12:45 am – 4:30 am

That’s how long Gideon was up last night. After 7 and a half years, we have come to expect these kind of shenanigans from him.

As soon as I hear him yell, my mind plays the guessing game as to why he’s up this time. Did we give him his Charlottes Web CBD oil? Did he eat too late? Is he too cold? Too hot? Is he hungry? Did he 💩? Is he getting sick? Or is this just one of those times that he’s just up for no reason?

Well tonight, it was a 💩 show. Now sometimes we can change him and he’ll go back to sleep within 30 minutes or so, but not last night. Kevin and I took turns tagging in, but neither of us could get him to go back to sleep. We tried a bottle, his vibrating toy, rocking, all our bag of tricks, but nothing worked.

Close to 4 am, Kevin went to seek sleep else where because he has to coach a volleyball game in a few hours. And I stayed to ride out the last wave with G. Thankfully around 4:20 Gideon was mad, which usually indicates we are close to sleep again. So I gave him his favorite vibrating toy, laid him down and let him holler. Within 10 minutes, he was asleep.

Praise God nights like these only happen a few times each month. Nevertheless they are exhausting.

But I know I’m not alone in this. There are so many other families that function on way less sleep than we do. And on nights like tonight I pray for these families. Sleep deprivation is no joke. The physical and mental toll it takes on a person is brutal.

We have been so blessed by our community with love and support. Nights like these are more bearable because we know people are praying for us. So if you know someone who probably isn’t getting much sleep, I want to challenge you to send them a note/text of encouragement. I think most parents (whether they have a special needs child or not) need to know that someone is rooting for them during these long, sleepless nights.

Lord, so many parents are functioning on very little sleep. We love our kids and it’s hard to raise them well when we haven’t had the proper rest. I pray that you sustain us today like only you can. I pray that we lovingly respond to the days trials rather than react from exhaustion. And finally Lord let these littles ones go to bed early tomorrow night and sleep all night. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.