Things are back to normal for the most part. We all were sick for about 2 weeks there at the beginning of this month, which put me back into sleep deprivation mode. I can tell I'm getting older because it now takes longer for me to recover from lack of sleep. Lately Little Boy has been trying to defeat a persistent ear infection. During the day, he's done really well and you'd almost not know he was sick. But at night he suffers and hasn't slept well til 2 days ago.
We've had quite a few doctor's appointments and meetings as well. Some we've made, some we've had to reschedule either because people were sick or because of the weather. After no snow days in January, we've had 3 in February! It looks possible that we could have another tomorrow. I really really hope not -- I have a work-related call to make tomorrow morning and I need a quiet house! (Which means that World War III will most certainly break out at approximately 9:42am!)
Today I discovered that I'm not quite caught up on sleep yet. I picked Elli up at school to go visit her pulmonologist. This is particularly important this time of year, and we had to reschedule once already because she had the stomach flu on the original appointment date. I arrived at the doctor's office 5 minutes before her appointment time, which is a small miracle in itself! Then the registration girl informed me that I was at the wrong office. I was at least 20 minutes' drive (not including loading and unloading time) from the right office. She called over for me, but the doctor and his staff had computer training this afternoon down at the main hospital, so they couldn't squeeze us in today.
If I was totally sleep-deprived I would probably have burst into tears. If I had dragged all four kids to the wrong place, I would probably have cried too. But fortunately, I slept well last night and Scott worked from home today, so I only had two kids with me. I managed to keep a smile on my face, give Elli her lunch, return her to school, and run one more errand with Big Boy before heading home. Thanks be to God for granting me grace to remain calm and accept this situation!
This afternoon I've been disassembling, moving, and reassembling all four of the kids' beds. (I'm also discovering just how badly I need to get back to the gym!) We finally decided that in order for everyone to sleep better, Elli needs her own room as far from me as possible. Little Girl has started crying when her sister carries on too much at night, and every time she makes a peep, it wakes me up.
So we're moving the boys into the big bedroom with Little Girl, putting the bunk beds back together, and moving Elli into the smaller front bedroom. As we save up the money, we'll buy solid wood doors for each room, starting with Elli's. I think the kids will be fine sharing a room for awhile, especially if we keep LittleGirl's clothes in Elli's room. We have long-range plans to finish our basement with at least one bedroom, if not two...but that won't happen for years since we first need to save up for a van. (We're still reeling from sticker shock -- a 2-year-old minivan with all the features we need will cost between $40,000 and $50,000!) We're praying for God to keep our current van running at least another year while we save as much cash as we can for this.
Other thoughts running through my head this week, particularly with the snow days we've had, are related to the summer. I'm really not sure how I'm going to manage that 3 months with all four kids at home full-time. This year Elli has demonstrated her need to be much more closely supervised. And Little Boy will be mobile: crawling and learning to walk, Lord-willing.
Scott had all four kids by himself on Monday, and that night he said he wished we could afford a live-in nanny! We agreed that for the next two years it will be like having twins... both with medical needs. We're praying for wisdom as we look into possible activities (such as day camps, summer school, or in-home help) to keep Elli busy and active. I won't be able to do as much for her as I'd like with Little Boy at such a high-maintenance place in his development, and I can't neglect the other two either. I know that God will provide in one way or another, so I'm not stressed about it. I keep reminding myself to turn my worrying into praying and giving the situation to Him because He's the one who can and will work on it!
