"The Delights of Self-Discovery are Always Available." --Gail Sheehy

You know, all these years David and I have had a good laugh at our siblings for their nocturnal activities. You see, all of the kids except us did weird things while sleeping. Okay, when it comes down to it, I can't remember what Isaac does that's weird. David will have to help me out on that one.

Sarah and Jon both sleep like the dead. They can sleep for far longer than most people--10, 12 hours don't bother them. In fact, they enjoy it. Also, if you wake them up before they want to get up, both are grumpy as bears. Cute bears, sleepy bears, but still, dangerous bears. :) Take a word of warning from me and try not to wake them if you can. It got to be that when the parents would ask me to rouse one or the other of that particular pair, I would hastily remember another, more pressing matter, and decline their invitation to walk into the lair and be mauled. :)

Jacob is extremely sensitive to light and sound when he is sleeping. He likes to have things pitch black and I have seen him wear ear plugs when going to sleep. Don't get me wrong--I understand the notion of not having a lot of light while one is trying to sleep. We have a lamp with a night light which I absolutely detest. I always throw something over the night light so I can fall asleep. I also turn the extremely bright clock radios away from me so I don't have a glaring neon light in my eyes all night long. Brent doesn't understand either of those notions. :)

David's a pretty light sleeper and it doesn't take much to wake him, but other than that, he's pretty normal...so far... :)

Rachael--now, well Rachael is another story. Rachael grinds her teeth during her sleep, which absolutely drives me crazy. You really want to throw a pillow at her when she's doing that, but that seems unkind. She doesn't injure her teeth like other teeth grinders. No dentist has been able to find any evidence of her grinding her teeth, but I promise you, she does it.

Rachael also talks in her sleep, which amuses me to no end. I would sometimes try and get her to spill vital information, or carry on a ludicrous conversation, just to have a laugh. Unfortunately, Rachael would always become suspicious and would wake up and be mad at me, so I never had a successful test.

But I thought I was the same as David! I thought I was a good sleeper, with no annoying habits! Brent tells me that this is not so--not even close. In my defense, Brent is a very light sleeper and if I do something like roll over in bed, that will wake him up. He seems forgiving of bed rolling, but not so forgiving of sleep talking. Yes, apparently I also talk in my sleep. Brent told me that last night I was talking about burning marshmallows in the kitchen. He said that sometimes I tell him something and he thinks that I'm awake and asking questions, but when he tries to respond, I don't respond to him. No, no, I'm just having the fun of a conversation by myself.

So, I did not know that I talk in my sleep. I have tried not to talk in my sleep, ever since Brent made this known to me. I want him to have a good night's sleep. But apparently that isn't working, as evidenced by the marshmallow comment.

I've attached a picture of the Lauritzen siblings, without Jacob. We, the weird sleepers, UNITE! :)