Perfectly busy.

The week has been another tiring one. Something about that fourth kid being around is just a lot more work than we expected. I worked two half-nights. After those, I usually sleep in a bit so that I can function, and so T will get breakfast started and E will finish it up.

On Monday, I was only supposed to work until 11 but T got a flat tire on the way home. 11 turned into 2am. E was home, sleeping, technically in charge of the other three, who were miraculously good at bedtime and didn’t make a peep for the rest of the night. Tiny, on the other hand, had to be fed every two hours…
He does sleep through from about 11:30 to three or four, so after T texted to say her tire was flat and she was waiting for roadside assistance, I fed the little punk, tucked him into his play pen and tried to sleep on the couch.

It’s a comfortable couch but I had wicked heartburn and lying down was making it worse. Also, we keep the TV on low to keep some noise going so that the shift change when T does get home doesn’t wake him.

My point; I could not sleep.

I dozed (junk sleep) until T got there.

And the next morning, after sleeping for 12 hours while the women folk were otherwise occupied, E had the nerve to complain that he was still tired. The women folk, however, did not care. T slept straight through breakfast, waking only to nurse the baby and put him back to bed. I didn’t yet know that E was complaining about needing more sleep or I would have slept til ten to spite him.

Instead, I went up around 8:30 and drank a pot of coffee.

Then, to avoid falling asleep while Monkey tore the house apart, I took him to the library. It was ten before we got there and I yawned the entire time. I was so grumpy and I knew it, so I just ignored him when he climbed on top of the computers in the children’s room, following the CUTEST little Chinese baby in the world.

We moseyed on home and I put him to bed and nodded off on the couch. T had taken the baby to a doctor’s appointment and taken her car for a real tire and a check up. I was reveling in the quiet of the house as I nodded off on the couch when the phone rang. And then it rang again. And then the stupid, curse word dog started barking at the mailman.

HE NEVER USED TO DO THAT. WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO HIM?

I snatched a good ten minutes of half-sleep, you know the kind where you have terrible nervous dreams and you don’t feel rested at all and then when you startle yourself awake, it’s all you can do to not have a panic attack?

That’s what I did.

I can’t remember the rest of that night because I chose to block it out.

Back on Sunday we had R’s birthday party. The nine confirmed guests somehow morphed into 25 and the house was wild and crazy. Fortunately, T had put the minimum amount of effort required into this party and we just threw together some bowls of chips and dip and let the kids have at it, so it didn’t matter how many were there.

That was that.

Tonight was Youth Group, but before that my sister came up for a visit. We ran around the city, mostly trying to think of ways to entertain my nephew. When it was over and I was about to head to church, I discovered that I had missed an announcement on Facebook about a little Youth Group excursion into the city.

I know, I know. ME? Miss something on FACEBOOK? I was shocked too.

Anyway, we have some foreign exchange Christians visiting from Amsterdam so we met them and went to the Trade Center Memorial.

So, to sum up: I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in four days and I spent my day off walking around or riding trains for 12 hours.

And as tired as I am, as sore as my feet are, it was all quite lovely.

I love laughing with my sister(s) and the youth group. I love my kids and doing things for them, and taking care of little Peanut.

And as long as I don’t have to work any full nights until Small Baby is sleeping for an eight hour block, I can handle the lack of sleep here and there.

It’s an excellent reminder as to why I am adopting kids and not babies.