(“Hey! I was here first…” photo from the files of mompriest)
Mompriest says: Last night was a restless night in my home. We are dog and cat sitting for our daughter, which means we have a combined household of three adult humans, four large dogs, two cats, and one kitten. And for some reason the dogs, cats, and kitten, all wanted to sleep in OUR bed. Did I mention that it’s just a double bed? Did I mention that it was warm in our room – too cool to turn the air conditioning on but no breeze to blow the cool night air in….add to that my general age-related tendency toward insomnia, and it was a difficult night for sleeping.
A number of my facebook friends seem to have similar challenges sleeping….
So, on that note our Friday Five today will focus on sleep, or the lack thereof.
1. Are you prone to sleep challenges? Insomnia, snoring, allergies? Other sleep challenges? My sleep challenge is almost 17-months-old. Except last Thursday when Grandma and Grandpa took him to the beach, I don’t think I’ve slept through the night since he was born. He doesn’t always need me in the night, but he fusses and I awaken. The most frustrating times are those times I get up with him and then he goes back to sleep and I’m wide awake. When I don’t have a baby, I get hit with insomnia occasionally, usually having something to do with the moon.
2. When you can’t sleep what do you do? Toss and turn? Get up and read? Play computer games? All of the above. Sometimes I toss and turn, sometimes I read (loving the iPad for that–don’t have to turn on a light), sometimes I get up and mess around on the computer. Often I’ll make some herbal tea to sip.
3. When you do sleep do you remember your dreams? Or just snippets of them? I don’t often remember my dreams. I’d rather not. As far as I can tell, I don’t often have good dreams.
4. Can you share a funny or confusing dream you’ve had? Or a dream you have over and over? My dreams usually replay my anxieties, so not much funny or confusing there, although I try to laugh at them sometimes. One I had over and over when Bubble was first born. I would “wake up” in an utter panic, sure that she was in our bed, but had gotten pushed down under the covers. I’d start scrambling to search for her. Then I would really wake up, still panicking, and have to see her sleeping peacefully in her crib at the foot of our bed before I could start to calm down. We live in such a culture of fear and that’s where all my reading and all the warnings put me–panicking night after night that I had somehow hurt my baby.
5. When you don’t sleep how do you get through the day? Lots of coffee? or a nap later in the day? Coffee!
Bookgirl 
I agree with you: fear runs rampant. Wishing you peaceful sleep…
I remember those tiring days of having waking toddlers. I couldn’t complain to my husband, because he’d tell me to let he/she cry it out. I would not do that, so all four of my kids kept waking up in the night until they were 2 or 3. Somehow I lived through it and am glad I didn’t train them through crying, but that’s me.
Thanks. That’s pretty much how I feel. We’ve discussed crying it out, determined to do it, and been completely unsuccessful at following through with it. I’m pretty sanguine about it at this point. He falls back asleep pretty quickly and I get a middle of the night cuddle with my little guy.
I did actually sleep with my babies in my bed between my husband and me, some 22 and 18 years ago! I was always very aware, even in my sleep, that the baby was there….although usually it was only when we had both fallen back asleep after a nursing…
One day that 17 month old will be 17 years old and all this lack of sleep will be distant memory – oh no, wait, then you’ll be like me, age induced insomnia…LOL