise. We had to have a fan going in his room to drown out the noise so he could sleep. Coffee is my best friend now that I have a busy 20 month old and a 4 month old.