Do you ever have a morning when you have more things to do than morning? And I'm talking about things that cannot be done later....like making sure Peter brushes his teeth and puts on deodorant before school...or making Peter's lunch so he can go to school....or putting Luke's clothes on so I can run to my mom's(which is thankfully right across the street) and do the payroll for their small business that I should have done last night but didn't because I fell asleep trying to get Luke to sleep.(Ugh) Did I mention that it all had to be done by 8:30 because that's when Peter goes to school and when my parents had to leave for work(30 minutes earlier than usual today...what great timing!?!)?
By 8:03, when Jay was ready to leave for work and bring the girls to school, it was evident there was NO way I was going to get Peter ready and do paychecks by 8:30. So, did I do the grown-up thing and calmly ask Jay for extra help? Umm.....sadly, no. I freaked out...just a little. And then I cried...just a little. And then my husband, who has an incredible amount of paperwork to do and many patients to see today, (not to mention he is running on only 4 hours sleep because Peter had a really bad night), stepped in and took care of Peter and bringing the girls to school so that I could do the paychecks. He even finished stacking the dishwasher with this morning's breakfast dishes while he was waiting for me to get back!
I am one blessed wife!
I was tired today after a not so great night of sleep myself.(The terrible sleeping toddler struck again!) I was also feeling a lot of anxiety because Andrew was taking his driving test to get his license early this morning.(He passed:)...now I have a lot of anxiety about Andrew for a different reason!!!)
That's still not a reason for the missed opportunity of giving a "right response" in a moment of stress. Thankfully, there will be lots of chances to make up for it as long as there are children living in the house! If I'm not a professional by then, there's no hope for me, because at the rate we're going we are going to have children in the house FOREVER! Not that it's a bad thing...I just hope they aren't all still in my bed. I would like at least a few years without the safety rails on my bed before I need to put them back on for when we are old and need them to keep me and Jay from falling off the bed!
Speaking of bedtime...one of our funniest parenting stories ever happened when Mike was 3, Andrew 15 months and Jon about 3 months. Let me preface the story by saying Jay is not very helpful when he is extremely tired and woken up in the middle of the night.
Jon had woken up and was crying. I asked Jay to go get him in his crib for me so I could nurse him. So he went into the boys' room and picked up Mike(who was sound asleep!) and put him on the couch in the living room. Then he went and got Andrew(who was sleeping!) and put him on the couch in the living room. Then he went back in the room and got Jon,(who was still crying!), and put him on the couch. Then he put on a Winnie-the-Pooh video, laid down on the living room floor and went to sleep as all three boys cried around him! I came out of the bedroom, saw all the boys on the couch, and said, "What the hell are you doing, Jay?" He woke up completely confused, not even remembering he brought all the kids into the living room!
So much for the parenting books encouraging dad's to be more involved with their breastfed babies by changing diapers and getting them from their cribs when they need a feeding! Dads mixed with sleep deprivation is not a pretty sight!
Oh well! No one is perfect! Even super heroes have a weakness!:)
