Okay, so lately I am getting very little sleep. I blame Aiden. Yes, my sweet three year old is being difficult. Oh, he’s not trying to be difficult. It’s not his fault, actually. I blame the older kids. They are the ones who won’t get into bed before 10:00pm, and they are the ones who keep Aiden super charged and hyper well into the late-night hours.
Of course it’s not entirely the fault of my older kids. Aiden just happens to be at that three-year-old-in-between-nap stage where he really should nap each day, but if he does then he’s up until midnight. I try my best to keep him awake during the day so that he will fall asleep at a decent time at night. Some times I am successful at keeping him awake, but many times he will fall asleep in the car while transporting an older sibling to a sports practice. Even if Aiden sleeps ten minutes, that’s enough of a charge to keep him awake until midnight. It’s very frustrating for this mama, because I need my sleep! Even more than sleep, I really need my own quiet time without Aiden hanging on me. And this can only happen when he’s sleeping. So, the nights that he is up until midnight? Yeah, that’s not too fun.
The thing about having many kids of all different ages in the house is that they all have different bedtimes. Or at least they should. My three year old should be going to sleep at around 7:30pm each night, and my elementary kids should be going to sleep at around 8:30 each night, and my middler schoolers should be in bed by 9:00 and my high schoolers by 10:00, latest. But you know what happens almost every night? They all get into bed at around 10:00pm. The reason for this is that the house is just too noisy. The bedrooms are very close to each other, so the ones trying to get to sleep can hear the other’s who are still awake slamming their closet doors, opening and shutting dresser drawers, going in and out of the bathroom, the shower running, the toilets flushing, the printer printing, and all the voices talking. Then the younger ones wander out of their rooms to see what they are missing. And I tell them to get back into bed, and they say they can’t sleep. And I tell the others to quiet down, but really it’s impossible.
As hard as I try each night, I am rarely successful at getting them all into bed before 10:00pm.
And even after 10:00pm when they are all finally in bed, there is always at least one or two teenagers who are still floating around the house, doing this and that. Homework. Printing up reports and such. Doing laundry. They are famous for doing laundry in the late hours of the night. My boys all share a room, so that means there are two late-night teenagers in there when Andrew (age 10) is trying to sleep. I often find Andrew asleep with a pillow over his head.
At night when everyone is asleep is when I finally have time write up a new blog post. But as you can see, for me to even get one new post out a week is hard. And why is that? It’s because no one sleeps in this house!!!
It’s frustrating, but I try to remember that it won’t always be like this. One day they will all be grown up and out of the house. And then I’ll have all the quiet time I want. Too bad I will also be about 80 years old when that day comes and my fingers might be too arthritic to type on the computer keys. Hmmm.
**I would actually like to get more active in my blogging, so I’ve created a survey for my readers to fill out that will help me with my scheduling and content. If you can find a minute out of your day, please click on this link and take this quick survey. Thank you!!
Great post. As a mother to ten with seven still in the house ages 16, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and 2, we have escaped the bed time issues of different bed times. The only child to have their own room is our 2 year old and 16 year old. The 2 year old goes to bed at 7:00pm. The other 5 go to bed at 8:00pm and the teenager at 11:00pm. We don’t have issues with bed time for the most part. The 5 kids (5-9 yrs old) all take a melatonin 30 mins before bed time (Doctor prescribed), but what we have done since all their births is put fans in their rooms. That always drowned out the outside noise and gave a lullying effect to sleep. Definitely by 9pm (other than the teenager) all the kids are asleep which gives me and daddy some ‘sane’ time and time to get things done before we turn in around midnight. But we honestly think the fans have been our saving grace since day one!
I have always wondered how you manage with the varying ages. For me, it has been a challenge with just two girls six years apart to get them into bed at appropriate times. God bless your sweet mama’s heart. Wishing you peace and much rest from Austin.