no sleep-

After seven years of child-induced sleep interruptions, I should finally be well-rested. Over the summer, A started sleeping pretty consistently between midnight and 7 a.m. (She's in bed from 9 p.m. 'til 8 a.m.-ish.) She fusses a lot at night, but puts herself back to sleep fairly quickly and quietly, so that's only a real problem when we have to share a room with her or when Dan is away and I feel the need to have the monitor on at night because of my poor hearing.

But my insomnia, which has been a significant issue ever since C was born and I spent every night unable to sleep in anticipation of him waking up every 30-45 minutes, is worse than ever. I now can not sleep more than four hours a night. Since we usually go to bed around midnight, and I was waking up around 4, I was thinking it was largely caused by the sun rising/ birds/ etc. But with Dan gone, I've been better able to get to sleep early, but that's just meant that I wake up earlier.

So I've been up since 3 a.m. and am completely exhausted. (Maybe I'd be better off staying up 'til 2 or so; then at least I'd sleep 'til 6.) I won't be able to get the kids to bed until 8:30 at the earliest; by 5 I am going to be less than pleasant for them to be around. And since I need to eliminate A's naps immediately now in anticipation of preschool, I can expect to lose even the four hours I can usually count on- that kind of change in routine historically ruins her regular sleep patterns, and if I'm woken up, it's unlikely I'll be able to fall asleep again for the rest of the night.

When Dan's home, I can usually catch a ten-minute catnap at some point, which helps a lot. But that ain't happening this week....