Predictable

You can see this one coming a mile away...

Lemons into lemonade

Let's face it: our kids are bad sleepers. Dexter is generally better than he used to be, and better than Zach was, but last night we were up from 2 to 4. He seemed uncomfortable and wouldn't stay asleep. Then, like we've done all week, we got up with Dexter for the day at 4:45am.

So we weren't happy this morning, and it seemed like the kids were extra crabby and fussy too (though it could be our impaired judgement).

To save ourselves, we packed up and drove to Castle Rock, and went for a hike. It was the smartest thing we could have done. We had a lovely walk, just the right length, the kids laughed the whole time, and Zachy learned to climb rocks.

Past and present colliding

I got a mug when I was seven that had a rose on it and the name "Sylvia." I was thrilled, because Sylvia is/was such an uncommon name that Sylvia merchandise was never available. My Aunt Thelma gave it to me, as I recall. I've taken it from job to job, since it's a good way to not lose my coffee mug.

So today, day #2 at Rainmaker Systems, I toted my box of personal stuff in from the car, and out of the box onto the hard cement parking garage floor smashed my Sylvia mug. Ah well. It's kind of how today feels.

That was at lunch. This morning when I arrived, I came into the office through a different door, and became disoriented, which is easy for me, and wandered around looking for my desk. A guy spotted me for the second time, looking confused, and ushered me to my spot. I was mortified.

I still don't have external email access, nor a working cell phone. My Zachy kept asking me to "...not go to work anymore," and I feel far from home, though I'm closer than before.

I attended a business review meeting and spotted the husband of a friend and coworker from 3Com, circa 1996, and was glad for that. Funny that the person who hired me away from 3Com is also here.

Who knows what the future holds?

Slogger

I logged into Blogger today to write about what a hard stretch it has been -- mostly because of sleep deprivation, but partly because of job hunting and construction too. We've been slogging along for a while now, even with extra help around in the forms of Gramily and Tillie.

So far the construction project hasn't been too invasive. The back yard is often a wreck, making it harder for Zachy to go out and play -- which he needs to do because the house is so small and cluttered. But we crossed the line to some other zone when the HVAC stuff needed to get installed in our half of the house. It's lucky for us that Tillie lives up the street and can take the kids there during the day, because guys come in and out with fiberglass-encased ducting, cut holes in drywall, re-route vents through closets, and generate large amounts of dust and dirt. Somehow this has pushed me over the edge. Maybe moms need a nest, and my nest got smaller and more cluttered, but I still had one. Now I feel like we've been invaded and I don't like it!

Sadly, we broke a healthy stretch of several weeks when construction forced the kids back into Tillie's house with other daycare kids, and now they both have colds -- so sleep has gotten erased. I've been up all night with Dexter, who is agitated by not breathing through his nose. He's resisting sleep anyway, so once he wakes up, he'll often stay awake for more than an hour.

Which brings me to why it is that I'm even able to type this email at 8 in the morning. I'm at a motel! Bob, observing that I don't look happy and have "the biggest bags under your eyes I've ever seen," quickly signed us up for a few days at a motel so we can get some sleep -- at least, one of us at a time. It sure is nice to sleep a whole night!

It's that time again

PUMPKIN TIME. One of my favorites, and let it be known that I loved Halloween long before it became a commercialized, chic holiday.

Anyway, today was our official pumpkin patch visit, and here are the boys posing nicely.

For mothers of little boys

In case you need ring bearer outfits or other formal dress needs for your little boys, this place is the best! Low prices, incredibly friendly and honest people, and the stuff looks like it should.

As it turns out

As it turns out, Dexter, Zach and I are all sick with colds and have pinkeye too. Zach's lungs are evolving, and even on a lower dose preventative inhaler, he is not wheezing. Big progress! On the other hand, Dex is fully engulfed in asthma, and we're not having a great time managing this.

Tillie approached us about being a nanny for us rather than a daycare provider, which completely took me by surprise. But after going to the doctor with Dex this morning, I'm thinking that it's not realistic to think that we can continue with daycare and no good backup for sick days. So, it's funny how life works.

My coping abilities have apparently jumped up a level, because I'm completely unfazed by these developments, even in light of meetings with CEO, review season, remodel upheaval and general uncertainty about work. At least, TODAY I'm unfazed.

Still and all, I'm grateful that Bob took the plunge yesterday and we're now officially not having more kids!

Early morning

The sun rises pretty slowly these days, but not so the little boys. Here they are cooperatively sitting for a phone camera shot to send to Daddy in Arizona.

Sleepy Dex

Dexter, recovering from pink eye, has gotten much better at night. That is, he's sleeping! Today I discovered that his problems had been at least two-fold - -though likely they were more than that. First, he wakes up only once to eat, now that we're adding rice cereal or baby food to his bottle. Second, the humidifier keeps his nose from getting stuffy and irritating him into wakefulness.

Third and fourth on the list could be teething and constipation, but the latter seems under control and the former has been a constant -- so I think we've narrowed our list.

Phew. Now, prepare for it to all change again.

Milestones

And just like that, Zachy is potty trained. Well, we've had the potty around for many months, with passive encouragement in the form of jelly bean and M&M rewards. And then this summer I noticed that Zachy would take off his clothes in the back yard, when he got them wet from the hose, and then tell me when he had to go to the bathroom. So on Labor Day weekend, we decided to keep his pants off and sort of see what happened. And as it turns out, he really didn't need his diaper. He has had one or two accidents, and except for today, even naps have been fine. Even poops have been fine.

Dexter has grown two new teeth in the past week. Perhaps this accounts for his sleeplessness. He reflux is under control, which is GREAT, so if we can get him to sleep better at night, we'll be in a good place. His endoscopy last week showed him to be all normal inside, meaning he'll outgrow his reflux in 5 (long) months. So, while I kind of wish there was a big, clear problem to be solved, instead there is not, which is better but harder. Did I mention we're not having any more kids?