How Do They Do It?

"Resting on a Girder" inspires and frustrates me. I'd love to be one of those guys able to sleep anywhere. But here I am, almost midnight, and wondering if I can get my brain to calm down. A few hours ago I couldn't even make it through more than 10 minutes of The Office. But when it's official time to go to sleep I'm like, "Hello! What's happening!"

I study Sawyer's wake and sleep patterns. His yawns give me comfort signaling I might want to yawn, too.

Sawyer just a few weeks old

Chelsea has fairly successfully helped him sleep through the night. The first few nights were rough when we committed to letting him "cry it out" for 15 minute intervals thanks to Brittany's advice and Sawyer's doctor's encouragement. And blessedly, the people that live above us weren't home that weekend. By night three he was a champion. He still is a little confused by his daytime nap schedule. I'm afraid he's inherited my insomnia. He starts to doze off and then startles himself awake, just to make sure nothing's going on without him. My iphone has a handy White Noise application that I rested by his ear today, in case he wanted to experiment sleeping with crickets or falling rain or a crackling fireplace. I've tried it myself but usually after tossing and turning for a few minutes I sing songs in my mind about crickets roasting on a crackling fire while raindrops keep falling on their heads. Soon I'm up and slouched against my tempur-pedic pillow while playing with some of my other applications like "I Say" or"Flight Control". Recently I downloaded the "Classics" app which causes me to then switch over and continue reading Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". Is this the grown-up version of crying it out?

I know I sleep better when my loved ones are around me. At least I sleep better in Dana Point than I did while living alone in Granite Bay. Boy, I had some long dark nights in that house followed by the neighbor's rooster who crowed every morning at 4:30. I sleep well when Brittany and her kids are snuggled in bed with me. Eli is coming for a visit in 2 weeks. Having him in the house helps. When I was little and had nightmares my mom would tell me to try to fall asleep saying "pretty flowers, pretty flowers". I don't know where she got this idea from but it didn't work very well. I'd try to visualize a field of poppies, but invariably a bad guy dressed in black would jump up from the middle of them and it'd send me running for her room again.

Jakey Boy doesn't seem to have a problem with sleep. He's alot like Brittany that way.

Little Jake without a care in the world

My Annie Girl is wired like I am. However, she managed to find a soft comfy place to fall alseep at Corona Del Mar. Just call me Chaise--Chaise Lounge.

Annie and Nannie Joy

I feel like I have to get this sleeping in when I can. I hear there may be no sleeping in heaven, which for a girl like me, may be my very own personal definition of heaven. No-Sleeping-Heaven with diet cokes, lots of ice, extra limes and for the rough times, extra dark chocolate with nuts.