oh for a thousand hours of sleep

6:55 is when my alarm goes off.
I get up at 6:55 so I have 5 minutes to throw my contacts in,
put my clothes on, pull my hair into a ponytail and brush my teeth
so that can I go walking with my friend, Melissa at 7:00.
Every single minute that I get to stay asleep is important.
Monumental, actually, since I am still in the midst of SDR.
Sleep Deprivation Recovery.
I prefer to call it SDR rather than call it
"Crazy-Lady-Needs-Her-Sleep-For-Goodness-Sake Syndrome".
Then I don't come across as quite so needy. For the sleep and all.
When I had the post partum and insomnia cocktail after Addie was born,
my doctor told me to imagine that I had a sleep bank account.
And I was making some heavy sleep withdrawals on that account.
One night of missed sleep could not be remedied by the following good night of sleep.
I was still missing that precious eight hours from the night before.
All things considered with my oldest being 7 and having
two consecutive babies after him, factoring in the many sleepless pregnant nights,
the countless feedings, the potty training midnight sheet changings,
the soothing children from having nightmares about their eyeballs,
I would say I am 13.24 gagillion hours overdrawn in sleep bank account.
And we are very slowly trying to put back what was so wrongly taken from us,
Scott and I. We are hoarding sleep hours and socking away naps.
Trying to make up for the trememdous amount of overdrawing fees.
How do you know you are in SDR?
Most likely you are very angry when you are awoken earlier than you have to get up.
It's a very hot and uncomely anger that washes over you
as you shriek at your children and pull the covers over your head.
Also, it is quite possible that you have developed dark circles or bags
under your once lovely eyes.
As if the children and the sleep depravity, has sucked all of the goodness
out of your body right through your eye sockets.
And did I mention the shortness of temper? Oh yes, I guess I did.
And then sometimes there is the crying.
Like this morning when I was awoken on 4 different occasions between
5:55 and 6:55 am. I get up at 6:55, remember.
And the shame. The shame of the lack of self control when you are awoken from
your SDR haze in a immediate rush of madness.
I could have sworn one of the children looked at me like,
"It's really true. She DOES love sleep better than us!"
And so we begin the day here at the Aughtmon home.
Thank God tomorrow is Saturday.
We can only pray that the children remember Saturday is the day we sleep in.