Caroline

Benjamin Franklin, George Vernon Hudson, and William Willett.

These three men were the first to suggest and petition the idea of Daylight Saving.  They couldn’t have known, but their actions have nearly been the death of me.

I usually don’t make a big deal out of the time changes with myself or with my kids.  We just act as if the new time were the old time and live our lives accordingly.  No problem.

No problem, that is, until a few weeks ago.  Just as I was entering the blessed second trimester of pregnancy and my tiredness was getting under control, Daylight Saving time hit.

This past time change has been HORRIBLE. Before the time change I had two angels who went to bed around 7:30 p.m. and woke up around 8:00 a.m.  I realize I was spoiled with my little girls sleeping in so late, but I was ever so grateful for it.  Some people can get by with five or six hours of sleep.  Others need the standard eight.  I’m more of a ten-hour-a-night gal (even when I’m not pregnant).

Then came November 7th.  We dutifully set our clocks back an hour and went to bed.  Of course our girls didn’t sleep in until 8:00 because the old 8:00 was now 7:00.  However, they didn’t wake up at 7:00.  No.  They woke up at 6:00.  Ugh.  Dallas and I peeled ourselves out of bed and started our very long Sunday morning.

I wanted to scream at church every time someone mentioned how they loved the extra hour of sleep they got that morning and didn’t I love it, too?  No.  There was no extra hour of sleep.  There was an extra two hours of entertaining children.

And it’s been that way ever since.  The girls have not adjusted their wake-up time.  No matter how early or how late I put them to bed, they are awake before the sun is even thinking of rising.  I might be able to understand if they were waking up a mere hour earlier than they used to, but it’s more like two hours earlier!  We’ve started our mornings in the five o’clock hour so many times this past month that I have lost track.

It didn’t help that in the middle of all this time-changing nonsense Caroline discovered how to turn on the bedroom light.  The only place in the girls’ room for the crib is right next to the light switch.  Caroline has been blissfully unaware of the power that could be hers…until lately.

Not only would the girls wake up super early in the morning, but Caroline would turn on the light in the middle of the night and wake Brooke up, who in turn would yell at Caroline and wake everyone else up.

Dallas and I got smart.  We taped the light switch down.  Ha!  Now she couldn’t access the switch.

That lasted a few days.  Caroline quickly learned how to pick the tape off and continue aggravating all of the would-be sleepers in the house.

Dallas and I got smart again.  Dallas constructed a barrier so her little hands couldn’t access the switch.

That didn’t work at all.  Her little hands could still access the switch.

Dallas and I got smart.  We taped the sides of our new contraption so her little hands couldn’t access the switch.

Her little hands could still access the switch.

Dallas and I got desperate.  We scoured the Internet for a light switch cover.  Surely something had to exist; we aren’t the only ones in the world with this problem, right?!

Dallas hit the jackpot. He found a light switch cover that locks the switch in the on or off position.  It was love at first sight.  We bought it as fast as we could.

It’s been the best $5.50 we’ve spent all month.

FINALLY, a device that little hands don’t know how to work.  At least, not this week.

Finally we were able to settle into our beds to sleep without worrying about the chaos two little hands could cause.

Finally a device that would help me and Dallas get a full night’s sleep again.

…And then my feet started to itch.  But that’s a story for another day.