Category: Sleep

I {Heart} Sleep….. but now I have a “REAL JOB”.

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A few months ago, this fabulous article was posted.

I need one of these desks.

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This year I began working outside the home and church again. I’m teaching Elementary Art and working as a Teachers Aide. I now have a “real” job… Besides being a Mom and a Worship Leader and Pastor…..

My school job is taking up a lot of time. I’m exhausted when we come home. After helping the kids with their homework, talking thru their days, cooking dinner and clean up, all I want to do is sleep. And I need rest. Or I’m cranky. When I am awake past 8pm, I long to use this time to be creative, but instead we are in a season of house hunting. This is practically another part-time job in itself. And it steals away from any extra moments we might have for creativity… We were created by a creative God. Created from the breath of God. We were designed to be creative. And we were designed for rest. We need time for both. I’m reminding myself. We need time for both. It is essential to make space for both.

In this season of house hunting, new school year and new job responsibilities, creating has taken a back seat most days to sleep. Because we’re so tired. I love sleep, so this isn’t a huge problem… except that it is a huge problem. I can rarely stay up late anymore! It’s like a part of me has died. The creative part of me… which comes alive at 2am. With this piece of me so dormant now, I have grown frustrated. Occasionally, I take a nap from 8pm-12am and then stay up until 3am creating. I come alive again. This is probably sounding super dramatic. But I am a dramatic person. I was created this way. If I am not creating, I am empty. When a creative person does not have moments to create, they might as well be sleeping all day long…

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*The following was one of my first posts after I began this blog nearly 4 years ago. Enjoy!

I can fall asleep anywhere, in nearly any position, and under almost any condition.
I can drink espresso in the evening, and fall asleep with in minutes of the last gulp.
I can fall asleep in the middle of a conversation.
I can fall asleep while reading out loud to my children.
I have fallen asleep in school.
I have fallen asleep on the job.
Against a wall. At my desk. In the car. On a subway.
Almost Anywhere.
At times, I would watch our cat sleep and long for that ability to curl up at anytime, anywhere and nap.

You get the picture.
I need a lot of sleep, or I’m cranky.
It has been nearly 8 years since I’ve “slept in”. I am a mom.
I have responsibilities. I can’t sleep whenever I want to.
But I used to.
When I was in college, I was employed at the University in the HR department doing grunt work – filing, stuffing envelopes, data entry, etc…
This was not a glamorous job, but it paid the bills.
I would faithfully do my job, but still had idle time to fill.
I worked in a small dark room, with no windows, one table, one chair, minimal supplies and a phone.
So, I wrote letters to my best friend (then fiancé) Adam, and slept.
Yep, a few times I curled up under the table and slept.
Occasionally, my supervisor would come in to the room to hand me more tasks, check on my progress, or my finished work.
Though I only napped a few times while working,
Adam asked me if I ever worried about my supervisor walking in on me sleeping?
For some reason I never did.
But then again, it’s possible she saw me sleeping and never said anything.
I probably looked too peaceful to wake.
I inherited this gift of “falling asleep anywhere, anytime, anyplace” from my parents & have passed it onto my daughter, Soleil.

I also inherited a good work ethic from my parents.
Now that I am a stay-at-home mom, I can fall asleep on the job. I can take naps.
Sometimes we all have a chance to nap – even Adam.

Even though I nap, I am still a hard working mom. Naps do not affect my work ethic. If I am up late procrastinating, or woken up in the night by one of the wee Bab’s, I hope the next day for a nap.
I {heart} napping.

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Feel free to share and join us by following halfwrittenrecords! In Him, Leslie

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Bedtime Battles

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This is Selah.

Sure. She’s cute enough…

This is Selah on drugs no sleep.

This is Selah sleeping. the ONE night she fell asleep without mommy holding her (or screaming/crying herself to sleep) in the last two months.

This is Selah sleeping with her sibs for a sleep over. in her own room. we were hoping the other two wee babs sleeping beside her would minimize the screaming.  it helped a little.
This is Selah sleeping at nap time. this is after she would not stay in her bed and go to sleep. so i put her in the pack-n-play. she screamed for over 30 minutes and finally passed out. she now knows how to climb out of the pack-n-play.  

This is Selah sleeping at bedtime. on the floor. in her room. in the living room. in the hallway. 
anywhere but her bed.

She is a stubborn child. 
so… the last two months have been slightly very difficult with Selah…
there have been many tears, screaming, yelling, and not sleeping… from me.
It all began when we got rid of her plug.

Nope. she doesn’t ask for her binky anymore.  She screams for me instead.

A few weeks ago, we had an exceptionally eventful day…  it all went down at nap time. she would not go to sleep. then she and her brother started playing together. i knew she had a stinky diaper and i was getting ready to change it when she took out all of the crayons and started dumping them all. over. the. kitchen. floor. so we mostly mommy began picking them up and in the meantime, she and her brother start play fighting. she is now lying on the floor of the kitchen. and so is her poop.

ugh. clean up on the kitchen floor. 

Before bedtime, I called Grammy (my mom) to chat while the kids were watching a cartoon. don’t worry. i’m not one of “those” moms who let their kids watch t.v. all day long. well, maybe somedays.  as soon as i got on the phone, Selah decided to begin “potty training”. she went into the bathroom, sat on the “big one” and said “pee pee”, got off the toilet, flushed the toilet and washed her hands. she did this four times in a row.  before she could waste water flushing the toilet for a fifth time, i locked the bathroom door to keep her out.  she screamed and cried.

I said, “Hold on, Mom” about 50 times to deal with selah’s potty antics during our conversation. then i had a bright idea. “Selah, do you want to put on underwear?”  She was so excited and ran into the living room to show her sibs her undies.

this was the result…

“Mom, Selah just took a sh*t on the floor, I gotta go.”  
Ugh. clean up on living room rug.
At bedtime, I nanny 911-d her.  i put her back in bed 20 times in a matter of 20 minutes, then P.A. came home from his meeting. it was impecable timing, let. me. tell. ya.
She heard the garage door go up, and became a ball of energy.  I sat at the edge of her bed and cried, until finally ~ she fell asleep.
Selah is stubborn. but Mom is creative. I will resort to lulling her to sleep with jogs in the stroller and “nap drives” – when we drive around – usually for about 10 minutes, until she falls asleep then I transfer her to her bed and she takes her nap. sound complicated? it is. but it’s worth it.
So, when the bedtime battles begin… I remind myself that in the end, Mom will Win.

Sure, there are days when i feel like i’m going to lose my mind… again. there are days i wish P.A. and I didn’t produce such stubborn children who fight sleep and poop on the floor. but we are not poop snobs.

There is peace amidst the poop.

When I am weak ~ like every single day of my life ~ God is strong.

I can’t do this anymore crossed my mind several times that day a few weeks ago, and still crosses my mind when the bedtime battles begin. some might think it’s no big deal, you’re just a mom. can’t you just take a nap the next day? your not the CEO of a large company, the head chef of a posh NYC restaurant or a General fighting in a war.

Nope. I’m not. But I AM the CEO of our household. The head CHEF of our kitchen. And a General in the spiritual war that wages around our family. 

As mom, often I set the spiritual temperature in our home.  Much of the time, the peace in our home depends on me.  I must be connected to the Peace-Giver, or the stress levels at home can sky rocket.

Stress levels and the stress triggers for human beings depends on who you are and your circumstances.  These past few months I have come to the end of myself several times. my “handling things well”. my “having it all together” went out the window.  but that’s okay. Regardless of our circumstances or who we are. Peace is Possible.


My job is to stay close to Him. Matthew 11:28-30.


How is the Spiritual Temperature in your home? What can you do to change it?

Preach. Push. Stop. Diffuse. Deliver.

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This week as “Mom”… I Preached a sermonette, Pushed 100 lbs for 5 miles, Stopped a wreck from happening, Diffused several bombs and Delivered a baby.
***

On Mother’s Day Sunday, I preached a sermonette.  I had the honor of giving the sermon at our church.  This is something I said I would never do.  But guess what I’ve learned?  Never. Say. Never.  I spoke about hearing God.  This is a subject I am passionate about.  It was an exhilarating experience.  You can listen to it online by visiting our church website here.
***

This week I stopped myself from getting into a wreck.  I was driving to a conference and the whole time, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something might happen.  I knew God was preparing me to be aware.  I was waiting at a red light, and after it turned green I waited before taking my turn to go.  It’s unusual for me to hesitate at a green light.  I’m typically a very aggressive driver.  As I began to drive, I took a moment and looked to my left, thankfully seeing another vehicle barreling thru their red light and crossing into my lane.  I was able to stop in time before being t-boned.  I didn’t have time to honk and yell at the idiot who almost hit me, but after I felt the anger bubble up inside of me, I was filled with thankfulness.  For God’s protection and preparation. For hearing His voice, with an awareness to heed His warning.  
***

This week I pushed two sleeping souls for 5 miles…
After playing at the park with some friends, I pushed Salem (40 lbs) & Selah (30 lbs) in the stroller (30 lbs) on a run / walk for 5 miles on one of my favorite trails.  It was a beautiful day and a peaceful time.  I got a work out.  They got a nap.  Good Times.

 ***

This week I diffused several bombs…

Wee bab bombs.  This was a difficult week.  Emotions were high.  We went to bed late every night.  We were away from home four nights this week and P.A. was gone an additional night. We were all out of sorts.  Our family functions best when we have a lot of quality time together.  Quality time is our family love language.  

Warning: Minimal fam time + tired / busy Babs = kid bombs and explosions may will occur

Thankfully, I am good at diffusing bombs.  I’ve been a mom now for 8 years.  I’ve had a temper for 35 years.  I have gifted that wonderful trait to my children.  I’ve surrendered my temper to God over the years and learned a lot from my mistakes.  God has helped me to diffuse the bombs our wee babs can make.  He really helps me to see situations with their behavior before they explode everywhere.

There are times when they do explode.  Thankfully, we are good at practicing forgiveness in our family.  and, on those days when bombs are going off all around me and I just can’t get to them in time to diffuse, I always feel better after I clean my sink.

***

This week I delivered a baby…                                                                        
                                                                                                  

Adah Joy Droz
Well, not really.  My friends, the Droz’s, had their baby and I was honored to be their doula as they welcomed Adah Joy Droz into the world.  Labor began at 1:30am, so I stayed up all night as a support and encouragement to Natalie as she labored to bring Adah into the world at 6:25am.  Since I love sleep, I’ve been taking lots of short naps the past few days to recover from staying up all night, in between diffusing bombs and being Mom.  I’m not 21 anymore. I need my sleep.  
Snoozing doula 🙂

The word “doula” comes from the ancient Greek meaning “a woman who serves” who provides physical, emotional and informational support to the mother / family before, during and just after birth; or who provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.

In 2006, I took my doula training courses and have attended 6 births as a doula over the past 5 years.  Since I took time off to have my own wee babs, I am not certified with a doula organization… yet.  It’s kind of like I went to school and did all of the work to graduate, but don’t have my diploma.  This is due to my special skill of procrastination… and “some day” I’ll finish that.  My passion stems from my own intensive birth research and personal birth experiences.  I’ve had three wee babs with no medicine and have a passion to support and encourage women who desire a natural labor experience.  

***

It was a very busy week as “Mom”…  Even though I procrastinate some things, I am not procrastinating anymore on other things…

Like this blog.  I’ve had a passion to write for a long time.  And now I am.

What are you passionate about?  Are you procrastinating your passions?

Don’t live in regret or the “some day”.  Just do something.

I {Heart} Sleep

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I can fall asleep anywhere, in nearly any position, and under almost any condition.
I can drink espresso in the evening, and fall asleep with in minutes of the last gulp.
I can fall asleep in the middle of a conversation.
I can fall asleep while reading out loud to my children.
I have fallen asleep in school.
I have fallen asleep on the job.
Against a wall. At my desk. In the car. On a subway.
Almost Anywhere.
At times, I would watch our cat sleep and long for that ability to curl up at anytime, anywhere and nap.
You get the picture.
I need a lot of sleep, or I’m cranky.
It has been nearly 8 years since I’ve “slept in”. I am a mom.
I have responsibilities. I can’t sleep whenever I want to.
But I used to.
When I was in college, I was employed at the University in the HR department doing grunt work – filing, stuffing envelopes, data entry, etc…
This was not a glamorous job, but it paid the bills.
I would faithfully do my job, but still had idle time to fill.
I worked in a small dark room, with no windows, one table, one chair, minimal supplies and a phone.
So, I wrote letters to my best friend (then fiancé) Adam, and slept.
Yep, a few times I curled up under the table and slept.
Occasionally, my supervisor would come in to the room to hand me more tasks, check on my progress, or my finished work.
Though I only napped a few times while working,
Adam asked me if I ever worried about my supervisor walking in on me sleeping?
For some reason I never did.
But then again, it’s possible she saw me sleeping and never said anything.
I probably looked too peaceful to wake.
I inherited this gift of “falling asleep anywhere, anytime, anyplace” from my parents & have passed it onto my daughter, Soleil.
I also inherited a good work ethic from my parents.
Now that I am a stay-at-home mom, I can fall asleep on the job.  I can take naps.
Sometimes we all have a chance to nap – even Adam.
Even though I nap, I am still a hard working mom.  Naps do not affect my work ethic.  If I am up late procrastinating, or woken up in the night by one of the wee Bab’s, I hope the next day for a nap.
I {heart} napping.

Noted. By Les Babs