Early to Rise

         This morning I woke up to Kynslee crying. It was still dark outside so I thought I would just feed her and then put us both back to bed. After rocking her for a long time, Don came in her room dressed for the day. I was completely confused as to why he had gotten up and dressed for the day already, because I knew that the latest it could be was 5-6am.....WRONG!! He informed me that it was already 7am!! So the extra sleep I thought I was going to get was not going to happen. I was not a happy camper to say the least! I grumped about it for most of the morning. Until I realized how silly it was to be so upset over something so trivial. It wasn't anybody's fault but my own that I didn't know what time it was. 7am is when I should be getting up every morning anyway. On top of that I had yet to realize the even better news that Kynslee has now slept through the night for 3 nights in a row! Something that she hasn't done since she was a newborn. Oh how I hope this is a new phase! But back to my original point: It is ridiculous how upset I get over loss of sleep. 
          This is something that I have been thinking a lot about lately. It is hard to get things done when Kynslee is awake. She demands a lot of attention and loves getting into everything (and putting it in her mouth). So if I wait until she wakes me up to get up each morning. (btw I want to go ahead and assure you that it's not like I am sleeping in until noon every day. I am up every morning somewhere between 7-9am.) I have to wait until she goes down for a nap before I can really get anything accomplished. This is not a very functional schedule! I also have been reading about what the bible has to say about sleep. Proverbs talks a lot about sleep and how too much is the equivalent to laziness.

~Proverbs 6:6-10 "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:    Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her    food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy   sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:"

~Proverbs 19:15 "Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. "

~Proverbs 20:13 "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread."

       
           I also thought about the Virtuous Woman mentioned in Proverbs 31. In verse 15 it says "She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens." Now I have always had a problem with having to be up before the sun does. I just did not think it was very fair. BUT after re-reading this verse I think I might need to adjust my attitude towards sleep. 

            Now don't misunderstand me, sleep is good. More than that it is a necessity. But like with everything else you can have too much of a good thing. So in order to improve myself, I am going to challenge myself to get up early at a consistent time every morning. I think it is going to have to be a gradual thing. Start going to bed a little earlier each night and get up a little earlier each morning. The hardest part of this challenge is probably not going to be getting up earlier, but getting up earlier and being nice about it.