Anna has a cold. Elli may be coming down with one too. Here's a sketch of today.
1:10am
Elli wakes up coughing. I toss and turn, trying to sleep and waiting for her to go back to sleep. She coughs for an hour.
2:15am
I finally decide that she isn't going back to sleep without help. I get up, give her cough medicine, and tell her to go back to sleep. I also give her a little bit of water to drink. She's mad that I left. I toss and turn, trying to sleep and waiting for her to go back to sleep.
3:10am
I decide that Elli is going to need more help getting back to sleep. I suspect that she may be coming down with Anna's cold. I get up and give her more medicine, this time night-time cold stuff that should help her get sleepy. She's mad that I left again, but falls quiet within a few minutes. I fall asleep.
3:30am
Anna starts crying. I wake up, toss and turn, trying to sleep and waiting for her to go back to sleep.
3:45am
I'm really really tired by now and don't want to get out of bed a third time. I wake Scott up and ask him to please get up and give Anna some more medicine. He has told me to wake him up and ask for help on rough nights like this.
3:50am
Scott finally sits up and asks "I'm supposed to give Elli what?" I remember why I don't wake him up. I grumpily reply, "No! Leave Elli alone! Anna needs cold medicine and tylenol. 3/4 teaspoon of each."
4:00am
Scott is fumbling around in the kitchen, looking for the right medicine and syringe, I suppose. I toss and turn, trying to sleep and debating whether to get up and just do it myself since I'm not sleeping anyway. I hope that he remembers the right meds to give, the right amounts, and correctly identifies the meds in his fog.
4:15am
Everyone is in their beds. I turn off my alarm (which was set for 6am) and finally fall asleep for good.
6am
Scott gets up to get ready for work. I toss and turn, trying to sleep.
7am
Scott brings Sam into our room. I stagger out of bed to turn on Mr. Rogers' neighborhood, then stagger back to doze for another half hour.
7:30am
Anna starts crying. I get up, make her a bottle, myself a large coffee (I use TWO pods in the Home Cafe machine instead of my usual one), and Sam a juice. I bring Anna into bed and we all wake up slowly while watching the morning news.
8:00am
I move everyone out to the kitchen, turn on Clifford for Sam, and check email. I have a couple messages to send first thing. Elli is awake, so I get her dressed. I check out the meds that are out on the counter. Not sure what Scott gave Anna last night. He probably isn't sure either. I mentally note to just get up next time.
8:30am
I turn off Clifford, get Sam dressed and give him breakfast, start Elli's breathing treatment (I suspect that her coughing fit resulted from my forgetting to do the treatments every day), and feed Anna, dodging sneezes and coughs the whole time. I have some orange juice and thyroid supplements for breakfast.
9:00am
I feed Elli. This takes an hour, so I finally get Anna down and let her play with Sam. She lays down on the (dirty) floor under my chair for awhile. Sam comes by and rubs her back. They immediately break it up when I go for the digital camera, heading off to other fun. Sam suddenly appears without any pants or underwear. He has had his clothes on for less than an hour. I have just finished washing, drying, folding, and putting away all the laundry in the house. My frustration is visible - Sam asks what's wrong. I tell him I'm frustrated because he got his clothes wet when he knows how to go potty on time. Anna gets into the cat food, spreading pellets all over the floor. Her breath smells faintly like cat food. I don't think about it too hard, but block her path back there with a laundry basket full of dirty clothes. Oh, did I say I had done all the laundry in the house? I HAD as of last night. That had changed by this time. Amazing how fast a load of laundry appears in a house. Anyway, Anna flings half the clothes all over the floor and moves on to other things. I forget to clean up the cat food. The cat will eat it, eventually, right? I have to stop and spank Sam twice for disobeying when I give him directions about playing too rough or not sharing.
10:00am
Anna gets Motrin and goes down for a nap. I give Elli a long drink of her milk, holding her on my lap since she kept saying she wanted to cuddle with Daddy. I figure she wants to cuddle, so hopefully Mommy's lap will do. Sam starts coloring the outside of the Veggie Tales coloring book with a green marker. Then he colors his hand and his finger nails "just like Heather." Green smudges appear on his eyebrow and cheeks. We wash some of the marker off, but both he and I have green on our skin for the rest of the day.
11:00am
I make some phone calls - resume` consulting and searching for a file for a friend from church. And we're going to try digital phone - if we like it, we'll save $35 a month by bundling it with internet and cable. My laptop decides to cooperate, so I'm able to get that taken care of before getting Elli her lunch. Sam comes up at one point and asks me if I'm ok. I say yes, I'm fine - just working on the computer. He says that he's happy too. Not sure where that came from, but it was bright spot in the morning.
11:30am
I process some salad for Elli's lunch. I'm starving - orange juice doesn't go far for breakfast - so I microwave a leftover piece of garlic bread to snack on while she eats so I don't pass out. She decides she doesn't like it, instead coughing clumps of lettuce and dressing all over her Dynavox and wheelchair. Fortunately, it dries quickly and brushes off. I give her applesauce instead. Sam decided to go "BM" (bowel movement). Anna follows him into the bathroom and he shuts the door. I rescue Anna and return to lunch. Sam spends the next 40 minutes on the potty. Elli eats quickly and I actually manage to get her ready for school before the bus arrives. Sam starts running around with no socks, pants, or underwear. AGAIN. He says his second pair of pants are also wet. I choke back the angry words at yet ANOTHER outfit in the hamper. I tell him he better get dressed fast if he wants to run the bus's lift. He actually manages it all by himself and puts the pants back on. We are actually waiting outside for it for the first time in weeks. I even have a chance to write a long note to school about some issues we're working on.
12:20pm
I get Sam, Anna, and myself some lunch. I actually sit down to eat and work on a grocery list and menu plan. Not very creative today. Perhaps it's the lack of sleep? As I'm putting stuff away, I suddenly notice that Sam is now coloring the trash can with the same green marker. Then I begin to see green everywhere. He has colored a line on the floor from the trash can to the family room, colored a toy, and colored prolifically on the exer-saucer. I catch myself getting angry and instead show him how to clean it up himself. Thankfully, the marker is water-soluble. He does a good job. Then while I'm not looking, he climbs into the exer-saucer. I'm reallly ticked - I've told him three times not to do that anymore because he gets stuck. I yank him out and send him to my room for a spanking. I follow a few seconds later, telling myself to calm down and not punish in anger. I listen to myself, calm down, and explain what he's being disciplined for.
1:20pm
We head out to the store, even though it's later than I had hoped and Anna's nose is dripping more colorful snot. She seems to enjoy getting out of the house. The trip takes forever because we pick out a new toothbrush for Sam (Elmo) and new toothpaste (with Pooh and Tigger on it) and start looking for birthday gifts for an uncle. As we head towards checkout, Sam begins to inform me that he isn't tired. A sure sign that he is.
2:30pm
We head to the post office. I choose this particular one because it has a drive-thru window for stamps. I need a bunch of those 2-cent stamps in order to mail bills. The drive-thru is "temporarily closed." Drat. Of course, Anna has fallen asleep. I carefully dig her out of her carseat, but by the time I reach the lobby, she is awake. And dripping more green goop. No tissues in sight. Not even in the car. And I didn't bring the diaper bag. I improvise with her jacket, making mental notes to wash it when we get home.
3:00pm
We arrive home, Sam is now in tears protesting that he isn't tired (translated, that means he's on the edge of a meltdown he's so tired). Anna, on the other hand, is wide awake. I give Sam a little drink, make him remove his precious Spiderman light-up boots, and put him to bed. He's asleep in minutes. I give Anna a bottle, which she downs in 2 seconds while I put away stuff that needs to be chilled. I give her a second bottle, which she downs in 1 second. She is NOT sleepy. I rock her for 2 minutes, find myself extremely sleepy far too close to the arrival of Elli's school bus, and decide to lay Anna down in her bed before I fall asleep and drop her and miss the bus. I pray that she doesn't wake Sam up with her screaming. Surprisingly, she just plays in there until finally falling asleep half an hour later.
3:30pm
Elli's bus is due any second. I consider putting away more groceries, but I'm really tired. I instead check email. The bus arrives. I get Elli out, inspect all the great stuff she brought home from the 100 Days of School party and birthday celebration at school today, hear about her day, give her a snack (hostess cake from the birthday treat bag), and watch a little TV. My groceries are still not put away.
4:30pm
Elli asks to watch Veggie Tales' "Lord of the Beans." I put it on, then start writing this entry. My groceries are still out. So is the cat food. Sam emerges from his nap and watches the video too.
5:15pm
Scott calls to say he's on his way home and doesn't need dinner. For some reason, the call is a real downer. I immediately lose all motivation to make anything for dinner. Hot dogs, anyone? I think Anna is awake - hard to tell since she coughed all through her nap. Poor girl. My groceries are still out. I'm fading fast. I think I'll volunteer to stay home from church tonight with Anna - I wouldn't be able to stay awake anyway. My mood begins a rapid spiral down.
5:30pm
I finally publish this entry, crack up at Brooke's latest entry, and tackle the groceries while planning when to go raid her yarn stash (I'm not so sleepy that the idea doesn't thrill my soul, especially since Heather and Brenda are invited too!). Did I mention all the dishes that need to be washed too? No? Well. I have a lot of dishes to wash too. And the cat food to clean up. And dinner to make. And clean up. Oh...just found some mistakes in this. Gotta go back and fix them later. Hopefully no-one reads it yet!
6:40pm
Scott finally makes it home, just in time to take Sam and Elli to church. By this time, I'm really grumpy because it is so late and we don't have any time to sit and talk. I say things I shouldn't, especially in front of the kids. Sam is unfazed and keeps telling Daddy about his new toothbrush and toothpaste and asks why Anna isn't going to church.
6:45pm
They leave and I finish giving Anna dinner, sit and play with her for a bit, give her a bath, tanked her up with medicine and a warm bottle, and try to rock her to sleep. That never works for me - never has and doesn't tonight either. She was still perky at 8, when I finally just laid her down. She didn't protest at all. I sit and watch American Idol for awhile and try to decide if I'm going to tackle the dishes or just go to bed. I decide to do at least a few dishes and stay up til everyone gets back home, even though I just want to hibernate for the rest of the month. I have to apologize for my words and get everything right before we all go to bed.
Isn't it amazing what one lousy night of sleep can do for a person's mood and outlook on life? Especially when that person looks at the calendar, reflects back on past winters, and realizes that this could be the beginning of weeks of the same. Last year the misery started the week of Valentine's Day and didn't end until late March. I am praying that since I'm NOT pregnant this time, I won't get nearly so sick. I guess time will tell. Meanwhile, I have dishes to do.
