I remember when H was a newborn.  I was terrified to sleep.  He slept in his cradle, within arms reach, and I listened for every tiny movement.  If he was too quiet, I would reach over and feel for the soft rise and fall of his little chest.

Small wonder I now wake at the slightest noise.

After eight straight years of babies and toddlers, I find myself still waking up in the wee hours, listening for my kids.

My one and only surefire method to getting back to sleep is books.  Needless to say, I read a lot of books.

Fantasy, romance, business, mystery, cookbooks, self-help, knitting books, classics–you name it, I probably read it.  I have enough books in my house to stock a small library.

I started knitting in the evenings.  Keeping my hands busy keeps me from nodding off when the TV is running.  I would sleep for ten minutes in front of the TV, then take hours to go to sleep at night. 

This helps, but I still wake up at odd hours, tired but unable to sleep.  Lately, we seem to have become the favorite late night stop for a raccoon.  Man, raccoons are noisy!.  Poor T–I woke him up in a panic at 2 am, and made him go outside to see what was causing all the racket.  Fortunately, he just laughed at me when he saw the scared little raccoon running away.  I guess I made it sound like Bigfoot was attacking!

T comes back to bed, and is asleep in seconds.  Me, I toss and turn for a while, then pad downstairs to read a few chapters.  Actually, about five chapters, until I am finally sleepy enough to go back to bed.

What would I do without books!