Saturday, May 31, 2008

Lack of sleep

There are so many times I think of great things to write, but don’t get to the computer and I forget. The times I do seem to get to the computer sometimes are when I’m angry about something. Or sulking… I suppose no one wants to interrupt or get in the way by the time I’m this frustrated about something….

Last night it was my goal to get to bed by 10:30. I am sleep deprived, a lot of it my own fault. But the crazy thing is when I'm not keeping myself up, when I've decided I'm going to put myself to bed, that's when the world conspires against me and turns itself on at 10:00 pm. Last night Hubby called about 9:00, just as I was brushing the girls' teeth. I was running late night, I like getting them down by 8:30, so I was late anyway. I talked to him for half an hour, and one of the primary motivations for him to call was to talk to me about Vegas. He’s asked me before if I thought it would be a good idea, but I’ve spaced off looking into it. Well, he had to respond about the hotel, and needed to know if I was willing to come out and bring the girls.

So, the girls ran amok while I talked on the phone to him for half an hour, then it was close to 10:00 pm. by the time they got in bed. This means it’s 10:00 pm by the time I start my internet search to see if there’s enough stuff for the girls to do in Vegas to justify bringing them. Of course, it’s close to 11:00 by the time I’ve looked everything up, figured out which Cirque du Soleil show would work, etc. etc. etc. and called and left a message for Hubby, who took a red-eye from San Francisco to Michigan or somewhere last night, so he could respond about the hotel.

One of the options would be to leave the girls with my folks and go to Vegas ourselves. So I called my mother as I crawled into bed, right close to 11:00, to see if she could take the girls, if that would even be an option. Of course we talked for close to half an hour, forty mintues or so.

Finally I went to sleep, pushing midnight. Thing 2 woke me up at 4:30, calling from her room… I went in and she said “I want to give you a hug.” No nightmare,… No drink of water… no rolled out of bed. A hug. Couldn’t the hug wait until DAYLIGHT???? I give her a hug, go to the bathroom, and stumble back to bed.

At 6:07 she is standing next to my bed with her new teddy bear she got at a build-a-bear birthday party last night. She wants me to put his shirt on. She took it off last night so he could sleep more comfortably, and it’s ten minutes after six, the sun is hardly up, and she’s waking me up to put his shirt on. I beg her to go back to sleep. Don’t wake up Thing 1 (in the top bunk), just go back to sleep. She very quickly dissolves into tears. FINE! I sit up and grab the bear and put on its shirt to shut her up. OF course I don’t look too far into the future, to realize that

1) My sitting up and putting on the shirt in a huff causes her to completely dissolve into tears.

2) What’s she going to do once she has the bear’s shirt on but bother me?

I beg her to be quiet, she cries, this goes on for a few moments. Finally she toddles off in a huff. Of course she wakes up Thing 1.

Thing 1 comes in and cuddles with me. We try to sleep, but really just listen to Thing 2 cry for a while in the next room about how much I don’t love her anymore. Finally she stops crying and comes in wrapped in a sympathy blanket and I pull her into bed with us and cuddle her until she seems okay. She frets about her dance recital today. I try to calm her down. Then she and Thing 1 wander off. It’s about 6:40 am. I roll over and go back to sleep.

For approximately three mintues. Thing 2 comes in and asks me to get the box for her build-a-bear. I lay there for a minute thinking what can I say… It’s totally futile to try and sleep anymore, it’s just frustrating me, so finally I just get up. She runs out screaming “No! No! I just wanted you to say yes or no!!!!” As though I was coming to get her and flay her or something.

So I am up. It’s 7:30, a big day with the dance dress rehersal, the concert, and my folks coming around 4:00 to our totally messy house. I have to go pick up our first co-op food drop. I’ve had a six hours of sleep (wildly interrupted sleep) on my grand catch-up sleep period.

I feel like so tired and incompetent all the time, like I’m going through a sticky sleep haze trying to function. It’s time to clean up the kitchen, the toy room, finish the laundry, get the co-op, and get Thing 2 to her rehearsal. I want to cry. Maybe I will. Just have a good cry to myself. While I vacuum.

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The dance recital was great, it was nice to have Grandma and Papa there for it.
Thing 2 did very well.



This is from the dress rehersal...


Monday, May 12, 2008

Thing 2 cracks me up

We went to a singing concert for Thing 1’s school at Kingsbury hall tonight. Of course the only problem was that Hubby is in New York. Thing 1 did wonderfully, from what I could tell. My view was somewhat obstructed by the narrator and a music stand, but when he sat down I could mostly see her. She didn’t sing with the enthusiasm I would have expected on the bug song that she sang, which she has been singing around the house since the first of the year, but she made up for it on another song they sang, which was just charming.

There were two other songs she sang, one about out my window, the other about my heart is home, both of which the whole school sang. I got some video of it, but you can't see her at all. The kindergarteners were standing on the floor in front of the stage, and the only ones you could see was the line of kids in the front of the pack. But the songs were really neat, inspiring to have this whole school of kids singing the song, it really choked me up. All in all it was a really nice concert. The songs were wonderful, the kids did great.

The video is pretty grainy, and I was filming it with Thing 2 squirming on my lap, and was farther back than I would have liked, but you get the idea.



We came back and made mini cinnamon rolls, and I think the girls both ate too much. Thing 2 was complaining of a tummy ache. Thing 1 went into the bathroom and seemed to be taking a while. I went to the door to ask if she was okay and she said she’d had a BM (not her words) and had been burping, and wondered if she was going to throw up. I went in to kind of help her and make sure she turned around in time…

after a couple of minutes Thing 2 knocked on the door, and without opening it (Thing 1 has developed a sense of privacy, which Thing 2 nicely respected) her little hand reached in and put something on the bathroom counter. She hollered through the door that she had left something for Thing 1. When Thing 1 seemed settled and figured she probably wasn’t going to throw up I finally got a chance to see what Thing 2 had left her. It was one of the individual Pedialyte containers. She assured Thing 1 it was really yummy medicine and would make her feel better, though I don't think Thing 2 has ever tasted it herself.

My other favorite Thing 2 story of the day happened last week. We were sitting at breakfast and Thing 2 rather spontaneously announced out of nowhere that if she were drawing a mean face she would do this, and such, and draw the eyes so, and on and on as she was drawing in the air with her imaginary pencil. At the same time she was demonstrating her mean face. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I brought Thing 1’s attention to Thing 2’s brow and how it went down in a V in the middle. Since Thing 1 is kind of my visual artist, it was a beautiful demonstration.
Not wanting Thing 2 to be left out, since Thing 1 was furrowing her brow to make a mean face too, I showed Thing 2 how it looked on Thing 1’s face. But I suppose as I really think Thing 1 might be the one to really get something out of this demonstration, I went back to pointing out Thing 2’s features to Thing 1. Besides, I think Thing 2 was really more into making the mean face. So I’m pointing this out. “Look, Thing 1, how her eyes get little, and she gets those lines on the bridge of her nose… and – Hey Thing 2, you don’t have a mean mouth! A mean mouth would be drawn down showing teeth, or a big frown, I think. And you’re smiling! You have mean eyes but a great big grin!” Thing 2 responded, and I quote, “That means I have a plan.”

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Newfound allergy

Just had a major scare. I was kneeling on the floor in the girl’s room folding clothes when suddenly my head felt funny – a really strong pulse in my head. I got up to look in the mirror and sure enough my face was really red…. I didn’t know what to do, walked back into the girl’s room and the pulse is throbbing really strongly in my head… I laid down, didn’t help. I was feeling pretty darn awful, and started wondering if I’d be able to drive myself to the emergency room, or if I’d need an ambulance.

I came downstairs and fired up my computer and tried looking up “pulse in head” and, wondering if it might be related to the three brazil nuts I’d just eaten a few mintues before, typed in Allergy. I wasn’t getting much help. About this time I felt compelled to add “nausea” but before I could get much from that I went in the bathroom and threw up.  And again.

My body seems to be good at purging. I feel quite a bit better, though my face still feels terribly swollen, my nose is COMPLETELY stuffed up – Hubby told me it looks swollen too, and it’s almost hard to open my eyes in my swollen face. I think I want to go to bed. I’m just awfully glad Hubby is here. The drive to the emergency room with the girls in tow would have been really awkward.
 So apparently I'm allergic to Brazil nuts.
Hubby had the audacity to suggest I was overreacting.
He wasn't the one who thought his pulse was going to blow his brains out.