Back to the Grind........

This will be long....a catch up of my weekend.

Friday night Phil took Nick to swimming lessons & picked Eric up & brought him back here for the night.

Saturday morning the kids were up & Nick & Eric were fighting about something while playing Playstation (which is unusual as they get along pretty well for the most part). So I had it & turned the game off. I was tired & crabby as I had been up a couple of times with Z2 the night before. Well that is nothing new, he's still getting up a few times at night & really REALLY wearing me down. My other boys slept through the night by 2 months, Lexi was harder but finally did it at 4 months. Zach....is past the 4 mo mark & nothing has changed much. And I'm not looking for ideas to get him to sleep through the night....as he's my fourth, I kind of know what to try & what works for us! We just didn't luck out & get another good sleeper like we did with Z1.

So Phil took the kids & dropped Eric off at his place. They came back around 11, *just* as I had started to drift off to la la land. I get woken up with the question "Do they have to pay now or later?" Nick & Phil were heading out to sell cookie dough (anyone in the area want to buy some in support of the school's computer lab?!!?) We both HATE fundraisers & weren't going to go door to door with this so I'm surprised Phil took Nick out. He sold 5 tubs so far. Has a few more houses to hit. He's been talking about the stupid prizes all week (and the prizes are pretty lame too which I'm sure some of you are familiar with). At least with him selling 5 tubs, he does qualify for a prize. He has something picked out if he sells 60 tubs. Good luck kid.

It was pretty nice Sat afternoon so I went out sledding with the kids. Z1 LOVED going down the big hill. I did too! Going up sucked. Pulling 30 pounds is not easy if you know how big the hill is in back. I worked up a sweat for sure!! I did that a few times & then took Z1 in for his nap. I went back outside to work on our driveway. It had inches of snow/ice on it. When we got hit the other day it started out coming down as sleet & then froze on the driveway. Then all the snow came. The snowblower wasn't working right either so it was just enough to get it cleaned to get the vehicles out. So we have this build up. Anyhow, I was out chopping & chopping on Sat. Made a pretty nice dent & then the neighbor came over. Nick & Lexi were playing with their son & so he wanted to go sledding with them as well. So they headed to the hill & I talked with her for awhile. My chopping got ignored! She told him that he could go down once or twice & then had to come home. Well, he wasn't coming, so she said she'd head home & so I would go get him & send him home. I went back there & they were having so much fun that I had to join in! SO I went down the hill a few more times. It was soooo much easier coming up that hill by myself! I kept going down & then finally noticed that Rachel had driven over to pick her son up! He just didn't want to go home yet! Fun afternoon!

Saturday night a friend of mine was coming to town & so her & I & another friend made plans to go out. We were going to go bowling. Headed to the bar early to have a before bowling drink. I went to sign us up for the bowling & they said they were booked full! Huh?! Who would have thought!? I didn't make the reservations cause I figured it was just the two of us that was gonna bowl. OH well, now I know for next time! We hung out at the bar & then an hour after bowling had started I went & checked it out again (saw another friend earlier that was there that I wanted to talk to) & saw a couple of lanes open! What the hell!??! GRRRR so no bowling for us. We just had to drink beer & catch up with each other!! Had a great time & got home about 1:30 am.

I had made plans with Phil that he was in charge of Zach for the night. So he got up for the 2:30 feeding & then I was up at 6 am on Sunday with him.

I was pretty tired & so when Zach took his morning nap, I went & laid down myself. About an hour or so later, Lexi woke me up to ask me if I wanted to go swimming. Huh!? Then Phil came in & said that he booked a poolside room for me at the Holiday Inn. We could check in after noon & so he'd leave me & the older kids there to swim & then he'd take Z1 & Z2 home for naps. They'd come back after naps & we'd have pizza & hang out & then they'd all leave & I'd have the room to myself. I could get a night of SLEEP! I have not had a block of more than 4 (maybe 5) hours of sleep in over 4 months!!! I wasn't going to say NO to this. It was much needed on my part.

So we got checked in & Nick & Lexi headed to the pool. We sat & watched them for awhile & Zander would throw balls into them. I got nervous about that because I could JUST see him falling in (he was in his clothes & we didn't plan on him swimming until after they came back from nap time). I was close to him for the most part. Then wouldn't you know it....it happened. He was throwing a ball to Lexi & she was pulling it as it was still in his hand & ends up PULLING him into the water!! I GRABBED him & pulled him out by his legs. Poor kid was freezing & fully clothed you know!! He was a bit scared by it, but not too bad! It was one of those things you could SEE coming. So Phil took the little boys home & I went & swam with the other two. After that we got hungry (of course you do after swimming, right?!) So we made the long walk to Hy-Vee (right across from the hotel) & got some snacks & pop. Hung out & then decided to swim again. We had swam for a bit & then Phil came back. So we got Zander in his suit & he went in the pool. Hated it, too cold. So we went in the hot tub with him. That he LOVED! He didn't want to get out!

Phil picked up Happy Meals for the kids & we ordered a Green Mill Pizza. After we were done eating we hung out around poolside & then it was time for them all to go.

After they left, I watched TV for a bit & then headed to the hot tub with my drink. Very relaxing! Did a few Sudoku's while enjoying the tub! Headed back to watch Desperate Housewives & here it was a repeat! Grrr...Then another favorite of mine came on. Grey's Anatomy. I was getting tired & wouldn't you know it, fell asleep during the show!! I woke up at 10 & was tired but thought I had better pump or I'd wake up at 4 am hurting! So I did that & went to sleep about 10:45. I managed to sleep until 6 AM when I woke up hurting again! My body is so used to feeding Z2 every 3-4 hours!!! So it was 6:30 & I thought, well I can sleep for another hour & 1/2 or so before Phil would come to pick me up. I did fall asleep again until just before 8 when a vaccumm cleaner woke me up!! WTH!??! Besides that, it was one of the quietest nights I've ever had at a hotel. Course there was only 6 other people staying there!! I had a very nice time & would have loved to have stayed a week!! (Thank you for doing this for me Phil! I love you!)

But my ride came & my mini vacation was over! I asked Phil how it went....he said Lexi was in bed by 7:15 & the others were in bed by 8. Z2 woke at 11, 2:30 (or 3:30?), and again at 5:30. Then he had to make sure Nick was up at 6:30 for school & Lexi at 7:30. He got the kids off to school fine & then headed to town w/ Z1 & Z2 to pick me up. This gave him a VERY tiny taste of what my life is like right now....I asked him how he liked it....his response "you can have it"

After his 12 hours alone with the kids, he had to go into work for a 12 hour day today with 2 more 12 hour days this week! Yikes!