Useful Insomnia, Just Add NaBloPoMo.

I've found a previously unidentified use for this NaBloPoMo challenge. When one drinks far too much coffee in the evening and then tosses and turns in bed in a state that in no way resembles sleep, one can use that time to wrack one's brain for blog topics.

Through my mind last night raced various ideas--some I've been planning to blog about for months and some that just came to me in that moment where all I wanted was TO GET SOME FREAKING SLEEP.

Let's see if I have enough coffee left in the house so that I can counter-act that lack of sleep with enough energy to actually write those posts.

One reason to move to Israel

In Israel (at least in the religious neighborhoods), I doubt you'd have a construction crew right outside your bedroom window insanely early on Shabbat morning TEARING UP THE FREAKING CURB.

This, of course, is AFTER I was up all night with a vomiting little boy (not sick, but something he ate at oneg after services upset his stomach) and was so looking forward to sleeping in.

Proof of the existance of a higher being.

My youngest daughter is napping, in some place other than the swing or sling and has been doing so for an hour and a half.

Traditionally, this is a time where the clouds part and angels sing.

This child does not nap well. She never has. She usually naps in the swing, but not for very long. When we're out, you can guarantee that she'll nap in the sling, but at home, she's not a big nap fan. Sometimes, I'll take her to bed with me, nurse her and we'll both nap, but she doesn't nap very long that way (which is so strange because we cosleep).

Today, she's in the playpen (with the basinet attachment) in the other room and she's snoozing away. I keep checking on her, but yes, she is breathing and yes, she is sleeping.

There is a G-d and He likes me.

Lullaby and good night GO TO SLEEP little baby.

The yellow brick road in SwaddleBlanketLand has lead me to the Miracle Blanket. I really wanted more information on the Puckababy, but I wasn't able to find any reviews online. I found that they have a twitter account (I found them when they sent me an @reply on twitter), but I can't find one single review of the product anywhere. I asked on twitter and got no responses (not even from the Puckababy twitter account).

So, I gave up and instead, turned my ruby slippers towards the Miracle Blanket. It arrived today (THANK YOU, G-D) and I have the baby in it now (she's asleep). I want to try it for a week and see what I think.

My initial review is that it seems a bit cumbersome, but I think it will solve my problems. It has fabric flaps that hold the arms down. Baby Houdini easily got her arms out of the Swaddle-Me blanket no matter what we tried, so here's hoping those flaps help. It looks like they will. I was afraid TheBaby would feel too restricted that way, but she smiled at me after I wrapped her arms up. The bottom is quite a bit larger than the Kiddopotamus blanket we were using. That was the other issue--she was too tall for the other blanket. This addresses both of our big issues, so here's hoping TheBaby sleeps soundly tonight (me too, please).

Of course, after I bought the blanket, I found that Dealiciousmom has a Miracle Blanket giveaway. Figures! I entered anyway. It seems like a great baby gift and lots of people are pregnant right now. Thanks to that link, I found a video I can watch to be sure I used it correctly. It's simple enough, but it is a bit more complicated than the Swaddle-Me.

I'll give you an update in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed.

On a quest for the perfect swaddle blanket

I'm on a mission, not from G-d, but an important one none-the-less.

TheBaby sleeps fabulously when she's swaddled. The problem is that, from a very early age, she channeled Houdini and got out of the blanket. So we bought the small cotton Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me wrap at Toys R Us. That worked well until fairly recently.

Now, TheBaby is too tall and her legs get cramped. She has also rediscovered her inner Houdini and can get her arms out no matter how tightly she's wrapped.

When she's swaddled, she sleeps through the night. When she's not, she's up every hour. You see why I NEED A FREAKING SWADDLE BLANKET.

Someone suggested the Miracle Blanket. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I'm open to any and all ideas right now.

Happy Mothers' Day

I hope all my mommy follower had a happy Mothers' Day. For any followers dealing with infertility who are not yet mommies, know you're in my thoughts and prayers.

This morning, the family brought me breakfast in bed--real breakfast cooked by the husband. So I was able to avoid the joy that is burnt toast. :-) Dh bought me the 7th season of Gilmore Girls. Yay. The absence of Gilmore Girly Goodness in my life has been very apparent recently. I miss the wit and wisdom shared by Rory and Lorelai (and the occasional great lines thrown in by others in Stars Hollow). There were a few episodes I missed, so I'm thrilled to get the DVD's. We went out to lunch and then got coffee.

I'm glad I have this blog, because it allowed me to take a walk down memory lane with the ghost of Mothers' Days past. Oh, I am SO glad that this year has been very different. Bigger kids (and a complete set of kids which I didn't know if we'd have back then), a husband who is not deployed, and sleep--GLORIOUS sleep.

"You ought to be happy a whole heaping lot for the places and people you're lucky you're not." Yeah, we're the same people, but I'm thrilled we're not in the same position.

Despite some frightening health issues, my mother is still with us. Bubbe's Alzheimers has worsened, but physically, she's healthy. Plus, I hear that now, she smiles all the time. She has moments where her old self shines through, but overall, she can no longer remember the past, which for her, means she no longer lives with her fear from Germany. This is a blessing.

This Mothers' Day, I'm thankful for the little things; hand-made cards and kisses and I'm thankful for the big things; health, memory, and home.

One must be fair to the ears.

This evening, Girl2 made a confession.

You see, when she gets scared, she pulls her blanket up over her head and falls asleep that way. We always know when something's wrong if we check on her and find her burried under Bubbe's afghan.

Well, today, she told me that the whole reason she started pulling the blanket up over hear head was to be fair to her ears. She didn't think it was fair that the ear closest to the pillow was able to bask in the warmth while the other one had to shiver in the cold. And so, she started pulling her blanket up in an attempt at fairness.

I love kids and their reasoning.

Thank you, Sir, may I have another?

It just doesn't stop.

TheBoy was in fine form this morning. He's in this, "Mama do it," stage where he wants help from no one but me. That kind of sucks when I need to get stuff done. I asked the girls to help him and he threw a fit. When I tried to get him dressed, he hit me. Oh hell no! Completely unacceptable. He went into timeout and never stopped screaming.

After the gym, I was feeling much better. The kids, however, took a break from the bitchiness just long enough to stay at the nursery there, but then kicked back into brat-mode when I picked them up.

Long story, but we got back here only to find we needed to leave again. I was planning on staying in the rest of the day just catching up with the kids and giving the youngest of the brood a nap he obviously so desperately needs. Now I find we'll need to leave in order for everything to get done.

So I make plans with a friend, but when I tell the big kids where we're going, it's met with whining and complaining. "I doooooooooon't waaaaaaaaaaaaant to go there. Why can't we go to the poooooooooool?" Holy shit! Who are these kids because they're sure as hell not behaving like mine. My mantra is, "We don't get what we want when we whine." I'm pretty strict about that. So WTF is going on?

So I have to call to cancel which initiates this hugely dramatic scream-fest from Girl1. Dude, it's your fucking fault.

Let's not forget that our presence here means that things can't get done. That was the whole reason I even considered getting the hell out of dodge in the first place.

And the "fun" continues.

TheBoy scraches Girl2 in the face with sunglasses which initiates launch sequence for sobs.

Now the girls are trying to play with a game and TheBoy is objecting (loudly).

Holy shit! I need a fucking break and a drink. Send alcohol--copious amounts of alcohol, QUICKLY. Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaase. Pretty pretty pleeeeeaaaaaaase.

I'm up.

I think I have entered the Twilight Zone. It's just about 8:30 am. I'm up. I am the only one up.

Cue X-files theme: Do do do do Do dooooooooooo

My daughters never sleep this late. What in the world is going on?

Of course I actually slept last night (there's that choir of angels again), so after dh left this morning, I couldn't fall back to sleep. Instead, I got up, came to watch some t.v. and then hopped on here--all by myself. Wow. This is different and quiet. It's so very quiet.

I think I just heard TheBoy stirring, so I'll go spend some quiet quality one-on-one time with him while the sisters are in dreamland. I'll bet you $5 his first question will be, "Girl2?" That will be followed by, "Girl1?" I have no clue what his reaction will be when I tell him they're still asleep. I don't know if I've ever had to tell him that.

Weird.