You win some, you lose some

This weekend.  Oh my.  

These past few months since I have been back at work, Jimmy and I have had our bumps in this crazy journey called parenting.  A four month old that goes from sleeping 10-12 hours per night to waking up every 1-2 hours (OMG) and an almost 2.5 year old that decided he is going to start waking up 2 times a night too (OMG x 2)...which hasn't happened in like over a year.  

Saturday night, we had our first dose of the stomach flu with our sweet Charlie.  We knew when he went to sleep that he had a fever and was literally so tired he was falling asleep in the bathtub that he obviously wasn't feeling good.  But after I fed Maddie at 10, I walked by his room and it SMELLED.  When I walked in, I found my sweet boy had thrown up on the sheets in his crib.  Dead asleep. It was honestly the saddest thing I have ever seen.  

After several loads of laundry, forcing some water down him, we laid him back down.  Two hours later, up again doing the same thing - luckily this time (for us, not him), it was just bile because there wasn't anything left in his poor stomach.  It's always fun doing like 17 loads of laundry at night, right?  And then right after I got him settled back down and back to sleep for the third time - 4AM rolled around and Miss Maddie decided she was hungry.  Oh my.  These kids.  Needing us for everything - it's exhausting.

But the other side of this weekend?  It was magical.  We did almost nothing all Saturday.  We had my sister over for a birthday breakfast, she and I went shopping and then we took the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro shop.  Then we did NOTHING the rest of the day.  Charlie took an extra long nap (hence the beginning of his sickness...clue #1 to first time mamas - if your baby's take longer than normal naps...it can be an indication that they are sick - at least for mine it is!) and I spent 2 hours alone in my bed with my baby girl.  We laughed, I fed her, and we slept next to each other.  That alone time that I loved while I was on maternity leave that I barely get with her anymore while she is literally growing up and changing every second - I got such a good dose of that.

Charlie felt so much better when he woke up on Sunday and even better after a nice long nap.  And he was so funny.  We put the Christmas tree/decorations up on Saturday and he pulled down every ornament that makes noise and put them in a perfect line and pushed all the buttons and danced.  And he watched movies ALL day.  I mean he was sick - so I guess that's what you get to do on sick days - but he was in heaven.  Tarzan, The Incredibles, Little Mermaid, Frozen - oh my.  He even got "his turn" in Maddie's jumper.  This kid.  

We played in the basement and did underdog with Elmo in the swing, went up and down the slide saying "HIIIIIII" to each other, drummed everything and sang Silent Night really loud.

Weekends where we are somewhat "stuck" in the house all weekend can be LONG.  Especially when you get no sleep.  And this one was no exception.  By 4PM Sunday night, Jimmy and I looked at each other and said "how is it possibly ONLY 4PM?".

So yes, we are exhausted.

Part of me is asking for a vacation to escape real life for a bit.  And then the other part of me...sitting here at night, watching Home Alone in bed with Jimmy, the fire going and both kids sound asleep (watch out - this might jinx me!)...realizes that these days won't last forever.  Soon I won't have 2 in diapers.  My baby will start eating baby food and start wanting to eat from me less.  Soon - I won't have anyone following me around yelling "MOM!" when I'm 2 steps away.  It will be sooner rather than later, I'm sure of it when our house is all too quiet and filled with self sufficient kids.  Even though it felt like a loss this weekend in the parenting world - loss of sleep mainly - I'm counting it as a win.  Because I've gotten better in my own mindset of not waiting for nap time I can accomplish what I think it important or on my to do list.  I'm counting it as a win because I'm finally starting to realize that Charlie and Maddie ARE my to do list.  And honestly, most everything else can wait.

So tonight - I'm saying a prayer for these weekends.  Sick or not sick.  I'm thankful for the time with my sweet little family and that I get the great honor of caring for these two little people.  I would do anything for these babies and that's just the way it should be.

Cheers to the start of Thanksgiving week!!

Maddie went to sleep to Christmas music and bells on her dad's lap!

And watched football sans pants

#everybodysdoingit