Titus 2 Homemakers
The Kitchen Table Visiting Corner => Anything Goes! => : Shelly September 07, 2013, 09:52:29 PM
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Leah's sleep thread got me wondering about how many of us are night vs morning people and what we used to be. I'm a night person and always have been. I can easily stay up till 2 or 3 and then get up at 8 in the morning. I would LOVE to switch this around. On days when i get up early and get a start on the day, I feel so much happier and full of life and I get a lot more done. I'm wondering if there's hope out there for a night own to change to a morning bird?
It doesn't help that when the twins were really little, Trev and I had to sleep in shifts since they would wake up staggered throughout the night and they never would nap at the same time, so "sleep when the baby sleeps" was out the window. My sleep time was from 3am to 9am. It really set my internal clock and I haven't recovered.
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Sure, post this at night, will ya? ;)
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I prefer to get up early, but my hubby works shifts. I adapt my schedule to his, lately he has been working straight nights, which means I go to bed by 11 and get up when he gets home, by 8am. When he works the afternoon shift (I think you Americans call it the swing shift) I stay up way too late and tend to sleep in, not good when there are animals to care for.
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I am up all night sometimes. But I really love the mornings. I'm like you, Shelly, when I get up early, I get more accomplished and I feel better. I suffer from depression and can sometimes go for days with no sleep, and then the opposite. I have some days where all I do is sleep. I'm having a hard time. My doctor put me on sleeping meds but they are horrible. If I take them, I sleep 12 hours! If I dont, well, then I'm up! Catch 22! I would like to believe I'm a morning person though. I love the beauty of a fresh new day!
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I used to be a night owl, staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning. Now I try to go to bed by 10 o'clock. I have no trouble getting to sleep, but for some reason I'm waking every 2 hours. I never feel rested. I would love to have 8 hours uninterrupted sleep but it seems to be a thing of the past! :-\
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I have always been a night owl, but I changed when the kids were little. They all seemed to want to get up at the crack of dawn. ??? Also I have always had animals that I had to take care. Getting up early was the only thing I hated about milking goats. When it was milking time, those goats started in hollering and didn't let up till they were taken care of. LOL Since I no longer have goats, all the kids are grown, and Kevin works 2nd shift, I have drifted back to staying up late. ;) I do still try to always be up by 8 or before. I like it when I start my day early and have everything done by noon. Then I can quilt the afternoon and evening away. ;D
Blessings,
Winona
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I like it when I start my day early and have everything done by noon. Then I can quilt the afternoon and evening away. ;D
Blessings,
Winona
Ahh, you're living my fantasy. ;)
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Leah, your time is coming. Some day you will look back at this time fondly. I did not like this new stage in my life (empty nester) at first, but now I love it. I still miss having the kids at home, but it is so nice to do what I want, when I want. ;D
Blessings,
Winona
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Winona I'm like you, at first I didn't like the empty nest but being able to do or not do things if I don't want to was kind of growing on me . With my daughter and family back till they get a house, we will have to make adjustments for now. Aiden gets up with the chickens so I have to also :D
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Maybe for better or for worse... the first 6 years of marriage was childless. We never had a plan for children, but we knew we didn't want to shut that door either. We would go to bed at a decent hour on the weekdays where their was work the next day for my husband. But the weekends? Party time! :D He'd typically spend hours on his games, I would work away on quilts. Somewhere around midnight or 1am, I would go "tada! Look at my quilt top."
It was a comfortable harmony, and I think we try to get it "back" by staying up late too much? I had a taste of an "empty nest" (not wanting/planning/hoping for children at the time), and sometimes I want that back. When I'm feeling a little bleak, I think "how am I going to survive the next 18 years of this?!"... but I forget that children mature, they'll grow up and not need me to help them back to bed 2 or 3 times during the night. I forget that a lot. :P
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Leah I understand your feeling completely. We were married 13 years before the kids came. We could do anything at any time, go to movies at a moment's notice and go on trips on a whim. Having kids does change all that of course and it's kind of hard when we have an extra long "honeymoon" phase. It's hard to drop what we want and take care of these little ones. Even though I wanted kids SO FREAKING BADLY and went through a lot to have them, I do look back longingly at times, especially when I feel spread extra thinly.
The last couple months, we found a way to kind of recapture that. I don't know if either of these plans will work for you, but maybe you can tweak it to fit you guys. 1 thing we do is about once a month or every other month (depending on how frazzled I am) trevor gives me a mom's day off (MDO) We plan it in advance and on a day when he can devote 100% of himself to the kids, I have the whole day off. I usually pack up my knitting and go to startbucks with my, nook and laptop. I get a venti drink, connect to the wifi and knit and read to my heart's content. I stay as long as I want and then I come home, lay on my bed and watch movies or nap or whatever I feel like. It goes from the moment I wake up till I go to sleep. At the end of the day, I feel completely renewed.
I return the favor to Trev by giving him a few evenings or saturday mornings a month where he can go shooting or do any of his hobbies undisturbed. I clean up dinner and put the kids to bed myself. This way we both get some "renew ourselves" time and we come back ready to face anything.
Another thing we do is we swap babysitting with Trev's sister. We watch their kids so they can go out and then they watch ours a different week. No one has to pay for a babysitter and everyone gets to go out on a date. It really helps us connect as a couple again where we can talk about something other than poop consistency and smashed grapes in the carpet.
These 2 things have saved my sanity. I LOVE my kids soooo much obviously, but sometimes I feel so tired and so much like a machine, I need that time away every once in a while.
As far as the stay up late thing goes, I'm in the same boat. The time feels endless and I like being able to complete a project before heading to bed. I'm working on not staying up quite so late, though.
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I am a morning person and I always have been. I get up at 5:15 Monday through Friday with dh and sleep until maybe 8am on the weekends. I have a hard time staying in bed past that. This worked great when our kids were little as dh is a night owl. I am a pumpkin my 9:30 isn most nights. ;D
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Leah I understand your feeling completely. We were married 13 years before the kids came. We could do anything at any time, go to movies at a moment's notice and go on trips on a whim. Having kids does change all that of course and it's kind of hard when we have an extra long "honeymoon" phase. It's hard to drop what we want and take care of these little ones. Even though I wanted kids SO FREAKING BADLY and went through a lot to have them, I do look back longingly at times, especially when I feel spread extra thinly.
The last couple months, we found a way to kind of recapture that. I don't know if either of these plans will work for you, but maybe you can tweak it to fit you guys.
I think a MDO is off the table for at least a year. :P I'll be exclusively breastfeeding for the first 6 months, and then let the baby start eating solids on it's own. For Logan, that happened at 9 months. For Caleb... 16 months. Sure, he'd try out foods, but I couldn't get Caleb to eat meals for the longest time. But both boys relied on me as their source of liquid until over 1 year old.
The other thing is that we don't have anybody we can trust to babysit the boys. It's partly our own fault, not making connections... but that's harder to do knowing you're just going to move again real soon. That's something that's a higher priority when we move, networking with people for friendships and trusted sources.
We knew moving here was going to make us very "alone"... but we moved here with only one child. It's a lot easier to tag team parent that way. And now we're going to leave with 3 kids. ;D
Planning to steal a date or two when my mom and sister come to help with the baby. Even if we gotta take the baby with us! :)
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hmmm, yeah a new baby will make things tricky. I hope you can find some solution.
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I've been a night owl for many years now but am working on that by addressing my adrenal issues. There are still some nights when those things don't help enough, usually when something "extra" is going on with life that further increases my evening cortisol levels (my particular issue found by testing is too low cortisol in the morning and too high at night) and gets me wound up. Such as last night prepping for homeschool co-op starting this morning.
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Leah,
I remember when you were cranking out quilts like crazy. I would see them on your blog and be in awe of them. LOL I first 'met' you on another board. I think it was called Prairie Homemaker. Just hang in there. Your kids will get more independent as they get older. That will free up a bit of time for you. Of course, then you will be in the soccer/football/ basketball practices or music lessons. LOL You will get there, though. ;D
Blessings,
Winona
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There are 6 in our family. 3 of us LOVE morning time and 3 of us (hubby included) like to stay up at night. We have what we call "late nights" for our kids. Since there are 4 of them, they have all chosen a night of the week to stay up 45 mins past their bedtime to spend time with mom and dad. We do the "thing" of their choice (build with lego's, play a board game,eat a special snack and talk)...It is trickier during the school year but we are making it! This has MADE me stay up a little later than I naturally would like but I'm growing. Also I have been able to spend time with hubby in the garage or on a project he is working on in the house b/c I'm getting used to it. I love the mornings, the QUIET, the dew,the freshness in the air and always have but I have learned that I can be" a night-owl wanna be" and still have enough get up and go for the next day :D
~Heather~
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I have always been a morning person, but having children who are morning people make me getting up even earlier than I prefer! :)
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I am of the thought that sunsets were created for those of us who never see a sunrise. I just don't do mornings well. Hubby on the other hand grew up watching for the milkman at 4:00 in the morning. Opposites truly do attract.
~Blessings~
Cindy
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I thought for sure I would answer 'morning person', but now I'm not sure! I answered 'depends on the day'.
About half the time I will set my first alarm for 4:15AM, get up at 4:30AM, and get Jean out the door around 5-5:15AM. About half of those days I will stay up, half I will go back to bed. The rest of the weekdays he's either working in town or off, so we sleep in a little later (getting up around 7:30 instead). Most nights we are in bed/asleep by 10-11PM regardless of when we need to get up.
I remember the days when we first started dating that we would go out to gigs (either friends of ours or ones he was playing) at night, then go eat or go to 'our place' in the city (Freedom Plaza) to chat and look at the stars, sometimes staying up all night and still going to work the next day! Now I have a hard time going to church choir practice Wednesday nights because it's not over until 8:15 and we still have to eat dinner :o ;D.
I will admit, as a childless person who works only part time and always just from home, I am incredibly flexible with sleep. Last night I was out with church ladies until 12:30, up until 2AM, and slept in until 9:45AM. Tomorrow we will be out of the house by 7:20AM. It all depends on what we have going on the next day and what Jean needs for work. Even our dog will sleep in as long as we're in bed ::) ;D 8).
Mandy
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I'm a morning person now but I wasn't always! Part of that has been from the daycare, when you have kids showing up at your door at 6am you had better be awake :D
My hours are later now but I find I still like to be up around 5:30. It gives me time to relax and plan for my day. Also since my kids are getting older and they are going to bed later it is my only 'alone' time that I get in the day
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I am like Mandy - it depends on the day. During the weekdays of the school year, I am up at 5:00 so I am showered and dressed and ready to go by the time I get the girls up for school. I find I get more accomplished during the day if I start right in and don't have to stop to shower. I go to bed those nights by 10:00 at the latest unless something comes up.
On the weekends, I am usually up by 8:00 but sometimes sleep until 9:00 if I have not gotten enough sleep during the week. I am generally in bed by 11:00 or 11:30.
In the summer, I get up by 7:30 during the week but keep the same weekend schedule. I usually get up around the same time when the girls have off from school.
I also remember when Doug and I were younger and we stayed out all night, went home, showered and went to work. That would kill me now!
Denise
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Night person. I think I could thrive on the "graveyard shift". ;) My best times were the "jetlags", coming back to the States from Germany -- six hours time difference. Felt about right. LOL
However, I have to be up and going when the boys are up and going... end of story.