The Art of Almost Sleeping

Of all the things that changed when I became a mother (what didn't?) - the one that took the hardest hit was my sleeping schedule. My first pregnancy didn't really affect my sleep at all - just gave me license to enjoy those afternoon naps even more. However, none of my babies have been "good sleepers" - so when my first son was born I had to make some serious changes and adjust to living on less, much less, sleep.

Now with four small kiddos to look after I have pretty much made my peace with just not getting as much sleep as I would like. And most days I have enough energy to get through the day without a nap, although I do occasionally take a little "power nap" at about 8:30pm when they are all finally, blissfully, peacefully sleeping.

Part of my adjustment to this stage of life and less-than-ideal sleep is my perfection of what I like to call The Art of Almost Sleeping. After many years of stumbling through in a sleep-deprived stupor, I've mastered a few levels of almost sleeping...

1. Sleeping in the car, or a chair, straight up. I always used to find my head bobbing when I'd attempt sleeping in a car or bus, but somehow after having kids I am able to sit with my head straight up and basically lock it into position and almost sleep...

2. Sleeping while the kids watch TV. This isn't something I do very often, but occasionally when I am in desperate need of a little power nap I am somehow able to simultaneously block out whatever children's program is on, while still keeping my ears open for crying babies or whining children. And when the program is over? Somehow I miraculously wake up right when it is over so the kids don't end up watching hours of TV while I snooze on the sofa.

3. Nursing babies while lying down. I may have mentioned before how lazy I am when it comes to night wakings. As my confidence in nursing grew, I started bringing the baby to bed with me, nursing them on my side and enjoying a few moments of almost sleeping. Of course, there are times when I wake up about two hours later and think I should probably put this baby back in the crib...

4. The "One-Eyed Mama". This is a technique I developed which makes the night wakings much easier. You can read about it in detail here. The past few weeks haven't been easy with the twins being sick and waking up multiple times each, and this technique not only helps me forget how many times I get up every night, but I'm getting so good at it, I could probably walk to the twins room and back with my eyes completely closed. Just have to make sure I pick up the right twin and return them to their own crib. So far I have not woken up in the morning to find two twins in the same crib, but it may well happen at least once! 

And if that's not almost sleeping, I don't know what is....

Saturday Sleep-In

{and a few random tidbits from our weekend}

I've written before on how much I love (and desperately need) sleep. Sleeping in was something that used to happen very regularly on a Saturday morning and always included waking up to a clock that started with double digits. Now, of course, that has been drastically re-defined. Anything after 7:00am is classified as a sleep-in. 

Friday was a holiday here and we took the kids into Sao Paulo to meet some friends and then spent the afternoon/evening at Grandma's house. The one hour drive home is our favorite (and easiest) way to put the kids to bed after a long day. And even now that Lucas is getting older, and staying awake the whole ride home, he is usually pretty happy to get into his own bed when we arrive. 

I was pretty sure, however, that despite the long day and later bedtime, I would still be woken by my little angels before 6:30. It seems sometimes that the later they go to bed, the earlier they wake up! So imagine my surprise when Lucas comes into our room at 7:30 (Yes! 7:30 people!!) to inform me that Elena needed me. Our baby monitor occasionally cuts out and so I wasn't hearing her call for me. Once we were all up and relaxing in the living room I saw some evidence that Lucas must've been awake for a while before hearing Elena calling and then summoning me - mainly a freshly finished cup of yogurt. But you know what? I am more than happy to let him get up, get a snack and entertain himself for a bit in the morning (especially with Elena safely in her crib) so I can have a resemblance of a sleep-in. Hooray for growing up :)

More evidence of growing up - look how nicely they are sharing the blocks!

Also wanted to share this precious conversation that happened between Lucas and his grandma. They were talking about his cool car and cool house when grandma asked, "And do you have a cool mommy and a cool daddy?" To which Lucas replied, "No, I don't have a cool mommy and a cool daddy, they're just old." (Clearly to him "cool" is synonymous with "new")

Linking up with:

One Eyed Mama

I am fortunate to be a good sleeper. I can fall asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow. The only problem I used to have with sleeping was my snoring husband. Of course, having children and being exhausted quickly solved that!

Over the past few years, dealing with newborns and toddlers, I have developed a technique for coping with those multiple wake-up calls in the middle of the night without actually having to wake up too much. It's called the "one eyed mama" - and it is very simple; when you hear your darling little angel crying at night, needing water, a diaper change, or a lost pacifier, stumble out of bed using your hand to guide you and only open one eye. This creates just enough vision to get to the crib/bed and tend to your little one without thinking too much or allowing too much light into your eyes, thus waking you up.

This is not me, but another mama who writes
about using the "one eyed mama" technique here

I imagine I look something like this when I'm found wandering the halls of our house in the wee hours of the morning - albeit with very messy tied-up hair, no make-up and definitely no earrings. Ok, so I look nothing like that, but you get the idea. Once my hubby saw me in my "one eyed mama" state and just laughed. But, hey, it works! Sometimes the next morning I will have no recollection of just. how. many. times I woke up to see to my cherubs during the night.

Mamas out there - how do you deal with waking up in the night? Or do your kids sleep through the night? Somehow we have hit a stage (coughing, potty training etc) where a full nights sleep is a rarity!

Linking up with Monday Mom Musings with Jellibean Journals