Living Out Loud volume 28: Sweet dreams

When we first brought home our newborn infant, everyone told us that we wouldn't get any sleep. They told us that we would need meals brought to us and things done for us and no visitors because we would be so exhausted. And yet, I felt the best I had felt in years (well, except for the whole lady part healing). I remember being so distraught the first time Ian cried when I changed his diaper at about 6 weeks old or so. Literally he hadn't cried before then; he'd never had a reason to. Fast forward to this morning when literally the first thing Ian did when he woke up was start crying and flipping out because I had put a shirt on him. Ah, how times change.

The biggest thing we weren't prepared for these days is our child no longer sleeping. It has turned our house upside down these last two weeks (which is part of the reason I've been so silent online). Now instead of tending to a crying newborn, we have a wailing, flailing, thrashing toddler who weighs 30 pounds!

I reached out to my birth class classmates at 3am for some advice. While the advise was slim, the sympathy was overflowing and it was nice to know we aren't the only ones not sleeping. It got me to thinking about just how many people are walking around with some sort of sleep issue. My father has sleep apnea. My mother has been sleep deprived since approximately 1960. My friend has insomnia and has to play one of 4 DVDs to go to sleep at night.

My father once said that sleep deprivation is a national crisis. I wonder how many people on the road do stupid things because they're tired. All those people who can't put their state registration tags on correctly were probably doing it on less than three hours sleep.

Sleep and dreams and that third of our day (HA!) have been on my mind lately. So I thought it would make a good Living Out Loud topic. Tell us about your own relationship with sleep. Does it come easy for you or not? Are you a covers thief? Do you snore? Is there a particular side of the bed you have to use? Did you sleep well as a baby? As a kid? As a young adult? What's the stupidest/craziest thing you've done that's caused you sleep? Are you a snuggler or do you need a certain demilitarized zone around you?

Details include:

• Write something personal about yourself using the previous paragraphs as a guideline. Do not feel that you have to address each prompt above. The spirit of this project is to share something about yourself; I'm just throwing out ideas.

• Once you have completed your entry and posted it, please email me the link at genie [at] inabottle [dot] org. Remember, if you don't email me, I'm likely to forget to include you in the recap!

• If you do not have a blog to host your story, you can email me the story directly and I will add it here as a guest post giving you credit. The more the merrier!

• The due date for entries is Sunday, May 8th (this upcoming Sunday) at 5pm Eastern.

• Once I have collected all the entries, I will post a wrap-up to list them all and announce a winner. The winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card but all participants will receive fame and glory and a link on our Living Out Loud blogroll.

I'm only giving us until this Sunday (which is Mother's Day so plan accordingly), but we all wait until the last minute anyways, so what's a little short notice. Here's hoping I can get us back on "schedule" for June!

Letting the sun shine in

Dad said he was going to come by yesterday evening and trim a few limbs off the tree in the back so the garden got more sun. When we left for dinner, he was on a step ladder with a set of loppers. When we came home he was on an extension ladder with an electric saw.

Those few limbs were about as much as a medium sized tree all over our yard.

We went from bundling a few limbs to him calling for a special trash pick up this week. But those last two tomato plants (two of 24, remember) will get more sun this summer.

Reaping what we sow

I've had a great week working with Daddy on our garden. You may recall that I said I wanted to learn how to garden this year. I bought a book. I bought some seeds. I wasn't really sure what I was going to grow yet, but I figured I would give it a try. And then my father got involved.

Really my whole family got involved since my brother Perry joined forces too. First we spent all day two weeks ago getting the yard tilled. We had about 14' of garden ready for crops in my back yard. I thought I would grow some tomatoes, some squash, maybe some herbs in a pot. When I got home the other day, Daddy and Perry were planting the last of the tomatoes they were putting in my yard.

There are 24 tomato plants in my back yard.

After Daddy and Perry planted all their tomatoes, they realized they hadn't left much room for my other vegetables. So Daddy came back with the tiller and added another 7.5' to the garden. He also had to add more fencing to keep the dogs (and toddler) from killing the plants inside. And move the gate he created.

So Saturday morning Daddy and I started planting our squash and eggplant and cucumbers. There was a lot of hemming and hawing about what to put where, but we have a decent plan. We are going to experiment with some carrots too this week.

Like so many projects with my father, he does about 75% of the work. But I was there to assist and keep him on target and listen to his stories. It was a joy. He was in the best mood out there in the dirt that I've seen in years. He also said he wished he could find a job that was about as active as this gardening he's been doing because it makes his body feel better too.

When I stopped by their house this afternoon, I got to see Daddy's garden as well. That's when I did a quick count and realized he also had 29 tomato plants in his yard. While I counted this, Perry and Daddy were filling large pots so that Perry could add a dozen tomato plants to his yard.

Let me do the math for you. Our family has 65 tomato plants in progress. We never do anything halfway.

It was funny that my supposed new project of learning to garden has involved watching or helping Daddy do things the way he wanted, but I figured since he lived and worked on a farm he had more experience than I do. And I'm sure I'll have many years one day when I'll have to figure out a garden on my own. But for now I'm happy to play in the dirt with Dad and do things his way. That's what memories are made of.

But I did learn that Daddy has less than zero interest in herbs. So I still get to putter with some plants of my own without him messing in them. I have basil and thyme and cilantro and soon hope to have mint.

And I may have bought three more Roma tomato plants to put by the back door for guacamole. That makes 68 tomato plants then.

We never do anything halfway.