How to Torture Your Mother

Sleep is a bit like sex in that when you aren't getting enough, it's all you can think about.  Lately I have been obsessing about sleep like a fifteen year old boy brooding over... well, you know.

It has been more than four months now since I've slept through the night!  Lilianna Gwyneth and I have been having some serious heart to heart conversations regarding this matter, but she still isn't interested in sleeping as much or as long as a normal human being her age.  I laugh in the faces of those sleep experts who write that a baby between 3 and 6 months should  be sleeping 15 hours a day.  Ha ha.  On Friday evening, Pipsqueak awoke at 1:30 am and was geared up for action.  The sleep she had from 9:30 until then was just the nap she needed to feel refreshed and ready to roll again.  Ever-so-annoyed, I stomped down the stairs with her only to discover that her dad had also had a little nap and was up again messing about on his computer.  This didn't strike me as humorous until the next morning.  I am working against genetics here!!!

Last night George kept Lil with him until 5:30, so today I feel human again for the first time in many days.  This is my third time around with all of this, so I know that it will end, but I really wasn't prepared.  Sophie was such a good sleeper, and still is.  (She is sensible like me.)  I thought Emma was an anomaly, but now I know the truth; 2/3 of my children have inherited The Carson Curse!!  None of those jokers sleep when they are supposed to.  What am I to do?

For now I will carry on keeping Lili in a darkened room with me all night while she kicks and coos.  Occasionally I will growl at her grinning face, "No... Go to sleep!!" 

Emma recently asked me if there was a reason why God made babies so cute, and I am pretty sure this is the reason.  I would have a hard time tolerating all of this nonsense if Lili weren't so doggone cute.  Thanks, God.

So... I'm off to roll the dice again.  What will be in store for me tonight?

"A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother."  --Mark Twain

Mommy Power!!

As a young woman I was drawn to teaching as a career because I liked the notion of positively influencing the way others think and behave.  I adored the fact that I could create a little world for my students when they came into my classroom in the morning; I could set the tone and affect the social climate.  Other teachers often commented that my classroom was always "so peaceful and calm."  ( I can promise you that it wasn't always, but that was my goal.)

It has taken me a long time to realize that my current position (Carson Family Mama) has all of the same perks and powers as my previous job as a teacher.  Of course a mother has an even more powerful influence on her children than a teacher does.  Few adults are in therapy because of messed-up stuff their 3rd grade teacher did. 

When my two eldest girls were younger, I often felt as though nothing I did mattered.  Did anyone in the world really care if I cleaned up all of the peas that had just been thrown on the floor?  Why should I bother picking up those blocks when they would be scattered all over the house again in less than an hour.  A woman's work is never done because there is always some little person right behind her un-doing everything she does.  Lovingly cooked meals will be eaten (or played with and dropped on the cat's head), clean dishes and laundry will be befouled and left in most unusual places, and that tidy toy cupboard-- please! it doesn't stand a chance!

But now that Emma and Sophie are a bit older, I am starting to see the fruits of my labor, and I am re-discovering my power.  I am the adult here (keep repeating that), and I have the opportunity to set the tone in my house.  We strive to be a house filled with more laughter than tears.  I am also trying to help us become more organized and efficient.  It is my goal to be the mama who always offers this family a soft place to fall at the end of a rotten day or the mama who shakes her pom poms furiously when big and small successes are achieved.  I am not always this mama.  Sometimes I am tired.  Sometimes, believe it or not, I am grouchy, but remembering what power I possess gives me great inspiration.

Baby's First Virus

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the sunshine that made us sick, but shortly after our visit to the park on Saturday, Lili and I started feeling completely rotten.  Since Saturday we haven't really seen much improvement.  I expect I would feel much better if I could only get a good night's rest, but that isn't happening with my pitiful, miserable bedfellow.  All through the night, Lili is up coughing and howling so mournfully.  Her rattly, raspy moaning is absolutely heartbreaking at two in the morning.

So that's where we've been these past few days.  I am really hoping that we will start to feel better ASAP.

On a lighter note, before she fell ill, Lili started to enjoy one of her Christmas presents from Santa (pictured below).  She really seemed to appreciate being able to stand among us and having a different vantage point.  Emma and Sophie also thought it was fabulous that Lili could stand up like a little person and have a chat with them.  Sophie kept shaking her hand and saying, "Nice to meet you, my fine lady!" 

(Look at those little toes!!)

So...here's hoping that the next time I write, both of my shoulders won't be covered in baby snot!

Snapshots from the Park

EVERYBODY GET OUTSIDE!!  IT'S ACTUALLY SUNNY TODAY!!

Emma dancing with herself on the see-saw

Sophia chillin' in the tea cup

Wow!  Check out those jowls!!

Blue skies, such an unusual sight at this time of year!

My little buddy and me

Good Morning!

Strrreetch! Good Morning, Mama!

When these two cutie pies are the reason you aren't getting enough sleep at night, it's difficult to be too cross.  They are lovely, aren't they?

Golden Time

I knew I shouldn't have bragged about all of the sleep I was getting.  I have told Emma and Sophie that when Lili sleeps, this is her Golden Time.  During Golden Time, her brain and body are growing.  Sometimes you would almost swear you can actually see her growing right before your eyes.  The big girls are very keen to give Lili her peaceful Golden Time since they are 100% in favor of her brain growing.  Also "You need some Golden Time," simply sounds a bit nicer than "JUST GO TO BED!!"

Today George and I are the ones who desperately need Golden Time.  Last night Emma was up with frightful, worrisome thoughts at midnight and 4 am.  Sophie was up with really sore ears from 2am.  And Lili was up at 3 o'clock for a snack and some socializing.  When I slept (fitfully) in between all of those happenings, I dreamed about being woken up by children.  I dreamed about being really annoyed that no one would respect my Golden Time!!

Tonight will be better, right?

By the way... all of that carefully guarded Golden Time must be doing its thing for Lil since, according to her weight check yesterday, she has doubled in size since birth.  She is now just shy of 14 pounds... which means she really should be sleeping through the night now.  Come on, girl! 

And Sophie wasn't just whistling Dixie about those ears last night.  It turns out that both looked pretty bad this morning according to our GP.  Since she has a history of ruptures in her ear drum, she gets to be on antibiotics for a week now.  On the bright side, she enjoyed being home with me for most of the day... and she (sort of) enjoyed the big shopping trip to Tesco.  Since she was with me today, I came home with things like croutons, croissants and caramel popcorn, none of which I would typically buy.  I think it's just a coincidence that they all begin with "c".  She also put a large marrow in my trolley thinking it was a watermelon.  Yes, it's always fun to shop with a five year old.

Is there such a thing as a sleep dance similar to a Native American rain dance?  It can't hurt to try.  I'm thinking Flo Rida's Low might just be the perfect tune for invoking good Golden Time conditions.  Or maybe not.  Perhaps the link below is better?

"Sweet dreams be yours, dear, if dreams there be.  Sweet dreams to carry you close to me...."
-Meredith Wilson

Back to Life...

Back to the daily grind!  The snow has all melted, and we have been forced to re-join the real world.  The real world is far too busy a place.  Not only have I been busy with getting people settled back into the school routine, cooking, cleaning and baby entertaining and maintaining, but I have also been keeping myself busy watching the entire first season of Glee in just a few marathon sessions.  I just couldn't help myself.  (I so want to be in a show choir again.)

I have also been extremely busy smothering Lili with hugs and kisses and calling her names like 'Honey Pie' and 'Sugar Snap Peapod' since she has been regularly giving me a 6-7 hour stretch of sleep each night!!  We think this is awesome at our house.  If you have a story about how all of your little Huckleberries slept through the night from the time they were three weeks old, you can kindly kiss my grits.  We simply do not have babies like that in our family.

                              

I also took the above photo of Lili and me to illustrate her new 'male pattern baldness' hairdo.  Most of the hair on top is gone and she is left with a ring of dark baby hair all the way around the bottom.  Who knows what her new hair will be like?  My mother predicts that she will have auburn hair giving us brood that resembles Charlie's Angels.  If Lili does turn out to be a ginger ninja, I will probably have some 'splaining to do since I don't know of any redheads in our family.

You may also be able to detect the glistening drops of drool running down my chest in the above photo.  Lili's newest hobbies are drooling and chewing on fingers.  She excells at both.  She also enjoys 'riding a little horsey down to town.'  The horsey can often inspire super cute giggles.  We all like the horsey.

That's really all the news I have time to report now.  Soon I will try to provide updates on Sophia's love life and our attempts to help Emma remember to take her head with her when she leaves the house in the morning, but for now, I must dash... Emma is having a disco upstairs with her friend Lili, and Sophie just returned from a romantic play date with her fiance, Dmitry.  I'd better go ensure that all is well on the homefront.

Snow Day: The Sequel!

"Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow, Filling the sky and earth below, Over the housetops, over the street, Over the heads of the people you meet." -- J.W. Watson

By 7pm last night, we were pretty certain that school would be cancelled today, and three of us were not disappointed.  We woke up to a glittering, white wonderland.  After having a day out on Monday and shaking off my cabin fever, I was up for another snow day.  George started off his day as usual this morning.  He confidently marched out to the car to head to work.  An hour later, when he hadn't made it out of our cul de sac and had nearly taken out our neighbour's shrubs sliding on the layer of ice beneath the snow, he decided to have a "work from home day."

Sophie and I had front row seats for all of the action.  We pulled up our chairs by the window and sipped cups of tea by the warmth of the radiator while we watched Dad spin his tires in an attempt to get out of the driveway.  We decided that we were the epitome of "Nosy Parkers" with our noses pressed up against the window pane.  "I don't think Dad's going to make it," I commentated.  When he finally gave up and stomped back up to the house, Sophia met him at the door wearing her wellies and an enormous grin, "Greetings with great joy!!" she boomed, "I am so happy that you cannot go to work today!!"

So the first order of business for Dad was to have a good and proper frolic in the snow with Soph., and they had a whale of a time.  I was really proud of her since, in years past, she hasn't been the toughest girl when it came to tolerating wintry conditions.  Today, however, she took snowballs in the face like a champ!

George also managed to do a good bit of work from home.  I enjoyed listening in on top secret conference calls regarding "the company."  Let's just say that some folks at corporate are not afraid to go for the "wild card option," but that is all I will say about that.  Also since he was conferring with lots of fellow chemical engineers, there were several good jokes about methyl hydrogen, and let's face it, EVERYONE loves a good methyl hydrogen joke.  Wish I could remember.  They were a hoot.

In all seriousness, we loved having George home today.  We also loved sampling a nice variety of hot drinks each time we came in from the cold... everything from minty hot chocolate to red bush tea with milk (just like Precious Ramotswe drinks).

Lili is still not a big fan of the cold and snow, but we made sure she had a little snowy experience today too.  Isn't she a sweet pea?

This evening we managed to build more snow critters as well, nearly ticking off everything on my 'Snow Day To Do List."  I have a feeling there won't be school again tomorrow, so we will get around to anything we missed today.

Emma and Sophie's Snow Kitty

I have a feeling my glee might be annoying to some around here who are fed up with the inconvenience of snow two weeks in a row, but I just can't contain it.  I heard it said recently that a snow day is God's way of telling us we've been working too hard.  If that's true, we listened and had a good day full of play and very little work, and I don't see nothing wrong with that!

(You can see even more photographs of our snow day high jinks by clicking on the "Smilebox" in the entry below.

Lovely, Snowy Days in Wales!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Today

Dear Lili,

One day you will be a toddler who throws herself down on the floor and has a screaming temper fit.  One day you will be a snaggle-toothed little kid who decides to test her boundaries and mouth off to her mother.  One day you will be a teenager who thinks she knows way more than both of her parents combined.  But today... today, dear Lili, you are the sweetest thing I can imagine.  Not a single wicked thought has ever even flittered through your pretty little head.  Your eyes follow me wherever I go because today I am your everything.  I regularly earn glorious, joy-laden grins simply by cooing, "Hey Girl!" as I gaze into your bright blue eyes.  When you sleep, even your soft, baby bear snores are adorable.  Today I have the best job in the world, and that is because I know how quickly you will change.  I am trying to soak up each moment with you before this one year of baby-hood dashes past me.

"Babies are bits of stardust, blown from the hand of God."

-- Barretto

Baby's First Snow Day

Isn't that just about the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen? Look at those little frozen, puckered lips! Lili wasn't all that impressed with our snow today, but we took her out for a proper, brisk winter walk anyway. Every girl at our house was thrilled with the frosty excuse to stay home and lie in bed for an extra hour this morning. Too bad George was off for work before 7:30 this morning. We all did a little relaxing and snowball throwing on his behalf though.

First thing on the agenda this morning was the building of snow-women. Emma, Sophie and I built this Snow Mama and Snow baby while Lili 'chilled' in her swing and watched us through the kitchen window. Emma and Sophie tell me the snow girls' names are Rhiannon and Elora. We also just got the news that school is closed again tomorrow!! Another day of hot chocolate, Wii and guilty pleasure daytime TV for us... it's a rough life, but Christmas vacation was far too short anyway.

Happy Winter Fun... wherever you are!

Squeezing Out Every Last Drop of Joy

I really don't want this thing called the Christmas holidays to end. I am not eager to get back into the routine. I am actually quite enjoying our lack of routine, but they tell me it has to end. George went back to work today, and the big girls go back to school tomorrow. Yesterday we decided to savour our last vacation day properly. We finally made those gingerbread biscuits, and I proudly acknowledge the fact that they were almost entirely kid-made. Sophie and Emma, measured, kneaded, cut out the houses and men, and finally decorated each cookie with flair. I only helped roll out the dough, which is, of course, the trickiest part.

We also had hot chocolate with whipped cream and candy canes, a gorgeous roast chicken dinner and apple crumble, and we got all of the ornaments taken off the tree and put away. The girls' favorite part of the day was exploring up in the attic while the Christmas boxes were being packed away. That was some serious fun. Dad was required to make monster noises every time he climbed up and down the ladder. Luckily Emma and Sophie managed to defend their attic-fortress from all monstrous attacks using foam swords and magic wands.

Today we girls are trying to take it easy on our last day off. We are excited about our new Wii Fit Plus, so that will likely be explored since it is fr-r-r-eezing outside. I also see more hot chocolate in our future, and perhaps an extended story time under the duvet. Right now Sophie and Emma are watching a funny old Disney film called One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, which is highly recommended if you enjoy slapstick comedy, martial arts and fearless British nannies.

Tonight I will be making up lunch boxes again and gearing up for the old grind, but for now, my feet are up and I am enjoying every last minute.

Shiny, Happy New Year!!

New Year's Day in our neck of the woods was so glorious and sunny (albeit cold), that we decided to pack up the kids and drive to the seaside. Our destination was Ogmore by Sea, which is about 30-45 minutes away. We weren't the only ones who thought a winter walk in the fresh, sea air would be a good idea. Hoards of bundled up Brits had headed out to the seaside, and there were a surprising number of ladies in ridiculous, high heeled boots attempting navigate across the rocky terrain. We were, of course, completely sensible in our wellies and hikers.

Lili produced frequent Wilber-esque grunts of approval from her catbird seat. She was wrapped snugly in her snow suit and them zipped up cozily inside George's coat. I think both of them were equally pleased with the scenario.

I truly enjoyed feeling both the sun and the cold on my face. I felt alive and healthy and part of something bigger than myself. It was a perfect place to greet the new decade. My reverie was rather rudely interrupted about ten minutes after we arrived at the beach. Sophie had not been able to resist jumping into one of those tempting rock pools. Her legs were drenched with very cold water, and she was howling for all she was worth, "I WANNA GO HOOOOOME!!" Well, it was nice while it lasted. We managed to distract her for a bit longer, then headed back to the car to warm up and have the delicious veggie wraps with pesto I had made earlier. (PB& J for Emma, of course.)

Sophia stayed in the car's front seat close to the heating all the way home. Her wet trousers came off and her legs ended up thrust through the arms of her coat. Her little feet sticking out where hands ought to be looked so cute. I now wish I had taken a picture. The ride home was very jolly indeed as we were all topped up with fresh air and sunshine and anticipating our traditional new year's day meal later that evening.

Emma said a beautiful prayer before we began our meal and everyone toasted to good health in the new year. More than once glasses were clinked in honor of my having healthy boobs in the new year. I definitely drank to that!!

To quote my friends, the McKeggies: Hope your 'Noughties' were nice!! Out with the old and in with the new! Happy New Year to all!!

Love, Meredith