Dream a Little Dream

I sat down a few nights ago, fully intent on creating a side by side comparison of my weekends pre-motherhood against my weekends as a mama. 

Here's the short hand version of that post: I'm a grown up now and though it sometimes sucks to be on the receiving end of responsibilities, it beats the hell out of battling hangovers and over-draft fees.

Instead, I'm going to write about something I know every single one of you cherishes right down to the core: S-L-E-E-P!

When you think about it, is there any beautiful specimen that you lust after more than sleep?

Any meal as satisfying as the moment when you pull the covers up to your chin after a long day?

A job offer in which you would eagerly vow to never again hit the snooze button?

I seriously doubt it, friend.

Personally, I'm a get up early and stay up late kind of gal. I go to bed between Midnight and 12:30AM and wake up for work at 5:30AM. Yes, it's kind of early, but I'm a morning person. (The annoying kind - the kind who says things like "Rise and shine, Valentine!" to people who are still warmly snuggled in their beds.) On the weekends, I usually sleep in until the kids wake up, and I sleep deeply and undisturbed for as long as possible. I surprised myself last night though and got up with the baby; not once, but twice.

For the most part, I don't have to get up with the baby in the middle of the night. 1.) Hubs is awesome. He almost always gets up with the baby and lets me sleep. I just love him! 2.) Once I'm awake, it could be a few hours before my body is ready to go back to sleep. I get sucked in to whatever is on TV or looking on the internet, and before I know it, I've got an hour left until the sun comes up. 3.) I freak myself out when the house is all dark and quiet and spooky. I wish I were lying about that one, but I'm pretty skittish.

This is my typical thought process for night duty:

• "What is that God-awful noise?"
• "Is that a baby?"
• "Whose kid is that, and why haven't they shut him up yet?"
• "Grrrrr.... seriously? SERIOUSLY? Maybe he'll go back to sleep..."
• "Alright! I'm up, I'm up and I'm coming. I'm up!"
• "Look at this guy, he's so cute even when he's crying! Awwwww!"
• "Alright, Jen. DO NOT LOOK IN THE MIRRORS WITHOUT THE LIGHTS ON OR THE GHOSTS WILL STEAL YOUR SOUL!"
• "All better. He just needed his Mama."
• "Please let him go back down quick before I get sucked in on this Time Life Music infomercial."
• "OMG they're so right! I really DO love all of these songs and I can make five easy installments..."
• "Probably should get back in bed. Baby's been asleep for 30 minutes and I'm still listening to the 'Singers and Songwriters' collection."
• "What's the best process for turning off the lights & TV so that I'm not in total darkness for very long? Yep! Turn on hallway light, turn off TV, lay baby down, turn off kitchen light, turn hallway light back off, run like a crazy lady into the bedroom and silently hurdle into bed. "
• "Please don't wake up when I lay you down!" (Mental repetition X10)
• "You are an adult, Jennifer. You're too old to be afraid of the dark. Grow up. Jesus! What was that noise?!"
• "I would have so much more room in this bed if I didn't have a toddler Velcroed to my back side...snore........."

To say the least, I watched 3 episodes of 'Sex & the City' last night, but I fought off the urge to indulge in a Lifetime movie. I read an article on the heiresses to the Clairins skincare fortune instead. At 4AM. I'm a sicko. But I slept until a blissful 9AM after that, and so did my happy babies. 

Sweet dreams, everyone.