"Rising up! Back on the street. Did my time, took my chances. Went the distance now I'm back on my feet. Just a man and his will to survive!"......That's my theme song as I prepare for my night with Matthew....I know it's been a while, but I've been busy and therefore, tired!
We are 5 months (almost 6 months) and things have not changed. Matthew is still waking every 2 hours and one parent is on the couch with him while the other is sound asleep in bed. Guess who has Matthew duty tonight. I'll give you a minute to think.................................................
"How do you do it?" some people ask. I honestly do not know. It is quite comical when you sit back and look at it. I know one day I will laugh. It will probably be when Matthew calls me asking what to do about his own child stripping every last bit of sanity from him. For now, I only laugh because I know of nothing else.
The problem is that life does not stop just because Matthew is not interested in sleeping. We still have bills to be paid, stomachs to be fed, and bottoms to be cleaned. Oh yeah, and I'm married too!! The weeks, now, just pass by like extremely long days with naps in between. You have an idea of how we spend our nights. Most of the time I am on the couch with Matthew because I only work part-time. The rest of the household is usually up and going by 7:00 a.m. Showers, hair, teeth, clothes, diapers, and breakfast all have to be done in about an hour. If it is a work day, the day starts about an hour earlier if I can manage to be coherent. Then it is out the door for Daddy. If I'm working, he takes Matthew with him to Grandma's and I take Nathan to school. If I am not working, but have had a rough night or have an errand or two to run, Matthew might still get to spend quality time at Grandma's. Regardless, whenever I start my day it doesn't end. Usually at work I yawn and talk about my kids all day...funny, but I actually miss them when I'm gone and I look forward to coming back home. I read a book once and it said that is "L.O.V.E.".....If I'm at home, I usually fix Nathan some breakfast, turn on Curious George and lay down to steal just a few extra moments. Matthew is pretty good in the morning. I'm wondering if it is because he's so tired from the night before! IF I'm able to steal those few extra moments, they are short. Curious George is only 30 minutes long with an educational interlude in the middle. By the time it is over, I've been up at least 3 times!. I assume I have a normal day as any other stay-at-home mom does. You know, the usual: diapers, tantrums, bottles, crayons on walls, laundry, Y&R....Then dinner time comes. Don't be fooled. Dinner is no more fun when you are at home than it is when you are at work. In fact, to me, it is more stressful because I feel all the more guilty asking my husband to stop by Chick-fil-a on his way. (I have convinced myself that although Chick-fil-a is fast food, it is more nutritious than McDonalds or Wendy's) After dinner, bath/play time, and a little Jon & Kate or Real Housewives of Atlanta it is time to get ready for bed.
*Enter the Rocky theme song* I put my sweat pants and hoodie on as I jog in place stretching my neck muscles. I swallow a few egg yolks, punch the air a few times, and I'm ready!!
Nathan, these days, is not able to fall asleep on his own. If we do not lay with him, he will stay up until 12:00 or 1:00 in the morning. So around 8:30 or so, one of us retires to the bedroom and the other is on the couch. There is just one flaw to this method. Well, not one flaw. But you know what I mean. Whoever puts Nathan to sleep, also falls asleep. So the other is left alone with Matthew for the rest of the night. It's a good thing we have DVR! Last night I started in the bedroom and ended on the couch. When I woke up, I had better knowledge of the rise and fall of the Berlin wall and suddenly had an opinion about communism and fascism. (That's another blog) And so again, I will let you guess who is doing what at this moment...............You guessed it! The boys are sleeping and I'm blogging.....Good night, All! I'm going to try to catch the 1.5 hours I have left of this episode!
