Ramblings of a giddy mom high on sleep

EIGHT. That's how many consecutive hours of sleep I got last night. Doesn't seem noteworthy, but to me this was huge. HUGE! It was the first time in two and a half months that I've slept for more than 3-4 hours at a time. And it feels great! This was finally made possible because, as of a few days ago, I am no longer Danielle's sole food supplier. Plus Jeff covered the night shift last night. (Yes, I have had a couple of 6-hour nights, but apparently that wasn't quite enough.)

I didn't realize just how rundown I had been feeling until I noticed how spectacular I felt today. Eight really does seem to be the magic number for how much sleep is ideal. Eight hours made all the difference for me.

I was eager to get up this morning when the kid-sized alarm went off instead of wanting to hit snooze and go back to sleep.

Getting 2 kids and myself ready for church on-time was a snap.

I had plenty of energy and patience for Naomi's let's-make-everything-a-game attitude and her endless "tell me a story" request.

My afternoon run of 5 miles felt nearly effortless. Seriously. Before, I had been tired at the end of my runs, like I had pushed as far as I could go. Today, despite the longer distance, I felt like I could have kept going...even in the cold weather (it only made it up to 37 degrees.)

I think Jeff got tired of hearing me say, "Man, I feel so good today!" (especially since he's pretty tired after working night duty -- he has trouble falling back asleep after waking up...)

The world sure is a brighter place when you get plenty of sleep. It really is like a high. So here's my tip if you want a free, harmless high: Set an alarm to wake yourself up every 3 hours. Then after several weeks, turn off the alarm and get one night of 8 hours sleep. You'll love it!