One of Those Days

It's been one of those days.

It began at 5:45 a.m.

No, wait, 4:00 a.m.

Wait, no, 3:30 a.m.

Oh, hell, I suppose it really began at 12:30 a.m.

But I didn't actually go turn on the coffee maker until 5:45.

Both boys have colds. Monkey's started on Saturday night. He went to bed like usual, then was up every 45 minutes crying for seemingly no reason. I knew something was going on, but he didn't have a temperature and he wasn't throwing up or having to use the bathroom. He just kept waking up crying.

The next morning he woke up with a full-fledged cold - runny nose, watery eyes, projectile sneezes, and a lousy attitude.

I tried to keep him from touching all of the baby's things, but, really, who was I kidding?

I decided to lay low on Monday. No music class, no grocery store, no trip to Target. We just hung out around the house. I did some laundry. Monkey got a great nap. He seemed a little better. Budsy was doing fine.

Until 12:30 a.m.

Before I even picked up the baby, I could hear him snorting and sniffling. As he tried to eat, I could hear his little nose wheezing. Every few seconds he would pull off, whimper a bit, and then try again. Poor guy.

At 3:30, he was worse. Even by the tiny changing table nightlight, I could see he had a runny nose. I tried to suction it, but that really pissed him off. After that, he never really went back to sleep. Not deep, restful, sleep. And neither did I.

So, at 5:45 a.m., I stumbled downstairs and turned on the coffee maker. I knew I wouldn't be going back to sleep, no matter how much I wanted to or needed to. Everything felt like it went downhill from there.

Throughout the day, Budsy slept for a grand total of 90 minutes, split into 3 very short naps. He flipped out every time I tried to wipe his nose and by 3:00 in the afternoon, he was so clingy I couldn't put him down for more than a couple of minutes. Monkey had multiple breakdowns, mostly because I was paying so much attention to the baby. I was tired, cranky, short-tempered, and felt totally out of it. I felt like I accomplished nothing today, even though I had a long list of things to do.

By the time my husband got home, I was done. I needed to get out of the house. I needed a break. I needed to be alone. Where did I end up? At Toys R Us, buying stuff for the kids. Oh well - at least I was by myself for a bit.

And now, after a 17 hour day, I'm ready for bed.

Oh, wait, there's the baby.

Like I said - it's been one of the those days.

Here's to April!

March has been a jam-packed month for us - I'll be so happy when it's over.

We've had doctor appointments, dentist appointments, hair appointments, preschool tours, sports classes, music classes, Master's classes, visitors, and visitings.

I'm tired. I'm cranky. I'm hungry. I'm going crazy listening to the whirring engine of the "moving Thomas" that went under the couch where I can't reach it - 2 hours ago!

Budsy is still doing his weird wake-up-every-couple-of-hours thing, so my sleep is sporadic. We're working on it, but sleep training has it's own set of frustrations. Lack of sleep, of course, leads to my crankiness...

We have almost no food in the house. I am not exaggerating. Our fridge is so sad right now - four containers of yogurt, fixings for quesadillas, and half a bag of salad, but no salad dressing. We ran out of milk at dinner... I desperately need to go to the grocery store, but it's really difficult to do a full shopping trip with both kids, one of which is in the middle of potty training. So I have to wait for the husband to get home and then I get to drag my tired, cranky butt to the store at 9:30 at night.

And despite all of the craziness that has been our month, I feel bored...

We try to do something everyday - usually something that should take about an hour - but somehow it's all I get done all day! I don't know how it happens, but it does. I swear. We're not out of the house until 10:00. It takes a half hour to get anywhere and everywhere. We stay for an hour or so, then head home - another half hour. Now it's 12:00 and time for lunch. After lunch it's nap time. By the time Monkey is up from his nap, it's time to start dinner. After dinner, Budsy goes down for the night. Then it's Monkey's turn. The next thing I know, it's 9:30 at night and time to go to the grocery store!

Enough already! I'm ready to get out of this rut...

I know things will be better as soon as we get a handle on the potty training and I'm confident enough to really go out and about again. Meanwhile, it's just hard. I miss my friends. I miss going to the park. I miss Target.

So, here's to April... may it bring me a bit of sleep, some time with friends, and a regularly stocked refrigerator!

Exhaustion

I'm exhausted.

I know this isn't unusual for new (again) parents, but it's really hitting me hard this time. Maybe it's because I'm older than last time. Perhaps it's because I had just gotten used to a full night's sleep again. Or possibly it's because I'm handling a toddler and an infant 14 hours a day.

I don't know why. I just know I'm exhausted.

Budsy is 16 weeks old now and at 15 pounds is physically capable of sleeping through the night. Yet he's still up every few hours at night and insists on nursing. It's driving me insane.

On average, I'm getting about 6 hours of sleep a night. Of course, this isn't 6 straight, restful hours of sleep...

I'm in bed at 10:ish. Asleep around 10:30.

He cries at 12:ish. I stumble down the hall, nurse him, change him, put him back to bed. Put myself back to bed. Asleep around 12:30.

He cries at 3:ish. I stumble down the hall, nurse him, change him, put him back to bed. Put myself back to bed. Asleep around 3:30.

He cries at 4:30ish. I stumble down the hall, pop the pacifier in his mouth, pray that he falls back asleep. Put myself back to bed. Asleep around 4:45.

He cries at 6:ish. I groan and kick my husband - your turn. I listen to him cry while my half-sleeping husband struggles to change him. I listen to his cries get louder as my husband brings him down the hall. I contemplate pretending to be asleep, but realize that it's a lost cause. I sit up and nurse him.

By 6:30 he's asleep again in our bed. I fade in and out of sleep while I try not to roll on the baby. My husband gets up to get ready for the day. Just as I convince myself that it's ok to grab 5 more minutes of sleep, I feel Monkey climbing up on the bed. *sigh*

I'm exhausted.