My first post! I started this blog to have a space for myself to share things that no one told me about life, kids, marriage, family, career, etc. Every day I discover something new and know that I can’t be alone. I’m hoping to connect with other souls who are making shit up as they go, as I am, on this journey called life.
I start today’s post with extreme exhaustion. My toddler daughter slept for total shit last night, so what does that mean? That momma also slept for total shit last night. She has molars coming in and I think that is part of the problem, but damn. I was awake with her for most of the night and the only solid sleep I got was from 3:30AM until around 6AM. I’m so tired that I feel fragile today, as though the smallest inconvenience or disturbance could send me into hysterical sobs.
My daughter is almost 2-1/2 and one of the things no one tells you about sleep and parenting is just how much your sleep gets interrupted. You expect it when they are newborns, but you assume at some point, that they will consistently sleep through the night. That’s what you are told by most people anyway. Or what you try to tell yourself in those early morning hours when even the birds are asleep. She has had fits and spurts of sleeping through the night, but it’s not consistent. I’m going on 2-1/2 years of sleep deprivation, where some nights I’m lucky to get 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
This is a part of parenting I find especially challenging, trying to function on little or fragmented sleep. Like today, I feel physically sick and my head feels like it’s going to explode at any moment. Today is one of those days where there isn’t enough coffee in the world that could save me. I’m just going to try to hold on and hope that I hold it together until bedtime tonight.
What No One Told Me 