We’re in that period of sleep post-baby where I’m starting to feel like I can’t even remember what it’s like to sleep through the night. Close your eyes in the evening and don’t open them again until morning? Start the day feeling refreshed? Preposterous. Silas has recently decided he very much wants to hang out with his parents in the middle of the night. (Not nurse. Not cry. Just chill, wide awake and wriggling.) We’re coping (and trying to convince him otherwise), but I’m admittedly very tired and very much daydreaming about a good night’s sleep. Here, a few dreamy objects to complete the picture:
A quilted throw for snuggling under.
A kyanite cluster for sweet dreams and meditation.
A moonstone for a bit of pretty and a bit of calm.
A pillow filled with wheat berries for soothing tired eyes.
A mobile for hanging above the bed.
A stump for a bedside book.
A carafe for whiskey water.
A brass wall lamp that a baby can’t knock over.
Tea to help sleep come.
Slippers in case of emergency.
In an effort to ground all of this make-believing in something a bit more down to earth, here are a few things we can do to help DREAMers today:
To protect DREAMers and other immigrants: Get informed and pick up the phone. On September 5, 2017, the current administration announced it would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Until October 5, 2017, certain DACA recipients had the opportunity to renew and receive a final two-year period of DACA. Now that the deadline has passed, we need to support immigrant youth more than ever. Understand the issues by familiarizing yourself with these handy explainer guides.
To change the conversation: Help rewrite the story. Define American believes in the power of storytelling to make meaningful change. With a mission to use storytelling to “transcend politics and shift the conversation about immigrants, identity, and citizenship in a changing America,” Define American uses the power of media and entertainment to change the current political conversation surrounding immigrants. Do your part by joining the #wordsmatter campaign. Commit to changing the way you speak about immigrants.
To defend immigrants’ legal rights: Support the Immigrant Defense Project, which “works to secure fairness and justice for immigrants in the United States.” Among their many initiatives, the IDP challenges unjust laws targeting immigrants, works to end the criminalization of immigrants, combats negative perceptions of immigrants, and empowers communities by providing important educational resources about the American legal system. Donate to support their work, here.
19 Comments
I’m not a young mom, but would definitely some of these. Migraines have been ruining my life (and sleep) lately and all I dream of is 8 straight hours of restorative sleep.
Right now I use a lavender spray, an air humidifier, make sure the blinds are closed and try to rest.
That eye pillow you mentioned sounds so perfect!
Thanks for sharing these goodies!
My daughter is 7 months old. I miss sleep so bad. Just thinking about it makes me feel a little weepy.
You have exquisite taste Erin. Thank you for sharing. I certainly don’t need anything to improve my home but have been pining for that mobile for ages.
Girl I feel you so hard. Jack is a great sleeper but lately teething has been throwing everything for a loop. Or I have insomnia from exhaustion-related adrenaline and stress. Or husband is coming in at all hours. Or like last night, the power in my building went out at 11 pm, so I had to communicate with my neighbors about what was going on. It always feels like it’s something. And since I slept terribly while pregnant, it’s truly been over a year since I had a decent night’s sleep. Sad face.
My 11 month old has also decided he wants to nurse every 2 hours. What! He is not a newborn . . . anyway, I feel your pain. I haven’t slept more than 4 hours in a year . . . A YEAR! (btw I have 5 kids and don’t have any advice on getting babies to sleep through the night. By 2 years old they figure it out).
Ha! Solidarity Shelly!
My four and six year old somehow have not figured it out. Likely bad parenting 😉 (or possibly moving 5 times with highly sensitive littles). have not slept through the night in 7 YEARS. I actually legit forgot that people do that. Regardless, this make believe is beauuuutiful. One of my “homemaking” tenets has become “WWEBD?”
WWEBD has a nice ring to it! 😉
I appreciate the way that you mix the personal and political, Erin. Thanks for yet another useful, thoughtful post.
Wonderful post. The slippers look buttery soft and the blanket looks BIFL. Even better, that you posted about DREAMers. <3
Thank you for remembering the dreamers…….
I remember those sleepy days and all I can say is hang in there mamas! I’m on the other side with a 4 year old and 13 month old who both sleep straight through the night (in the same room too!). It’ll happen! Now if I am tired I have only myself to blame 🙂
Oooooh tell me more about these ages sharing a room!! 🙂
It’s amazing! The baby slept in our room (in the walk in closet in a pack and play :)) until he was 8 months. We tried it earlier, around 6 months, but it was kind of a disaster because he was still waking 3-5 times a night. Once he started sleeping through the night we moved them in together and it has been great. I was really worried that they would wake each other, and they do occasionally (bad dreams, sickness, calling for water etc.), but they both just roll over and go back to sleep. We do bedtime at the same time, I nurse the baby while my husband does stories and then they both go down at the same time. They usually laugh and giggle for a bit before the baby falls asleep and our oldest plays around in bed until she falls asleep. Occasionally, the baby will need to go down earlier so we just put him to bed and then do jammies and stories for the oldest in our bed and she sneaks in (“sneaking in” is a relative term- she’s like 20% less loud than usual- it sometimes wakes him up but he goes back to sleep quickly). The only downside is our youngest is a much earlier riser, waking at 630, so now they are both up at 630, whereas the oldest used to sleep until 8-830. However, the trade-off is the she now falls asleep within 30 minutes of going to bed. Anyway, now that I’ve rambled, in summary- it’s been great for us. We were REALLY worried it would be a huge big ordeal and it turned out to be totally easy and fine.
I remember those nights (that turn into days) all too well! My son didn’t begin sleeping through the night until after he was a year old. So many times I felt like a walking zombie and my memory was absolutely horrendous. I do, however, love the dream-themed items that you shared. I will also have to look more into the links that you shared!
We just had our third last week. I forgot how hard it is to go without sleep. And of course the other two are waking up now. It’s so hard. Also as an immigration attorney, I want to thank you for highlighting the DREAMer issue.
Dear Erin,
As always, thank you for tying the big picture into the details of your little, sleepless life. I appreciate your ability to hold the hard truth that life is beautiful and tragic at exactly the same time. Your optimism and general fervor for a good life (for everyone) is catching.
Best,
Lily
May I ask.. have you tried the eye pillow you mentioned? I only ask because I seem to be a bit of a “Goldilocks”when it comes to eye pillows..
Too slippery.
Too scratchy.
And so on…
Only make-believe! Haven’t tried!
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