Sleep Loss and the Creepin' Crud...

2YO puts on her own makeup.

5YO is nice...when she's AWAKE!!!

12YO found that the dentist is nicer when she doesn't actually put the candy IN her mouth!

This is truly one of those days when I feel like I could just go back to bed and sleep the day away.

If only....

The night before last, I didn't get much sleep. First of all, I went to bed an hour or so later than usual. Just so you know, I always wear my seatbelt, I take my vitamins, I don't drink soda, and I GET 7-8 HOURS OF SLEEP EVERY NIGHT. And I'm actually quite content with how boring and predictable that makes me! So, going to bed an hour later was already going to mess me up a bit.

In the middle of the night, 2YO somehow made her way into our bed. She does that sometimes. Once she's there, I don't sleep nearly as well because I constantly feel like I have to know where she is. Our bed is set up rather high and our mattress sits inside of a wood frame, so rolling off would be doubley-painful when you hit the wood frame on the way to the floor. I slept very lightly the rest of the night. 12YO had requested that I wake her up at 5:45 yesterday morning so that she could finish up her book report. I had my cell phone on the nightstand so the alarm could wake me up before David's alarm.

At 5:30 yesterday morning, Spanish-speaking wrong number guy calls me. TWICE. I hit 'ignore' and hope that hearing my voicemail will confirm that he has the wrong number. I get a new voice message from each call. As I check, I just hear a minute or so of road noise like he's driving or something. It's the same number that has been calling me repeatedly for awhile now. Grrrr......

I was wide awake when my alarm went off at 5:45...and up for the rest of the day! I hit my wall sometime in the afternoon when we were finishing up homework and tried to sneak in a little nap before we had to get ready for cheer practice. Those bossy little people, however, had other plans for me. I was bothered approximately ever 90 seconds or so for the next 20 minutes. That's stinks because a good 20-minute snooze could really have turned my day around!

I was in bed by 11:00 last night, but only because I was too tired to argue with 2YO (who was wide awake, unfortunately) about sleeping in our bed. Again. This time, however, I slept like a rock. I was beat. I slept so hard, in fact, that I only woke up at 3:30 when 2YO had apparently wriggled her way to the foot of the bed and rolled off with a resounding THUD. That THUD was followed by a SCREAM and then some CRYING. David and I both flew out of the bed and to the foot where 2YO was lying, crying and still disoriented on the floor below. David scooped her back up and put her between us once again. She had no visible injuries and calmed down pretty quickly. David somehow managed to be almost instantly asleep after that. (Is that some sort of male gift or something?) I, on the other hand, took a few extra minutes to calm my pounding heart and get settled back into my own sleep. After that, 5:30 (which was 12YO's requested wake-up call) came pretty quickly.

Lily has also learned that I will let her out of her crate in the middle of the night if she starts to bark. I will do anything to shut anyone up in the middle of the night, determined to get a decent night's sleep. She just wants to curl up in the floor of the girls' room. I don't see any real harm in that, even though it's against the guidelines that David has tried to put in place. If he wants to get up in the middle of the night and help me, then he can have a vote.

On top of the whole sleep deprivation thing, our whole house seems to be coming down with the creepin' crud. Nothing too serious, just a congested sort of cough and a general feeling of our airways just being smaller. It's probably all congestion, but it hasn't loosened up enough to feel like it yet. Nobody feels all that bad, just a little crummy.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I get to wake 5YO up for school for another 12 years or so. Here's little snippet of our conversation this morning, as accurately depicted as my groggy brain can recount it:

ME: Good morning! It's time to wake up.

5YO: Why are you waking me up?

ME: Because it's time to get up and get ready for school.

5YO: I don't want to go to school. And I don't want you to wake me up!

ME: Well then, who would you like to wake you up in the mornings?

5YO: NOBODY! I want to wake myself up!

ME: Well, I'd like that too. But, if you don't wake up by yourself soon enough then I have to come and wake you up myself.

5YO: WHY?

ME: So you can get to school on time.

5YO takes her time getting out of her bed and I have to resort to a few physical threats to make it happen. All in a day's work, right?

I walk her down the hall to get her shoes. 12YO is already showered and dressed and going over her notecards to study for today's tests, sitting at the kitchen table. She looks up and smiles at 5YO as she walks past.

5YO: I thought you were going to do my hair now!

ME: I will do your hair in a minute. I just need you to put your shoes on first.

5YO: (looks at 12YO smiling at her and growls) WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT???

12YO is startled by 5YO's response to her. She immeditately looks away and tells her that she just looks cute. 5YO growls again in response.

I'm either going to have to start putting this child to bed when she's done with her homework or just make sure she has a pot of coffee to wake up to every morning. I've never seen such a young child in need of a morning pick-me-up!

*For the record, I do not actually intend to give my child coffee. But I'll want to, though!*

I have a few loads of laundry going and I just wonder if I'll be able to sneak in a little nap to get me through the rest of the day. I have to pick all of the kids up from school and take 12YO to the dentist to get some teeth pulled. She has a couple of baby teeth that need to be pulled, as the permanent teeth aren't quite where they need to be to push them out on their own. She's actually more nervous about her tests and having to run the mile today in P.E. than her dental appointment.

My kid is weird. She actually loves the dentist! Sort of reminds me of this little girl:

I just wish she had her paycheck!

Have a great day!