It's 11:49 am and I'm having a hard time staying awake.
It's my own fault. On the weekends, (or school breaks) I get into a bad cycle of staying up late and sleeping in. That's my preferred way of doing things, but grown-up life is not compatible with teenage sleep habits.
Last night the boys and I watched School of Rock (NOT Orian's choice; he wanted Superman Returns) and had a Laundry Party. We made up categories for prizes, and the boys had a great attitude about the whole thing. They honestly didn't act like they realized I had duped them into doing housework.
They did a surprisingly good job folding clothes. At first Xavier decided that his personal technique was balling things up. As much as I enjoy the creativity behind that, balling something up is pretty much the opposite of folding it. Orian was meticulous, spreading his item out on the floor and smoothing it out, and then carefully folding it up.
It's embarrassing to admit, but we had a pile of laundry nearly 2 feet high to work through. I *hate* laundry (and dishes, which are the 2 core elements of housewifery).
I pitched in since I'm far more efficient but I slacked a little since I wanted the boys to get some practice (WHAT? Really, that's why.)
Xavier hid a couple of belts inside the laundry mountain as bonuses. The categories were "Most Laundry Folded", "Best Technique", "Best Stacking" and "Best Attitude". There was also a guessing contest to see who could most closely guess how long it would take (41 minutes, LOL). The boys got stickers for each thing. I tried to spread the awards around. One of the parenting books Adrian read suggested that parents not try to make everything fair all the time since life isn't fair, but I see no point in making one child detest Laundry Parties since I hope to hold more in the future. Besides, my kids, of all people, know that life isn't fair.
I also made a nice no bake chocolate silk pie and it was freakin' yummy.
Then after the laundry was all folded and the movie was over I stayed up googling blinkies. It's a sickness but I can't stop. Then I had to go around the house picking things up. Not that it made anything clean, but it made things less dirty.
When I finally got to bed it was around 1 am.
This morning Izzy woke up kind of early. It was light outside, but it still didn't feel like wake up time and I don't have a working clock in my bedroom (long story), so she had some milk, which apparently is like baby Ambien. That bought me some more time. Then she was awake again and something told me I was not quite through sleeping yet. So I held her so she could see things and she talked and played while I rested (not exactly sleep, but not true wakefulness either...moms will understand). She is a precious little ray of sunshine in the morning, and you just can't be grumpy with a smiling, flirting happy little baby.
When I finally got up and took her downstairs it was 8 something. Which is an ok time to wake up, I guess.
She and I had a morning nap and it was so convenient that I haven't put the laundry away, because what happened to be within toe-grabbing range of me as I lay on the couch nursing her? A soft fleece Spiderman blanket, that's what. Sweeeet.
I have a lot to do today including intensive housework, a trip to Fun Factory, Baby Shower shopping, Cub Scout homework, regular homework, and other stuff I can't remember because I'm so sleepy I can barely stand it. We'll see how much gets done. Well, some things have to be done.
I have really got to stop sabotaging myself on sleep. Tonight I go to bed no later than 9. I promise.
(And some pics of baby girl):
