Farty Papa and the Blogosphere

Morning Bloggers,
This morning has thus far been quiet, I rolled out of bed at 5 am feeling triumphant! Who would feel triumphant at 5 am and for waking up no less? Perhaps some background is necessary here. I come from a sleep challenged family. Darling Mother ( DM) is an insomniac and Absent Father (AB) is Narcoleptic among other things. In a perfect world I would have been a happy medium with a normal sleep cycle but no, This life is never perfect as we all know and God has a sense of humor.

So I have insomnia as well. I have struggled with it for years and my penchant for being a night owl doesn't aid the matter. So for the past two weeks I have been trying to regulate my sleep cycle before we begin our homeschool year and have found myself going to bed at 7pm. Farty Papa has been very understanding regarding my sleepy absence from the generally busy and often emotion filled evenings.( tired children make for some of the best drama).

So bed for me at 7pm and so it begins. If you can imagine being so tired at 7pm that you fall into bed with a warning to all people within earshot that should they wake you , the walls shall tumble to their feet with your wrath and then finding you are wide awake at 12pm. The house is quiet. You are alone and your frusteration begins to simmer. That was last week for me.

This week I have found my sleep cycle progressing. Bedtime 7pm on Monday woke at 1 am. Tuesday bedtime 7pm woke at 2 am. Wednesday bedtime 7pm woke at 2:30 am. Wednesday I was so tired that I tried to take a nap probably 7 times but as is par for our home during any given day, Mom and nap are not quite compatible. Wednesday night bedtime 7pm with a renewed warning of wrath. (see previous warning). Thursday bedtime 7:30pm woke at 3:45am! WOOHOO! Thursday I was not terribly tired and found that I went to bed at 8:30pm with no problem. Friday bedtime 7pm and woke saturday morning at 5am. Triumphant. Perhaps it is not a huge success. Perhaps waking at 5am is insane. For me however three factors govern my sleep cycle and thusly , how I feel during the day.
1. Bedtime
2. Wake time
3. Naps.

Bedtime I have discovered is key in my sleep. Getting to bed at bedtime is the hard part. Falling asleep is where insomnia becomes my enemy. Most might think going to bed at 7pm is impossible. I agree. Save for Farty Papa it would be impossible. I don't intend to have a 7pm bedtime, my kids don't go to bed that early and I quite like nocturnal activities . However 7pm these past two weeks was decided for me. My body just could not stay awake any longer. 1 am to 7 pm. you try it. However this eventually got me to my 5 am to 7pm day which I can easily handle. In fact it is just about where I want to be for the school year except one thing. " I don't wanna go to bed at 7pm!" *foot stamping inserted here*

So now begins the hard part of dealing with insomnia. (as if there was an easy part) Coaxing my body into a later bedtime but still getting up at 5am. With no side effects , namely grogginess, snarkiness,impatience and just all around general bad moodiness.

If I go to bed too late I run the risk of not being able to sleep because my sleep window has passed. I rarely get sleepy tired. I might get to a point where I am low key, passive, even wakefull resting. These are all times when I should go to bed. The problem is that even if I do fall asleep at these times I can't stay asleep.

If I go to bed too early ( 7pm) I run the risk of being awaken ( is that a word? probably not good that I don't know that) by my family. Namely Superman because he can't see me laying down and not jump in next to me for a snuggle. And a talk. And a song. And ..and..and.. Then if I wake up before I get into deep sleep ( which is the elusive lover ) I am up for good. It is just how my body works.

Now we come to napping. Naps are ambrosia. Naps are lovely. Naps are my friend. Naps are...well they are just delicious. I love naps. However, I have found that as my children age they actually rebuke naps. They ,dare I say it, HATE naps. *gasp* Napping is a childs kryptonite! So largely MFAU doesn't get naps. I try but rarely do they happen. It is probably for the best because when I do manage a nap I go to bed later and we all know how that ends.

So now I begin the next phase of pushing my bedtime and hoping I don't push it too far. Eventually though something always happens and I have to start over. That is the way it is with such a sensitive sleep cycle. I have tried pills to regulate my insomnia but I hate waking feeling groggy and like I need to go back to bed. So I manage the puzzle of insomnia as best I can. Besides what would Farty Papa do if he didn't have to manage the evening drama? Oh right...yea he could do that. or that. I bet he would like that too.

Speaking of Farty Papa. ( He dubbed himself that btw with the whole familys approval) He aparrently spent some time last night searching for a way to search for my blog. He was not able to search for anyones blog much less mine. How can this be? A blog site with no search engine? No easy way to find blogs? No easy way for mine to be found? Turns out I might be alone out here. No wait! someone found me yesterday! How? If someone out there could please enlighten FP and myself I would really appreciate that. How will I ever be able to read other blogs if I can't even show FP how to find mine?

Oh I hear the rumblings of a home about to wake. A toilet flushing, and little feet running back to bed. Back to bed? WOOHOO! I love saturdays. Every kid wants to sleep in. So I will return to my secret get away where elves and undead roam and pick a few pockets before breakfast! ( and if you know what all that means then you are as nerdy as I am and I would love to meet you! )

Until something else equally inane happens,
Mrs. Flabby and Unfabulous.