Sleep

Me - Sleep. wow! I love to sleep. I usually have trouble falling asleep, but once I fall asleep I sleep like a log. I am only able to sleep with my special pillow pet lamb whom I have slept with for the past three years. So when I go to  a sleepover at my Grandmas, or if I go camping, or when I am sleeping in the living room by the fireplace, I take my pillow. It seems like my family takes turns with who is sleeping well and who isn't. At least it is that way with us kids. My Dad always sleeps well, and my Mom hardly ever sleeps. My Dad takes naps a lot. When he tells us to wake him up, he asks for more time. One time, he said to wake him up at 5ish. I said that means he wants to wake up at 7, and he actually did wake up at 7. My brother gave up naps when he was 5. I gave up naps when I was 4. My sister, Aurella gave up naps when she was 2. When my sister was little, she refused to go to sleep. She would follow my Mom around at night until she finally got tired and took herself to bed in my Mom and Dad's bed. At that time, I slept really well  as soon as my head hit the pillow I fell asleep. When Aurella started going to sleep when she was supposed to and falling asleep easier, I started not being able to sleep well and not being able to fall asleep easily. I wish I could go back to when I could fall asleep easier.


Mom - I have never been a good sleeper. However, even when I was a kid my parents never had to worry about me wandering the halls at night or anything. The worst I would do was try to read a little at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. Mostly, I would just lie in bed at night and think about things or make up stories in my head. Now, that I am older it's not always so much that I can't sleep, but that I always have so much to do, and I can function on about six of hours of sleep a night. My husband is generally a good sleeper except for a period of time when he was having trouble swallowing, and he could hardly sleep at all. Our kids are sometimes good sleepers and sometimes not. My stepson slept well when he was little. When he was older, he would wander around the halls at night and he would start playing on the computer or something when he was supposed to be sleeping. When Melia was first born, she would only sleep when someone was holding her. When she was a few months old, she went through a brief period of time when she slept very well. Then, for a long time she was not a good sleeper again. She kept conning my husband into bringing her into our room by promising she would sleep there. She didn't,  and we always ended up having to bring her back to her own room. When her sister was a baby, Melia started sleeping well  which was surprising because they shared a room and her sister was not a good sleeper. The last few years, Melia has not been sleeping well again. Maybe, it is that typical teen thing kicking in because she does not sleep well at night, but she sleeps fine during the day when we have no place to go. She can easily sleep until 12  or 1 in the afternoon if you let her. Aurella slept really well when she was a tiny baby sleeping in a bassinet in our room. As soon as she moved out of the bassinet, she became a terrible sleeper. Around the time that she started, school she started sleeping well again. At least, she would go to sleep quickly and easily as long as we got her to bed before she got overtired. However, if she woke up in the night she would get scared and crawl in with my husband and I. Now, she still comes in sometimes but not as much. She always comes in the morning when we are sleeping to play or watch TV because she does not like to be alone when she is awake, Anyway, my experience with my children and their sleeping habits has taught me one thing, children and sleeping is just like horses and water. You can lead a child to bed, but you can't make them sleep.

And that's our view. What kind of sleeper are you?

Tune in tomorrow for Tips for Tuesday.