Tough Love, Morning 1

Sure enough, since I wrote out that blog entry, Zack's slept through the night both nights. Funny how that works.

This morning, however, was a battle of wills.

*crying*

*pitter patter of little feet*

*crying*

*opening of his door*

"I wanna hug and a kiss!!!!!" he yells.

"Ok, sweetie, come on into bed with us and you can have a hug and kiss"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, YOU COME HERE AND GIMME ONE"

*more screaming and crying. Flailing on the floor*

We continue to repeat that he can have a hug and a kiss when he comes in our room.

"Look, our door is open, you can push it open if you want," we say encouragingly.

I swear to God, the kid karate kicked our door because it came flying open. Followed immediately by him throwing himself on our floor and screaming for another several minutes. He finally escalated to the "screaming bloody murder" scream that he's perfected.

And then, the miracle.

He climbed into bed with us for his hug and kiss.

We won, we won, we won (doing happy dance).

I know what you're thinking. He's 3, you should always win.

You don't have a 3 year old, do you?

Oh my gosh, no lie - as I'm typing this, he's starting to cry. It's 12:20am so we'll see where this goes...

Why Doesn't my Kid Sleep Now?

The first few months of Zack's life were rough. He wouldn't sleep unless I was holding him. After we got through his feeding issues, he gained weight and slept like a champ. In fact, he started sleeping throught the night at 4.5 months and never looked back.

We would comment about how great it was that he didn't wake up in the middle of the night like a lot of children his age. Jinxed ourselves is what we did.

For the past few months, Zack's been a bad sleeper. He would wake up once a week about, but would be easily comforted and go back to sleep. Sometimes, we'd have a hellacious night, but not often.

Recently though, he's been waking more and more. Several times a week. Honestly, since last Friday, he's woken up EVERY NIGHT at some point. Sometimes 3 times a night. What the hell is going on here?? I'm so frustrated, I'm at my wit's end.

Usually, he's easily comforted, but why can't he just come out of his room and climb into bed with us? I would LOVE that. But nooooooooo, he screams from his room until we come in to him or he gets hysterical. He won't even get up if he has to go to the bathroom - he wants one of us to get up with him.

This is sooo old. I have no clue how to fix the situation, other than maybe some tough love. So, now that the older kids are gone for a while to Arizona, I think we're going to stand firm now and not go in to him unless he sounds scared (we all know there are different cries for different things). I didn't want to let him scream when it would wake up Cassie & Alex - they have school and such and they shouldn't have to suffer. I'll suffer, if it will fix this.

That boy is lucky that he's so cute. I look at him and melt. He's damn lucky ;)

Oh, Canada!!!!!

I'm going to Toronto, I'm going to Toronto!!!!! We're going to head up on Monday and home on Thursday or Friday (I have to work on Friday so I can either get home Thursday or if we leave early on Friday, I'll be home in time). I have to work on Sunday, but I'm going to try to get off so we can go up there from Sunday to Thursday.

We're staying with my friend, Stacey, whom I've never met, but I've been dying to for a long time now. We've gotten pretty close in the last year. She's awesome and we're going to have such a great time.

The idea of going up in the CN Tower (the tallest building in the world) makes me scared to death, but I still want to do it. I'm not sure what all we will do, but I'm sure we will have a great time. Dave will do some research on some things he wants to do.

It's only a 9 hour drive - I never thought that Canada was that close! I figure with the DVD player, Zack will be thoroughly entertained so we won't stress about that. I actually enjoy long drives, so I'm looking forward to it.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, I'm so excited, have I mentioned that??

Oh, Canada!!!!!

I'm going to Toronto, I'm going to Toronto!!!!! We're going to head up on Monday and home on Thursday or Friday (I have to work on Friday so I can either get home Thursday or if we leave early on Friday, I'll be home in time). I have to work on Sunday, but I'm going to try to get off so we can go up there from Sunday to Thursday.

We're staying with my friend, Stacey, whom I've never met, but I've been dying to for a long time now. We've gotten pretty close in the last year. She's awesome and we're going to have such a great time.

The idea of going up in the CN Tower (the tallest building in the world) makes me scared to death, but I still want to do it. I'm not sure what all we will do, but I'm sure we will have a great time. Dave will do some research on some things he wants to do.

It's only a 9 hour drive - I never thought that Canada was that close! I figure with the DVD player, Zack will be thoroughly entertained so we won't stress about that. I actually enjoy long drives, so I'm looking forward to it.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, I'm so excited, have I mentioned that??

Saturday

Zack, thankfully, slept until past 8am! Then we gathered the kids and went to see Robots. Cute movie! I liked it a lot more than A Shark Tale, that one was pretty lame. Robots was fun though and everyone enjoyed it. Zack wasn't as good as he was at Spongebob, but he wasn't bad either - just typically 3.

I haven't done much today - did some chores, but mostly I've enjoyed not having to work tonight. Been having fun chatting with Wendy, as always - amazing how much we think alike ;)

As I type this, the boys are playing "pillow jousting", which of course involves hitting each other. But, at least it's with pillows. Dave's playing They Might be Giants songs on his guitar, while Cassie & I sing. I think it's awesome that my daughter likes a group that I used to listen to in high school myself :)

Oh shit, I'm old. Speaking of that - my birthday is coming up soon. I wonder if I should work that night (it falls on a Saturday so I'll probably get scheduled) and use my birthday as a ploy to get more tips or if I should ask off. What do you think?

We did it!!!!

We no longer own any credit cards!!!! I made the last payment yesterday and closed the account. Wow, what a great feeling!!! Now, to tackle the 2nd mortgage loan.

We decided to celebrate next week while the older two kids are gone to Arizona. We were just going to sit around that week (we've taken vacation from our jobs, except The Pot, I'll still work a few nights). We agreed that after we'd paid off a certain amount of money, we'd go back to the cabin. Well, we've actually HIT THAT MARK already!!! So, we're going to take Zack with us for a few days and go to the cabin. I just have to get my schedule for that week to see what days we can go. I'm excited - I think Zack will have a great time playing outside and seeing Bodhi the lodge dog.

I had another dream last night that I went off on Susan. I hate that I dream about that stupid idiot, I really do. I just don't understand her. Oh well, she's really not worth my effort to wonder about, that's for sure.

Another Nothing Entry

I wish I could think of one specific topic to discuss, like I usually do, but lately, I can't. Not much out of the ordinary is going on here. I am working 3 days this week, but Erin gave me the weekend off in exchange. I can DEFINITELY deal with that!! Last night wasn't as bad as the previous week, though it was still very busy. I still really like working there.

CSI is a great show. We've been watching it from the first episode and are loving it. But, I want to bring up some issues that I have with it that are starting to piss me off. I really hope in the subsequent seasons, this changes. Why is it that the killer is ALWAYS the first person they talk to? Eyewitness at the scene. He's the killer. Security guard who saw a car drive away. He's the killer. Husband/wife crying at the scene. Killer. It's obnoxious. In the last few episodes we've watched, Dave and I have joked when we see the first person "Oh, that's the killer". And we've been right!!! Come on, get some new ideas people!!!! I still love the show though. Can't wait to get the next disc.

I also just realized that my birthday is in just a couple weeks. I have no plans and no clue what to do with my birthday money that I will get from my parents. They always give me a big chunk of money and I'm determined to keep it for myself this year (I always end up spending it on stuff not necessarily for myself). But, I don't know what to use it on. I was thinking of a spa treatment, but then I feel like that's such a waste of money. But, Leah (my waxer) was telling me about this body wrap that will make me lose several inches when it's done. Um, I'd like that!!! We'll see - give me some ideas :)

This and That

I'm finally feeling better, but still coughing a little. Zack's had a fever for several days, I took him to the doctor who rattled off a list of things he DOESN'T have. Of course now, he's fever free - I guess the antibiotics the doc put him on are working. I'm just so glad he's feeling better.

I put in my notice at The Pot last night that I want to work 2 days per week, a MAXIMUM of 3 days. I wrote Erin a letter and taped it to the door. Then I see John (the owner) reading it, so I said "It's not too whiney is it?" I just explained that 4 days a week is too much - my family misses me, I miss them, and it's just too much. I told her that I know it's not her problem if my family is unhappy but I hoped she would be understanding. John said he totally understood and he would give the note to Erin, as well as writing her an email letting her know about it. Then, after pre-shift (where we all sit down and the manager gets us up to speed on things before guests arrive) he asked who wanted to go home (since we didn't have a lot of reservations) and let me go. So, I'm down to 3 nights this week and I'm very happy about that. I will get next week's schedule tomorrow, so hopefully I'll just see two days on there.

Alex's last chess club meeting is today. I know he will miss it. Am I turning my kid into more of a social outcast by putting him in things like chess club? I really worry about that sometimes. He doesn't have a lot of friends and gets picked on pretty regularly. Kids can be so mean. I sure hope he's not in class with that bad seed, Jonathan, next year. That's all I hear about - how Jonathan picks on him. Turns out, he's a bad kid and I'm not the only parent whose child has had issues with him. Great. Oh well, just two more years and then he will be in middle school where there will be more variety of people there for him to make friends with.

My boss lent me his copy of Ray today - I can't wait to watch it tonight!!!

What to do?

I'm so tired. Working two jobs and having 3 kids is really difficult (der!). We had more covers (guests) at the restaurant last night than we have ever had. It was an insane evening!!! It was really hard, but I made serious money last night. After tip out, I walked home with $202.00. No lie.

But is it worth it? I've been working more days than I want to and I'm always tired. I do enjoy the job still, it's just nights like last night - ugh!! Of course, now that I'm sitting here on a day off I think it wasn't so bad.

I'm not sure what to do. I think I will tell Erin that I need to work only 2 days a week. That would give us some good extra money and will keep me home a little more. I'm honestly shocked at how much we've paid off so far and we pretty much don't need for me to work this second job - we can still pay off a lot each month.

Oh well, decisions decisions!!