Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Too Busy To Be Tired

When I was 37 weeks pregnant with Will, I was at a girlfriend's house. She had just had her second little girl and her mother was over to help with the new baby. While she was pumping in the other room, her mom and I started talking about my fears about having a second. I told her I was worried about how tired I'd be, managing a newborn and a toddler.

She looked at me and said, very nicely but very firmly, "Honey, you're going to be too busy to be tired."

And she's right. She is exactly right.

When I wake up in the morning, I am exhausted. If I had any one to take care of the babies, I would gladly sleep for a day. But I am needed. Staying in bed is not an option. So, I drag my weary self from bed and. . . that's the last time I feel tired.

Seriously. It's weird. But the day just gets going and keeps going. I am so busy I don't have time to "Woe is me, I had no sleep last night." Since I am not thinking about it, I don't feel the fatigue. I am nonstop all day. Even when Will naps, Emma usually doesn't. Yesterday, she did take a 45 minute nap in her crib (her first! yay!) but there was laundry to do and a meal to start preparing.

Each morning, I think, "How will I make it until naptime?"

Then naptime arrives and I am no longer tired and my head is filled with things that need to be done. Now, I sleep great at night, so this is not the inability to sleep that I had after Will. This is just a case of there being a lot to get done and only so many hours in the day to do it.

When Will was a newborn, I did nothing but sit and focus on him. This was wonderful, but it lead to sleepless hours on the couch and lots of daytime t.v. Now, I am getting out and about, moving and grooving with the kids.

And I am too busy to be tired.

5 comments:

Jen said...

I remember my pre-kid days of coming home from work and feeling soooo exhausted. And that was before I was even pregnant. I wondered how I would handle the evenings being that tired with kids.

And you know what, I'm to busy to even notice the exhaustion.

Ms. J said...

Whenever I hear "u sleep when the baby does" I realize it's being made by someone who either is caring for one baby only, or their kids are far enough apart that one is in school during the day. I am in constant motion when home with the girls.

Even when it was just Lil Pumpkin I was still in constant motion. The handful of times I tried to nap when she did I couldn't sleep - to wired thinking bout what I should be cleaning up instead, LOL.

Anonymous said...

Amen to that! Sometimes I think about taking a sleep vacation. Doesn't that sound nice? ;)

Adriane said...

So glad you're hanging in there! And it is so true - you're too busy to be tired.

Joy@WDDCH said...

So true, so true!!! She needs to coin that phrase!