Sleeplessness And The Problems Of Lack Of Organisation Thereof
Why do children fight sleep? Why do they wake up 4-5 times a night? Why isn't there still a routine after months and months of trying and why does everything change as soon as a pattern emerges?
There's probably tons of material out there on these topics, but I truly doubt that somebody holds the answer. Otherwise we would already know it and have an amazing solution for putting children to bed. Which basically leaves us with hope and prayer that they keep dozing in the morning at least for as long for us to put some clothes on and start the day. Getting ready for family outings and dressing up nicely? Not such an easy task...
Our first trips were of course conducted in such spirit. They naturally took us someplace close. By the time we got up, survived the morning routine: breakfast and all, we were half-arguing about who is going to look after the child while the other one gets ready to go. You don't sleep well at all, waking up at least 3 or 4 times a night to feed/turn/cover the baby and you are happy if you find two pieces of clothing to throw on. You pack all the bags, get your other half ready, rush one last time to the toilet and eat something while walking out the door. By this point, sleep deprivation really kicks in and we are killing each other because somebody forgot the car keys. Now try and enjoy the trip.
The usual scenario.
How lovely it would be if the 'having fun' part did not begin with quarrelling. Or with running around, while trying to memorize everything necessary for the road. You are stressing out, hence to forget something is unavoidable. So how about the following plan instead?
The day before the trip I allow for an extra hour to get everything ready. Firstly, as I go about my chores, I decide what needs to be done for tomorrow, then organise everything in my head or on a piece of paper by making a list. Secondly, I prepare it all through few-minute steps:
I check the weather for the next day.
In another two-minute free slot I get Rosie's clothes ready.
Then I lay out a dress for myself that does not need ironing, with maybe some accessories.
Next time I have two free minutes, I ask Andy what he wants to wear (a shirt might need some quick ironing).
In the next round, I pack the bag for the baby, but it is usually half-ready anyway.
You need not follow the exact same steps, but you can see where this is going. It might not even take a whole hour once you know your usual preferences.
What takes the longest (but not necessarily too long) is setting my hair before I go to bed. There definitely would not be time to sit down and start curling in the morning before leaving. Well, unless you are a fan of getting up at 5am...
I would be lying if I told you it was quick the first time I tried curling my hair. Add to it that by the time the baby is in bed at the end of the day, you are likely halfway asleep, too. So I needed something that works nicely and quickly.
What I most often do is spray my hair with heat protection spray, some setting lotion and just curl the ends. Unless I am dead tired, I usually sit down at the end of the day anyway to "deflate" and maybe watch an episode of some series I like. At the same time, I quickly curl the ends of my hair all around and secure them with bobby pins. It is basically having 6-8 curls all around in the height of your ears. I give the whole hair a good spray, then wrap my head in a scarf and go to sleep. It's even comfortable!
In the morning, if I wake up before the baby, I do my make-up first. My hair is out of the way already anyway, nicely under the scarf. If I can't get up before the baby (it happens!), then while she is playing after breakfast, I can do the same thing as with the planning the day before: in the first two minutes, I do your eyebrows. Next time foundation and so on. I just don't stress about it anymore, as these days I am happy with every little trick that keeps the signs of sleep deprivation at bay. And if anything goes wrong, I have a small make-up bag in my purse to touch up if necessary when we, for example, sit down in the park.
Towards the end of the summer, we had a lot of sunshine here in the UK. Even up to not so long ago. So we decided on one of these sunny days that instead of going again to one of the same two parks, we will take a trip to Alfriston.
Alfriston is a picturesque village, and it's about a 15-minute drive from our town. It has the typical English cottages, green pastures with a creek and even a vintage shop. There is a lovely church and some great pubs with local food.
I laid out my blue polka-dot dress the night before and naturally curled my hair. I did not even need the iron as I did the curling the day before. The curls usually hold for a few days. I just wrapped the strands around my fingers, sprayed and secured them. They turn our beautifully in the morning, and it takes me less than 5 minutes to get ready before going to bed.
The next day I took the pins out, leaned forward and brushed the hair on the top of my head forward with my fingers. When I straightened up, I just quickly pinned down the curls I was holding in my fingers and done!
With everyone's clothes laid out, bags packed and myself ready, there was ample time left to enjoy our breakfast and a lovely cup of coffee before we set off.
The sleep deprivation did not go away, but.
It was so wonderful feeling relaxed AND being nicely dressed up for a change. It was great having a leisurely walk in nature and seeing people smiling and taking the time to stop and have a chat with us. Most of all, I was getting back in control of the everyday chaos and regaining quality time with the ones I love. And honestly, what more could you ask for? Feeling good about yourself and your life is pretty much it. And it does not take much.
