food, photos, Pictures, sleep deprivation

Peach pie fixes everything… right?

standard jessica July 14, 2009 6 responses

It almost goes without saying that Little L was up at 11, 4, and 5 last night. But then she slept until 7:15 which was nice. I think. I’m not sure. I was pretty tired at that point.

So it makes complete and utter sense that on my way home from picking up the kids at daycare after a long day playing catch-up with my two page to do list I would be struck with the urgent desire to turn some of our fresh, home grown peaches into a pie.

Well, duh, right? Don’t you make pie when your eyes feel gritty from exhaustion?

OK, fine, maybe it wasn’t the smartest undertaking, but I sure hope the following pictures will demonstrate just how tasty an undertaking it ended up being.

Seriously. Don’t these just scream “PIE!”?

Made my own crust.
In the Cuisinart, because that’s why it exists.

I got the recipe for the filling at the Food Network.
Then I added a bit of this and that.

Tah dah!
Peach Pie filling!

And a lattice top.
Which was totally going to be real lattice,
until that got old. Very, very fast.

You’d never know,
right?

And topped with some whipping cream,
you’d never care. Right?

I may be tired, but my belly is nice and full of peachy deliciousness. And if she doesn’t sleep well tonight, well there’s always more pie for tomorrow.

Little L, sleep, sleep deprivation

Sleep glorious sleep

standard jessica July 13, 2009 2 responses

I know that one isn’t ever supposed to blog this stuff. It angers all the wrong powers that be. But really, what happened this weekend was so monumental that I really can’t keep it to myself.

This weekend Little L slept.

I mean, doy she slept. She often sleeps. But she rarely sleeps all. night. long.

The last two nights she went to bed (without a fuss) at 7:30 and woke up at 8.

This is the kid who is usually up by 6:45. And sometimes at 5 before that. And sometimes 11, or 12, or maybe 1 too, you know, just for good measure.

But this weekend there were no night wakings. None. And she woke up after C both mornings and after me on Saturday! That’s just unheard of.

And to what do we attribute this amazing streak of sleep filled nights?

Uh, well, we have no clue.

We were at the beach for the weekend, so it’s possible that the sound of the ocean lulled her, but every other night that we’ve spent there has been a sleep disaster that usually ended with her in our bed.

Both days were action packed and fun and ended with a hearty meal, some serious cuddling, and our usual evening routine. Like every other day in our lives.

She had the same naps she always does. The same stuffed animals. The same milk. The same pacifiers. Same. Same. Same. And same.

We’re back home now and I have no delusions that the streak will continue. Troubled sleepers don’t turn over a new leaf over night. In fact, just to prove that my fears were founded, Little L had a hard time settling down tonight and I have no doubt she’ll be up sooner rather than later.

That’s OK though. I had two blissful nights of uninterrupted sleep, which were great while they lasted.

sleep, sleep deprivation, time management, tired

Playing catch-up again

standard jessica May 15, 2009 4 responses

My to do list is probably two full pages long by now. I’d have to sit down and write it all out to know for sure, but I don’t have the energy to make the list. Which is really OK because I don’t have the energy to do what’s on the list either.

I don’t know what’s going on with me. Could be that we’re back in sleepless hell, could be this darn diet I’ve been on for almost three weeks, but I’m constantly dragging. Seriously, last night I went to bed at 9:30 and I woke up at 7:30 just as tired as I’d been before going to bed.

I’m hoping that this slump has everything to do with being tired and that all I need is a couple good nights of sleep to get back in the groove. I was doing so well and was feeling so in control and on top of things, it’s frustrating to be falling behind again.

It seems so unfair, isn’t eating healthy and exercising supposed to give you more energy, not less?

Little L, parenting, sleep deprivation

Does the nightmare of sleep deprivation ever really fade?

standard jessica April 1, 2009 6 responses

10pm – Little L wakes up coughing, coughing, coughing. She throws up all over her crib just as I arrive in the room.
10:30pm – I climb into my own bed after changing the sheets, washing the baby, dressing her in clean pajamas, and giving her an asthma treatment.
12am – Little L wakes up crying. I go comfort her, get her back to sleep, and go back to bed.
1am – Little L wakes up crying. I go comfort her, get her back to sleep, and go back to bed.
2am – C wakes up coughing, coughing, coughing. I go to her, give her some cough syrup. Go back to bed.
3am – C wakes up coughing, coughing, coughing. I kick M out of bed so he can give her some Albuterol.
3:30am – C is still coughing. I get out of bed and go give her some water.
4am – Little L wakes up crying. Her fever has spiked. I go comfort her and give her some Motrin. Stumble back to bed.
6:30am – Little L wakes up for the day. I go tell her to hush and go back to sleep.
6:50am – I give up and go get Little L. I bring her to bed with me in the hopes that she’ll let me snooze a bit. Silly mama. Instead I get poked and tickled until M gets out of the shower and rescues me.
7:40am – M leaves for work and both girls climb into bed with me. I cheat and do something I rarely allow myself to do, I turn on the TV and snooze while the girls watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Little Einsteins.
8:30am – I give up on trying to sleep with little feet in my side and little fingers up my nose and in my mouth.

Little L has been very sweet both days she’s been home and if I’d been able to focus in the least I would have been able to do all the work I need to get done. But when you don’t get any sleep focus is the first thing to go. Wait. No. Patience is the first thing to go, focus is second.

Back when Little L tormented me nightly with multiple wake-ups and I had to suck it up and go to work and do my damnedest to focus and be coherent I had a coworker who always made a point of asking me if I’d gotten any sleep the night before. Of course back then I thought she was taunting me and I’d just look her in the eye to see if there was even a glimmer of a smirk hiding there before answering her unwavering gaze.
“No. No, I did not get any sleep last night.”
She’d shake her head and cluck, make some sympathetic noises and say something about how horrible that was and how hard it must be. And I would just look at her without blinking before finally shrugging because how do you explain Hell to someone who gets a full night’s sleep every night?

Sleep deprivation makes you feel dead and numb. It makes you not care about anything except just getting through the next hour and then the next one and then the one after that. If your sleep deprivation is caused by a child who doesn’t sleep you add a layer of fear to that. You’re exhausted and virtually catatonic and in theory you pine for your bed and sleep, but really you’re too scared to go to bed because you know that as soon as your head touches the pillow you’re going to pop right back up like a punching bag clown who gets hit over and over again, but never ever lies down.

Back when Little L was little there was no end in sight. We moved past months 5, 6, 7 and into months 10, 11, 12 without a single night of uninterrupted sleep. I never let myself hope, never let myself assume that I’d sleep. Miraculously at 16 months she just started sleeping through. First one night, then another, and another, until I realized it had been a month and I finally felt alive again. It’s been four months now. Four months of glorious sleep with a few excruciating reminders here and there of the nightmare that hasn’t quite yet faded from our minds.

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