I refuse to be ripped off this Mother’s Day – I’m getting a sleep in!

Is it just me, or do other mothers also fail miserably when it comes to getting a rare and treasured lie in once or twice a year on special days? I got completely ripped off the other week on my birthday and so this Mother’s Day I’m darn sure I’m gonna make it happen.

Party time in the bedroom

Kids don’t get it

Even if they’re told that Mummy is sleeping, my children will still barge in to chat or show me things, and of course you can’t get angry at them (especially when they look so cute and want to tell you they love you). But what about my sleep in? I still have a bub that feeds in the night and often there’s another child coughing or a cat wanting to be let out, so a good night’s sleep is pretty rare for me – and a sleep in even more unheard of. And when I am trying to lie in, even if the kids aren’t physically in the room I can hear them on the other side of the door creating havoc and screaming the house down, making a mess that I might possibly have to clean up later.

I’m not asking for much, half an hour or an hour tops a couple of times a year? This is not my definition of relaxing. I repeat – ripped off.

Dad’s don’t get it

If your wife is sleeping in (for the first time in, I dunno, forever?), she is SLEEPING. Don’t pop your head in to ask where the wipes are. Don’t change your t-shirt. Don’t come back for your wallet. Don’t yell loudly to the kids outside that Mummy’s sleeping.

My husband always seems to get more ‘sleep ins’ than me – I get it, mums are (generally speaking) more in demand (particularly if they’re breastfeeding). But when he does get to sleep in, he almost always gets to actually SLEEP. Maybe it’s his snoring that drowns out the kids? Or maybe I’m more organised and able to manage the noise levels better? Perhaps I’m just a control freak and can’t let go when it’s my turn to stay in bed – who knows.

Help me

Learn from your mistakes

Where I went wrong recently, was that despite putting the request in early (in fact it was pretty much the ONLY thing I asked for), I forgot that my birthday fell on a weekday. In school holidays. With builders renovating our house. And I’m still breastfeeding our nine-month-old. ROOKIE. I should have arranged my sleep in for the weekend before! And thought about how to manage the kids. What was I thinking? I guess my sleep deprived brain wasn’t. I have three kids for crying out loud, you’d think I would have learned by now!

Have a sleep in plan

So this is what I’m going to do this Mother’s Day:

  1. Breastfeed the baby when he wakes up
  2. Let the other boys come in to say happy Mother’s Day and give me gifts (if they have any – can’t be too presumptuous!)
  3. Beam brightly, kiss everyone and usher them out of the room
  4. Put in earplugs while my husband gets the kids dressed
  5. Send them out of the house, for at least 30 minutes
  6. I stretch out and drift into the snoozetown
  7. Everyone bustles in later and we all eat pancakes together

Sounds good right? Wish me luck – let’s just hope a telemarketer doesn’t call.

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