Oh yes, absolutely. Animals and small children can see and sense things that we cannot. You may want to do some reading about pyschics (the legitimate ones -- I probably shouldn't mention names here, but do a search on google -- not the 1-800 psychic lines) and the afterlife. It might give you some comfort and understanding.

As far as the sleep disturbances, upset stomach, etc.: these are definitely par for the course.

You are in the very early stages of your grief. I understand that you want to get back to "normal," but please take the time you need to process your shock and the loss. This was very sudden for you. I find that reading about the grieving process helped me understand it enormously. You don't even have to get any books on it; you can just do research on the web.

I have no doubt that animals can see or otherwise sense spirits. This was dramatically demonstrated to me when my mother died, and her pug, Dukie, stared at a chair and howled and howled. He had never howled before. That night he made a different noise, and kept me up all night. My mother's friend told me that when my dad died in the hospital, Dukie had stared at his bed at home, howling. She said that night he kept Mama up all night, making loud, strange noises.

When my daughter died, I was upstairs later that night when I heard my dog howl downstairs. She had never howled before.

believe? take it for granted, in my family- animals can smell electrical energy (and everything we are is bio-electrical- things like EEG's wouldn't work, otherwise) so it would stand to reason that they would 'know' when a spirit was near...

dogs especially are pack animals, and have a sort of collective sense- I've known mother dogs who reacted to a pup getting into an accident three states away.

the change in your sleep patterns is pretty standard as a reaction to long-term stress.. with ANY prolonged stress, our sleep patterns are the first thing to break down, followed by hygeine and/or eating habits...and you're perceptive enough that since you didn't SAY 'just like my mom used to' it's not some odd synchronicity.

reasserting your chosen sleep pattern is just a matter of time- and if you can accomodate it for a while, there's nothing wrong with sleeping in ;)

Thanks people! Glad to know I wasn't imagining things. :)

In a way it's good my dog can sense my mother's spirit (Or the spirits of my grandparents or my first dog). Would they visit me as well even if they've never set foot in this house? Any how, it's nice to have a way of knowing exactly when she is near by. Being as we can't sense spirits. Just hope my dog isn't being freaked out too much. He seems okay after a minute or two.

I mean I'm not religious at all. But I have now been convinced that spirits do exist. And if spirits exist than there must be a Heaven and Hell. :)

During the month of June (my mother passed on the 30th of May...some of you know this already...some may not) I've had instances where I suddenly picked up a scent. Unexplained. Don't know if it some odd coincidence. As I said...I can't explain it...

There was the time when I was getting up from borrowing my mother's PC. Her's is faster...but I digress. :) And suddenly picked up the scent of Chinese inscents (I'm Canadian-born Chinese btw...parents were from HK...educated/worked in HK/Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Very pungent. But faint.

The scent is what you would smell at a Buddhist temple or some of the older Chinese restaurants where there is a wall mounted (or sitting on a table) big red box, with a Budda statue inside, fruit, candles and the long thin inscent sticks. My grandmother (my dad's side) had such a box in her appartment as she was a devout Buddhist. Recall her praying or chanting daily while manipulating beeds. Was it my grandmother visiting me? Heh...

Any how. Within a second and a half the scent was gone. There are some old books near by but they have a distinctively different scent.

Was that a sign from my mother or grandmother? Dunno...hope I'm not starting to sound loopy to you all. :)

As for my sleeping patterns. Also good to hear. Looking forward to the days when I don't feel like waking at 6 AM for no reason. Be able to sleep uninterupted. I'm so jealous of my dad as he has had one instance of uninterupted sleep. From 12:30-10 AM. But today he did wake once in the morning.

Did you all go through this too? How long did it take you for your sleeping patterns to return to normal? I know it's different for everyone. Just curious...

Thanks people! Have a good day! :)

My sleeping patterns sure have changed. I have a hard time turning off my thoughts at night, so I stay up later. Then, for some reason, I wake up every morning at 4am. I don't want or have to be up at this time. Even when I was taking a sleep-aid I would wake up at 4. I don't get it!
As for signs, I'm still waiting and hoping I get to see my brother in a dream. I swear I heard him one night, I was just about to sleep when I heard "hey". Also, on the day my brother died, before we even knew he had passed, my son & I were walking home and we saw a bunny, one month after his death there was a bunny sitting at my back gate. I'm wondering if I'll see a bunny this month. In my heart I know the bunnies were a sign from him.

I lost my mother 2 years ago and did have sleep irregularities for a while afterward. I had always joked with her that someday when she died I didn't want her to ever appear in front of me in spirit form, as even though we were so close, that would just freak me out. So I said that whenever she wanted me to know she was in my presence, have someone cross my path wearing her favourite perfume, which is not commonly worn. Last week a lady rushed into the auditorium 15 minutes late for a graduation ceremony, stepping over my feet and sitting down in the seat to my left, just as my daughter's name was called to receive her diploma and a scholarship award. She was wearing my mother's perfume. She politely excused herself for being late, and pointed down to her shoe. The strap had broken on one of her shoes and would have make walking difficult. She probably wondered why I couldn't stop smiling. Not only was she wearing my mother's rare perfume, but the only time I ever remember my mother being late in her whole life was once when the strap broke on her shoe while walking to the hospital to see my newborn daughter (the same one that just graduated). So I have to admit, I'm hoping a lady wearing the same perfume and a broken shoe shows up at my daughter's wedding someday!

Well, it seems to be a fact of life for those of us that have recently lost family members. I just wonder why this is happening to us. Stress?

While I don't think I'm overly stressing myself before I'm able to fall asleep (which I have no problem doing...falling asleep) I do think I am slightly stressing myself still. Thinking of sad thoughts. Or just any thoughts involving my mother.

I think the night we can stop focusing on the loss before bed is the night we will finally be able to return to our old sleep patterns. But how do we do this when we're still grieving? Guess we'll just have to let "time" do it's thing.

It took another grieving forum member (from another website) 3 months before she was able to return to her old sleep patterns. Hope it won't take me that long. This is too annoying. At lesat I don't wake in the middle of the night.

You can't rush grief. Sleep disturbances are indeed one of the many manifestations of grief. You can do things to help to relax yourself -- e.g., no strenuous exercise right before bed, no caffeine or alcohol within a few hours before bed, etc. -- but ultimately it just has to run its course.

You may want to get a couple of books about grief. I found that very helpful when my father died, because things that I never would have connected to the grieving process (heart palpitations, difficulty concentrating) were explained.

Pickyshopper, that's a great story!

Very true "lasershow" about rushing grief. But as I've been saying. Just find it annoying. I woke up at 6AM again this morning for no reason. But I did go to bed an hour earlier knowing this might happen. So I'm not loosing sleep. Just wished I wouldn't keep waking so early.

Luckily I am always able to go back to bed after a bathroom break.

Books on grief. Hmmmmm... Never really thought about that. Maybe that will help "speed" things up. Spend less time than you should grieving. Or just give me a better mindset. Not that I think I'm having troubles now. Got any recommendations? Keep in mind I'm not much of a reader. No War & Peace type of books please. :)

Woke at 7:30AM today. Better. Felt myself waking early and forced myself to go back to sleep. Don't know how I knew it was before 7AM but I did. I suppose maybe we can use our "body clocks" to tell time? (shrug)

Any how, I've periodically had days where I did manage to sleep till at least 7:30AM or so before waking. Maybe this means my body-clock is slowly resetting itself back to the way it was before my mother passed away. I really hope so.

Do you guys/girls think about your lost love ones before you sleep? I'm wondering if that isn't one of the major reasons why our sleep patterns are so irregular.

I also believe that animals and small children are much more in tuned to sense spirits from the other side.
Sleep irregularities are very commmon for people grieving. Unfortunately, the lack of sleep or disruption of the regular sleep pattern adds to the stress on our bodies.
My daughter was hit by a truck at 2:20 am. For the longest after her accident, I woke up at 2:20 am. This puzzles me. If anyone has an explaination, I would love to hear it.
Lu