Sleep, the Final Frontier

Sleep, the Final Frontier.

These are the voyages of the Starship Mommy--her ongoing mission to spend the entire night in her own bed;  to seek out new ways to prevent 3am wake-up calls; to get kids to nap like they've never napped before.

The nightly battle-of-the-bed is kind of like a Star Trek episode (if you'll bear with an analogy concocted by a sleep-deprived brain):

• It's action-packed, with kicks and punches to various parts of the body duped into sleeping beside a small child.
• You find yourself transported to strange places, like curled up in a toddler bed, or sprawled in a heap of blankets on a nursery floor.
• There are aliens!  Oh, wait...that's just you in the mirror, bearing the dark-circled evidence of a string of rough nights.

And like the Star Trek franchise, your nights continue to throw new scenarios and plot twists your way.  The original series that soothed colic gives way to The Next Generation that features teething pains; and then to the Deep Space Nine that presents the midnight potty parade; finally ushering in a Voyager fight against Night Terrors.

You reassure yourself by promising, "Someday, I'm going to sleep through the night again!"

You will, indeed.  Before you know it, it'll be time to retire your swaddling skills and your method of killing monsters in the closet.  Your bedtime kisses and cuddles will be boxed up with the board books, and you'll start taking 8 hours of continuous sleep for granted, just like you did before you had kids.

So let's savor our sleepy-time moments with our little ones today.  Read that extra story.  Sneak in an extra smooch. Tuck in those little bodies while they still welcome it.  Just think: you're storing up happy dreams for that day when you will sleep on your own terms again. 

And in the meantime, take a nap by whatever means possible!

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