night owl?

Dear Eden,

I thought I should let you know, in case you are reading this post years from now, that for all of my life up to this point I have been a proud night owl. I rarely ever used to go to bed before midnight and loved sleeping in until at least 9 but usually later if I had my choice. Even the first year of your life after you started sleeping through the night, I'd wake with you early in the morning around 6, you'd eat a bit, and then we'd both sleep together for a few more hours. It was lovely.

But lately (or should I say for many months now), you have stubbornly been getting up around 6 or 7 every day. Now, you'll throw in an 8 o'clock every now and then, but for the most part you are ready to go and ready for me to be with you before 7. Despite the fact that your Daddy is a morning person, I can always hear you asking for me on the days he goes in to your room to get you up. Don't you know that he likes being up in the mornings?

So, I am still in denial a bit about the need to go to bed earlier, but I'm feeling the shift begin to happen. Many nights last semester, I was tired at 10 o'clock! Can you believe it? This semester I need to be at work every day at 7:30 (yuck), so I have a feeling the shift is going to happen.

In case I'm still getting up early when you're a teenager and sleeping in til noon, just wanted you to know that deep in my soul I'm really a night owl. I will consider it a personal accomplishment if I can still sleep in with you when you're 15.

love you,
Momma

p.s. Here's what another mom wrote about being a former night owl. Daddy, said it seemed like I had written it myself ...

"Conversion Experience: How a Night Owl Became an Early Bird and Liked It"

It’s impossible to talk about the day’s routine without mentioning the night before.


I used to be a night owl. About ten o’clock I would get a second wind and want to start working on all of the things that I didn’t have time to do during the day. Going to bed at midnight was the norm for me for many, many years. Sometimes I stayed up later.

After I became a mom and my sleep diminished, I still didn’t go to bed early. In fact, having a baby made me want to stay up even later. Suddenly the night hours were the only time I had to myself. It was quiet, and I could think more clearly. I had time to read and feel inspired, And besides, why should I go to bed if I had to wake up in two hours anyway to nurse the baby?

I knew that the free time gained by staying up late at night isn’t free. It has a cost, and you pay for it the next day.Every morning I would be groggy and slow. If I had to be somewhere on time in the morning, then I would stress out and feel embarrassed for waking up late. I was at odds with the day and other people. It’s hard to be a night owl. Everyone tells you it’s better to wake up early, and it seems like no one appreciates the things you did while everyone else was asleep ... ... ...