Sundays

Sundays are rather depressing for me. The church we're attending has been without a pastor for over six months now and has been steadily declining in health for over two years. We had all but decided to leave at the end of my husband's deacon term when the pastor left suddenly a month later. Since he was the largest part of our decision to leave, we decided to stick it out a bit longer and see if the church could recover. Half a year later and still no closer to finding a new leader for our church. I think we've decided to give the church a full year and then start looking elsewhere. I'm dreading that step though because my husband is rather picky about churches and a few of the things on his list make it very difficult to find a new church. All that to say, I miss being convicted, encouraged, uplifted, and inspired on Sundays. I miss learning something new every week and having that close fellowship of other believers.

Aside from church itself, the pre and post-church experiences are stressful in and of themselves: rushing around to get ready and then rushing home so that Avery can leave for work. And then while most others I know are enjoying relaxing afternoons with their families, I'm fighting the kids to go down for their naps and then collapsing on the couch in exhaustion while the piles of unfolded laundry stare at me. Yuck.

Anyway, sorry for the pity party, I know I just need to look for fulfillment in my personal relationship with God instead of relying on a Sunday morning "high." I've just had a hard time going without that after growing up with it for nearly twenty years.

I'm tired. Ronnie is still giving me a hard time at night and I can't figure out why. He screams at the top of his lungs every time it's time for bed but yet won't let me nurse or rock him to sleep unless I let him scream first. I know he's tired but he just gets so hysterical. And last night after he woke up to nurse around midnight, he threw a major fit after I unlatched him before he wanted to let go (I let him nurse for 20 minutes when he's normally done after 5) and wouldn't calm down until I nursed him again. You'd think he was 3 months old instead of nearly one.

So burned out

Somewhere between the weekend and now, all that motivation and energy flew out the window. I still have a long to-do list, but right now I am so exhausted and burned out that even going to bed seems like too much work. I hate feeling like this because inevitably I lose my patience with the kids far too often. This evening I yelled at Shiphrah because she flung her PJ top behind the dresser while I was changing her diaper. Doesn't she know how difficult it is for me and my huge belly to lay on the floor and reach under the dresser to fish things out? Gah, I think I pulled a muscle in my neck doing it too. Speaking of changing diapers, it's looking like more and more of a reality that I will have THREE kids in diapers come July. Every time I talk to Shiphrah about using the big girl potty or going poop in the potty, she looks at me very seriously and says, "no want to poop in potty, Mommy." I suppose it could just click with her one of these days; I guess that's just what I'll have to hope for. I mean, she's not even 2 1/2 yet so it's not like she's delayed or anything, I was just really hoping to have her potty training out of the way by the time #3 came along. Diapers are soooo expensive (my husband refuses to go cloth, so don't bother suggesting that, I've already tried) and I already feel like I'm up to my arms in them all day long with two kids. I can't imagine having three. Do you think God would mind if I prayed that Shiphrah would miraculously show an interest in potty training?

It's Fiesta in San Antonio this week, so my husband is working off-duty gigs at Fiesta on both of his days off this week. They're short gigs (6ish hours) but not having him around in the evenings at all in one week is harder than I thought it would be. I guess I never realized how much I looked forward to those two nights where I'd have his help. Most mornings he gets the kids up and started on their breakfasts while I spend a few extra minutes in bed, but lately that hasn't been relaxing because the kids are loud and whiny in the mornings (we don't have a door on our bedroom so I can't tune them out). So it's like I'm super-tense as soon as I wake up every morning and that's really starting to wear on me. Why can't they wake up happy in the mornings? Anyway, all that to say it feels like forever since I've had a real break. Grocery shopping by myself just isn't cutting it anymore. I think it's been extra-hard lately because I'm adjusting to Shiphrah giving up her nap time, which means no alone time during the day. (I could get her to nap, but when she does she won't go to sleep at night until 10 or 11.) But, only two or three more weeks until our mini-vacation in Austin!!

Anyhoo, I'm going to see if I can't at least put away a little laundry before I crash. This sleepiness is so bizarre though...I guess maybe I didn't sleep as well as I thought I did last night?

The Bad, the Good, and the Amazing

I've been meaning to blog lately but life kept getting in the way. It mostly got in the way in a very good way, but some of it has been a bit frustrating too. Instead of "the good, the bad, and the ugly" let's do "the bad, the good, and the amazing" but in reverse so we end on a good note.

The BAD
- Kirk is teething. When Shiphrah got her first tooth, she was at least 8 months old so it didn't seem to bother her much. She whined a little more than usual and woke up a few times at night, but other than that it wasn't a huge deviation from her normal routine. Kirk is not yet 7 months old and he is miserable. Today he woke up from his afternoon nap absolutely hysterical. He cried for about an hour while I held him and patted his back. And it was that pitiful, painful cry that makes every mother want to jump off the nearest bridge. So. SAD.
- I am having some strange health issues. I'm losing weight, which is not a good thing for me (my normal weight is about 98 pounds), and I've gotten down to about 89-90. I eat like crazy and I definitely don't eat healthy foods, so I can only attribute this to Kirk's voracious appetite and the fact that he's still nursing once during the night. It's beginning to worry me though, because I know if I'm not getting adequate nutrition I'm going to start getting sick and the start of the flu season is no time to be struggling with a weak immune system.
- Secondly on the health front, in the past week or so I have had a huge loss of energy. I feel incredibly lethargic, all of my muscles feel weak (believe it or not my arms are actually feeling tired typing out this entry right now), and I feel like I'm in a daze most of the day. Sometimes I feel like a zombie just going through the motions every day. Kind of like when you take a strong sleeping pill or Benadryl right before bed and then wake up the next morning feeling like it hasn't worn off completely. I have a few theories as to what might be causing this: low iron (I'm always borderline anemic), a thyroid problem, or maybe mono (don't know, never had it before). However, to go take the necessary blood tests I need to find a doctor. I have an ob-gyn, but they won't see me because it's been 7 months since I had Kirk. I've never had a primary care physician before and living in a large city and trying to find a doctor feels like playing eenie-meeny-miney-mo or flipping through a phone book and picking the name that sounds the nicest. My mom suggested going to a DO instead of an MD because they focus more on nutrition and natural healing methods, but I'm not sure I want someone telling me to change my entire diet. But if I still feel like this through the weekend I'm definitely calling someone first thing on Monday. 'Cuz this plain sucks. (Oh, and lest someone ask, I'm not pregnant, I checked.)

The GOOD
- Kirk is thisclose to sleeping through the night! Most nights he sleeps about 6 to 8 hours before waking up to nurse and then he sleeps another 3 hours. Last night he slept from 8:30 to 6 and then slept until 8:30! I felt like I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! 'Course, it didn't help my overall tiredness much, but it still made me happy.
- The munchkins are learning how to play with each other more and more every day. Shiphrah will lay down in front of Kirk and make faces to get him giggling. Then they spend five minutes laughing hysterically at each other. It's so CUTE!
- Kirk is completely mobile. He's not "crawling" so to speak, but he's doing a belly scoot that gets him anywhere he wants to go. Of course, this means I am all too aware of how dirty the floors are because he gets positively nasty after just a few minutes of scooting.

The AMAZING
- My wonderful husband surprised me by asking me out on a date for Thursday evening. He even arranged for a babysitter all by himself! He made tentative plans too, but we ended up changing them because I wanted to spend time with him instead of see a movie. So we went to Chili's and had their "3 course, 2 people, $20" deal. I love Chili's food...cheese fries with Ranch, cajun chicken pasta, a margarita...it was heavenly! After dinner we drove downtown and parked so we could walk the newly renovated stretch of the Riverwalk. It turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for (who knew the Riverwalk was so loooooong!) so our feet were a bit sore after it was all said and done. But I got a piggyback ride from a hot guy () and enjoyed a gorgeous night along a beautiful river. It was a rather expensive date (when you add dinner and babysitting) but so worth it. In fact, Avery wants to make this an every-other-week occasion, which I am SO thrilled about! Don't get me wrong, I love being with my kids, but I miss one-on-one time with my husband. I can count on one hand the number of dates we've had in the past year and I'm so excited about making them regular happenings!!

(Us, back before marriage, kids, and the police force.)

Schedules and Struggles

I've never been clever with titles, but at least I can say this one is accurate. All about our schedules and our struggles resulting from those schedules. *Sigh* It's been a rough few months.

First of all, none of this would be that big of a deal if I wasn't so tired. Kirk turned 6 months old yesterday (!!!) and still won't sleep more than a 6-hour stretch at night. Which wouldn't be so bad if I was actually asleep during that time...but I'm not, because Avery doesn't get home from work until 11 pm at the absolute earliest. But that will all make more sense when I explain our daily "routine."

Kirk is usually the first to wake up, anytime between 7:00 and 8:30 in the mornings. His nursing "schedule" is all over the place, so sometimes I feed him then, other times he's eaten just an hour or so earlier. When he first wakes up he's usually content to lay there and watch his mobile for a few minutes...sometimes turning on the overhead light will keep him content a few minutes longer. Once he's thoroughly bored and tired of lying in bed, I take him out to the living room, turn on the light, and put him in his jumparoo while I go back to bed and hopefully get a few more minutes of sleep (he's usually content for about 10-15 minutes in there). When he starts fussing again, one of two things happens: every other day or so I nudge Avery awake and he sweetly agrees to get up with Kirk while I get an extra 30 minutes of sleep. Or (usually if Shiphrah is awake and yelling by now) we both get up to get the kids breakfast and such. Either way we're all usually out of bed by around 9:30.

Shiphrah has been a royal grouch most mornings for the past month. I'm not sure if it's her last couple of teeth coming in, the fact that she's sleeping with Kirk for the first part of the night (and he wakes her up around 1 in the morning), or the fact that she never falls asleep at night until 10ish (even though I put her to bed at 8). This does not help our morning moods.

Between 10 and 11, Kirk is ready for his first nap. He goes down in the nursery (which Shiph does not care for since it means only half of the 10 million toys are accessible to her) and usually sleeps for about two hours (he wakes up around noon). During this time Shiphrah whines, and whines, and whines some more. (She's remarkably happier in the afternoons...I don't know if this is because she's clingier when Avery is home or if she's better after her nap.)

After Kirk wakes up, we all eat lunch and Avery gets ready for work (an hour-long process). Sometimes that order is reversed...he gets ready and then we eat. He leaves for work around 2 (shift starts at 2:30) and the munchkins go down for a nap together. (If this is the case, sometimes I get to nap for about an hour or so. A lifesaver!) If Kirk's morning nap was unusually long (like today), he stays up while Shiphrah goes down. If they're both napping, they usually sleep until 4-5ish. If Kirk is awake, he goes down for his second nap around 3:30 or 4. (So I still get about an hour with both of them in bed, except today.)

Once they're both up, my evening is very restricted. Kirk is usually pretty whiny and wants to be able to see my face all the time. Shiphrah runs back and forth between the living room and her room which drives Kirk insane. So more often than not, I put in a video (on better days, just a 30-minute Veggie Tales) to keep them both happy and in one place (and to keep me sane).

Around 7-o-clock I feed both of them dinner. I've just recently started Kirk on a once-a-day mixture of rice cereal and pureed fruit, which helps him sleep a tad longer at night. Every other night is bath time for Shiph and Kirk gets bathed about once a week. Then we clean up the living room (clutter in the living room gets under Avery's skin so I try to have it clean when he gets home) and put pajamas on. Kirk gets nursed one last time, Shiphrah brushes her teeth, and they both go to bed in the nursery between 8 and 8:30.

Then I make myself dinner and relax for about half an hour. Hopefully dinner revitalizes me and I get a bit of a energy boost. I do the dishes, laundry, and whatever other chores need done (occasionally I vacuum right after I put the kids to bed...otherwise I'd wake them up). After chores are done, I work on a project (lately I've been sewing) or chill on the internet. Around 10:30 or 11 I pump breast milk to add to the whole milk I give Shiphrah in the mornings. On a good night (rare these days...have you seen the crime in SA lately??) Avery gets home soon after that and we stay up for an hour so catching up on his day. We're usually in bed by 1 am. Kirk wakes up around then or within the hour, so I get him out of the nursery, nurse him, and put him to sleep in our bassinet. A negative side effect of the 5 to 6-hour sleeping stretch is that he doesn't want to go back to sleep after eating, so he usually tosses and turns and fusses for another hour or so. Which means I don't sleep either. Last night was especially bad and he didn't fall back asleep until 3 or so.

After that, Kirk will sleep anywhere from 2 to 4.5 hours, and then another 2 or so. And then he wakes up and the days repeat themselves.

Get the idea? Can you see why I'm so exhausted?? On a good night I'm getting six hours of very broken sleep. On a bad night (like last night) it was four hours of broken sleep. For a former morning person, my grumpiness and grogginess in the mornings is RIDICULOUS. This morning was especially bad and I found myself wishing my husband had a job where he could call in sick and stay home.

I'm really not complaining (much), because I love my kids and my husband and I love my life. I'm really just petitioning y'all for prayer for my attitude and endurance. I'm running out of steam (last night I was so pooped that I ate my dinner in front of a movie and then mustered up just enough energy to wash the dishes) and this morning my behavior was abominable. So please, if you think about it, offer up an extra prayer for me, I'd really appreciate it.

Oh, and I just wanted to reiterate that I have the best husband in the whole world. He doesn't get much sleep at night either (although he sleeps through Kirk's waking) but he's usually so wonderful about getting out of bed with the kids and giving me a few more minutes to sleep in the mornings. And he's SUPER-understanding about my tiredness and the fact that the laundry stays unfolded for days on end or the floors don't get swept. I LOVE HIM!!!

Rain and Babies

We're finally getting rain in San Antonio this week and it's lovely! I think the newspaper said we got more rain yesterday than we had gotten all year (or something like that). For the past few days I've even been able to open the windows in the morning and feel the cool fall-ish breeze. Of course, that only lasts for a couple of hours, but it's still nice!

Unfortunately all the rain means muddy paws on the dog and cat...which in turn means constantly muddy floors. I think I've swept more times in the past two days (i.e. twice a day) than I usually do in a month.

Shiphrah thinks the rain ("WATER! WATER!!!") is fascinating. It's funny to think that she really hasn't ever seen rain (i.e. been aware of it). We've been in such a drought that I think the last time we got a good rain was when she was only a few months old. She loves watching it but doesn't care for being out in it. Even a few raindrops on her head is rather upsetting for her.

Kirk is turning six months old in a few days. I can't believe how fast the past few months have gone by! He's "thisclose" to crawling already...he's pushing himself up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. Which is really fun to watch because Shiphrah never did that; she just went straight from scooting to crawling. He's already pretty adept at getting around by rolling and scooting though so he doesn't seem to eager to figure out how to actually crawl. He's moved his knees a few times (would you call that taking one crawl-step?) but more by accident than anything. Still, I'm sure he'll be completely mobile within the next few weeks.

Shiphrah is regularly using two and three-word phrases to communicate. Like "Daddy outside" and "Kirk sleep" and "hungry chip please." She's also become quite the little snot when it comes to crayons. She loves to color, but even more than she loves to color on paper, she LOVES to color on anything she's not supposed to. Currently our coffee table is covered in black crayon from the literally 10 seconds I turned my back while she was coloring. Thankfully I've discovered magic erasers, which work amazingly on crayon (and lime deposits in the shower, by the way). HEB has their store brand erasers for 75 cents a 2-pack and they are my new favorite cleaning tool. But anyway, because of her obsession with coloring all things not paper she doesn't get to color very often, since it requires my complete attention to watch her. (Seriously, she is SO sneaky!) She gets spanked fairly often now, but because of her stubbornness it doesn't seem to phase her.

Kirk still isn't sleeping through the night, although his "long" stretch has gotten a bit longer. Most nights he'll sleep about a 5 1/2-hour stretch and then two 3-hour stretches. Since he's turning 6-months-old though I'm working on getting him started on solids (pureed fruit mixed with rice cereal) at night so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll start sleeping longer soon. Mama needs her sleep! Seriously, with Avery's schedule what it is (getting home around 11:30 most nights) I have been so tired lately. In fact, I've become pretty dependent on a daily nap, a habit I'm trying to break myself of because it severely limits my productivity (an hour or two napping and another hour spent getting over the post-nap grogginess).

Oh, did I mention that the munchkins are napping together? In the same room too! Kirk's schedule has finally adjusted to where he goes down for a morning nap around 10, sleep until noon, and then goes down with Shiphrah around 2 and sleeps until 4:30ish. 'Course oftentimes Shiph is ready for her nap way before then, but we can usually get her to hold out until Daddy leaves for work. Anyway, their coinciding nap schedules gives me a chance to get a few things done or take a nap, depending on how tired I am.

And with that, I need to find something to keep me awake because I'm literally dozing off staring at the computer screen. No nap today, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!

Menu Planning & More...

Currently I'm ignoring Shiphrah while she pulls clean laundry out of the basket and attempts to either wear it or mop the floor with it. The dirty floor, I might add. I'm ignoring her because it's easier than telling her no. :) She's tired and ready for her nap but Kirk is asleep in her room and I just know as soon as I put her in her crib she'll yell "KIRK, KIRK!" until he wakes up.

I had an epiphany last night as I was trying to get Kirk to fall back asleep after his bazillionth feeding: he stopped sleeping well around the same time I pulled the pillow out of his bassinet and made him sleep on the uber-thin mattress. I don't know why it took me so long to see the correlation, especially since he naps so much better when he's in his crib in the nursery, but for right now the pillow is going back in the bassinet to see if it will make a difference. (Most nights he's been waking up every 2 to 3 hours, nursing for 5 minutes and falling back asleep.)

And without further ado (in no particular order):

Breakfasts:
- homemade biscuits with jelly
- eggs & bacon
- French toast
- waffles
- egg sandwiches

Lunches:
- hamburgers & ranch style beans
- Mac 'n' Cheese with sausage
- chicken salad sandwiches
- hot dogs & chips
- leftovers
- meatball subs

Dinners:
- smothered burritos & rice

Cold symptoms on top of exhaustion = NO FUN

Constant headache, fatigue, dizziness, congestion, sore throat, weakness. All of these apply to me at this moment and most of them have plagued me for the past couple of days.

Kirk seems to go through weekly cycles. One week he'll sleep really well: 5 to 6-hour stretches at night followed by two 3-hour stretches. The next week he'll refuse to sleep any longer than 3 hours at a time and he'll fuss in between eating and falling back asleep. We just wrapped up one of the bad weeks. Last night he did pretty good so I think he's swinging back to the good side. I am dead exhausted though. With Avery's schedule the way it is, I don't get to sleep until midnight or so most nights and then Kirk is wide awake around 8-o-clock the next morning. Which means I get about six hours of broken sleep at night. And with the way Kirk's sleep schedule is, his long stretch is from 8:30 to 1:30, and I'm awake for most of that.

Because of my current state of exhaustion, I feel like I'm just existing. You know, going through each day doing the bare minimum and feeling like I'm in a daze the whole time. It's a terrible way to live. Each day feels like it's a million hours long and each night only serves to give me just enough sleep to survive through another day. I will be so happy when Kirk is sleeping through the night!

In other news, my sister's wedding shower that I'm hosting is this weekend and I've done squat in getting ready for it. I had all these big plans and great ideas for decorating and activities and yet I have the energy for none of it. *Sigh* I'm sorry, Rachel, I promise I'm trying! Oh well, as long as there are refreshments and the house looks decent, I'm going to consider it a success. Oh, and I have to finish the prize for the costume contest...since I promised a prize and already spent nearly $30 on the material.

In my research/planning phase of the shower, I discovered an interesting book that I purchased for a few dollars from Amazon. It's called Fascinating Womanhood and it was written by Helen Andelin in the early 1960's. I am loving it so far! Feminists would probably decry the book as a disservice to women everywhere, but I see it as a breath of fresh air (or old air, as it were) in a world filled with all the wrong ideas about marriage and being a wife. In her introduction, the author states that "To be loved and cherished is a women's heartfelt desire in marriage. This book is written to restore your hope in this desire and to suggest principles to apply in winning a man's genuine love." I'm only about a quarter of the way into the book, but already I am in agreement with everything the author has to say (which is impressive for me) and have been convicted, inspired, and encouraged all at the same time. Personally, I think this book should be required reading for every woman who thinks her marriage is doomed and I definitely think that every married woman in the world would do good to read it. One of the main themes thusfar is accepting and loving your husband for who he is without trying to change him. So important to remember...and something I struggle with on a regular basis.

Well, Kirk needs me so I'd better go.

"Instead of trying to make him over, try making him happy." - Fascinating Womanhood

Glorious weekend approacheth!

Let me begin this post by reiterating the first thing I said in the last post: Avery's schedule is kicking my butt! Seriously, I am SO glad today is his last day on this shift! (At least for a week or so...) Kirk seems to have stopped trying to sleep through the night (he is so much more difficult than Shiph was because I can't try to get him to fall back asleep with a pacifier...he just doesn't like them) and the longest stretch he'll attempt is five hours (most of which is before I'm in bed anyway). So at best I'm getting about six hours of broken sleep a night, which makes me super-irritable and impatient in the mornings. Prayer would be appreciated; I've really got to work on my "morning attitude."

The other night while waiting for Avery to get home, I made another dress. :) It was a real quick, off-the-top-of-my-head kind of dress but it turned out really cute! Here's the basic pattern I drew:

Sorry about the bad quality of the scan...I couldn't get it to scan any better. I won't bother posting a picture of the finished product, because the detail is mostly in the back and I was too lazy to take a picture, but it was quite a success! It actually looks kind of like a prom dress someone would buy at a formal-wear store. The fabric I used was a shiny dark green stretchy fabric...it's really pretty. :)

I am so, so, SO excited about our "weekend!" It start tomorrow and runs through Saturday night (he starts on the "dogwatch" shift on Saturday). Tomorrow night we're going to use our Restaurants.com gift certificate I got for $2 to try Canyon Cafe at the Quarry Market. I can't wait!! I feel like we haven't been out as a family in nearly two weeks!

Shiphrah is learning SO much every single day! She's adding words and phrases to her vocabulary constantly and is continually developing her quirky personality. It's adorable. :)

And I would write more to that effect but Kirk is being a little toot. Adios!

Late nights, diapers, and sewing a dress

Both kids are napping, Avery is off to work, and here I sit sipping an ice cold Code Red Mountain Dew. Ahhh, life is good. :) Of course, I'd rather all the above be true minus my husband being gone, but you take what you can get, right?

I'm rather surprised I'm feeling as upbeat as I am. Last night was a late night...so Avery finally made it home a little before 2 am (his shift ends at 10 pm). I stayed up waiting for him...I hate going to bed without him because he ends up waking me up when he gets home anyway. (I had taken a nap earlier in the afternoon anyway so I wasn't exhausted.) So we got to bed around 2:30 and then slept in until about 10:30. I felt really achy and groggy this morning though...Kirk is still waking up about every 3 to 4 hours so I feel like I never really sleep very well (although my body has adjusted to it so it's not bad anymore).

But despite the late night, I'm surprisingly perky today. :) I'm even contemplating taking both kids grocery shopping after their naps. Speaking of shopping, Target is running a great deal this week: one of their "buy 3 products, get a $5 gift card" deals. And Huggies are on sale for $8.99 and included in that deal! Plus I have two $2/1 coupons and a $1.50/1 coupon and a $5 Target gift card from the last time I was there. So I figure it'll cost me about $16.50 + tax and I'll end up with another $5 gift card. Which isn't bad at all for three Jumbo packs of diapers!

Uh oh, the boy is already awake. Excuse me for a minute while I go get him.

Kirk is funny: I can usually get him to take his three naps a day, but at least two of them are usually only about 30 minutes long. Sometimes that middle or last nap will be an hour or two, but oftentimes not. It's frustrating just because he gets so grumpy and tired by 6-o-clock in the evening, but I don't want to put him down then because if I do he's wide awake around midnight or 2 am.

Anyway, where was I? I finally pulled out my sewing machine again after several months (more like a year) of non-use. I cut out all the pieces to make a dress (which personally I think is the hardest and most time-consuming step out of the whole process) the other night and then last night I sewed about 2/3 of the dress while waiting for Avery to get home. Of course, because I can't sew anything without screwing up somewhere, I goofed and then didn't realize it until five or so steps later. But, being the stubborn person that I am, I refuse to take the whole thing apart and start over, so instead I created my own fix. :) Hopefully it'll still look okay. Unfortunately, I discovered that ironing the fabric makes it change colors permanently (it gives it a yellowish hue) so I'm going to have to iron the whole thing just to make it look okay. Bah, problems like these make me want to give up sewing completely...I'm just not an understanding or patient enough person. :)

Well, that's enough rambling for now. Kirk is being a grouch and wants to be fed already, so I'd better go. Happy Monday, everyone!

A sick baby and a sleepy mommy

My poor little boy seems to have caught a cold. :( None of the rest of us are sick, so it seems odd, but he's all congested and sounds so pitiful. His discomfort resulted in very little sleep for both of us last night. He woke up about every hour and a half and I had to nurse him back to sleep every time. This is second time in his short life that he's come down with a cold...it makes me glad we've decided to get him [partially] vaccinated. His immune system just doesn't seem as strong as Shiphrah's. Today all he wants to do is nurse and every time he falls asleep he wakes up within twenty minutes or so. It's only 1-o-clock and I'm already ready for the day to be over. Shiphrah graciously slept in this morning, so that helped, but now I have a feeling there will be little to no nap for her this afternoon.

We had a very unexpected surprise show up on our doorstep yesterday evening via UPS:

It's the very nice and expensive stroller from our baby registry!! (The Kolcraft Contours Options Tandem.) It showed up in a huge box on our front porch without so much as a packing slip or anything. But it did have an unfamiliar phone number underneath my name. I tried to look it up in the reverse phone book online, but it was a cell number. Then Avery suggested I look it up in my contacts in my cell phone since it was probably someone we knew. And sure enough, there it was! I won't post who it was because I'm not sure whether or not they wanted it to be an anonymous surprise, but THANK YOU!!! :) We would have never splurged and gotten this ourselves (we were making do with an old hand-me-down double stroller from a cousin...it worked but I couldn't push it with both babies in it, the wheels were messed up and it didn't turn well) so it is SUCH a blessing! It's super-fancy and the seats can turn around and face whichever way you want or the back seat can pop out for an infant car seat to fit into. It's very easy to push (considering it's size) and it does fold down (not sure if it will fit in the trunk of my tiny Echo though).

In other news, I think I'm going to have to start wearing my glasses all day long. This morning I was sitting at the dining room table and Shiphrah was trying to get my attention from the living room. I looked over at her and realized that her face was blurry. *Sigh* I hate the glasses, but they certainly do help! I just need to get over the adjustment period and then hopefully I'll be able to wear them without getting a headache or feeling dizzy.

Avery has two more nights on the dogwatch shift and then he'll finally get to switch over to the B shift (2-10pm) for the next three weeks. I am praying SO hard and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that this will be his permanent shift after his FTO rides are done. He just cannot handle this night shift. Yesterday he got off work at 6:30 in the morning, we went to breakfast as a family around 7:30, we came home and he went to bed around 10, and he still had the hardest time waking up at 6:30 that evening. He wakes up several times while he's sleeping so he doesn't sleep heavy enough to feel really rested. If he does end up having to work this shift, we'll have to put black paper over the windows in the bedroom and maybe soundproof the room or something. :oP

We rented "Bolt" the other night and really enjoyed it. Even Shiphrah liked watching it! :) The characters are hilarious and it's a very family-friendly film (unlike some of the animated movies they've been releasing lately). So if anyone is looking for a cute movie to watch as a family, I'd highly recommend it.

Well, Kirk is fussy and I need to see if I can't get him down for a nap. I'll leave you with a picture of my cuties. :)

Bullets Again

• What's been up with Xanga photos today?  Half the time people's pictures aren't showing up on their blogs.  Weird.
  
• Avery is working the "dogwatch" shift for the next three weeks.  This means he works 10 pm - 6 am Sunday through Thursday.  This is most likely the shift he will have permanently once he finishes his field training.  Unfortunately, he hates the hours.  Poor guy just cannot adjust his sleeping schedule appropriately.  I'm sure it will get better with time but right now he's miserable.  He tried staying up this morning after he got off work to get a few things done, but he kept falling asleep.  He's actually getting more sleep on this schedule than he otherwise would but I don't think his body is letting him sleep soundly enough since it knows it's daytime.  We're both hoping he gets the "B" shift instead (2 - 10 pm) even though it would mean no evening activities.  (It's pretty much impossible for a new officer to get the daylight, 6 am - 2 pm, shift.)
  
• Kirk almost, kinda-sorta slept through the night last night.  He slept two 4 1/2-hour stretches (the first one in his bassinet!).  Which was great for me!  He's gradually doing better and better, although he still has a VERY hard time actually falling asleep at night.
  
• His fussiness at night is driving me crazy.  Nighttime is my time to get things done around the house...especially since Avery has left for work by then.  Last night I needed to put away laundry and clean the kitchen (and run on the treadmill) before bed.  I got NONE of it done because he wouldn't let me put him down.  I can't let him fuss at night much either because I don't want him to wake his sister up.  And I can't do half of the chores (like the laundry) during the day because Avery is sleeping.  Ugh!
  
• And now I have a fussy Kirk in my arms, so this is going to have to be cut short.  Maybe I can get him to nap with me.  Shiphrah woke up early this morning so I'm sleeeeepy!