Friday, August 3, 2018

Kiss 'em, Hold 'em, Love 'em, Cuddle 'em, Make 'em Pancakes. Try Not To Yell.


I have to say that no one around here got a lot of sleep last night. Well, except for Owen. He slept right through everything.
I thought I had the whole situation completely under control at 9:20 last night.
Baths and showers had been taken, pajamas put on, books read, everyone was in their proper sleeping places with pillows and cozy blankets and whatever stuffed animals/dolls they might want.
I kissed them all good night. I made sure they could see light from my bathroom behind the paper shade in the door. The fan was on.
"Night-night," I said, closing the door gently behind me.
Okay. Honestly? I knew the situation probably wasn't really under control. I raised four kids, partially raised two brothers, and have now a bit of experience with a pod of grandchildren.
So I wasn't surprised when about fifteen minutes later Gibson came out with Maggie trailing him.
Maggie wouldn't sleep in her bed. She wanted to sleep with her brothers.
Okay, why not? It's a king-sized bed.
I'll tell you why not. Actually, I'll let Gibson tell you.
"SHE KEEPS TOUCHING ME AND WAKING ME UP!" he said.
This went on for quite awhile.
By the time I'd taken my shower and had settled in my bed with my book and been visited by the sleepless duo for about the third time, I gave up and told Maggie to get in my bed.
"Where Boppy?"
"Watching TV."
"Cuddle me, Mer."
"Okay. I will cuddle you."

Those last two lines got repeated about twenty times last night. She did fall asleep in my bed and I did put her in her bed. That lasted for about two hours. The rest of the night was spent with a cuddle monkey wrapped around me. Every time she'd fall asleep I'd carefully unwrap her and then she'd wake up and scream.
"CUDDLE ME MER!"
Mr. Moon didn't get much sleep either.
When I got up this morning I realized why I was such a shitty, angry person for most of my parenting years- I WAS EXHAUSTED!
How did I do it?
How does any mother do it?
Why didn't Mother Nature give mothers some sort of special instinctual knowledge of how to get their children to sleep and then to stay asleep?
Because Mother Nature is a bitch.
There is no other explanation.

Anyway, I dragged my ass through making pancakes and bacon and serving pancakes and bacon and trying like hell not to bite anyone's head off.
It wasn't easy.

After Lily had come and collected her darlings and Mr. Moon had gone to work I felt like I was done for the day. BUT, Jessie had invited both me and her daddy to go see August in his gymnastics class and since they're leaving tomorrow and will be gone for about three weeks, I got myself together, took a shower, got dressed, and drove to town. Mr. Moon was at Jessie's house when I got there.
And then we went to gymnastics class.


It was the last class of the season and the darling teacher blew up a small bouncy house for a really fun good-bye celebration and so there was very little gymnastics really going on. But there was some.


Mostly though, there was this.


August figured out every way he could get down that slide. Belly down, head down, butt down. He did it all. 

I got to hold Levon a lot and Boppy is convincing the boy that he is a good guy who is to be trusted. Babies can be very suspicious. 


Boppys can be very sneaky. 

On the way home Jessie and I stopped at the Dollar Store to buy stuff for their trip. Snacks, toys, pens, paper, stickers, pipe cleaners, puzzles, books...
The Dollar Store seriously rocks sometimes. 
August wanted a mermaid doll. 
Jessie got him a mermaid doll. 


He fell asleep on the way home holding it. Look how long those legs are getting. 

And so it was a very child-filled Friday for me. And yeah, I sort of missed a night's sleep and so did my husband but he just made us martinis and we're joking about it, and being forced to cuddle my granddaughter all night isn't such a bad thing and Gibson made me laugh and Owen comes up and hugs me and he's not even a head shorter than I am now which makes me feel about every sort of way there is to feel from extreme pride to deep mourning, remembering just yesterday when he was my tiny little prince. 

And I'm going to go pan fry a beautiful piece of red snapper and cook my eight okra and four green beans with some stewed tomatoes and onions and make a pot of stone-ground grits and we're going to sleep so good tonight. 
I got to kiss and/or hold every one of those grands today and I am a lucky, lucky woman. 
I know two women my age whose daughters have cut their mothers out of their lives and who won't allow them to see their children. I think about that and I understand how it can happen and I know it could have happened to me too. 
Maybe I just never got that tired. Who knows? 
Not me. 

Happy Friday, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon






21 comments:

  1. I remember feeling tired for years, literally years. It's just hard raising kids and until you do it you have no idea of how hard it is. You are blessed to have your grandkids so close. Although sleeping with one wrapped around me doesn't sound like fun:)

    Sleep well tonight.

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    1. Oh, I did sleep well! And no, no one can ever know how hard it is to raise children until they do it. I "joke" that I'm still catching up on my sleep. Sometimes I think it's not a joke at all.

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  2. Maybe next time Gibson should sleep alone and Maggie could share the bed with Owen. Of course that would open all sort of other opportunities for NOT SLEEPING. Speaking of martinis, I had one at a bar the other night that was made with Captain Morgan's spiced rum, rhubarb reduction, and black cherry. It was pretty wonderful.

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    1. Whoa! That drink does sound pretty amazing.
      I can't think of any sleeping arrangement that I could force on these kids which would allow for more sleep. I might just have to wait for time to pass before I expect that.

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  3. We never had children but I am in awe of anyone who survives child rearing, especially these early years. I'm exhausted enough when my *high alert* Aussie has a night of barkathons.......(like last night)........ and I only get 4 hours sleep. I can't even imagine going through years of it. My hat is off to all parents.......always has been. Hope you got a nice and luxurious nap in at some point today!
    Susan M

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    1. Oh god. I'd probably beat the dog. I'm sorry. That's so rude. And you know I wouldn't. But I would probably think about it. I hate it when my sleep is interrupted.

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  4. I remember having all six of our grands for a night. The supper, TV time, snack time and bath time went so well I was considering sewing a big 'S' on my chest. Then came bedtime. I won't go into specifics (mostly because it may make me twitch a little) but we had kids in our bedroom a-l-l night long, We switched beds, we begged and pleaded....and ended up with four kids on pallets on our bedroom floor (the more two were in cribs). Last time we had all six at once. I could probably do better now...they range in age from 21 (with a son of her own!) to 14.

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    1. YOU DO GET THE BIG S ON YOUR CHEST just for having all six at the same time. My god. Yeah. It would probably go better now!

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  5. I always had all four at one time because their father was afraid the others would feel left out even though they would all get their special time. I didn't even try to put them to bed in another room, just opened the futon and made a pallet on the floor with the camp mattresses and sleeping bags and we all just slept together. and no, I didn't get much sleep. never had them one at a time until we started the granny camp summers. as for some mothers getting cut out of their grandkids lives, I had a different problem...a mother who was not interested in being a grandmother, a woman who did not like little kids (not even her own really). I'll get to know them when they are teenagers she said only by then they had no interest in getting to know her.

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    1. You're my hero, woman!
      As to that woman (was she your mother?) all I can say is- she really missed out on a lot. But honestly, some women just weren't put here to be a mother. Unfortunately, many of them become mothers anyway. It sucks for all involved.

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  6. Unfortunately, I hardly remember the first two years of my son's life. He hardly ever slept! I would go to work some days having not slept at all for a couple of days and nights except for a cat nap when I would put him in a playpen. So, where and when he decided to sleep...he stayed there. If he had fallen asleep on a picket fence, I don't think I would have moved him till he awoke. Still manages on about four hours a night at the age of 46.

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    1. Lily didn't sleep for more than two hours at a time for years. I was miserable that whole time. I know exactly what you mean. Ironically, she loves to sleep now. We're both still catching up.

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  7. I am sure you will eventually look back fondly on these exhausting nights and remember all the positives -- as you said, having to hold your granddaughter through the night isn't such a bad thing!

    I don't ever remember being allowed to sleep with my parents, and CERTAINLY not with my grandparents. Unthinkable! Our family just didn't work that way. We were all way too remote for that!

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    1. Haha! Well, I guess the family bed concept skipped your family. And if there's one thing you can say about my family- we're not remote. In the least.

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  8. loving the cuddle sleep- I don't think I could keep up with little kids now...when you are a worn out Mom I think we just run on automatic, it is more of a slow fry but you jump right into the fire with grand babies! Youngest son slept with me until he was about eight, mostly because I was too exhausted to go to my own bed...

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    1. I hear you! Kids get away with a lot simply by outlasting us.

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  9. As exhausted as you are, I read this and thrill at the thought oh having grands of my own. All in due course.

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    1. You better tell those kids of yours to get ON it. The younger you are when your grandchildren come along, the better for all!

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  10. Your sleepless night sounds sort of divine, actually.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.