World Champion Sleeper
Maybe the GOAT
Recently we had four extra 12 and 13 year old girls at our place for a sleepover celebrating my daughter’s birthday. It was… extra. I drove them all into the city and felt sure I’d burst an eardrum from all the karaoke/screaming/shrieking. But it’s such a privilege to be able to listen in to their discussions, absorb their enthusiasm, and imagine how wonderful the world is going to be when they are running it.
When I emerged the next morning they were very apologetic. Did you hear us last night? Sorry, did we keep you up? Thanks for being chill.
Chill? Well! Thanks, I love it when the gang thinks I’m cool, but sadly the reality is much less cool. It was after 11, I was asleep, and I am the absolute BEST at sleeping.
When I was a baby I had two older brothers and my parents never tried to create a quiet sleep environment. I just rolled with it. One time the neighbour was mowing the lawn and a stone broke the window right next to where I was sleeping in my crib. My parents came rushing in to find broken glass all over me but I was still sound asleep.
I tell people I’m really good at sleeping like it’s a joke but I’m dead serious. Do you know how incredibly precious it is to never suffer insomnia? To consistently put your head on the pillow and be asleep in moments? To be able to sleep in when your body needs more sleep?
Of course, having children has meant I didn’t always get all the sleep I wanted. But I chose to keep my babies in bed with me so at least I didn’t have to get out of bed when they woke me up.
But every silver lining has its cloud, right? I organise my life to get 8 hours of sleep, but I actually need 9. I am so incredibly sensitive to caffeine that even a cup of tea after 2pm can stop me from sleeping. I’m resentful about never getting evenings to myself because I need to be asleep (sometimes I am asleep before all of the kids).
Last week, I was so tired that I fell asleep putting the toddler to sleep. The cheeky little blighter took himself down the hall, played with his toys for a while longer, then put himself to sleep. How do I know? Because I woke up at 5am wondering where the hell he was - whoops! Not my best parenting moment but thank goodness it worked out okay.
Does this happen to other people? I’m not sure how to tackle the problem of me having eyes that just close for business at a certain time, while being responsible for children who take after their dad and are night owls.