The OpMom Blog

Dear Sleep: I Miss You.

Seeing as it is now mid-February, and my New Year’s resolution for better sleep has been pretty much mocked by the universe for the last 45 days, it was time for a new plan. A reader’s suggestion of two Ambien and a glass of Amaretto is much appreciated, but I’ll pass for now. Part of the goal is to actually wake up at some point. Just sayin’…

I’m always amazed by how seemingly busy people claim to get 9 or 10 hours of sleep a night. Then it hit me, of course they’re busy all day. They spend half of their day either preparing for, emerging from, or snugly tucked in their bed. Back here in the real world, I need a workable plan.

So I finally accepted the obvious fact that there are a few small things I can change for now, and I’d better focus on those quickly – or you’ll be reading a similar post next year. So what can I change? The kids’ bedtime routine. My bedtime routine. My husband’s bedroom (just kidding).

First trick, we started focusing on having more relaxed, non-stimulated kids going into bedtime. Sounds simple enough, but hoo-boy, it isn’t. Getting homework done early, baths out of the way, and mitigate the kids’ general propensity to assault each other when left alone, all these are important but really hard. And although yelling at bedtime was a proud tradition in my house growing up, my mom probably had to hit the Amaretto herself to wind down after we hit the sack. And second, I had to put a restraining order on my laptop. It’s no longer allowed within 10 feet of my bedroom. Sorry, folks, but as many of our readers know, when you run an active website you could pretty much work the laptop all night.

So we’re off to a start with some action items, and I’ll report later how that’s working out. And then to facing facts: What I can’t change is the fact that life is indeed crazy, my kids are handfuls, I own a business that has a 24-hour on-cycle, and that the online nature of that business means I can work whenever and wherever. So ease off the stress a little…the business or blog will not fail without you for a few hours. You can go back to sleep at 3:00 am without dwelling on the little stuff, and seriously, the computer will be right there waiting when you wake up.

There’s a group on OpMom that was recently set up where moms share tips and tricks on sleeping with each other, and hopefully that will provide some shared tidbits of sanity for our busy Op-Mamas.

So what helps you sleep in your busy life? Let me know and I’ll share ideas in a future post.