A Father's Confession

I have a flaw.

I was just as shocked as you are, believe me.

My flaw is simple. I'm a heavy sleeper. Let me explain the dynamic of a bedroom that houses a heavy sleeper and a borderline insomniac. It can become a little tense.

1) There's the genuine sense of envy and even jealousy on part of the sleep deprived. My wife fits this category. When I ask how she's slept in the morning, I usually get a "Not very well." Response. When she asks me, I say I slept well. She replies, "OF COURSE YOU DID." (She doesn't really yell...that's just there for effect.)

2) Heavy sleepers tend to stay asleep. Even when we wake up in the middle of the night, its more of a middlesleep state. We're awake, but we're not thinking with all of our usual well rested faculties.

Herein lies our problem and my subsequent confession. When our son wakes in the middle of the night I tend to take the lazy way out. It's not intentional. It's really not. I want to be SuperHusband/SuperDad all the time. But I end up laying in bed thinking, "He'll go back to sleep." "I'll just give him a few minutes to cry it out." "Its just a small fire." Thoughts like that.

So here's me last night:

And this is my wife last night, this morning, and probably today too:

And I take the blame for that one. It's something I really need to work on. Last night I was honestly listening to him cough (he's had a mild chest infection) and it didn't sound awful and he didn't sound awake. So I was hoping it would pass. However, I laid there too long. When Liz started to get up, I didn't move.

So today, this is me:

Sorry Sweetheart. You deserve better.