Ugh

That's my reaction to this past week. Just a great, big UGH. We went back to our family's "regular" or school schedule, but instead of just Rob going back to school and work, we all decided it was time for a schedule change.

Anna woke up shortly after midnight on Monday (or Sunday night, for the non-literalists) and didn't really go back to sleep. Turns out, she was sick. Now, I have no idea what the illness was, but she was cranky for several days, slept at odd times, woke up a lot at night, was warm but had no registerable fever, and had gook coming out of her eyes. I will label it as "weird baby virus" since we moms know that we spend the first year or so of our babies lives wondering what's wrong with them and never diagnosing a problem. Since her sleep pattern was off, she was driving me nuts. I finally told her on Wednesday to pick a schedule and stay on it. She did: she now wakes up at 5:30am, naps around 9am for a half-hour, naps at 2pm for three hours, and goes to bed at 8:30. I'm not overly happy about the early wake-up call, but at least she's on a schedule and I REFUSE to mess with it now!

Benjamin is no longer napping. **sigh** I now have two of them awake in the afternoons, so that means two kids to keep occupied. We moved school time to afternoons during Anna's big nap and that helps, but it makes me tired. Ben is fine without a nap and falls asleep sooner at night. Let me explain that one: he goes to bed at the same time as always, but now he actually goes to sleep :)

Matthew is the same as always. I think he kind of misses our special time alone in the afternoons, but he's adjusting.

Rob and I had planned to get up at 6am starting on Monday to do our devotions and start the day w/o children. We did and we've been faithful to our plan, but it was very hard the first day after getting so little sleep. Anna now joins us in the mornings for what we have dubbed our not-so-quiet time. I'm just glad I have a set time for my devotions now that is managable for me. I know that once she naps less, she'll get up a little later in the morning so I can wait her out.

And we all had to get used to Rob being gone from 8-8 again. He does come home for lunch or break each day and the length of his stay depends on the day, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. It helps a little, but not as much as I'd like :)

All week long, I was looking forward to a stamp workshop on Friday and I did get to go, Praise the Lord! We made a neat stationary box and cards and it was nice to spend three hours w/o children, just working on a hobby.

Otherwise, it was a very frustrating week overall. I know we'll be fine once we all get used to it, once Mommy comes up with a loose pattern to follow during the day, and now that I've realized I have to let go of all that I want to do during the day for myself. I asked Rob to give me an hour to two for myself on the weekends and he said he'd try. His workload is more intense this semester, so he will have to be at the library alot on Saturdays, but that's okay. I plan to leave town once a month to give him space. I feel more comfortable travelling alone with the kids now that Anna is older and Matthew can feed her in the backseat. He's such a good boy!

Just to add one more thing to our difficult week, our washing machine is giving up the ghost. Well, it does still work, but that's the problem. It never stops washing the clothes. Rob ran a load one evening and when I went to move the clothes to the dryer the next day, it was still going. Since it's very old (avocado green!) we bought a new one today. When our appliances break, they like to go out with style! (See phantom VCR story from last year)

God is good. All the time. Even in a rough week. It's always darkest before the dawn, so I'm looking for a better week coming up. I have a few ideas on how to improve our new schedule so we'll see if they work. If not, I might consider joining the circus. I figure it won't be much different than where I live now!