So we’re all used to Jenny’s middle-of-the-night ramblings, but tonight (this morning?) I thought I’d treat you to some of mine.

It’s 3:00 a.m. I woke up about an hour ago, thanks to some serious wind and rain, which I was sure was a tornado. According to our local tv station, though, it was only a severe thunderstorm warning. What does that even mean? I’m pretty sure that if it’s a thunderstorm, we’ll know. And it doesn’t seem very action-oriented. I mean, should we have found shelter from the… thunder?

Anyway, since then I haven’t been able to go to sleep, which is quasi-unusual for me. I am generally a pretty good sleeper. In fact, I consider it one of my primary talents. It’s failing me tonight, though.

Want to know what is keeping me up? This BLOG.

When I woke up, I had been dreaming about a giveaway for the new movie “Tangled” that I’m supposed to do. Yes, you read that right. I can’t sleep because I’m supposed to blog about movie clips and associated t-shirts and silly bandz (stayed tuned tomorrow! Or maybe the next day…) I have about 10 more reviews/giveaways that I need to get up, like, yesterday and it is stressing me out.

Over-committed much?

Unfortunately, while the thought of blog posts yet to do is keeping me awake, I don’t really have the mental fortitude to actually do any of them right now.

So instead, you get a stream-of-consciousness blog post. Yay!

I also don’t feel well. I’ve been thinking for a few days that I’m coming down with something. But I really don’t have time to be sick. And with the recent decision to start bringing Sam to the daycare near my work (which btw, this almost-illness was surely caused by the soup I ate last week that was prepared by the children at said daycare. I should have totally turned around and left immediately when I noticed that I was the ONLY PARENT THERE. Hello new daycare mom, you are a sucker!) , there is really no point in taking a sick day, because I’d either have to a) drive 40 minutes to drop him off and then drive 40 minutes home and then do it all again at 5:00 or b) keep him home with me. And we all know how restful that would be. So off to work I will go.

Anyway.

The weather has calmed down now, and the sounds from outside have gone from alarming to relaxing. Perhaps I will be able to sleep now. You know, if my husband isn’t snoring and I can actually hear the rain on the roof.

Before I sign off this completely pointless post, I would like to point out one thing. When I awoke earlier, in the midst of dreaming about my to-do list, and heard the storm going on outside – despite my I-just-woke-up disorientation – I was immediately so thankful for having a warm, dry, safe home for my children.

Isn’t that just about all we can ask?

And on that note, I’m going to sleep.

My little Sophie, my crazy girl, has actually been a terrifically consistent sleeper since she was about 15 months old.  (Before that, not so much.  But after 15 months? Golden.)

Until this past week.  All of a suddenly she is screaming and crying at night, and when Bobby or I go to talk to her, she tries to get out of her bedroom door and run to ours.  This is all new and befuddling to us.  I mean, 4 or 5 months since we finally got Joshua to stay in his own bed, and now we’ve got to get Sophie back to sleeping soundly in hers.  (Because fer realzies, there is going to be a baby in a bassinet in our room in 3.5 months!)  For the past several days, Bobby has been taking one for the team and has been sleeping in her room much of the night, sneaking out when he can, going back when she wakes up calling for us again.  Because, with my myriad sleeping problems, I really cannot sleep at all if I’m in her bed.  And with the constant sleep interruptions, I have a lot of trouble falling back asleep – which is why I’m writing this at 4:22 a.m.

Sophie’s had a cold the past few days – coincidence or not?  She acts totally fine during the day, just has had a runny nose and cough.  Is that it?  Illness has disturbed her sleep before, but never for this long.   Or is she experiencing some sort of night time separation anxiety?  She does great when I drop her off at preschool, but maybe her nervousness about it all is coming out at night?

I have no idea.  But I am exhausted, and my husband is half-dead (and has Sophie’s cold) after a week of this.  So, any advice?  What should we do to get Sophie’s bedtimes and nights back on track?  I could use some advice!!

Speaking of advice, I’m Co-hosting a chat with some other great bloggers on The Motherhood.com today at noon EST. The Topic is “Best Advice for New Moms” – I’d love it if you’d join us!  (I hope to get some good advice myself.  I feel like a new mom all over again with this baby since Sophie will be FOUR when he is born!) All you have to do is log in to the Motherhood.com and then go here.  It’s just a text chat, simply refresh the page to see the latest conversation.

But before that, please help a sister out – back to my Sophie sleeping problem – what should I do?