FAMILY

Truett’s been having a difficult time sleeping the past couple of weeks. Insomnia is rough for an adult to deal with and I can’t imagine how much worse it is when you’re 11. He wakes up several times a night and has trouble  falling back asleep so he just lies there in bed, sometimes for hours, feeling the creeping frustration that insomnia brings.

We tried every hack for curing insomnia and so far none of it has really worked. Sticking to a bedtime schedule, a warm bath, bedtime routine, calming music, essential oils, breathing techniques, light reading if it gets too long. We pray for him and sit with him in his room till he falls back asleep and tell him that he can come over to our room if he can’t sleep.

It’s been a long time since he’s wanted to cuddle up in our bed and it’s nice to have him over; it reminds me of all those nights when he would try to fall asleep in our bed as a tiny baby. He used to crawl around in bed jabbing my eyelids and yanking my hair trying to get me to wake up and play. There’s much less jabbing and yanking now but I hear him tossing and turning next to me and I reach over to tousle his hair like I used to when he was a baby. I’m not sure if it helps him to fall back asleep but I think maybe it’s a little comforting.

We talk to him about coping with anxiety and the one good thing that has come out of this is that he’s been writing us long letters about how he’s feeling, which is the sweetest.

The other kids know that he’s been going through a rough time and they’re all rallying around him trying to see what they can do to help him feel better. Finn offered to trade places and take the upper deck alone so that Tru can have some company when he sleeps, even though he’d much rather be the one sleeping next to his big brother all night. But he knows Theo isn’t going to take the upper deck alone so he volunteered. That’s what true love looks like.

Kirsten tells him to wake her up anytime so she can hang out with him in the middle of the night. Theo is like “don’t worry, kor kor, I will pat you to sleep,” then promptly falls asleep and starts snoring because he can’t even. Baby Hayley offered him her stuffed lamb, “but only for a while and I’m gonna need it back OKAY?!”

We’re all a little sad that Tru is having a difficult time and we’re not quite sure how to help but this experience has reminded us that this is what family means. It’s knowing that there are people who’ve got your back and are there for you for as long as you need it.