Sacrificial Sleep

The things that we sacrifice.. for me it's lately been sleep!

I've gotten into a routine, whether it's good or not, of staying up a little bit later in order to do some things around the house after the little man goes to sleep, and now that I've been doing it for several weeks now, it's become a habit!

The parents here know that it's a constant struggle to keep the house clean, get the chores done and all of the various daily tasks that come with a living space with children. There isn't enough time in a day to do that plus work! So we find the time when we can.. and sacrifice other things, one of them very often being sleep lol.

I've been taking these cognitive supplements for a few months now and one of the really good things about them is that it gives me some good focus, and that in turn means energy. The other nice thing about that as well is that it lasts throughout the afternoon and into the evening. I don't know if it's just a placebo effect or what but I have certainly been enjoying the extra productivity on top of my normal pretty good amount! Where that productivity has been coming in handy is in the evening after I get my son to sleep, getting back downstairs and doing some cleaning.

It's not every night, some nights I'm on Hive the whole time writing and engaging in posts but often lately it's cleaning downstairs, getting things organized and all that. I know that I need to get some more sleep and thankfully am in bed by 11 but that extra 2 hours, sometimes 3, of getting this cleaning done when there is no one else awake has been great for getting things done.

With kids, especially boys, they tend to make considerable messes in the house if they aren't outside. That for sure goes on in our house which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it does make for a challenging environment when we can't walk on the floor without stepping on a Lego or something in order to get from the table, the couch or near the window over to the bathroom or kitchen. That ends up meaning that almost daily, it is a task to clean up the floor hahaha.

I don't entirely mind it though because it helps keep the house cleaner, reduces the chances that my wife gets frustrated that the house looks like a mess and has to clean it, and means that things get found easier. One of the other things that is pretty famous as a parent is getting asked "where is X?" type of thing. When we don't clean, and end up putting things in specific spots, that question goes unanswered for sure and can sometimes cause some chaos but when we are able to clean and have a basic understanding for where things go, we can more easily answer these types of things!

I would like to eventually work my way back down to a more normal sleep schedule.. but that is tough because now I'm a little bit used to the extra time to clean and organize the house. It's not the worst thing to have to do this, as it helps but it's certainly a sacrifice of much needed sleep. What usually happens for me is that I end up catching a cold and go back to sleeping really early again, to break the cycle lol

What about you, do you sacrifice your sleep for these things? Do you feel guilty when you don't?