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!