Things that make me happy

I did not get up this morning. 

Well, eventually. But not when I wanted to. Instead I stayed in bed so I could be AWAKE thinking about how tired I was. And then I finally fell back to sleep to dream about an overflowing toilet in my bedroom. Yeah. Those 2 hours in bed were SO worth it. 

Anyway.

It's almost Thanksgiving. And I have only a few brain cells and am incapable of complete sentences or thoughts. 

Things that make me happy:

1. My siblings have found people they love and are growing their families. We'll meet the first cousin this week!

2. My sister-in-law calls me sister.

3. No matter how far away Shinesalot is she still finds time for me. And when I start to feel replaced she usually unknowingly does something to make it better. 

4. I have found a great group of local friends who seem to like me.

5. My son is no longer the shy boy he once was--he is a complete goofball wrestling with his friends and talking to people. 

6. I've managed to exclusively breastfeed Chewie for nearly 6 months and have no fear that I can continue for another 8-9 months.

7. I am NOT pregnant and vomiting.

8. I don't have pink eye.

9. I can "stay home" with my children and not have to deal with the heartache of daycare again.

10. I have cheese doodles.

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Routine

Sometimes I get a little boxed in by my routines. For the most part things work out really well and by sticking to my routines as much as possible I can keep control over my days. I had been "dream feeding" Chewie at 10--feeding her in her sleep so that she would make it until the morning (7:30) and not have her sleep interrupted. Lately she's been waking up at 10. Which is no longer a dream feed and pretty indicative of a habitual waking. The last couple of nights I fed her only one side, something that would have caused a 3 or 4 am waking a few weeks ago. She took it and slept until 7:30. Or well, 7:20, but we're not going to quibble. Last night I decided not to go up there at all. She woke when Vader took SkyWalker and the Princess to the bathroom. I grumbled but didn't go up. She wasn't screaming or crying but really just fussing. She went back to sleep after just a few minutes. I was truly shocked when my alarm went off at 5:30 and I realized I hadn't been up yet. I knew this had become a habit waking but part of me was afraid to not feed her. Not that she would wake me up later, but just because she seems so similar to SkyWalker--born early and small, not the easiest pooping, looks just like him--that in the back of my head I thought "I don't want another baby to stop gaining weight." But she is not SkyWalker and she is still gaining weight. She now has some chunky thighs like her big sister. And she is a week away from cereal anyway. I decided I didn't need to wait until EXACTLY 6 months, so I'm doing it just one week early--on Thanksgiving so my mom can be there. My mother was there for the other 2 and now she can be there for Chewie's first cereal tasting as well. 

That was a long paragraph. 

I'm pretty flexible with my routines. If Chewie has only napped half an hour in the morning I have no problem letting her nap 3 hours and feeding her a little later. I really don't watch the clock unless she is right on cue and it just happens that way. When you have more than one kid you need some kind of structure though. When we're home we've fallen into a nice routine of me feeding my children all day. Seriously some days it feels like just that:

7:30 feed Chewie

8: feed the Princess breakfast

8:30/9 feed Chewie again so she'll last her nap (this is becoming unnecessary)

11: feed the Princess lunch

11:30 feed Chewie

1: feed Chewie (again, this is up in the air)

3:30: feed Chewie

5-6: make dinner

6:30/7: feed Chewie

I'm trying to keep Chewie from doing nothing but sitting in her high chair or carseat or swing so I need to plan the Princess's lunch before I feed Chewie. I need to have a handle on my day. Of course when we go somewhere it's all up in the air and she gets no tummy time and usually just takes a series of short naps and I feed her way too much trying to get her to just take one long one. 

The Princess has just started whining "Mommy" which in turn has woken Chewie up. It's only 6:20 and I'm ignoring it. I should probably shower while I can.

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Remarkable

I am up before the sun and all the children and dogs and husband are still sleeping and it is glorious. I was only tired for a few minutes and now I am awake and wondering why I couldn't drag my lazy butt out of bed for the last couple of weeks. We have had a rough patch-- Chewie has been eating like a fiend and SkyWalker spent a few days throwing up. And when you have 3 the odds of you being woken up in the middle of the night aren't 3 times as great it's a MILLION times as great. Throw in Scratchy the dog who likes to scratch his skin off or lick himself ad nauseum. Literally--he threw up this week too.

Yesterday was a remarkable day. 

We started with gymnastics in the morning in which the Princess wanted me to hold her the whole time and didn't warm up until half way through. It's always so embarrassing but I wonder if the moms with the kids who are doing stuff but just not what they are supposed to be doing are embarrassed too? Like if a kid is racing to jump on the trampoline instead of doing the bars like she's supposed to, is that Mom secretly thinking "if you're not going to do what you're told just do nothing like that little girl?" and I'm thinking "just do something instead of cling to me?" Perhaps we are all embarrassed of our children. Except the ones who do exactly what's asked of them. 

Anyway, we went to gymnastics and as expected Chewie only slept half an hour there. When we got home I was bursting, literally, to feed her, so I fed her at 10:45 instead of waiting until 11:30. The Princess and I had lunch and Chewie was clearly so tired that I put her down and she fell asleep at 12:30. I figured I was in for it since she would be waking up right when I have to get SkyWalker off the bus--provided she slept 2 hours which was no guarantee. The Princess went up at 1:30 and Chewie was still sleeping. Miraculous. The Princess fought her nap, getting up and playing with lotion and doing all sorts of things. I finally told her I didn't care if she slept but she had to stay in bed and have quiet time. I've been wondering what I'm going to do about quiet time for her if she starts giving up her nap and I think this is it. I'm going to make her have quiet time in her room when Chewie is sleeping. Real quiet time in her bed with just a book. Because guess what happened? She fell asleep around 2. Chewie was still sleeping which was simply amazing. I walked on the treadmill (I gave up couch to 5k. It just doesn't fit my life right now.) I got off the treadmill and both girls were sleeping and I didn't KNOW WHAT TO DO. It was crazy. I was so amazed that they were sleeping and I was alone that I kept checking the monitor and wasting time. I got some dishes done and Christmas presents wrapped. Chewie woke up right before I had to get SkyWalker off the bus but I couldn't get her. She never cried just woke up. And then put herself back to sleep! SkyWalker and I did his homework and the girls still slept. It was UNBELIEVABLE. I wasn't sure if I should wake Chewie since I did still need to feed her. She woke on her own at 3:30, as did the Princess--in a cheery mood, hugging her brother and acting like she hadn't seen him in weeks. 

It was truly remarkable. 

I have been up for an hour and the sun is still not up. This too is remarkable.

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