Sleep... awe sleep...

Sleep is one of the things we've learned to cherish.  I remember before children Jarrett and I would talk about how tired we were on a Friday night because of the long week at work.  After complaining we'd put in a movie, sit down on the couch next to each other, eat popcorn, relax and enjoy being with each other.  Now, we reflect back and laugh at ourselves.  What in the world were we complaining about.

When Gabriel and Michael came to us, they slept through the night but Jarrett and I experienced a whole new level of exhaustiveness.  The amount of energy the boys had (and continue to have) was amazing, they'd wake up at the crack of dawn and run full speed ahead all day long.  We'd do our best to keep up with them but at the end of the week, on Friday night, we'd sit on opposite couches, put in a dvd, determined to try and get through a movie.  Before we knew it both of us would have fallen asleep and not even gotten through the first 45 minutes.

When Isabelle came to be with us, our friends, who have had babies and now growing children, told us, actually laughed with (actually it was probably more at) us about how fun the first few weeks are and how sleep deprived we would be.  I welcomed it with open arms, seriously I'd wanted a baby all my life, and I thought to myself, it can't be that bad right?

And then we brought Isabelle home and then with Gabriel and Michael and a newborn baby, wow, were we in for it.  It wasn't so much that Isabelle was too demanding, nothing more than a normal few day old, month old, etc baby, it was the fact that while the boys slept for 9 hours a night, they woke up, again at the crack of dawn, and were ready to steam roll through the day.  They had enough energy to keep going and going and going.  I/we on the other hand, barely had enough energy to get into the shower and get dressed afterwards.  Honestly, some days I debated how bad I would smell if I just didn't shower. 

With that, Jarrett and I have decided sleep is a hot commodity.  Instead of trying to watch a movie together on a Friday night, we instead to follow right after the kids and go to bed at about 8:20 for we know the morning will come early and we have a few wake up calls in the middle of the night ahead of us.  It is funny, but now a days I can't even remember the last time I slept  more than 6 hours straight without waking up. 

So our mantra has become "Sleep is valuable, sleep when ever you can!"

Here are a few photos that show us putting our mantra into practice...

Until next time,
Angie