It was very hard to come back to work this week. I genuinely love the people I work with, and I love the work, but I got very accustomed to a slower pace. So even though this week was only three work days, I was so ready for it to be over.
This was especially the case since Thursday night our baby (who has been getting up at night more than normal) slept perfectly, BUT ALL THREE OTHER CHILDREN WOKE UP…and it seemed they were perfectly spaced out to make sure that Lily and I didn’t get more than 1-2 hours of sleep at a time. Additionally, Mary had her 6:30 AM piano lesson, so sleeping in was not an option for me. Lily got a little extra rest, which she deserved because she was much more responsive during Lydia’s midnight nose-bleed, Mary’s 2AM announcement that she wet the bed and Ammon’s 4AM nightmare screams (or whatever order it was actually in).
About Lily’s day: She was still working on potty training Ammon, which has been a major challenge. He seems scared, almost traumatized to go the bathroom at the beginning of the day, but once he does it a time or two, he gets happy about all the adulation and gets on a roll and does better the rest of the day. Still, I think he regressed Friday, so Lily was doing a lot of cleaning of messes I think. Lily did get a nap which was a blessing considering the night of low sleep she had and how nuts it must have been with the kids at home with it too cold to go outside (it’s been so cold!), with no basement to play in because it’s not fixed from the flood, with half-naked Ammon running around making sporadic poo or pee messes and then making dinner, probably also fitting in Lydia’s harp practice somewhere in there. She amazes me.
On my end, I had a very intense day at work that included a lot of e-mail, 4 one-hour territory planning sessions with different direct reports, a one hour prospect demonstration, and various other activities. I was running on fumes from the lack of sleep. Lily and I exchanged love notes during our crazy days and agreed that our love for each other was helping us through our painful days. I am so in love with her :).
I came home a bit early so Lily could take Lydia to harp. I served up a delicious pot pie that Lily cooked during the day. Mary protested because it wasn’t one of the very few foods that she likes, but everyone else loved it (Lydia just didn’t like the crust). Lily came home and helped to wrap up the night routine.
Then, at about 7:30 PM I lay down just to catch my breath, and I literally woke up around 7:00 AM Saturday. Lily stayed up and watched Harry Potter 4 with the girls.
One of my favorite moments of the whole day was seeing how thrilled Clarissa was about the light-switch that she’s been learning about. The video is below:
Clarissa with the light-switch