Sleep. A feast or a famine

I believe as a baby I wasn't the greatest fan of sleep.  I was always on the go, bouncing on the bed till all hours of the night and I was always up waiting for the telly to start at 6am.  Remember those days.  I remember sitting on the back of the couch, it felt so huge like a throne or something, looking out the window watching the sky slowly brighten up and loving every solitary second of it.  I didnt need sleep much to my parents dislike.  There was always a drawer to go routing in and food presses to be raided, siblings toys to be played with in peace, songs to be made up without interruption, in a nutshell Life to be Lived.
Then I hit the teenage years and I could have slept for Ireland.  Bed was the best place ever.  Laying in all day Saturday knowing the busy world was going on and I had no more interested in participating whatsoever.
Even my first jobs were night time jobs, Theater and Nightclub work for example and I adored every tiny late night and late morning second of it.  I could go a winter week not seeing any daylight at all.
Daytime work arrived and I detested getting up in the morning.  Never really settling into normal working hours.  I had the ability to go go go for days/nights with little sleep.  Working hard and playing harder.  But on my days off I was OFF literally.  I could sleep from the time I arrived home till I had to leave the house for work again.  So this was the pattern I developed.  It was either all on or all off.  No middle ground.
As a parent of a tiny baby this kind of suits you.  Except there is never any off ever.  But the go go go and cat napping to keep you going lifestyle suited me to a point.  The point probably being when my baby turned about 2, slept through the night and started to cut out naps during the day.
Again I was back to being expected to keep normal working hours and I struggled.  I would struggle out of the bed and get the smallies ready for school and out the door.  I would then require breakfast and a nap before I could pick them up and go again.  We would get a snack, do homework and snuggle on the couch for a nap/bonding sesh before the dinner hour began.  Then I could nearly cry if they were up past their bed time.  Daytime naps were my friend and bedtime was my Bestie.
Now I find myself bright eyed and bushy tailed day and night.  Jump up off the couch after a possible two hour kip in the morning as bed was pointless.  March the kids to school without a yawn, head to the shops or up the town or meet a friend for coffee, arrive home and potter before collecting smallies and getting into the evening routine.  They'd go to bed and I would have a list of telly downloaded and ready to go knowing my brain was yet again going to refuse to switch off.
I had a conversation with my 7yr old about it "Mammy isnt sleeping very well at the minute".  "Ah are you ok Mam".  "Yes Doll", I said, "my brain just wont switch off, I cant even have a nap during the day" to which her reply was "OH MY GOD MAMMY, DID YOU GO TO THE DOCTOR"

I sit here now watching total bull on the telly not sleepy at all.  Mind racing and legs twitching.  But its coming, I know.  The crash, and the cycle begins again...