Wake UP!

My husband and I had a funny, banter-filled conversation the other night over sleeping and waking habits.  You see, he recently switched shifts.  For the majority of our relationship - a year of long-distance dating and eight years of marriage, he has worked night shift - 10pm to 6am.  By the time he gets home in the morning, the kids and I are up and ready to leave for work and school.  There were periods of time when I hated it (see http://womaninawheelbarrow.blogspot.com/2009/10/on-growth-and-growing.html), but for the most part... I had grown to like it (don't tell him).  You see, we had two nights a week to snuggle and then I had five nights a week to stay up as late as I liked and watch what I wanted and write up blogs or eat ice cream, or all three at the same time.  Those were the days (ahem, nights). 

Well, now he is home most nights, which took some getting used to (for both of us), and he switched again to this crazy shift that changes almost weekly.  Now we have to agree on what to watch and we are usually folding laundry or something. The good thing is I don't eat as much ice cream.  And I learned I hate swing shift, mostly because it has thrown the kids off so much. 

But anyways... back to the conversation we had.  Not only is he home at night, he is also home more during the mornings... when I wake up.  And this is where we are polar opposites.

Jason is the type of guy who sets the alarm for when he has to get up and actually gets up out of bed when he is supposed to, the very first time the alarm goes off!  And he stays up!  I, on the other side of the bed, am the type of gal who sets the alarm for at least a half an hour before I should get up and then hits the snooze for as long as I possibly can.  Usually for 45 minutes.  And it has to be the beeping; music doesn't cut it for me. 

It might have been a minor inconvenience for me to learn to re-navigate the evenings, but my morning routine was about to make Jason start shoving me out of bed and chasing me around the house with the alarm clock until I stayed awake.  He was being driven insane and daily questioning our compatibility.

We bantered for probably 20 or 30 minutes, I swear, about how I can possibly justify spending that much time waking up every morning. 

"Why don't you just set the alarm for when you need to get up?" he asked.

"Because I can't just get up," I answered.  "I need time to wake up.  If I set the alarm for the right time, I'll end up getting up too late to get out of the house in time."

"You get up late most days anyways," he said.  "Just get up.  Then you actually get solid sleep for longer, instead of those stupid eight minute intervals forever."

"But, I can't just get up."  I was starting to sound like a broken record, but I didn't have any better argument.  I'm not sure when it all started, but I never remember being a morning person.  And I never remember being on time either.  Shoot.  He makes perfect sense, but I just can't "rise" (haha) to the occasion. 

Because I love him, and I know he hates mornings home with me, I have gotten it down to three snoozes a morning (four on the bad days that I stayed up too late the night before (probably blogging)).  That's down from seven or eight. 

He hasn't said anything, but I like to think he appreciates the gesture...

Comments

  1. Taylor @ Pink Heels Pink TruckNovember 12, 2011 at 12:47 AM

    I am the same exact way...I will set my alarm to about 30 minutes before I have to get up. And I will snooze and snooze and snooze...and you get the picture. In college, I had to put my alarm clock across the room so I would have to jump down from the top bunk to turn it off. Funnily enough though, I'd still manage a couple of snoozes. :) Now I've got my alarm clock figured out. So much so, that I can manage to turn it off (in my sleep) before it ever is supposed to go off. I think it's my subconscious telling me, "no way, jose are we getting up at that time" :) Enjoyed your post! (PS...I think your hubby appreciates your gesture)

    ReplyDelete
  2. NicoleNovember 12, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    Taylor - Thank you for commenting! Isn't it funny? My alarm clock is on the other side of the room now. I was typing this post on my laptop in the living room last night (because he's home now, you know), so he was being nosy and made me read him my post. He told me he does appreciate the gesture.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Taylor @ Pink Heels Pink TruckNovember 12, 2011 at 11:48 AM

    :)

    ReplyDelete

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