I became a Mom at the age of 21. I was pretty young and clueless. The great thing about being the first to have a baby in your circle of peers is that, in those people's eyes, you become the expert on motherhood. It seemed for awhile that when people began considering starting a family, they wanted to talk to me. They would share their concerns and fears. A huge thing for most people is that they don't feel financially ready. I have to tell ya, if Josh and I waited until we were financially ready for kids we would still be waiting!! I always say that is why God surprised us early because I was famous back in the day for making pros and cons lists about everything and I am pretty sure if motherhood had been waiting for me to get my act together it would never have happened! Anyway, I share all of this to say that the truest advice I can give people is: As soon as you feel like you've had all of the sleep you need in life, you are ready for a baby. Seriously, y'all. I've been willing to sacrifice financially for our kids. Sacrifice time. Put personal plans on the back burner for a while. Wear snot and an assortment of other bodily fluids on my clothes. Vacuum cheerios out of the carpet on an hourly basis. Pack like I'm going overseas when I'm really just running to the store. But the one thing that does me in is the sleep issue.
I always hear stories about people who get sleeping babies. "Oh, baby boy slept through the night the first night we came home from the hospital." These stories seemed to be shared most often in the first weeks back to school or work or the first morning back to church. The days when I had experienced about 45 minutes of uninterrupted sleep the night before, my eyes were being held open with toothpicks and I was still rocking back and forth out of habit. Or winding. Sarah would only sleep in her swing for the first six months of her life and we didn't have a fancy automatic swing. I literally learned to walk and wind the swing up in my sleep. The thing about it is that once your body adjusts, it's not so bad. In fact, once my babies did start sleeping all night, I was still the one waking up. The hard part is when they tease you. They go a few weeks sleeping really well and then BAM!!!!
Well, my youngest is 2 now and has been sleeping through the night for quite a while. Until this week. She's had a stuffy nose and we all know there is nothing more frustrating than trying to sleep when you can't breathe. Well, actually the only thing more frustrating is trying to take care of someone else who can't breathe while they're sleeping. There's only so much you can do to make them comfortable. And when they wake up crying there is not much you can offer other than a hug. It just so happens that this sleep interupption has happened at the same time that Josh is running his Dad's bread route. It has caused me to feel like I'm in a time warp. Josh was a bread man the first 5 years of our marriage and had to leave for work between 2 and 4 am. He would set the alarm usually for 1:30 or 2:00. In case I haven't told y'all this like a million times, I'm a night owl. I can't tell you how many nights I got in the bed at 1:00 and 30 minutes later the alarm would go off. Most of the time Josh would set it so early so he could keep hitting snooze. Which I get. But, between baby feeding schedules, my night owlness (new word!), and that stinkin' alarm clock I don't know how any of us functioned. I do know there are several years of my life I have no memory of. :) (My sister and her friend will also tell you about a time they stayed with us in our apartment, pre-babies, and Josh's alarm went off for several hours and neither of us heard it. It's scary, huh? I guess our bodies were just resting up for the future. :)
Well, I share all of that to tell you that Kate has been up several times this week not feeling good. Josh had to be up at 2 this morning. I did laundry all day yesterday, but somehow managed to put the load with the shorts Josh wanted in very last. So, I was up at 1:00 waiting on his shorts to dry. As soon as they did Kate was up. I finally got her calmed down. Then, when I tried to get in bed, Sarah was laying in my spot. I woke her up and she moved to a pallet on the floor. By the time I got her moved Eli came in asking if he could make a pallet on the floor. I don't know why we bought beds for our kids when we have perfectly good, carpeted floors. I laid down just in time for Josh to get up and turn the closet light on. I just talked to Josh and he asked if everyone slept okay. I assured him that after 2:00 this morning, we all did. :)
So as usual, caffeine is my friend. And electronics are not. When I stumbled out of the bed this morning Eli was holding the PS3 controller. He is not mine or Josh's child. He wakes up at the crack of dawn and I feel like he does it for the same reason I stay up half the night. It's his time. He gets to play his game without any interference. Well, the TV was on, but it wasn't showing anything on the screen. I will take this moment to tell you that I am very technologically challenged. We got a new TV when we moved and it took a good 2 weeks for me to figure out how to switch it to the DVD player. Back to this morning, I tried to plug a yellow cord thing into all of the yellow holes and nothing worked. About an hour later Eli came back announcing he wanted to watch cartoons. I told him the TV still wasn't working. He pushed a button on the remote and it came on. I felt like a doofus. He then told me, "We need the noise. Turn the noise on." Thankfully, I do know how to turn the volume up. :)
With that confession of my technological challenges, I wanted to let you know that I started a page on FB for the blog. I feel like it is so much easier to interact and stay in touch with people on FB. I have a networked blog thing, but I feel like this new page will be easier to keep up with. I know some of you read my blog, but we are not friends on FB. I *think* you can click on the FB badge with the big smiley face on the left and "like" my blog. At least, that is the plan. I'm hoping to be able to do a better job of keeping up with comments that you leave and being able to communicate more effectively. I would love to get to know you all better and there is even a place for discussions. There are so many things I would love to hear your opinions on: birthday party ideas, theological issues, how you handle PMS, advice on potty training, books you are reading. I'm tellin' ya, I pretty much talk about it ALL here!!!! I am even considering trying to do a Bible study during the summer. I thought it might be difficult to keep up with comments on here, but I feel like the discussion page on FB would be perfect. Would you let me know if you would be interested in that? And please let me know if there are any Bible studies you recommend or have been wanting to do. And please, by all means, feel free to give me a tutorial on any blogger or FB stuff you know. I can use all the help I can get!!!!!! (Much thanks to Lori for your help!!!)
Thanks for reading. I pray you have a blessed day full of sleep and free of technical difficulties!!!!!!!!
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