Why oh why does it seem that sometimes the world is conspiring against me when I am trying to sleep?? Colin and Molly are experiencing some pretty severe separation anxiety because of my trip. Colin was already pouting and complaining that I worked too much before I left town for 4 days. Now I have finally returned, only to head into to work for the next two nights. The kids are NOT happy, to say the least. Mike is still on call, and an old college friend of his is visiting from out of town. Poor Mike is writing scripts, chasing kids, and attempting to show David some of the Atlanta landmarks. I have been busily catching up on laundry, dishes, and working at the hospital myself. I did manage to get out of work early last night, but sadly, both children were still awake, and they wanted nothing more than to cuddle with Mommy. It would have been fine, except it was already 9:30 when I got home. Colin eventually drifted off after a few extra hugs, and an extra cup of chocolate milk. Molly...not so much. She was awake and going strong until 11:30. She was screaming for Mommy, begging me to come in her room, and simply was not interested in sleep. I finally caved, went into her room, and climbed into her bed to try and snuggle her to sleep. This is one of the many advantages of being the height of a small hobbit, I can fit in my daughters toddler bed : ) I do occasionally worry about the weight limit, but sadly, by pulling my legs up slightly, and laying on my side, we both fit pretty well. I was finally able to leave after about 30 minutes of snuggling, but she was still awake. I sent Mike to go and check and see if she was down around 11pm, and she started fake snoring as he peeked in her door. Stubborn, stubborn child...
I climbed into bed, turned on our TV, and proceeded to try and catch up on my DVR'd programs. I could already tell that the animals were feeling needy as well. I got up, gave the cat a can of food, and started on my next round of Words with Friends. At some point close to 1 am, I finally drifted off, only to be awakened by both the cat and the dog. There is nothing worse than "feeling" a cat stare at you while you are sleeping. I cracked my eyelids, only to hear our poor old cat's broken meow, and a whine from the dog. Seriously?? It is 3 am. I get up, fill their empty water dish, which neither of them even take a drink from, put some food in Abby's bowl, and open yet another can of cat food. I need some rest. I climb back into bed, attempt to go back to sleep, only to realize the cat is staring at me from the bedside table again. I choose to ignore him this time, and roll over. He starts to knock everything off the table one thing at a time...the cat may die. I push him down, thrown him down, and pop him on the nose. While I was at Target before work, the kids picked out water guns from the dollar bin. I considered filling up the water gun, and soaking him like I used to in the old days. Of course, the cat isn't the brightest thing around, so he usually ran to me for protection from the "scary water." I feel horrible because the cat is old, confused, and sick, but a girl needs her sleep. It is only a matter of hours before my bosses (the little people in the next room) are awake, and demanding their breakfast and chocolate milk. Sure enough, around 6 am, despite her nearly midnight bedtime, Molly stumbles into our bedroom with "pink wankie." She climbs into bed, and I pray she falls back to sleep in a few minutes. She tosses and turns, kicks me in the face, and finally drifts off with her fuzzy hair tickling my nose. I turn over, clinging to the remaining six inches of "my side" of the bed, and try to go back to sleep. And then it starts...Birds, lots of birds. Birds tweeting repetitive calls, right outside our window. The fact that several birds had chosen to make our hanging baskets a home has been cute...until now. The water gun is sounding better and better. Maybe I should just let the hungry cat and dog outside to "play" with the birds. The two problems could fix themselves. I plug my ears and cover my face with a pillow. I must have drifted off for a few minutes, but I am awakened in seemingly the only way a toddler knows how. By whispering, and I use that term loosely, "Mommy, mommy wake up!" All while poking me in the face, usually trying to pry my eyelids open. I roll over, dig around for the remote, turn on Nick Jr and say, "Look, its Dora!!" Molly is briefly mesmerized, but my idea is only effective until Colin comes in as well. He has attempted to get dressed by himself, and he has both his shorts and underwear on backwards. He says "Mommy, I need help, my pants don't feel right." I finally cave, and stand up. My chances of obtaining any further sleep have vanished. I stumble into the kitchen with a walk that would have made a zombie jealous, and start a large pot of coffee. At one point, I figured out that I average about two loads of laundry and one load of dishes a day. Mike...well, he did not. To give him credit, he had a lot going on. I was gone for 4.5 days, so I had about nine loads of laundry and at least three loads of dishes waiting for me. I think I just put the last load in the washer, and I still need to load the dishwasher from yesterday. A Mommy's work is never done. I have to leave for work in an hour, but I think I am going to use it to drink another cup of coffee, and watch Dancing With The Stars. If laundry and dishes can wait for 4 days, what's another couple of hours? Mike has taken his friend and the kids to the Aquarium. I can hardly wait to hear how that goes. I did warn him to take an extra pair of shorts or a pull up if they want to see the dolphin show :)
No comments:
Post a Comment