2 Hours of Quiet

I always have trouble deciding what to do with my 2 hours of quiet everytime Jameson takes a nap. I don't usually get to choose during the week since I am normally working, but today is an exception. Normally, I am deciding between cleaning, cooking, napping, or just doing something I don't get a chance to do when he's awake. Today, I chose to catch up the blog.

I'm coming off an exhausting weekend with JJ, and I should probably be napping but I always hate the groggy feeling of waking up from a nap. I only nap when I'm pregnant. When I'm not, I have pretty much boundless energy, so I never really feel a need. Last Wednesday, my parents left for vacation (Thank God they get home tonight), so I was on my own with JJ during the day. Ordinarily, no problem, but, as I said, I am a bit low on energy right now. On Thursday, my friend, Beth, who has a 1 year old and a 3 year old asked if I wanted to get together and let the kids play since I normally work during the week. I thought it was a good idea since I figured I would have an easier time keeping JJ entertained. I was wrong.

Beth came over at around 11:30, and I was working on lunch. Jameson is normally really good with other kids, so I never figured he would have any trouble. We introduced the kids since they have only seen each other a few times, and they were all a bit timid at first. Liam, Beth's 3 year old, finally gained some confidence and found a green bouncy ball he wanted to kick. Beth told him he couldn't kick it in the house, and I said it was fine since I always let JJ kick it in the house; however, I forgot Liam is a bit bigger and has even more energy than Jameson. He starts to kick the ball somewhat calmly, but his enthusiasm quickly grows and my family room now resembles a racquetball court. Of course, to make things worse, JJ is now in a full-blown panic because HE wants to kick his ball. There are 5 other balls sitting in his toy bin, but he's not interested in those. I try to reason with the 22-month-old that he can share and play with the ball after Liam is finished, but I soon realize that what I say doesn't matter. Liam is now doing full volley's throughout the family room, and to restore some order/sanity I take the ball and say no one can play with it now.

Liam moves on to some of JJ's other toys, and a new tantrum ensues for each new toy. Jameson is now doing what any possessive toddler does, and is going about the room trying to hoard all of his toys. He soon realizes though that he has more toys than he can carry, so he just cries. I try to continue with making lunch while taking breaks to calm Jameson. Beth is pretty calm through the entire ordeal since she says she went through it with Liam when Gavin, her 1 year old, was born. I am about 19 weeks pregnant, so my stress level is already up. A screaming toddler and a green ball whizzing through my house only add to my stress. Thankfully, I finish lunch quickly, and I offer then some soup and watermelon. They are all hungry, so we enjoyed about 15 minutes of peace while they ate. Now, it's my turn to eat, and we return to Jameson throwing tantrums and Liam throwing plastic donuts throughout the family room and kitchen. Beth, of couse, tries to settle Liam, but if it's not one thing it's another. Gavin, of couse, is a little angel the entire afternoon. Liam or Jameson take toys from him or rough house with him, but he just takes it and moves on to the next thing.

While I'm eating lunch and watching the madness continuing in the house, I realize that Beth and Liam both have a cough, and Liam's nose is running all over the place. I ask if she's been sick, and she says that they were sick and are now on antibiotics for the cough. I cringe a bit since I know what's in store. I don't have too much time to think about it though since my eyes are on Jameson & Liam. I am finishing up my sandwich, and Liam decides to start jumping on my ottomans. I wouldn't normally mind, but I know it will just give Jameson another idea of how he can best hurt himself. No sooner am I thinking this, and JJ starts to make his way up the ottoman. I tell him no jumping, so he just sits on it. Luckily, he sits down on the edge of the ottoman right in front of me with his back to me. He sees Liam bring one of his books to Beth to read, and he leaps toward them without thinking - he's headed for a head-first fall off the ottoman. He's within arm's reach of me, so I catch him luckily. I saved myself another outburst.

I decide that the best place to keep them all active and prevent anymore fights is at the park. We head to the park and have a great time. It was the least stressful part of the day. I can only pick up Jameson so many times though before I start to get tired, so I tell them that we need to head back to the house. The walk to the park from our house is about a 1/2 mile, so I am more than worn out after this morning's activities and the trip to the park. Liam starts to act up when we return to the house, so she says it's time for them to leave. I have to admit that I was a bit relieved since I was dying for a nap.

Jameson and I head out for a drive since I don't have the energy to rock or walk him to sleep, and he falls asleep on the way home. I lay him down in his crib and crash in my bed.

The rest of our night was uneventful, and I got a much-needed break when his dad came home. Jameson slept pretty soundly that night after all that activity, so I guess the craziness of the day was good for something.

Friday was the complete opposite of Thursday in terms of my stress level and Jameson's activity. I had to run a bunch of errands, and I dragged him everywhere across town. The poor guy spent most of the day in the car (or the "big carro" as he affectionately calls it). We met some friends out for dinner, then just went home and went to bed. I had noticed that Jameson had started sneezing quite a bit earlier in the day, so I suspected he was getting sick. James had troubled getting him to sleep, and I figured that the lack of activity during the day had made him restless. When he woke up the first time at around midnight, I was still awake, so I gave him a little massage to help him sleep. He slept soundly until about 3 or 4. I sent James in to get him back to sleep, and he slept relatively soundly the rest of the night.

Saturday James and I had been offered tickets to the Air Show through a business contact, so we all got ready quickly and headed to James's parents to drop off JJ before heading to the Air Show. We told them we would be gone until about 2:30 since I did not plan on staying for the entire show. I'm about halfway through my pregnancy, and I have a tendency to swell. I knew that being out in the sun exacerbates the problem, but I had not been to the Air Show for many years so we went anyway. Plus, the tickets included free lunch and the best seats in the venue. The show was pretty impressive even for someone like me who is not at all into airplanes, but I did start to get uncomfortable in the sun at about 2. We left the show at about 2:30, and headed to pick up JJ. By the time we got him into the car, he was ready to pass out. During his nap, I got a call from James's mom to 'see if I had heard the news'. I had not. Apparently, we had left the Air Show just in time to miss the first pilot death in the Air Show's history - something I am glad not to have witnessed. According to local new reports, the accident happened at about 2:40 pm, and they believe the pilot died instantly. My thoughts and prayers are with the pilot's family; nonetheless, I am glad I did not witness it.

Saturday evening seemed to go pretty smoothly, but I should have known that JJ would be up all night when I realized that his nose was stuffy. It's been months since he was sick, so I wasn't sure how he would respond this time. Sure enough, he was up about every hour. James got tired of trying to console him, and brought him into our bed at about 2 a.m. At about 3 a.m., I woke up with excruciating pain in my hand. I would say that I have pretty average pregnancies were it not for the carpal tunnel syndrome I develop as a result of the accumulation of fluid (and swelling) in my body. With Jameson, it set in pretty badly at about 5 or 6 months. My right hand was perpetually swollen, and my middle and ring fingers gradually lost feeling. During the night, I had to remember to lie on my left side so that my right hand would not go completely numb. Some nights I would wake up from the pain in my hands, but there isn't much I can do once the pain sets in. I was hoping that I would be lucky and not have this same problem with this pregnancy, but I'm not that lucky. This time, the CTS set in at about 3 months, and my right middle and ring fingers are completely numb at the tips. At night, my entire hand normally goes numb. Most nights it's tolerable. Some nights it's painful. Few nights it's excruciating.

Saturday was one of the few excruciating nights. At 3 a.m. I woke up because I felt like my fingers might explode. I got up and walked around to see if they would improve, but they didn't. I was also starving, so I went downstairs for a bowl of cereal, hoping that the activity would reduce the pain in my hand. My hand improves slightly and I am exhausted, so I lay back down to try to sleep. For about the next hour, I get up about every 10 to 15 minutes to get more pillows thinking that they will improve my comfort. I think I ended up with about 5 pillows. None of them do, and I keep waking up every half hour to massage my painful hands (on bad nights both hands swell and hurt). Finally, at 5:30 a.m. I decide to try the recliner because I have slept little since 3 a.m. The recliner doesn't help either, so I just sit up and try to sleep. James and JJ come downstairs at about 7:30, and I am pretty sure that I have just had the worst night of sleep in my life. I am halfway comforting myself thinking that James will pick up the slack, but he comes downstairs telling me how tired he is since Jameson kept waking up during the night. I fear I might have a breakdown at this point, so we get into some type of argument about who is more tired. It amounts to nothing, and I go upstairs to get dressed and straighten up a bit. We spend most of the day between naps while the other takes care of JJ. I am ecstatic when it's time to get Jameson to sleep because that means I can rest again. I am dreading though the idea of another night like Saturday. Sunday turns out to be a better night for me but a worse night for JJ. He spends most of the night in our bed, but I am so tired that I barely notice his hourly outbursts. James was able to console him thoughout the night, and I regained my sanity today.