Hubby snapped a picture of me as an exhausted new mother in August 2002. Yes that’s a dog and a baby in bed with me and you can see I’m passed out in my nursing bra. No I don’t recommend doing any of this but hubby was there as my spotter.

Once your precious baby is sleeping through the night it is, for a short time at least, a slow cruise toward Snoozeville. Mastering the sleeping through the night milestone is nature’s way of making sure we don’t totally lose it from lack of sleep, because Lord knows we all need our sanity for the Terrible Twos. This dangling carrot of parenthood, however, eventually gets eaten by your own brain known as a disorder called momsomnia. This is a disorder that most typically affects parents of elementary school age kids.

Blame it on the end of year activities calendar on steroids. Blame it 40-something hormones. Blame it on that piece of dark chocolate you ate at 10 p.m. with a red wine chaser.

You can no longer remember the last time you slept through the night.

Your kids are well past the baby monitor and baby food days, but you’re once again not clocking in consecutive zzzzzs.

My endless Post It mental notes wake me up almost every night, or to be more precise, at 2 a.m.

This is a sampling of my stream of consciousness to do list during the end of school year crazies.

Did I sign that permission slip? Did we RSVP for that party? Did I miss that soccer tryout deadline? Did I pay for that field trip? Do I still owe the cafeteria two bucks? Do we have a dress down day this Friday or NEXT Friday? When am I supposed to bring snacks to school? Have I washed my hair this week? Who’s this guy in bed with me? (Ha…just checking to make sure you’re still reading. Simmer down.)

So here’s a little advice to all you young couples sans children.

SLEEP! Sleep like you’ve never slept before. Do not take sleep for granted. Some day you won’t be able to remember the last time you clocked in 8 consecutive hours of uninterrupted slumber and you’ll be a walking mom zombie, making turkey sandwiches and putting them in the bread bag with the rest of the loaf instead of into your kids’ lunch boxes.

Not that I’d ever do that.