Do YOU Need Sleep? Enter the Nature's Sleep Photo Contest And Win A Brand New Mattress! #NaturesSleep

***Disclosure: As a Nature's Sleep Ambassador, I receive product samples to facilitate reviews. All opinions are 100% honest and have not been influenced in any way.***

Okay, so I have a confession to make: Like many parents of teens and small children, I do not sleep much. In fact, I consider myself lucky if I can grab 4-5 hours of shut-eye on any given night. 

It's funny...As kids and teens, we fight taking naps. Flat out refuse them. Perhaps even view them as a punishment. Well, at this point, if naps are a punishment, toss me in bed, lock the room, and throw away the key, please! That's a sentence I'll gladly accept! Oh, the irony. Or maybe it's just ironic in my own, sleep-deprived mind. Lack of sleep can make a person completely neurotic, after all. 

And of course, once I do fall asleep, I sleep well. So well that I don't want to get up in the morning, in fact. I just want to curl up with my Nature's Sleep Vitex Gel Memory Foam Pillow and dream of Bruno Mars until it's a decent hour. Like noon. But my supreme loathing for the early hours of the day is a whole different post entirely. We'll just say I'm not a morning person and leave it at that.

Anyway, here are the main reasons I don't get nearly the right amount of sleep at night. Or during the day. Or EVER. When Mommy sleeps, bad things happen. Very, very bad things. 

The Main Reasons I Don't SLeep :

Here are things that have happened on the rare occasion that I tried-and failed- to take a cat-nap. These things happen even when my husband is home to "supervise the children". It just goes to show that Mom must always be alert....

Xander decided it would be fun to draw whiskers on his face. With permanent marker.

Stealing Daddy's cookie mix. Caught red-handed!

Budding Van Goghs? Maybe one day!

Those are things that happened when I actually managed to fall asleep. There are, of course, plenty of environmental factors that usually prevent that from happening. (Read: This poor Mom lives in a crazy house!) 

Here are some of the things that keep me from enjoying any down time. 

My kids will use the adults of the house as a make-shift jungle gym

This is Sophie. She looks awfully sweet and innocent, but don't let that little face fool you. This girl is clever, cunning, and a total opportunist. She will be the perfect little angel until Mommy falls asleep. Then it's time to do something totally cruel, like spreading Mommy's face with peanut butter. True story. And if her baby brother, Xander, is helping, it's double trouble. 

And here is my Yorkie, who is aptly named Trouble. Trouble is a sweet little dog, but she does live up to her name. As soon as I fall asleep, she thinks it's her duty to wake me up by covering my face, ears, and any other exposed skin with a million and a half slobbery doggy licks. Not cool, Trouble....Not cool at all. 

And of course, in addition to my dog being a pain in the butt, my cats are pretty nuts, too. In fact once the sun goes down, they become completely psychotic. They race throughout the house at warp speeds, jumping, climbing, and clawing everything in their wake. (Even if it's an unsuspecting, sleeping Mommy-type person.) 

Since my family keeps me up much later than I'd like, I end up making myself stay up to catch the latest episode of Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!. This show is seriously hilarious, although it's on pretty close to midnight. Totally worth it, though. Where else would you see Julia Roberts and Sally Field go head to head in a Celebrity Curse Off? 

So there are just some of the reasons I don't get enough sleep. Thankfully, I am able to see the humor in my sleep deprivation and I haven't  killed anyone for disturbing my attempted rest. My kids will only be little once, and while they may be boogers, I enjoy every bleary-eyed, coffee-laced moment of it. Maybe when they're all in school, I will be able to take one of those elusive naps, completely undisturbed. Until then, I guess I will remain among the ranks of Zombie-fied parents everywhere. 

Are YOU sleep deprived? Well, if you are, you're in luck! Right now through May 30th, you can take part in Nature's Sleep's Photo Contest. (It IS National Photo Month, after all!) One very lucky person will win a brand new Nature's Sleep Mattress, valued at over $2000.00! 

So grab your camera and take your best photo showing why YOU need a good night's sleep. It can be funny, or it can be completely artistic and off-the-wall bizarre. You remain in complete creative control, so have fun with it! To enter, simply submit your photo entry HERE.

 Submissions close on June 15th! Good luck!

Special Savings :

Right now, you can improve your sleep by choosing a Nature's Sleep Mattress, Memory Foam Pillow, or Mattress Topper. There are so many different options available that you're bound to find the perfect solution for your own personal sleep style. 

Use code NSPHOTO for 35% off site-wide and free shipping within the Continental United States!

Nature's Sleep Twitter Chats :

If you'd like to learn more about memory foam or gel mattresses and how they're not all created equal, there are some great Nature's Sleep twitter chats you can attend. Oh, I should also mention that there are some amazing prizes awarded, too! 

These twitter chats happen the FIRST and THIRD Tuesday of every month at 1:00PM EST. The next chats are on the following dates:

June 3 - Camping tips & tricks

June 17 - Glamping with Nature's Sleep

To participate, be sure to follow the following twitter accounts:  @makobimedia @naturessleep and @makobiscribe

Then follow along using the #NaturesSleep hashtag. 

***Twitter Chat Tip*** If you find it difficult to keep up with the action, try using a service like Twubs that will make tracking the hashtag easier. You can even slow the conversation and follow at a more human pace.

You can learn more about the awesomeness that is Nature's Sleep on their website.

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