I miss sleep! Sleep has become like the little baby rabbits that live in our hostas. I see them, but everytime I get close they run away. I am now in an all-out sprint to catch some sleep. It's getting crazy! Every night something happens that steals my sleep away.
Why am I not sleeping? Let me give you my list.
1. The neighbor's dog. The neighbors next door have a little yippy dog that goes outside late at night, early morning, in the middle of the night, whenever to "do it's business" and then barks and barks and barks! My bedroom window is on that side of the house and the dog wakes me up every time. This dog's bark is like nails on a chalkboard too--high pitched and squeaky. When my friends are here and hear it they can't believe a dog is capable of such an obnoxious noise. Now imagine it waking you up just when you are falling into dream land!
(dog owners, can you help me out here? What do I do? My neighbor knows that her dog's barking is bothering us, but she doesn't seem to be able to stop her dog from barking. Is it possible to train a dog not to bark so much?)
2. The church festival. Yes. A church a few miles away has been having a festival with live bands until midnight. I have all my windows closed and a fan going and I can still hear it! I cannot even imagine what the people living near that church are feeling about that church now. Crazy way to turn off a bunch of people!
3. My nine-year-old daughter. For some reason my oldest has sleep issues. This summer they have gotten out of hand. She has trouble falling asleep. Then she panics because she can't sleep and then she gets a stomach ache and then I know I am facing another night where it will take her hours to settle down and fall asleep. Every night I hold my breath to see if she will finally approach sleep peacefully. Every night I am disappointed. She also has allergies this summer and will start coughing as soon as she lays down. And once she starts coughing, she won't stop for hours. Believe me when I say we have tried everything. The only thing that helps her is to be propped up more in a recliner-type chair for sleeping. So sometimes I move her into the family room to sleep in a recliner there to help with the nasal drainage. She is afraid to be alone in there so this puts me sleeping in the family room too. Now I'm even closer to the barking dog!
4. Anxiety. In all my anxiety over my daughter and what to do about the dog next door and the approaching trip to see my family (knowing that I am once again a disappointment because I have not lost enough weight--I talked more about this in an earlier post), my stomach problems have flared back up. I've started having panic attacks.
Sleep is a crazy thing. The more desperate I am for it, the more ellusive it has become. I miss my friend sleep. I hope she comes to visit me tonight and brings me some relief. In the meantime, can you pass the coffee?
