On Slipping and Sleeping and Such

I totally bit it on the driveway this morning.

It is snowing in Connecticut and while it looks beautiful on the trees and the kids get super excited, it just adds a bit of the unknown to my day and I am having a hard enough time keeping it together as it is.

Our driveway is totally iced over. The half inch of fluffy white snow did nothing to break my fall. I was wearing snow boots, but perhaps my balance was a little off because I was carrying my bag, a computer bag, a small lunch bag, the Lady's backpack and a pair of black boots.

Thank goodness I had the foresight to hand the Lady my travel coffee mug or things could have gotten really ugly.

As it was, I just ended up with some wet pants that I tried to dry quickly by turning the seat heater up to extra high.

I have been driving the Lady to the bus stop in the morning because it has been in the 20's here and I don't want our nanny to have to take all the kids out in freezing cold weather. It has been nice to have some time alone with her in the morning and it actually makes my mornings a little bit more manageable because I have a few extra minutes to spare before we have to get out the door.

My hubby is finally getting home from California tomorrow, although it will be late at night and I will have one more solo evening of trying to deal with getting everyone to bed in a manner that has been nothing close to routine.

In the course of the last two weeks, I think I have slept by myself a grand total of two nights. The  Little Lady--who is suffering from what I think are night terrors will wake up, run down the stairs (if she isn't already sleeping on the couch), come into my room repeating the phrase "I want to go home" over and over again and then when I ask her what she is afraid of points out into the darkness and says "that."

Talk about creepy. This means that it takes me about another 30-40 minutes to fall back asleep because I don't like scary things and I kept on popping up to look around the room. After I saw Scream in college all my roommates were sleeping out and I put all the lights on in our place because I was afraid to sleep there alone. I wish that this was a one time deal with the Little Lady, but it isn't and it is clearly the same reoccurring dream. I am thinking about putting a little Holy Water on her while she sleeps. Couldn't hurt right?

The other issue is QT. A few nights ago I thought I heard someone out in the living room, when I called out I got no answer. About 20 minutes later the Little Lady came down the stairs and I heard her say "QT what are you doing?" before coming into my room and asking to sleep with me (I said no, fast forward a few hours and see above paragraph for how that night ended).

When I went out to see what was going on, I found him wearing only a diaper, his feety pajamas cast over his hockey sticks in a toy bin, lying on top of both his blankets, with a poop in his pants, totally passed out.

Repeat the same scenario last night (sans poo) and I think you can get the sense that things haven't been going that great at bedtime here. I did put QT back in his crib, only to have him back in my bed around 3 a.m. where he proceeded to sleep on me for the remainder of the night and where I heard him say in the middle of the night "I hate you mommy."

WTF QT?

The best sleeper is the Lady. Although she has insisted on sleeping in a night cap, which is a Santa hat she got for her first Christmas and that is barely fitting over her 6-year-old head. She is also insisting on wearing it to school. I have given up on fighting that battle. Can't wait to see what pajama combination she picks out for her Holiday Pajama Brunch on Friday. Will try to get a photo! 

On a positive note, I did get a little wrapping done last night. I am now unsure if I have gotten enough for everyone or too much for everyone. Looking forward to my husband getting home so I can leave him with all the kids and make an unnecessary stop at Target to just load up on stocking junk and toothbrushes! Merry! Merry!

The Bedroom, The Battlefield

The Little Lady and I are warring.

Unfortunately, this is trench warfare and she has seemed to bunker down for the long haul. I have found myself late at night, and early in the morning, deep in the trenches, dirty, a little bit hungry and totally exhausted.

Why will this kid not sleep through the night? I admit I was spoiled by the Lady, she was and still is a great sleeper. She in fact, does not seemed bothered by the multiple battle cries put forth by her little sister every night and seemingly sleeps through them all. The Little Lady, however, cannot sleep through one cough by her older sister without her big eyes flying open.

I don't know if it is because I have spoiled her by sometimes bringing her into my bed, or if she is not getting enough to eat before bedtime, but it seems that all she really wants is to be comforted, and usually that has to be done by me and my boob. I love that the Little Lady is a cuddler, but holding her in my arms all night is not an option.

We have tried to let her cry it out and in some cases that works. I just don't want her to actually wake up my very good sleeper and then have to deal with the two of them awake at 2 am. I have been doing a good job, of putting the Little Lady back in her bed after every feeding, and since we have moved the girls room upstairs, I like to think I am getting a little late-night workout with all the stairs I have to climb, but if she continues to wake up multiple times at night, I might just put her in the bathroom again and hope for the best.

Can you tell I am tired? Last night she got up three times and in two of those cases she stayed awake for almost an hour. In all honesty at times I want to scream, but there are a few things prohibiting me from doing that: 1) she is a tiny baby, 2) she is cute, 3) she is super cute and fuzzy and when she is awake she is all smiles.

So, this war continues, with the Little Lady in the lead and moving forward through that no-man's land, claiming her territory and little by little wearing down her mother!