Wakin' Up is Hard to Do

I have been so tired lately. Actually, tired doesn't even seem to be enough. Exhausted is more like it.

I get that I'm pregnant, and with pregnancy comes a lot of sleepiness, but I am fully into the second trimester here, almost the third, and I thought I was past the overwhelming grogginess that accompanies the early stages of pregnancy. For a few weeks there I did have some energy, I wasn't needing a nap every day, and I was feeling a lot more productive.

But then, like a freight train, this exhaustion hit me again. Every day I feel like I count the minutes until I can get the boys down for their naps so that I can collapse onto my mattress. At the same time though, I always go through this inner battle over the things I should be doing...

Vacuuming
Laundry
Starting dinner
Laundry
Cleaning bathrooms
Laundry

...versus what I am doing:

Passed out, drooling on my pillow.

I just don't remember being this wiped out with either of my other pregnancies, although to be fair, there are a lot of things I don't remember from my pregnancies. Big things, sure, but minute specifics are lost on me. I have even been reading my "What to Expect" books throughout this pregnancy, since I honestly forgot all of the things that are happening each week.

Circumstances are different now. I have two very active toddlers that keep me busy from the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep at night, which I'm sure is contributing to my sleep-deprived state. I don't remember being anywhere close to this tired when I was pregnant with Binker and worked a nine-to-five job. My mom once told me that when my brother and I were little, she went to see the doctor because she was sooo tired all the time, and she just knew that she had to have some sort of vitamin deficiency. He told her that she was tired because she had two little kids at home. So maybe that's what I'm experiencing here.

No matter what the reason is though, I am getting frustrated at my daily need for a nap; I just feel so unproductive. And the fact that I can't enjoy caffeine doesn't help much either. Do any moms out there have any natural remedies for this constant exhaustion?

Or should I simply tell my inner voice to shut itself up and enjoy these naps while I am still able to sneak them in, and don't have a needy newborn in the house?