Thursday, April 17, 2008

You're getting sleeeeeeeepy....

There's nothing in the world like lack of sleep to put a damper on the school day. Today I was reading the Little Princess her stories for Language Arts, and I kept nodding off. Usually, I am okay with my tendency to mismanage my personal sleep time. But every now and then after getting home from Walmart at 2am, even when I get to sleep all the way to 8am, I just can't seem to stay awake through the kids' story time.

I knew that I was having to shake off sleep while reading Ox-cart Man, but it was not until she finally protested "Mom, I can't understand what you're saying!!!" that I realized what she was hearing sounded more like "shm herm hm nuh buh." We decided that mom needed a nap. So I cuddled under a blanket while muttering to the 9 yr old to play with the baby and let me know if he needed help. Fifteen minutes later, I was awakened by said baby slapping me in the face with a wooden spatula. Oh well. That was fifteen minutes more sleep than I had fifteen minutes previously, right?

On another note, a few weeks ago this household decided to cut out tv for 30 days. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who this hurts the most: mother. For example, the very first night of the tv fast, the baby got a tummy bug. Now everyone knows that if you have to stay sitting up in the recliner all night long with a sick baby, you should get to have some mindless entertainment, right? So my sweet hubby said, "We can just start over after the kids are better. Go ahead and watch."

The strangest thing happened right after that...this voice (that sounded alarmingly like my own) came back with: "No, because then there will be some other compelling reason for us to 'break fast,' and I don't want to start out that way." I still haven't figured out where that came from.

It's amazing how much our parenting can change as we add more morsels to the package.

1st baby: sterilize everything and keep hand sanitizer loaded and ready to fire at everyone who looks like they might even be interested in thinking about asking to hold that baby; no candy or soda ever until at least the 2nd birthday; tv restricted to 30 minutes per day maximum no matter what.

2nd baby: pacifiers and teething rings that hit the floor can be rinsed or even wiped with a baby wipe; if the little darling sees big bro/sis with a lollipop it won't hurt to let him have a little taste; maybe an hour of tv won't hurt every few days.

3rd baby: pick off the fuzz and hand it back...5 second rule may turn into 5 minute rule when applied to the cheerios that hit the floor; smarties can keep the baby quiet long enough for me to finish this important phone call; if I put the baby in front of the tv I wonder how many dishes I can get washed before he starts crying again?

4th baby: when baby starts crawling I won't have to sweep as often; big sis, if you don't share your candy with the baby I'm gonna take it all and you won't get any; tv is the best way for mommy to get a little extra sleep after staying up shopping at Walmart all last night...it's also great for babysitting toddlers while big kids do school...it can even be used to bribe little ones into eating their broccoli!

5th baby: You don't even want to know, and I don't want to tell cause you might call in the authorities!

Oh, and don't forget to go down to the bottom of the page and guess why I cleaned house. The big reveal will come in Tuesday's blog.

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh, I have sooo been there. Ok, except for getting slapped in the head with a spatula, fortunately. But I absolutely no matter what cannot nap. I'm actually really jealous!

Anonymous said...

I can understand being so sleepy!!! I hope you have been able to get a little more rest.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and for your prayers of encouragment! I appreciate them very much. I'm so sorry for your loss. I can only imagine how very difficult that must have been for you!

Hugs,
Leslie
www.homeschoolblogger.com/LeslieNelsen