Sleep.
Is that an actual word that exists in #momlife?
I hear of people who have this phenomenon that happens to them at night where they fall asleep and then actually don’t wake up until the morning time. I had no clue that was an actual “thing.” Amazing. Truly, I wonder what that feels like.
Because for the past 10 or so years, that hasn’t been my experience.
Let’s do a quick rundown:
Bedtime routine alone takes 30-60 minutes and then possibly an extra hour of yelling up the stairs, “No more talking, go to sleep!”
Once I finally mosey on upstairs to put my sweet butt to bed, I have my whole routine to prepare for bed. Then, I start crawling under the covers, my body aching for the sweet release of sleep and then my husband says, “hey….”
Just “hey.” His beckoning call for a little intimacy time. Alrighty, let’s postpone this little sleep thing a little bit longer then.
Upon finally laying my head down on my pillow, and nuzzling into the sheets, I hear from across the hallway, my 2-year-old. He is calling “mama” for me to go get him a bottle filled up. Alright, let’s do this. I go back downstairs, warm up a bottle of almond milk for him and head promptly back upstairs to tuck him back in.
Okay…. now, is it my turn to sleep? Hubby is already passed out asleep or knee deep in his favorite tv show. I hop on my side of the bed and curl up into a ball, so eagerly awaiting the rest of my mind. Normally, I try to put my phone in the drawer at night but it inevitably buzzes at some point. I am reminded of everything I need to accomplish the next day and then my mind starts racing.
“Calm down, Meghan, just stop thinking.” How strange when I have to mentally slap myself on the hand to STOP THINKING.
None-the-less, I eventually erase thoughts from my mind and give in to the heaviness of my eyelids.
Let’s just fast-forward the whole circus of nightly events which involves approximately 5-7 trips to pee on average. Oh, and also the 5 different children who inevitably sneak into the room and try to go back to sleep in bed with me. On any given day, I normally wake up with 3-5 children curled up into every nook and cranny of my body. One in each arm, a few nestled up in my legs and most likely one laying right on my chest.
So, yeah.. “sleep” isn’t really a thing for me. I don’t think it is a real thing for most moms.
According to science (a.k.a. Google), women need more sleep than men because our brains work at more complex levels. No kidding.
I will be driving in the car with my husband and he’ll glance at me and see a certain look on my face and ask me what I’m thinking about. And I tell him.
“Well, as we drove past that fish sculpture one block ago, I thought about how ugly it was. It got me thinking about my trip to Colorado a few years ago and I remember reading this blog post about different places to go see in the city. There were some strange sculptures there that were the most hated in the city, so we just had to go see them ourselves. They were pretty ugly. And I remembered this one restaurant we went to that same night and I had such a delicious burger. The city was so pretty at night. It makes me want to explore our city more with the kids. Then I thought of the time we checked out the museum and how fun it was to see the kids explore. Remember how…” The story went on even further… All stemming from a fish sculpture we passed on the street.
His response. “Meghan, we passed that fish sculpture like 10 seconds before you started telling me this story. How did you think about ALL of that in such little time?”
Yep. A woman’s mind. What was my husband probably thinking about in those same 10 seconds? Maybe nothing. Maybe something like, “I need to take left on this upcoming street.”
Yah, I totally get what those scientists are saying. Women for sure need more sleep because our brains are going 1,000 miles a second. We never shut down.
So, you know what? I’m going to just enjoy the sleep I’m getting right now. Function off it as best I can and look for little cracks and crevices to fit in an extra hour or so. This time with the littles is fleeting. I can sleep more one day. For now, we’ll just enjoy the ride. Sleep deprived and all.
