A Long Day

I knew that today was going to be a long day. I tried desperately to make sure I was asleep at a godly hour. The problem is, I work best at night.

I went to hang with my BFF last night. I got there at around 9 PM. We talked for a while. I checked my phone to see what time it was. 9:30--still enough time to chat a bit, then head home, do my nighttime cleaning regimen and go to sleep.

Unfortunately (this has happened before), the next time I checked the time it was 11:00. I was still 15 minutes away from home and had a list of five things I wanted to do.

I mentioned in another entry that I was going to take FLY Lady's beginner baby steps. I am two weeks into it and am happy to report that the house is cleaner and more organized than its been since we moved in four years ago.

The nighttime routine that's enabled me not to backslide involves shining my sink. That means I clean everything out of my sink, clean the sink with soap, dry it and then use Windex on it to make it shine. I have added to this by making sure I'm running the dishwasher, every other night I sweep and Swiffer and I like to vacuum. (I love my dogs but the dog hair situation grows quickly out of hand if I don't.

The lovely part about completing this routine at night is that I can work uninterrupted and without "help," I am able to enjoy a clean downstairs for a bit and my mornings are, by extension, much less stressful.

But leaving my friend's house at 11:00 meant not getting home and starting the routine until close to 11:30. It was quickly apparent that my bedtime was going to be far from godly.

I am incapable of going to sleep quickly. Brian is usually asleep before his head hits the pillow; I spend an inordinate amount of time getting comfortable, checking e-mail and Facebook and trying to turn my mind off. Therefore, it was 1:30 in the AM before I knew it.

Morning always comes too quickly for me. I'd prefer to start my day at noon, but alas having children moved my start time up several hours.

Doug was scheduled to be evaluated today and we planned to join other people from our church at a local park around 4 this afternoon. I followed through on my commitment to myself and managed to workout, then headed out to the park with my friend (same one I saw the night before) and her kids.

The rest of the day has been a blur. Doug's evaluation went well. I prayed beforehand that I wouldn't get defensive at anything and that I would not internalize what the therapists had to say.

Doug has been obsessed with dog food and, of course, came crawling down the hall to join us with dog food crumbs on his chin and shirt. He wasn't impressed with being confined as he was evaluated. In true Doug form, though, he smiled his way through it.

I was told a few weeks ago, at his intake interview, that he would qualify for services if he was more than 30% deficient in any one area. He showed off his crawling skills, demonstrated how he can sit up from being on his belly, and made the effort to stand up.

At the same time, he didn't know who Jeremy was (meaning that when asked "Where's Jeremy," he didn't look at or near Jeremy). He is making noises, but doesn't say "momma" or "dada." He has a hard time focusing. He looks at people in the eye, but only briefly and then he's busy looking at other things.

They explained to me that this lack of focus was probably why I've not been successful in using sign language with him. Never once did they place blame on me for his deficiencies. They contributed his delays to his issues with reflux and his ears. They didn't call me a bad mom or criticize my parenting.

I almost started crying as I was processing everything afterwards. It occurs to me that Jeremy and Bekah are beyond proficient at having their needs met. They are constantly making demands of me; for attention, food, attention, etc.

Doug, on the other hand, is pretty laid-back. He doesn't whine at me except when he wants milk. Otherwise, he is perfectly content to play in our cabinets and eat dog food. He doesn't mind having a dirty diaper and very seldom needs extra cuddling.

He has started asking to be picked up. Today at the park, he held out his arms to me. He has been hurting lately because of emerging molars. I was more than happy to oblige him!! He is a snuggle monster, but because he has just recently discovered crawling, he's not been wanting to sit still much.

We had fun in Fox River Grove, but Bekah and Jeremy ended our time there with lots of tears. Jeremy wanted to go play at the park, but it was already 7:30 and we had to pick Doug up from my parent's house.

The best quote of the day came from Jeremy: "Mommy, I need to talk to you about a situation. I'm a Jeremy and Jeremies like parks." I did my best to hide my laughter as I put his pajamas on him.

Tomorrow is another busy day. It's currently 11:00 PM, but I'm already done with my nighttime routines and will shortly be snuggled in my bed. I'm Sue and Sues like to get enough rest.