I Can't Even Get Enough Sleep

As I pried myself out of bed after yet another too-short sleep, with no end in sight, something I already knew really sank in.

If I was an unmarried, child-free guy, I could actually get enough sleep.

Instead of getting up when I do when I prepare for work, I could sleep in at least another two hours, because I would be living closer to where I work and I would have less to do for other people before I leave the house.

I wouldn't have this dog that does various things that delay my sleep, wake me up, and diminish the quality of my sleep.

After work, I'd have a shorter commute home, fewer chores and errands to do, and wouldn't have to tend to the kids.

I could do things without being interrupted by what my wife and kids want.

Right now, on days I work, I'm getting about five hours of sleep, on average. On the other days, I'm lucky if I get eight. "How about naps?" you ask? Dog won't have it. She'll start barking. Constantly. At nothing.

Sacrificing Much-Needed Sleep For Lackluster Lovemaking

After two and a half weeks since our last, and decidedly bland sex session, my wife stopped filibustering.

She'd asked me to finish some necessary tasks early enough that we could have time with each other. Usually, this "promise" of hers is hollow, or at least turns out not to come to fruition. And no, I don't always wait for her to initiate. I do try to initiate and usually get shot down or put off (which usually ends up being shot down). On the flip side, I don't think there's been a single time I've put her off when she has initiated, as I don't mind her initiating and actually enjoy it because it makes me feel wanted.

So, I made sure that everything was taken care of "early enough". I shaved (even though it would screw up my shave for work) and showered - and there's never any chance she'll surprise me in the shower. I made sure she knew when I was all done.

It's funny, that I bother to shower for these sessions, really, because she barely gets near me. But I did.

Finally, with about five hours to go until I'd be waking up for another full day of work, she sent me a text that she'd be right in. She's likely finishing watching a show, which she could resume watching whenever she wants, mind you.

She finally made it in half an hour after she sent the text, meaning it was now four and a half hours of sleeping time left, if I were to go to sleep right then.

Now, it's true I could have gone to sleep the moment after I was done with the grooming and cleaning. The problem with that is that she wouldn't have woken me up, and I would have gone an additional four-to-seven days before possibly getting a chance for sex again.

The rest of this entry is a little explicit, so here's your warning.

Sleeping Together, Or Not

One of the things I enjoyed about my past relationsips - in which I was doing things I wasn't supposed to be doing – was actually sleeping with my girlfriends and my not-girlfriends-but-still-doing-bad-things girls. I liked spooning, cuddling, whatever. I liked being right there with her.

My wife and I share a bed, but we don't really sleep together. She usually goes to sleep hours after I do. I'm usually up hours before her. When we were childless newlyweds, that was even more pronounced as we worked completly opposite shifts. But now our careers have changed (she's a SAHM) amd our sleeping hours have a lot of overlap.

There's been almost no spooning or cuddling in bed for our entire marriage. And it isn't for a lack of desire on my part. One of the great things about sleeping together is waking up in the middle of a slumber session or at the end of a slumber session and waking the other person up with sex. However, once either one of us is asleep, this almost never happens. I wouldn't mind. My wife would be annoyed (even without an orgasm, which would keep her awake for hours), and I don't think she gets enough sleep as it is. I certainly don't get enough sleep, either, but I've always been willing to sacrifice sleep for sex.

But even if I just kept it Rated G, my wife says she wouldn't be able to sleep if I was spooning her.

So there we sleep, with a lot of distance between us. As a bonus, the little dog will often sleep between us, sometimes right up against me so that I'll be on the edge of the bed and if I move, the dog will growl loudly to remind me not to crush her.

Really, I need to set up a bed in my man cave and sleep in there. There's no reason I can't stumble into there after lovemaking and fall asleep. It would probably be more restful.

That we would not be sleeping together (as in spooning or cuddling) is one of those things I was unable to determine before we married, as we never shared a bed prior to getting married. It was difficult enough to maintain my wife's virgin status as it was, so actually sharing a bed was out of the question.

Any of you going through anything similar? There has been a lot of news lately about homes getting smaller, but there has also been news about it being more common to build homes with two master bedrooms, as husbands and wives have their own spaces for the actual sleeping.

Caffeine is My Friend

Wanted to check in with an update on one of my "gripes".

I am consistently getting way too little sleep these days. I'm talking like five hours a night being the norm unless it's a day off. I'll return from work, having been gone for over twelve hours, and my daughter will be itching to get out of the house and burn off some energy. It's too dark already these days to take her to the local park. Instead I drive to what is basically a mall and we walk around for a while in a place that is more interesting and safer than the local park.

Then we return home and have dinner long after I should already be asleep. I'm thankful my wife makes dinner, and she notes that I do not get enough sleep. When she makes that notation, I pretty much bite my tongue. Unfortunately, I can't think of any way of address the situation without depriving my daughter or hurting my wife's feelings/getting her upset at me... which wouldn't result in change anyway. She would probably point out that the situation is temporary. It might be. I fear that it won't be, though. It seems like there has been one temporary thing after another, and they've all had the effect of keeping us from settling into a routine we both think is best. My wife has always been somewhat of a homebody, and if she doesn't feel like she can keep the kids safely under her control while out and about, she's not going to do it. But are her feelings based on reality? I'm not sure.

I feel like crap whenever it is clear that my daughter hasn't burned off enough energy during her day – like when I have had to work an extra long day and I get home too late to take her out. She'll ask me to take here somewhere, and it kills me that it would be even more impractical than usual to grand her wish.

If we had moved close to my family, my daughter would be getting outside and getting her exercise while I would be taking care of work. I enjoy spending time with my daughter, but I can enjoy it at home with her, instead of prepping her for a drive, getting her into the car, and driving there, being in a location where I have to be alert and on guard, and then driving back.

My mother and sister both tell me I need to get more sleep. But my daughter has needs, too. She didn't create this situation. So her needs come first.

Again, my gripes are relatively minor. In general, I love my life.

A Dispute in Bed

Time to check in with Dear Abby again. CREATURE OF HABIT wrote:

My boyfriend and I have a wonderful relationship, but there is one big problem. I don't like to share blankets at bedtime. The truth is, I like to sleep comfortably with my blankets tucked all around.

Well that won't be a problem until you are married, right? So you are trying to work this all out before you get married? If so, that's very good, thinking ahead like that.

I have honestly tried sharing, but I can't sleep that way or even get comfortable.

Wait, you tried sharing? You mean you are fornicating or shacking up?

My boyfriend thinks I'm weird and that I don't like being close to him at night. Isn't sharing a bed enough?

More than enough.

Dear Abby wrote back:

Getting enough sleep is important for maintaining one's health, and studies show that people aren't getting enough of it these days. Try explaining this to him, along with the fact that intimacy is what happens BEFORE you hit the sheets.

Hmmm. I wonder what Abby would say if this was a guy writing in to explain why he doesn't like to cuddle after sex, but instead takes off and goes home? Somehow, I doubt it would be "intimacy is what happens BEFORE you hit the sheets."

If it is really that big of a deal to either one of them, then they shouldn't get married to each other. They've already lowered their odds of staying together anyway.

As a general rule, never marry someone if you can finish this sentence with a "red flag" or a "can’t stand" or a "deeal breaker" or anything that you couldn't happily live with the rest of your life without complaining or being resentful: "I love everything about him/her and everything is great between us, except _______."

These people apparently like fornicating with each other. That's different from sleeping in the same bed or being married, and they should not marry each other solely based on mutual enjoyment of their fornication or some other compatibilities if there are any significant areas where they are incompatible.