Rough Night

Anybody that has kids will know where I am coming from today. My boys like to sleep in our bed and I usually don't have any issue with it, they fall asleep in our bed, I put them in their bed before I go to bed myself. Sometimes they rejoin us in the big bed and sometimes they do not.

Last night, or more accurately butt-ass early this morning, they both got into our bed and then proceeded to annoy each other which proceeded to wake and annoy both my wife and I.

Once I was awake, my allergies took over and I was pretty well awake and more than a little bit aggravated because I generally don't get enough sleep under the best circumstances. I tend to stay up a little too late because the house is so quiet and I can actually get stuff done without distraction.

After a little while of the boys being annoying to each other and then complaining when the other retaliated, we split them up. I took Sully back to his bed and laid down with him there. And ended up spending the rest of the night in his bed with him rather than try to move back to my bed.

The end result is that I'm a bit weary this morning and the full-on allergy assault isn't helping much at all.

The one good thing about last night is that I had myself a good workout. I'm starting to string them together in bunches again and that bodes well for my overall health. Now I just need to get some more saddle time and I'll be golden.

Kids and Wild Horses

I sometimes think of the effort it takes to get Sully or Grady down for a nap to quite like a cowboy breaking in a wild horse. They fight and kick and stomp around and have a strong, strong will until that will is finally broken and they fall in line and fall asleep.

Sully can be a handful to put down until he reaches that point and then he's as sweet as can be, all snuggly and asleep.

Until he wakes up and can't find his tete (pacifier) then he does a rather impressive imitation of an ambulance siren.

Sleep is Supposed to be Restorative, Right?

I think my two sweet and incredibly restless little boys need a refresher course on the virtues of allowing their parents to get a decent night of sleep.

I very rarely am in bed before 11 but last night I was ready to call it a day at a few minutes after 10. A nearly 13 hour work day will do that to me. Only Grady was watching some show which prevented me from actually falling asleep. When it finally ended at 11, he wasn't quite ready to go to sleep as he'd had a long nap in the afternoon. He did quiet down and go to sleep but he was restless which made me restless.

Once everyone did fall asleep he resumed his tendency to curl up with his momma and kick me. Which, of course, woke me up and I carried him to his own bed to kick the wall or anything else but me. This was at about 2:30 in the morning.

At about 4, Sully joined us in bed and then started chattering away. Not sure what he was talking about nor did I really care, I just wanted him to be quiet. And then he started complaining about his "lost" tete (his pacifier) which he'd left in his bed when he came over to our room.

My wife did go and get it for him but we were all awake at that point. I was able to fall back asleep and had bizarre dreams that left me awake a little after 5. I forced myself back to sleep for another hour or so and was pretty much done at 6:30 this morning.

Luckily, today should be a fairly low key day and I don't have any appointments or extra work to do out of the house. I can pretty much guarantee I'll be in bed by 10 again tonight and might have to put up the kid barricade so I can be more assured of a decent night of rest. For now, I'm mainlining coffee and vitamins to try and keep my flagging immune system going and fighting off whatever invading virus is making an assault.

I, Apparently, Cannot Win

Even when I make a point of shutting down and going to bed early, something will inevitably make my sleep suck or wake me up five times during the night.

Last night I was exhausted, couldn't keep my eyes open and called it a night around 10. I even took a single Nyquil to help me sleep and to try and overcome the first stages of the cold I picked up.

It did not work, I was up almost all night blowing, sniffling, unable to breathe or needing to go to the bathroom. And, as usual, I have woken up more tired than when I went to bed.

This is not a situation that ends well if I don't start getting decent sleep. And today is going to be long ass grind given how I feel right now.

The Weary is Strong

It is exceedingly hard to get back up on top of one's game if one is unable to attain a full night's rest. Lather, rinse and repeat the undersleeping and the problem can become chronic and deeply troubling.

And it effects my ability to think as coherently as I normally can. It changes my ability to be rational and objective. Plus it makes my writing suck more than usual.

The thing is, I can't seem to get to bed before midnight. No matter what I do or how hard I try, I always seem to end up going to bed right around midnight. And with early wakeups for work I am consistently getting less than 6 decent hours of sleep a night. Which I know is not especially healthy for my mind, my body or my life.

I know I should be able to just push back from my desk at 11 or earlier and just go to bed but all efforts to do so have failed thus far. And I'm not sure how much longer my sanity will hold on when its so badly frayed. Something's going to have to give because I really shouldn't be waking up more tired than when I went to bed.