The child who dosen't sleep.............(much?)

I have a problem. You know, it's personal but now people look at me and say, You're looking tired today, eh!(Canadian slang, eh!)
It's baby dear and she is making me tired and making me feel over 40, all in the same light.

Let's start from the beginning..........
Little children should sleep late in the morning. At least stay asleep for an HOUR after mom gets up and starts her day.
Eh, no. Baby Dear used to.

I wake up when MR kisses me goodbye. I pray, take my thyroid medication, brush teeth, take out rollers,(another story), get dressed, check Baby Dear, slowly crumble down the first set of stairs. Then I attempt to wake up the older children, make sure they have their clothes for the day, go down another flight of stairs and head for the kitchen while trying to remember what I am making for breakfast and dinner, cut on the computer in a lame attempt to do schoolwork after the older children leave but before the little ones wake up and start making breakfast. Now, Baby Dear wakes up as soon as I stumble down 2 flights of stairs and put my finger on the controls of stove! I traverse up mount stair-a-lot in an fury with the hopes of pacifing her back to sleep. The monitor is on this whole time and I can hear that she is breathing heavily into into it. Probably an attempt from her to get me moving faster. "Move it slave! Faster I said!!!"

Alright, back to where I was. Oh. Hmmm dee dum.
Oh, yes. So now all of a sudden, her sleep habits change and she wakes up right after me. She really dosen't seem to take a morning nap unless we are driving somewhere and somewhere between 12:30 and 1:30, she is usually crying for me to put her to sleep. When she gets good and snory during this nap, someone manages to make a loud crashing noise or the phone rings, resulting in the shortest powernap on the planet. Seven minutes has been timed on this little girl and she was just so rejuvenated! If mommy had gone to bed late and woke up early, then 1pmish comes and I can hardly keep my eyes open either! The 3 yr old dosen't seem to take a nap unless you force her to and then it seems as if her eyes are still open. Waiting, watching, not sleeping....
You can see it, can't you? Sleepy mom, grumpy, sleepy, accompanied by wide awake Baby Dear and peppy 3 yr old. This is definitely a combination of troublesome proportions! One time I was so sleepy that I laid on the floor with the baby crawling all over me while I took a "Hot-second powernap."
Floating away in the land of endless nods, I was in my peaceful place. You know, a Zen moment when you are so happy where you are and are warm and comfortable. This is the place where all your best dreams happen. I call it the land of "So Wonderful". Well, seven minutes in "So Wonderful" is NOT ENOUGH! You wake up angry and feeling like you want to hurt someone and the last thing you want is for someone with sharp nails crawling across your face!
She also gets sleepy around 5pm. I am usually knee deep in making dinner when she becomes an inconsolable mass of tears and slobber. A sibling does his or her best to fend off the insanity, but eventually she gets handed to me and I have to hand dinner over resulting in some strange kitchen mistake that has us eating refried beans and tortilla chips instead of a real dinner. At bedtime, I start the nightly ritual at 7:30. Bath, pajamas, stories and prayers, followed by hugs and kisses. She falls asleep right after 8 and as soon as I head downstairs for a nerve soothing chocolate, she is crying again! I head back up mount stair-a-lot to feed her and lie down with her for a while. After a while, I pop back up to shower and go to bed. BabyDear wakes up at last 2-4 times in the night for another drink and then wakes up in the morning like nothing ever happened.
I , on the other hand, feel like a train has pushed me down the block on my face!. This has been going on night after night and when someone told me that I looked tired, then I figured out that BabyDear is sucking the sleep out of me by not
sleeping!
Now that I have shared my story, any suggestions?
I am too young for dark circles and I'm not getting much done around here!
Help!

A new and better challenge!!

Ummm,
I just noticed that all I had written about this is gone! So here is the link to the challenge that I have undertaken. The last one didn't work for me so I found this one and am having a great time doing it. I am actually ahead of schedule and it's a good thing because of our upcoming spring break trip. Here is the link for you. We are halfway there, but you can always join now and get 20 bags of stuff out of your house.
So far last week I have sent out 8 bags of stuff. Big trash bags count as 2 in my opinion.
Join me and let's get cracking.
http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/2010/02/40-bags-in-40-days-update.html

Or........
Do this one. This is a 30 day challeng that just started on April 1st. Five minute a day missions get you on the start to a more organized home.
http://www.getorganizedwizard.com/blog/2011/03/get-organized-for-spring-join-the-30-day-organize-athon/

Go on with it!!!

I'm in love!

No. I am not leaving Mr!
I have found something that I didn't know I could be so interested in and I want you to know about it. I confess that I can't have this new friend much since he can be quite heavy on the heart after a while, but it is worth a try especially if you have the opportunity to try it.
As many of you know me personally, you already know that I love to eat! I like trying new foods and here is a great place to do it. In England, there are so many imported foods that you can stick your hand blindly in a grocery aisle and probably come up with something from somewhere else. Well, I did that as I rushed through Tesco after church and brought back to the car an amazing discovery- Double Gloucester with onion and chive. Yea, it sounds like you need an interpreter to pronounce it, but it is so-ooo good!! I popped a piece into my mouth and it just melted on my tongue like butter. It was rich and tangy and oh-so-flavorful! I was stricken with the creamy taste of it and immediately fell in love. Against my better judgement, I handed out tasters to the rest of the family. Sniff, sniff. They went happy on me and wanted another taste. I promptly said "No" and pulled out the custard doughnuts. Yes, I had a trick in my bag and I was willing to use it to hoard the cheese. They enjoyed their doughnuts (which we don't eat very often because, well, we'd all look like doughnuts if we did that!).
We made it home and the prized cheese was placed in the fridge, in an inconspicuous place.
I took it out to take this photo. When I touched it, it called my name and I had to taste it, Just.a.little.bite.
And as you can see by this photo, I had some self control.
Now I know how Winnie the Pooh felt. Let's just hope I don't start looking like him!

My Menu in a Minute- March 6-12, 2011

Sunday-Chicken with artichokes and pasta(A family favorite!)
Monday- Mama's Avocado burgers, oven fries and Broccoli salad
Tuesday- PANCAKE DAY!!! Oh yea! Crepes, with cheddar, bacon and broccoli. Banana nut pancakes with sweetened whipped cream
Wednesday- Red Beans and rice, spinach and orange salad
Thursday-hmmmm, nothing sparks me mind yet!
Friday- Salmon croquettes, parsleyed rice, candied carrots and sliced tomatoes
Saturday- Chef's Delight (leftovers)

Well that's all I can think of in just one minute!
Uh, yes. There is a repeat of broccoli, but I want to eat it while it's fresh!

The Challenge to change

I'm going to do it! Yep, the time for simplictiy is now! Join me and we can weep together over books, appliances, stuff and more stuff as I clear my home of time wasters. I will actively participate and take photos.

Ciao!
Misty

Hello Russia?

Dearest Friends,
I have been doing,(writing), this blog for many months now and am thoroughly intrigued at the widget on the right hand corner. FEEDJIT lets me know where my readers are coming too my blog from.
So far there are readers from all over the world. This is great and tons of fun if you put it on a map and see that folks come from Spain, Canada, Ireland,Brazil, Southwest Asia, and even Africa! I know people in those places. But Russia? Wow! I'd love to know who you are! Are you a mommy too? We were talking about trying to visit there before we are forced to leave Europe under the guise of retirement. Send me an email, introduce yourself, lets be friends! (Unless you are a spy, hee, hee!)

Ciao!
Misty

P.S. Anyone else from an exotic place? (I'm from Texas and anywhere else is deemed exotic!) Come on, lets be friends too!