Category: Sleep

Multiple Night-Time Wake Up Calls

JSL, Sleep

nicubunu_Emoticons_Sleeping_faceAs I’m writing this, I’m tired.  Very, very tired.  The previous couple of nights is a bit of a blur, but I do know that JSL was up… a lot.  He would complain about his toes itching, complain about having bad dreams, complain about being afraid of the dark, etc.  Every time we thought he was asleep for good, every time we would get back to sleep, he’d wake up once more.  We tried putting him in our bed, putting him back in his own bed, everything.  He just wouldn’t stay asleep.

Part of it might be his breathing.  We’re not sure if he’s starting to come down with a cold or if he’s just been having a bout of bad dreams.  Either way, his nighttime antics have left the two of us frustrated and exhausted.  Here’s hoping that he (and his brother) will sleep through the night for a few nights so we can get some actual sleep.

NOTE: The "Emoticons: Sleeping face" clipart above is by nicubunu and is available from OpenClipArt.org.

Aloha Friday: Unintentional Night Owl

Aloha Friday, Sleep

The past few nights, I’ve been working some rather late hours.  Between some freelance work, blog posting, and other tasks, I’ve been getting to bed at midnight or later.  Wednesday night, I decided to take a night off and go to sleep early.  To have some fun, I played Lego Star Wars on the Nintendo DS.  Unfortunately, I got so wrapped up in the game that I didn’t get to bed until 12:30am.  So much for getting to bed early.  Add in JSL waking up at 3am and NHL’s usual 6am wake-up call and you can understand why I’m feeling exhausted.  I’ve really got to start getting to bed earlier, even if I don’t feel tired at the time.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What time do you usually go to sleep?

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #149

Aloha Friday: Bedtime Procrastination

Aloha Friday, JSL, Sleep

For the past few nights, bedtime has been a stressful time.  NHL is not to blame.  He gets into his top bunk and quickly goes to sleep.  JSL, on the other hand, has turned into the Kid Of A Million Excuses Why He Can’t Sleep.  The air conditioning is on so he’s too cold.  When I turn it off, he becomes too hot.  Then, he needs to use the bathroom (something he did before getting in bed, mind you).  Then, he needs a drink (again, something he did before going to sleep).  Then, his legs are bothering him or his toes itch or he’s not comfortable for some reason.  This will go on for over an hour until JSL is completely overtired and mom and dad are frazzled.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Do your kids ever give bedtime excuses?  If so, how do you handle them?

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #147

Exhaustion and the Night Terror

Blogging, Parenting, Sleep

nicubunu_Emoticons_Sleeping_faceRight now, as I write this blog post, I’m on my third blogging idea.  Why did I ditch the last two?  Because I just couldn’t think of the words.  It wasn’t a fault of the topics, I fully intend on blogging about those later this week.  Instead, the problem was my own brain.  My brain was too exhausted to form the words.

You see, on Sunday night, before we went to sleep, JSL woke up with another night terror.  For those who don’t know, a night terror is like a nightmare, but worse.  JSL was shaking, incoherent (seriously, he could have been speaking Chinese for all we know), and crying.  Picking him up and hugging him didn’t calm him down at all.

Finally, we brought him to the couch and I turned on a kids’ television station hoping that the familiar audio would snap him out of the dream.  The combination of the lit room, our voices and the television finally worked and JSL came out of it.  After sitting on the couch for a few minutes, he was calmed down (and tired) enough that he asked to go back to bed.

Later that night, at around 3:30am, I woke up to cries coming from the boys’ room.  JSL had woken up again.  I sat by his bed and soothed him until he fell asleep.  Then, I climbed back into my bed.  As I was falling asleep though, I heard a loud *KLUNK* coming from the boys’ room.  Fearing that one of them fell out of bed, I rushed in… to find nothing wrong.  So back to bed I went again and, as I was falling back to sleep, JSL woke up again.  This time, I sat by his bed longer until I was sure he was fast asleep.  Yet again, I dragged myself to bed.

This time, JSL stayed asleep until it was time for me to wake up, at around 6am.  Meanwhile, the dreams I had weren’t restful at all.  I don’t remember them all, but recall that one involved a mystery person pursuing me for unknown, but sinister, purposes.  The end result was that I awoke exhausted.

After all of this, and a full day’s work, trying to get creative for blog posting caused my brain to lock up.  Hopefully, I’ll have a good night’s sleep and my brain will function better tomorrow.  Otherwise TechyDad no make words good on blog.

Disclaimer: The "Emoticons: Sleeping face" clipart above is from OpenClipArt.org.

Aloha Friday: Waking Dreams

Dreams, JSL, Sick, Sleep

nicubunu_Emoticons_Sleeping_faceJSL has been sick the last few days.  He had a fever, was lethargic, and didn’t want to eat.  What little he did eat… well, let’s just say that it didn’t always stay in him long.  At one point, B called me at work after he woke up from a nap.  He was crying asking for his mommy.  He recognized that B was his mother, but kept asking for his "real mommy."

Later on, after dinner, I got NHL to bed.  JSL, previously, had fallen asleep on the couch.  Suddenly, he sat up and began crying for his daddy.  I picked him up and he said "Daddy?  I want my daddy!"  I asked him who I was and he answered that I was his dad.  I asked him what room we were in and he said the living room.  I asked him my first name was and he knew that.  I even asked him how many fingers I was holding up and he answered correctly.  But after all that, he kept repeating "Daddy?  I want my daddy!"  This went on for about 10 minutes while we decided whether we were going to need to go to the hospital (and, if so, what to do about the sleeping NHL in the other room).

Slowly, JSL came out of it.  He began to realize just was going on and calmed down.  He even had some fun with what just happened by saying he wanted his daddy one more time and then smiling before hugging me.  I asked him if he was having a nightmare.  He told me that he was and that he was scared of losing us.  (As he’s never lost anyone he knows to death, I think he meant "losing us" in the sense of not knowing where we are.)

In the end, we think this was the combination of some sort of waking dream and low blood sugar.  After we got him to eat some crackers, he perked up a lot.  The next day, he stayed home and went to the doctor.  The doctor didn’t find anything wrong.  No ear infection, strep, etc.  His temperature was staying down without medicine and he was eating (and acting) better.

He’s not alone in these nighttime behaviors.  NHL has had night terrors and has even been known to sleepwalk from time to time.  My parents told me about some times when I’ve walked in my sleep, talked with them, turned around, headed back to bed with no memory of the events.  One time growing up, I got out of bed, thought I was in a different room, and couldn’t exit the room.  My mother finally heard my cries and turned on the light.  In that instance, I snapped out of the waking-dream and realized just what was happening.  (I had ended up in the closet instead of the room’s door.)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever experienced an incident like this yourself or that your kids did?

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P.S. If you haven’t already, go visit FollowerHQ and let me know what you think of my Twitter application.

P.P.S. For a bit of fun, try my other Twitter Application, Rout. It’s a +F in Fun!

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #124

Disclaimer: The "Emoticons: Sleeping face" clipart above is from OpenClipArt.org.

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