And THAT's the kind of morning I've had!

When you can't shut your brain off to fall asleep...
When your husband, who's been working nights and needs to go to sleep can't fall asleep...
When you toss and turn...and toss and turn...all...Night...L O N G...and can't figure out why...
When your husband is starting a new job and has to get up at 4:15 in the morning after almost 10 MONTHS of working 5pm to 5am 3-4 nights a week...
When said husband falls asleep on the couch while watching a show because he can't get his body to fall asleep...
When his alarm clock goes off at 4:15 am and you realize...in your half awake state...that he's not in the room and you have to shut off the alarm and go wake him up...
And now your brain won't stop...

Yeah...that's the kind of morning I've had.  Haha!

BUT...I've been more productive this morning than I've been in...WEEKS...it seems.

Load the dishwasher...check.
Gather remaining dirty dishes...check.
Give the mewing kitties treats...check.
Dump out gross leftovers...check.
Bleach the ICKY sink...check.
Carry 50 lb bag of popcorn upstairs...check.
Empty the bag of popcorn into ziplock bags...check.
Spill popcorn kernels while trying to put them into bags quietly, since the rest of the house is still sleeping...and cause a "rainstick" effect.  haha! Check! Woops!
Sweep up runaway popcorn kernels...check...wait...I missed some...check.
Make a bowl of popcorn for Johnny to take to school...check. (Haven't done that in weeks.)
Remind Alex to brush his teeth...F O U R times (insert sound of groaning child after each reminder!)...check. Sigh....gotta love ADHD.
Annoy your child...check.
A long hug from Johnny...check.
Smile...check.
Feel very productive and VERY wide awake...check.

I WISH I could fall asleep...There's no going back to sleep now. I'm gonna FEEL this tonight!  SIGH!

Wouldn't it be SO nice if we could fall asleep ANYWHERE, ANYTIME like our sweet littles do?!

I'm SO thankful for the blessing of a new job! It came at a perfect time.  Now we just need to get our bodies adjusted to the change and we'll be "all set", as we say in Maine.

AND I posted on my blog before having to wake up the rest of the kids...check.

I never thought a lack of sleep would put such a smile on my face!

Cassie does NOT like to sleep

Cassie is 4.  Cassie likes to stay awake. Cassie likes to play all night.

She has a REALLY hard time falling asleep.  I DO believe that her Grandma Cantwell used to be this same way.  ;) If Cassie stays up past 9pm…we are IN TROUBLE!

*One night when we had come upstairs to get a drink and use the potty for the umpteenth time she found that my sister was home.  Oh yes! SOMEONE is STILL awake!!! She can entertain them!!! Then she started running…in circles…around the living room. Around and around she went.  Giggling as she ran.  Sigh.  How can you NOT laugh when they are so happy and silly!?!? So that’s what we did.  We laughed. I took a video to send to Todd, who was at work. We cringed when she almost ran into things…several times. And laughed some more.  Silly girl!

*On yet another night when Cassie could NOT seem to fall asleep, she was running around in circles…she must like circles I guess…and stops.  She points to her throat, scrunches her sweet little face up and says, “It’s kinda woggly.” Hahaha!

*We are in my room and TRYING desperately to get Cassie to lie down to go to sleep and she starts jumping on my bed.  She jumps and jumps and then falls off the bed.  Of COURSE! She cries and cries and cries.  Once she seems to be calmed down she very seriously says, “If Canela (our dog) was a peanut I could eat her.” WHAT!!! I laugh and laugh. WHERE or where does she come up with this stuff??  When she sees me laughing, she laughs too.  We laugh and giggle until Cassie decides to try to make another joke…but it falls flat. Which then makes us laugh some more.  If she remembers NOTHING else, I hope she remembers that we laughed a lot.  

Kids or Age?

I’m fairly certain that kids and age drained my brains.  REALLY! It’s pretty clear that with each pregnancy some of my brain cells were killed off….or seeped out somehow. Maybe during some of those cat naps I took…

Add to that the fact that I’m not getting any younger each year and I find that I don’t remember things like I used to.

I used to be SO very organized!

I used to remember everything!

6 pregnancies caused forgetfulness that never really came back the way it once was. At least I don’t think it has. I can’t quite remember…

I DO remember when I used to be really smart and could remember everything I learned in school. I could figure out an algebraic equation in my sleep.  And OH did I LOVE it.  *chuckle* Now it takes me a while to recall things. When I offer to help with my kid’s math homework and end up spending far too long “refreshing” my memory JUST so I can help them…it’s AWESOME.

But to be fair, when looking it up I found that there are differing opinions about whether or not pregnancy actually alters or changes your brain. Maybe they've never experienced "mommy brain" for themselves!  Are they CERTAIN they conducted that study correctly???

 When “they” say, “If you don’t use it you lose it,” they are NOT kidding! I moved away from Maine 14 years ago. I could get myself most anywhere I needed to go.  I used to drive all over the place. Since moving back I’ve struggled with recalling how to get to places I once knew.  It all comes back after I’ve driven it a couple of times.  But Man! It’s not fun to forget. 

So is it having children or age that depleted my brain? Unfortunately I don’t think I can really blame either one.  Although…children do cause a lot of stress and lack of sleep!  Case in point: My four year old ended up in my bed, again, just last night.  SIGH! I DREAM of a full night of uninterrupted sleep!

I’ve been extremely sleep deprived and stressed over the years. It does a number on your memory.  I have woken up MANY times seeing a spider come down out of the ceiling toward my chest. I’d swat at it like crazy until my eyes cleared and the creepy crawly disappeared. Having children, once thought to be a fairy tale, carries with it a lot of stress and sleepless nights.  Those were things I never realized before having children.

I DO have a few things that I try to do to relieve some of the stress and forgetfulness.

Prayer…it’s something that works without fail every time.

Scripture study…the benefits are many.

Yoga or other exercise is crucial in helping to de-stress and re-energize our bodies

Eat healthy…fresh and frozen fruits and veggies along with proteins and whole grains.