One More Day

Oh my goodness. This has been a week to end all weeks. I'm so exhausted. I don't remember being this exhausted with any of the other three children. I guess it's because I've never had a two year old and a newborn together at the same time before. I feel like a walking zombie.
And to make matters worse, George is still having health issues. He has been having this fluttering in his heart area over the past couple of weeks. He went to the doctor last week and had an EKG. Nothing. Today he went again and is wearing a heart monitor. He has to go back tomorrow. But he has these episodes that make him dizzy and tired. He's not feeling well. And I'm out of steam by the time he gets home from work. And Baby Lucy is fussy at night. All in all, a recipe for some tears all around.
Oh, and I've been a little sick this week with a sore throat and cough. I think that's why Lucy is fussier than usual this week. I think I passed my sore throat on to her. She's been sounding hoarse when she cries, and has even had a little bit of a raspy cough. Luckily, my symptoms were mostly gone after about two days. However, two days of a fussy baby can be total hell.
Don't get me wrong. She's great. She has been going to be between ten and eleven pm. Then she wakes up around 3am to eat, and again around 6am. Then she gets up around 7:30 because George and the kids are making noise while they get ready for school and work. So I feed her and I can usually get her back in bed by 8 or 8:30. Then she sleeps until around 10 or 10:30 am. I have been getting a quick shower in the playroom bathroom or catching a (much interrupted by Drake) nap on the sofa. Drake and I usually have time to eat a leisurely bowl of oatmeal together and play cars or trains. I'll make a phone call or two if I need to. And sometimes, I'll just sit there on the sofa with my mouth open and completely zone out to the music of Wonder Pets or Backyardigans. I have had the theme song from Higglytown Heroes or Little Einsteins stuck in my head almost constantly for the past three days. Right now, I'm singing Little Einsteins in the back of my mind. It has a slightly insane lilt to it.
OK...so then, once Lucy wakes up from her morning nap, I try to get us out of the house for a little while. Which usually means we don't get out before 11am, which leads to eating lunch out. Not healthy by any means, but at least I can eat lunch. If we head home, it's always a toss up whether Lucy will sleep or sit nicely in her swing/carrier/bouncy chair while I bolt down a sandwich or hot dog. And it's hard to keep Drake from yelling and waking her up. Or throwing something at her head. Yesterday, he threw a plastic motorcycle and a blue Lego car at her head in rapid succession while I was changing her diaper. Both were new toys from his party. Both ended up on top of the refrigerator in time out in just as rapid succession.
So we go out. And I spend money. But I'm less stressed (at least for the moment). It's a vicious cycle. Maybe if I were less tired, I wouldn't mind being a little stressed out. I'm trying to just slow down and enjoy this nutty, sleep-deprived infant stage. I know I probably will not get another one. So I need to savor this one, right?
Again, I digress.
We have our lunch en route. Then we get home. The baby naps in her carrier while I read and snuggle and put Drake to bed. We read pretty much the same books day in and day out: Me and My Dad (which he calls "Dadas and Babies"), Five Little Bats ("Bats"), Where Does It Park ("Choo-choos" because of the picture of the train on the cover), Bridges ("Bridges" - go figure), Planets ("Pants"), or in the evenings, there's Harry Potter ("Potty") with Bart.
We read two books at naptime, sometimes three if Lucy is sleeping soundly. Then when I finally get Drake in his toddler bed, he insists that I kneel down beside him and put my head on the bed facing him. "Mama yay" he insists, or in non-baby talk, "Mama lay". So I lay my head down facing him I try to get a kiss from him, or he asks me what each part of my face is called. He points to my eyes, or my nose, or my cheeks and asks what each one is. Then we have the Sunshine War. It all started when I began calling Drake "Sunshine". He insists, "Mama sunshine," but I insist "Drakey sunshine," and so it goes until one of us loses interest or I sneak a kiss from him and he tries to get the kiss back. Ah, I know if I don't write these little things down, I will forget them.
Finally, I am able to evade the pleas of "Mama yay" and retreat out the door. There is usually a prolonged exchange of kisses blown, "Bye-byes" and "Night-nights" all the way down the upstairs hall.
Usually by then I have just enough time to go to the bathroom before Lucy wakes up and I give her lunch. Then she takes a nap. Lately since the weather has been so nice, I have been putting her in her swing outside in the shade. She sleeps really well outdoors and then I can get some fresh air, too.
When the big children get off the bus, Lucy is usually napping. So I can help them with their homework and get dinner started. Monday through Wednesday we have afterschool activities, so we have to kind of rush, but Thursday and Friday are nice. The kids can play outside and I can relax (sort of).
After dinner, Lucy gets kind of fussy. It's not too bad. I can feed her or rock her to sleep usually. Sometimes George puts her in the Pea Pod (the sling carrier), which usually soothes her to sleep. Between ten and eleven, she usually settles in for the night, until her 3 or 4 am feeding. I don't really get much done during the day, but it makes you grateful for the small things, like showers and breakfast that is still vaguely warm.