Dear Mr. Sandman,

Thanks for visiting last night.  I really did need to catch up on all that rest. 



I put Eli and Titus in pjs at 3pm.  We pick up Isaac, play out side, play inside, eat dinner.  Early bedtime at 6:30.
I rest on the couch... and fall sleep at 6:50.  I wake up at 8:30, finish up the kitchen, brush my teeth, check on the boys, and head right to bed.  Titus visits me at 4am, after taking him potty I lay him back down, and then crash in my bed once more.

The boys wake up at 7am.  I wake up at 7am.
Twelve hours of sleep was amazing, and so needed.  I feel so great right now.



Not sleeping--that's been the toughest part for me with kids!  Especially when Titus was about a year, and I realized that I hadn't slept through the night in almost 2.5 years.  I was a bit bonkers by it, too.
Matt would ask me, "So what do you want for Christmas?" or "What do you want for Mother's Day?"
My answer, always, was "Sleep.  I just want to sleep.  That's it."
It wasn't till after Eli's last surgery (August 2011) that everyone started sleeping pretty well through the night.  Wow, I started doing sooo much better!



I've always needed sleep.  In middle school/high school I'd hit a wall (every 2 to 3 months) and sleep all weekend, and just emerge for water and some cereal.  Everyone close to me knows this: my mom, my dad, my husband, and I'm pretty sure my boys are figuring it out.

It's been a little hard for Matt to grasp the concept, since he never had those big sleep crashes while growing, but he's come around.  It's part of who I am, Babe!



And I don't know how accurate this clipping is, but it makes me feel better when I demand a Sunday afternoon nap!

Jammie Overload?

NEVER!!

I do believe a good set of pjs is important, very important.  One can never have too many well fitting jammies...
... And that's exactly what happened this Christmas!  Hooray!


Christmas Eve PJs from Grammie and Gramps:

Taking these pics was a bit disastrous.  I took them, and Matt was out of the house.
He KNOWS the camera, ya know?
 Can get the right lighting, shutter speed, aperture with a glace.  I cannot.  Lots of trial and error for me...
But Matt is also willing to put in many hours of reading and practicing on cameras.  I am not.

Ain't these cousins cute?  

 Stocking stuffer PJs from the "Stocking-Stuffer" himself:

"Black Ninja" grandchildren PJs from Nana and Mume:

Each child numbered in the order that they arrived as a grandchild.
All of ours just so happen to be the first 3 grandchildren! 

Tom and Jerry PJs from Nana and Mume:

"Grandma Jammies" from Great-Grandma Diane:

Every year Grandma Diane sends out her "Grandma Jammies," each year holding a different theme.
This year was the family's history, with their family crest on the front.
We are the "Number 1" family because Matt is the first grandchild from Grandma Diane and Grandpa Brian.

PS, Matt and I look sweaty, because we are.  Just got back from the gym!  

Sleep Evasion

I took 2 naps today.  Yeah, I'm tired.  

Matt took a really good nap as well.  Yeah, he's tired. 

At first I thought this tiredness was from our day of travel ("Hi, we're in Bama for Christmas!"), but then I realized our children have been throwing us for a loop the last few weeks and it is catching up to us! 

Titus has decided that his favorite is our bed.  He willingly naps on our bed, he sneaks out of his room at night and falls asleep on our bed,  and he visits us a couple times a night!  

We sometimes catch him during these nightly visits and take him back to his room;  however there was one night at 4 am which Matt and I looked at a zonked out Titus and asked, "We did he get in here?"  

Titus, taking a nap in our bed.  He was fevered that day, so I let it happen.

And it's not just Titus who visits.  There was one epic night Isaac climbed in saying, "I had a bad dream!"  Then Titus came (twice), and Eli stumbled in at 6am.  

Eli is not sure how he feels about finding Titus (who sometimes stays all night, cause neither Matt and I can move a limb from exhaustion!) in our room in the morning.  He's been feeling a little left out, and has started climbing in our bed with us in the morning to snuggle.  Which I don't really mind!  Eli is a pretty happy dude in the morning, and I love getting all the close to him.  

What Titus' problem is his bed issue... I think--well, more hope.  He has a crib mattress on the floor, and we need to get him into a twin size trundle bed (to push under the bunk bed when not in use).  We're a work in progress right now, but we're on our way to getting everything properly together.  

This is our first kid who can't stay in his bed.  It's uncharted territory, but we're doing our best I think.  

So for now, during this Christmas break, we'll try to catch up on our rest--while, you know, sleeping in the same room with all our sons.  Good times ;) 

We Be Tired

Oh goodness, even before the time change I was exhausted.   For some reason I stayed up till 1am one night (oh that's right, the Halloween treat disaster--I just spelled disaster without the help of spell check!!  First time... EVER!), then another night I stayed up close to mid-night trying to get the Thanksgiving Tree together.

So going into the weekend my sleep batteries were sub-level.  And that, my friends, is not good for Mrs. Shannon.
Two clues that my sleep deprived-ness was getting too low:
- "I got to go put the bed's clothes on...  Wait, I mean I got to go put the sheets on the bed."
-  "I just found the TV remote on the passenger seat of the 4Runner.  Oops."


Since Sunday morning Titus has been pretty positive he needs to wake up around 5:30am.  Or 4:15am.  But mostly 5:30am.
The other boys follow suit.
They are loving the extra time to play in the morning.

I've been enforcing some pretty strict nap-times around here.  Mainly for myself.  I'm getting some great naps, ones that when I wake up I don't even know where I am!  Fabulous.
But the 2 little ones are also needing the great naps, too.  (I'm not being mean!)  Today's nap time was 11:30am, and they are still asleep almost 3 hours later.

I lay Titus on the top bunk.  He knows it's serious when I do this!
This picture remind anyone else about this post?  

Those eye lashes should be illegal.  

Isaac, on the other hand, is not getting any extra sleep time.  

I wonder when, and how bad, he'll crash.  When he starts screaming at me like a pterodactyl (I did NOT spell pterodactyl right on my first try, but I know it started with a "p!"), then I'll know for sure he's hit his wall.  

Oh sleep.  I love thee.

Sounds of Tinkering

11:15pm I go to bed later than I had hoped. 
I know I need rest, because my mothery-senses are tingling: *Titus' sleep is going to be off tonight*


12:45am Titus tries to join me in bed.  I pick up the half a sleep 2 year old, and lay him back down in his bed (not without a failed attempt to let him sleep with me).

5:20am Titus tries to join me in bed.  I pick up the pretty alert 2 year old, and lay him back down in his bed making I tell him that it is still bedtime.

5:55am Titus implores of me a drink.  I tell him to go back to bed, I get him a milk cup, meet him in his room, change is diaper, tuck him in, and give him his drink.

7:20 am I hear sounds of light plastics being pushed around.  I think Titus is up, getting into drawers in the kitchen.  "Titus," I say, "what are you doing?" I get no answer. 
I drag myself out of bed, stumble out of the room, look to the kitchen, and Titus isn't there.  
It is Isaac, the only one awake in the house, sitting on top of the dinning room table, digging through a huge bin of LEGOs, and creating his master pieces.

.......

Most of Isaac thoughts revolve around LEGO building.  This almost 6 year old--who found his first loose tooth yesterday, is starting Kindergarten in a week and a bit, and daring on the trailer bike--loves to build with LEGOs.  It is his world, and he is always innovating and creating.  If LEGOs are not in his hands, he is thinking about them, and getting inspiration from all things around him.

LEGOs are his world. 

And I'm glad he is in mine.