Sleep…what is that again?

I miss sleep. I’m not even sure I know what sleep is anymore. =) When I was pregnant with Luke – I don’t remember having a hard time falling to sleep – I do however remember throwing mini-temper tantrums when I woke up for the 3rd or 4th time in the middle of the night to have to go to the bathroom. I vividly remember muttering under my breath and stomping to the bathroom – seething the whole time. Then Luke came along – and what a joy and blessing he is, but sleep has never come easy to the little guy. In fact, he didn’t start consistently sleeping through the night until he was a year old. And – if baby/toddler doesn’t sleep through the night – neither does mommy. Enter Baby Bee – just as Luke begins to sleep through the night. =) I have had the worst time sleeping with this pregnancy. Here is a typical night: Even though I’m exhausted all day long – I can’t for the life of me fall asleep. I go to bed – read a low-key book (which has always worked in the past) and wait until my eyes are too heavy to read another word. I lay the book aside and toss and turn amongst my mountain of pillows until I find a semi-comfortable position. Then I close my eyes and BING – my brain turns on. I can’t stop thinking about stuff....“The baby will be here soon…I need to do this and this and this and this…” “This and that is going on – and I need to get ready for it in these ways…” “This situation is happening – how do we deal with it…” And so on and so on…So – I try to focus on relaxing and not thinking. As I relax – Baby Bee wakes up and starts rolling around – kicking, punching, dancing…on top of my bladder of course. I try to hold off – but a pregnant lady just can’t hold off that long – no matter how hard you try. So I roll (yes, literally roll) out of bed – stomp down to the bathroom – stomp back – try to find a comfortable position and close my eyes. Awww – sleep is starting to claim me – finally! Then – from the other room – Luke wakes up from a nightmare or a tummy ache or something along those lines – screaming at the top of his lungs. I wait to see if it’s serious. He continues to scream…I roll out of bed…go to check on him. He’s upset – must calm him. Finally he calms down – and I attempt do go back to bed…find a comfortable position – close my eyes…and then my bladder signals again – “I just went!” I tell my bladder. “Too bad” my bladder laughs an evil laugh. I throw the covers off – stomp back down to the bathroom…and it just goes on like that – a vicious circle. Finally in the wee hours of early morning – my body takes matters into its own hands and falls asleep. A few short hours later – Luke is wide awake demanding release from his poopy diaper and crib. Sigh – I feel like I just fell asleep. =) Maybe Baby Bee will sleep through the night before his first birthday…

Speaking of sleep – I have recently come across some information about a sleep issue I’ve had ever since I was a teenager. It’s called Sleep Paralysis. Most people look at me like I’m from outer space when I talk about it – but it’s comforting to know that it’s an actual condition – and one that isn’t harmful in the least. What I always perceived to happen in one of these episodes is that my brain would wake up before my body would – leaving me unable to move or talk or anything – and yet be completely aware of what is going on around me. It’s always a scary feeling – and very unnerving. Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe – or that someone is in the room and I need to wake up so I can talk to them. But for the life of me – I can’t move or talk. I can open my eyes though. I know – it’s weird. After several episodes as a teenager – I finally figured out that if I could make myself go back to sleep – then wake up again – my body and brain would wake up together. It’s quite bizarre – and I always dread an episode – as on occasion I still have them – but after reading a little about it, I feel better knowing that there isn’t something wrong with me when it happens – and I’m not the only one that deals with it. Here is a link to the actual description of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis.

So – my question is – has anyone else ever had one of these episodes? From the articles I’ve read – it sounds more common then I ever thought. It makes me realize how powerful our brains are! I read somewhere once that we only use about 10% of our potential brain power…imagine what it would be like to unlock the other 90%!!! =)

Anyway – I know this was an odd blog – but hey – it’s what was on my mind…=)

Now I must go clean…for the millionth time…the cleaning never ends…ahhhhh!

Here are more pictures from our continued decorating...it's still not finished - we just do a little at a time. Maybe by Christmas, we'll have it all up. =)


Luke enjoyed putting up the tinsel...


Putting up the first ornament...