Daylight Savings, and a comparison

Samantha told me on Sunday night that she'd really like to ride the bus to school. She asked if I could please, please wake her up that extra half hour early so she could ride, instead of having me take her 45 minutes later. I smiled and agreed, but inside I was groaning. Why? Well, I have two words: daylight savings.

Bleah. I don't mind the longer evenings -- in fact, I really appreciate them, once I get used to the whole change over. But the earlier mornings just about do me in for the first few days of daylight savings. Seriously, I feel like I've really been ROBBED of that extra hour, CHEATED! Like my precious time has just been RIPPED from me -- and more especially, from my little ones. Ug. (The reverse is true when we we switch back to standard time in the fall... I feel as though I've been handed a GIFT of one extra hour. But really, I'm just reclaiming what is taken away from me each spring, you see.)

So, there's my daylight savings rant. But that's not really what I was going to write about, believe it or not. Actually, I was going to say, I woke up a little groggy yesterday morning, but I went through the motions of putting the day together. I got Samantha off to school, got Spencer off to preschool, did some laundry and dishes, read some scriptures, exercised, had the kids do their piano lessons, and we went to an open house for a charter school we're considering sending the kids to next fall. In the evening I got a quick dinner, prepared and executed a great family home evening lesson where we made a new star chart for the kids, all together, and even fixed a fun little dessert treat for the kids. Bedtime came and I stayed calm and patient even though the kids didn't settle until nearly 10 (dumb daylight savings, you know?). By the time I crawled into bed, after more scripture study and facebook time, I was feeling pretty good about my day. It wasn't my best-ever day, but I had a good attitude and things got done like I wanted them. Not bad, Kam. I even wrote in my journal before bed. (It's been awhile, believe me!)

And then...
Three-o'clock in the morning, I came fully awake to the sound of Samantha standing outside our door saying, "Mom! I'm throwing up!" And yes, she did. It was awful. Poor thing. And poor me, for all the yucky clean-up. It took awhile, but we got her settled on the floor in our room with a towel and a bowl close by. Ug. Back to sleep, eventually. Within just a few minutes, there was Spencer at our door. Just scared, had a bad dream, needed a quick cuddle and tuck-in so he could get back to sleep. Then I tried to get back to sleep too, again. Eventually. Less than an hour later, poor Samantha threw up again. Then Spencer came in again. Then well, it was technically morning, because dumb daylight savings said it was 7 something, but it still felt like 6 something, and there was Natalie, up for the day and ready to stomp all over Samantha on our floor before climbing on our bed. And the day officially started.

Can I just tell you...yesterday was definitely better. I slogged through the morning, griping at the kids and taking my time forgiving sweet Nat for waking me up so early after not so much sleep. And Samantha was home and a little stir-crazy all day, which threw off my plans for going shopping. And, I never really got myself ready for the day very good. And I gave up on dinner and got Papa Murphy's. And I only got up enough energy to vacuum and get the house in order after the kids were in bed tonight (and Natalie was screaming, for at least 20 minutes while I vacuumed at 9:30 p.m. dumb daylight savings.) Well, people! Here's what I have to say about all this: sleep makes a big difference in my life. When I get it, life is better. When I don't, I have a harder time with just about everything.

I've known this before. And many of you have known this about me, I know. But really, I was thinking about a bigger picture today, as I compared my efforts of today to my efforts of yesterday... Wow! There are LOTS of little things that contribute to how a day turns out -- sleep being just ONE small factor that makes a BIG difference. And most of the time, those ducks are in a row for me, and I have lots of good days where I don't even realize how good I have it. One little night of sleep deprivation, and I'm reminded that I'm very blessed to take A LOT of things for granted in my life. And I'm trying to stay grateful for those things I don't even KNOW I'm taking for granted, if that makes sense? -- like a good night's sleep. It's really such a blessing!

Anyway, that's as deep as I'm going with this tonight. I've got a bed to get into, and who knows if tonight will be another less-predictable one. Either way, I know daylight savings means morning comes early, yet again. I will not complain about it anymore, kay? ;)