So, Monday I revealed that I've lost my mind.

Today, I will further reveal that I've reached "that point". The I haven't had a full uninterrupted night of sleep in almost 4 weeks stage (but really months if you count multiple nightly potty breaks, but I'll ignore that for now). I am not one that takes naps, and even prided myself on rolling with 4 hours of sleep per night in college. Kicker there was that I got to catch up on weekends. No-can-do with a newborn around, alas, sleep eludes me.

I am, by nature, one that can be obnoxiously chipper in the morning. I don't take long to wake up, even, sans coffee. As of this morning, evidently, that is no longer the case. As I nursed Jack this morning at 8, Ryan and Anna-Kate were full of joy and energy upon being released from their beds waking up and were trying to keep my attention. I am quite sad to say that I fell asleep sitting up, nursing my newborn with a toddler and a preschooler in the room talking to me. I later fell asleep reading to Anna-Kate during our special time...in short, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (ie, Jack sleeping through the night) but it's still a little too far off for me to be able to take solice in.

I really shouldn't complain. Jack feeds at midnight, 4am and 8 am. Not too bad for 3 weeks. I checked Ryan's baby book the other day and saw that at four weeks he had the same schedule and at eight weeks he was sleeping from midnight to 8am. Praying Jack follows suite.

OK, enough of the whining. Here's a peek at my day...

Anna-Kate has finally begun "reading" to Ryan. Amazing how often she quotes verbatim the words on the page (of numerous books!). Also, she's become a budding teacher:
AK: "Ryan, say 'ballerina'
R: "baroiagajg" (that would be, something unintelligible that began with a B)
AK: "Say 'ba', (he repeats) 'la', ree', 'na'. There, say ballerina."
R: bafjaljaj.
AK: "Oh Ryan!"

As we looked at pictures on the computer Anna-Kate would ask me which kid was in which pictures (we have our screen saver set to randomly shuffle through our pictures). (Side note, thankful that I've delivered at 3 different hospitals so I can tell my babies apart by the various blankets they were swaddled in. Just sayin', Chris and I share a common gene pool...). As I would answer Anna-Kate she would turn to Ryan and relate (ie, I would say, "Oh, that's baby Ryan!". AK: "Oh look Ryan, that's you right there, that's baby Ryan"). Finally, after about 15 minutes she said, "oh, I just love myself!". Really? Reeeeally? (I can only imagine...hope?...she meant she loves looking at pictures of herself. Sigh.).

I told Anna-Kate she could come downstairs from her quiet rest time and she was skipping to the stairs when she said, "Oh, I just realized, I didn't clean up my room good enough yet. It is beary a big mess." How can she sound so old and yet so preciously sweet and young all in the same sentence?

I feel like a "real mom" today (and as I just wrote that I feel like Pinocchio, a la "I'm a real boy!" only the knock of from Shrek is what's coming to mind. Ha, in my mind is hilarious sometimes.). I drove carpool, had a playdate with one of Ryan's friends, did craft projects with the kids, colored, did homework, read books (ad infinity) with Anna-Kate, played outside, ate dinner (note, didn't cook dinner--so thankful to still have meals provided. I guess I'm not really a 'real mom' until I can get my booty back into the kitchen and get crackin'), played outside some more, kept the baby on schedule, gave the big kids a bath.

Now, I'm tired.


But you already knew that, didn't you?