Sleep, Snuggle and Dad

Fatherhood Friday

As I woke up this morning after the seventh consecutive night of very little sleep - the deprivation being due to a host of reasons, not the least of which are one sick kid and one infant with teeth coming in (ouch!) - a number of random thoughts about sleep, snuggle time and me came to mind:

• I continue to be amazed at how I have adjusted from needing many hours of sleep, pre-daddyhood, to functioning just fine on a regular basis with significantly less sleep. 
• I'd prefer to get much more sleep. But by the time work, dad, husband, house, etc. duties are done, it seems sleeping is what takes the hit. I don't wake up full of energy but over the years my body has learned how to get the job done with significantly less rest.
• Of course, some of this is my own time management issues - if you want to find time to yourself, it often takes place at the end of the day. So whatever your hobby is, sometimes the only time to do it is from 9-11:59 pm, after kids have gone to sleep, lunches have been made, bills have been paid, and weekly schedules coordinated with the wife.
• My oldest son is 6. When he was an infant, he was an awesome snuggler. Nothing beat taking naps with him either on my chest or, as he got older, snuggling up with me.  
• My youngest son is almost nine months old. If he had a vocabulary, snuggling wouldn't be in it. No snuggling when normal nap time comes around and, probably the worst, no bonus snuggles in the early morning right after everyone starts to wake up and is still feeling like the best thing in the world is extra snuggle time under the blankets while we're not fully awake. But not my nine month old. I really miss it.

Okay, one exception. He'll do some faux-snuggling when he wakes up in the middle of the night. But even then he's teasing me, because as soon as it feels real good and snuggly, he'll start to play. Usually with my face. Hard. Talk about adding insult to injury!

Okay, there were two other exceptions. Last week, he fell asleep on his grandfather. A few weeks ago, he fell asleep on a friend's shoulder when we went to their house for brunch. This was a new friend who my son had never seen before! He might have been tired, but still .  . . I was pretty jealous of both of them.

My wife and I used to take turns sleeping in on the weekend. Easy to do with one kid, not so easy to do with more than one, though I admit the equation is likely to favor me as my youngest is still nursing so my wife has to get up, at least for a little while.

Of course, as much as I love snuggling with the kids, what I'd really want that extra sleep time back for is more snuggling with my wife!