January 4, 2012

Well, Happy New Year to everyone.  Now that the holidays are officially past, we can go on with our daily lives and put the holidays and their craziness away for another year.  The next question becomes, will I ever sleep again?  Here it is, 4 o'clock in the morning, and obviously I am sitting here at the computer, typing away.  I've been up since 2:30 when I heard my middle child (13 years old) get up to use the bathroom.  Why would that wake me up?  Let's see....  He's only been home about 2 weeks after a 5 month stay in a long-term residential center for treatment of problems due to Autism.  And I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.  So of course I wake up every time he opens his door at night.  That is about 2 to 3 times a night.  Every night.  Because I have to remind him to go back to bed and go back to sleep when he is done.  Otherwise he goes back to his room and sits on the bed and talks to himself.  He can do that for hours.  And of course I can't sleep when he does.

I don't think I have gotten a full uninterrupted night's sleep since he came home.  If it isn't him waking me up coming out of his room, his 3 year old sister has a nightmare and wakes me up crying, wanting to come out of her room.  I know I should be happy and thankful (and I am, truly I am) that my son is doing so much better since he has come home. I just wonder if I am ever going to sleep again.  Right now I think I am averaging about 5 hours of sleep a night, taking in all the waking up and having to get up to handle the kids.  And then there is my oldest, who is 15.  Right now he is alternating between pacing his room and pacing the living room.  Yeah, I know, he's 15 and they are night owls.  The problem is that when I have trouble sleeping, I really can't sleep hearing him wander throughout the house.

Ahhh, sweet coffee, the nectar of my life.  If the world ran out of coffee tomorrow, I think I would be in trouble.  I look back at when I was younger and wonder how on earth I managed to make it through my day and take care of two small kids back then without my miracle beverage.  I know, it's kinda silly to sit here and drink coffee when I really, really want to go back to sleep but I think sleep is a lost cause for the moment.  Maybe during quiet time today I can catch a nap.  I actually have a day on my schedule that isn't already accounted for!  Shocking!