I’ve been having trouble sleeping.  Not just lately either.  In my adult life, I’ve struggled with sleep for about the last 10 years.  Some nights are better than others, where I do sleep but wake frequently, whether it be to use the bathroom or to just turn over.  Sometimes I go right back to sleep and other times it takes a while.

Then there are those nights when I can’t seem to fall asleep.  My mind is racing with all kinds of important and unimportant thoughts.

I’ve been working on it.  I am currently seeing a Dr. that leans towards the Holistic side, which is exactly what I am looking for.  I try to stay with the natural remedies, but when I go two, three, four nights with little to no sleep, I always have my trusty Xanax. 🙂

I think part of it is noise.  It used to be that I could not sleep without a white noise fan.  A troublesome issue if you are traveling, as this means you must always bring your fan with you.

We started using the noisemaker when our daughters got into their late teens.  Many nights they would be coming home much later than we went to bed, or they were up late watching TV in the living which was just below our bedroom. The white noise machine helped cut down on the noise, enabling us a better sleep.

When we had the freak snowstorm last October and lost power for a week, we had no white noise.  We adjusted to life without it and haven’t been using it since.

I didn’t sleep well Sunday, which wasn’t surprising, since I don’t usually sleep well on Sunday nights.  I think Monday morning and the work week weigh heavily on my mind on Sunday nights.

This past Monday it was incredibly hot and became necessary to turn the air conditioner on in the bedroom.  Monday night I didn’t sleep very well.  (I think it was the noise from the air conditioner and me not being use to it.)

Tuesday it was cool enough to sleep with the windows open, but we used the fan to cut down on the outside noise.  This was more or less to keep a crazy chocolate lab from barking in the middle of the night.  (It didn’t.)

Tuesday night I woke up a LOT.  Every time I woke up there was someone else that woke up too.  Someone who had their body pressed up against mine, who lifted their head, or shifted themselves to be closer to the Mama, encouraging physical contact.

Please pet me Mama, he seemed to say.  And pet him I did.  Over and over.  Ear rubbies, head rubbies, belly rubbies; all night long I pet Sampson.

Hubby said when he got up to shower Wednesday morning he thought Sampson was going to lay on top of me, he was that close.

Mornings Delilah gets up and heads out to the kitchen with Hubby, because she knows when he has finished packing his lunch, he will give her a couple of carrots or biscuits.

Sometimes Sampson goes, sometimes he stays in bed with Mama for morning rubbies.   Surprisingly enough, he stayed with me Wednesday morning, despite all the attention I had showered upon him during the night, he still wanted more. 🙂

Last night Hubby said he couldn’t sleep because Sampson was running against his back.  He says Sampson must have run for miles in his sleep, all the while his feet against Hubby’s back.

I slept like I was getting paid to do it.  (I had popped a Xanax.)

Do your pets ever keep you up because they want attention?  What do you do when you cannot sleep?