

Last night was the mother of all sleep deprived nights, and believe me there’s been some contenders. “You have a newborn what do you expect?” I hear you say, It’s true, I do, but it wasn’t just the night feeds keeping me up, poor Emelia was rocking an extremely high temperature and would not settle. In a desperate attempt to get some sleep I went against everything I usually stand for when it comes to bedtime and took her downstairs just before midnight.
It was dark, there was no television on, but we made a bed downstairs to have a sleepover, just like Peppa Pig (that damn pig has a lot to answer for!). Still she wouldn’t settle, she wasn’t upset, just wide awake and wanted to ‘sit up’ – ‘no sleep for me tonight then’ I thought whilst I looked at the clock as 2am was approaching. Eventually 3am came and Emelia was sprawled across our bed on the floor snoring away – have all the room my dear, as long as you’re asleep! I fed Oscar and settled down to try and recuperate a bit of sleep. “Mummy, MUMMY LOOK I DID IT,” holy moly what now?! I shot up and Emelia was sat proudly in front of 3 puzzles she had done, (quite impressive considering it was still dark) I looked at the clock simultaneously with her asking me for breakfast, 4:50am – Is this some sort of a joke?!
As I sit here, at 1:30pm my eyes are feeling a bit worse for wear, Oscar is next to me sound asleep and after an emotional morning Emelia has given in and gone to her bed where she has been sound asleep for about 15 minutes (please stay there and get some rest), I’m reminiscing of the times I used to feel sleep deprived from a wild night out where we’d roll into work with an hour or two’s sleep under our belt. It didn’t seem so bad then. I digress, the point of this post is last night got me thinking about how I cope on very little sleep, Brett sometimes (if he’s feeling brave) says that I don’t need lie ins because I can cope better than him on very little rest – not for lack of wanting it I might add, but I just as many many other mums do, have to get on with it!
So, here are the ways I manage to get through the day (just about) on very little sleep:
Get Dressed
I’m sure many other mums will relate to this, I feel much more sluggish if I’m not up and dressed early in the morning, I find it harder to get going. Getting showered, dressed and doing my hair and make up, even a little mascara makes me feel refreshed and productive.