Let’s just say I’d rather be sleeping right now. It doesn’t matter what time of day you are reading this — if you are, and I’m awake, I’d rather be sleeping.

I’m a sleep-deprived mom of two younguns (one is still a baby at a wee 7 months) who keep me busy these days. I realized the other day how much I love sleeping. It is the best feeling in the world to me these days. I’d take it over a box of Godiva chocolates, over front row U2 tickets, pretty much anything right now. I have to work every day so I don’t get a chance for naps. “Getting lucky,” these days means my husband is going to stay up with the kids while I take a nap on the weekend.

People who don’t have kids have no idea what I’m talking about. Long gone are the days of the keg parties (I got invited to one last week and had to laugh), happy hours that turn into happy nights, taking in a 10:00 p.m. movie — heck, even staying up to watch a movie on TV. I’d rather sleep.

I’d better stop writing this … it’s infringing on my sleep time.

Photo courtesy stock.xchng.

My baby is 11 weeks old now and lack of sleep is common. It’s better than it was the first couple of weeks, but it’s still there. The heavy eyelids, aching muscles, weary head, and the desire to just lie down all the time.

This weekend my husband was out of town for two days, and I had both kids by myself. It was a lot of work and I was tired. This is nothing new though. One of our friends offered to have my son over for a playdate one afternoon. The baby, miraculously, took a nap and so did I. That 1 1/2 hours of sleep made all the difference for me. I felt refreshed and rejuvenated.

Later that evening I broke one of my favorite plates - my grandmother’s french china, decorative plate that I only have two of — both hang on my kitchen wall. Well, only one does now. I accidentally knocked one off and it smashed into bits on the tile floor. For some reason, I was OK with this disaster. I quickly got a broom and dustpan and swept the pieces of my childhood up. I moved on to taking care of the kids and the rest of my evening in peace.

Had I not had that nap earlier in the day I know I would have lost if when that plate broke. It would have thrown me over the edge causing my stress-level to elevate even more. Beacause I was rested, I was able to deal with it and move on quickly.

Having a baby isn’t the only time we loose sleep. I think American’s don’t get enough sleep as it is, not just when we add babies, kids, work, school, extra activities to our already oversheculde lives. Think of how much better you could handle situations if you had more sleep. Tonight, try to get to bed early and see if it makes for a better tomorrow.

Today is one of those days where it’s 2:00 PM and you wonder how you are still in your pajamas. My 3-week-old was up for hours this morning, and all I wanted to do was go back to bed. That didn’t happen until 2:30 this afternoon. Or is it morning? The days and nights tend to blur together. Thank God for the sun and the moon that tell me what time of day it is.The sun is up so it must be day time.

The Sun

The sun tells me that it’s time to get out of bed and get dressed. So far, I’ve managed to get out of my pajamas by 10:00 AM every day since my daughter was born (well, except for when I was at the hospital, dressed in the beautiful open-backed hospital gown). Although, today technically I’m not in my pajamas because I wore a regular shirt to bed last night and didn’t bother to change it — so, I woke up already dressed!

The Setting Sun

Dusk warns me that it might be a long night. That I should make sure my baby is eating every two hours so that she will sleep tonight.

The Moon

The moon hovers overhead, shining just enough light to not depress me when I have to stumble out of bed to feed a hungry baby. The moon is supposed to tell my baby to sleep for two long stretches so that I can get some rest. This hasn’t been the case.

I finally got some rest today, but it’s dusk now and I’m wondering how the evening will go.

Dr. Harvey Karp kept my husband and I sane when we had my son. As new parents we didn’t know step one about how to handle a baby. Sure, we’d been to the local parenting classes at our hospital. We learned that “babies are slippery when wet.” We learned how to hold a baby. How to change a diaper. (Yes, they offer classes for these things.)

When it came to how to get your child to calm down for bed or to be comfortable for a good nights rest we were at a loss. That is, until we read Dr. Karp’s “The Happiest Baby on the Block,” book. What a change it offered us. I recommend watching the video as well. The book is great and has step by step instructions on how to sush your baby and, my favorite, the best way to swaddle a baby, but the video shows you these things with actual people.

The baby swaddling technique that Dr. Karp teaches is life changing. It’s the ONLY way to swaddle a baby, in my opinion.

Dr. Karp is probably this generation’s Dr. Spock. He’s a life changer and has helped many parents. I’ll be rewatching that video in the coming months to prepare for baby number 2.

If you are in the Orlando area this week, Dr. Karp is going to be giving a lecture at the Orange County Regional History Center in downtown Orlando. Here’s the scoop:

Thursday, November 13, 2008
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
RSVP: 407-303-1700 to see if there are seats left.

Daddy’s been out of town on business for three nights. My son has been cranky for three nights. Mommy is tired. Son has had a double ear infection and now has an infected throat. One more night alone. Only one more night.

It’s bedtime and he asks to sleep in Daddy’s bed. This is normally not allowed in our house, but I’m tired and he’s not feeling well. Plus, there’s extra room on Daddy’s side of the bed. I relent, for tonight.

He falls asleep and I retreat to the living room to watch some TV. I go to bed a few hours later and quickly fall asleep.

1:50 a.m.

“Mommy.”

“What?”

“Where’s my school bus?”

“Are you kidding me?” I think, but don’t say.

“School bus.”

It’s pitch black in the house, yet I get out of bed to search for his little Hasbro yellow school bus.

Living room: nothing.

His bedroom: nothing.

Bathroom: nothing.

Back to living room: nothing.

It’s 2:00 a.m.! What am I doing?

I go back to my bedroom, handing him his little blue helicopter instead.

“I don’t like helicopter,” he says through his grogginess.

“GREAT! Are you kidding me?” Again, I only think it.

“I don’t know where the school bus is,” I try.

Then, leaning over, I see it — it’s in the bed with us.

Are you kidding me?!

“Here’s the school bus!” I say, “Now go back to sleep.”

He snuggles closer, almost on top of me, resting his head on my pillow. We’re check-to-cheek; he falls asleep.

It’s 2:00 a.m. and I’m with an angel … no kidding.