Feeling Better Today

I woke up feeling so much less "heavy" and "dreary" this morning :). What a relief! I am still taking the day quite slowly. My energy and my mood are so much better.

Yesterday, I only had two preschoolers and my grandson. I took advantage of having a small group. The school aged child that I usually pick up on thursday was picked up by his grandmother. I ran one errand.

My daughter came home and took her son for a few hours. I took advantage of having some down time. Once the two children had gone home, I even decided to treat myself to take out for dinner, healthy take out. Now that my son is driving, I sent him to go pick it up. While he went to pick up the food, my daughter had to leave. I fed and bathe my son then took my own spa bath. I wish this was my bathroom ...lol. After my bath, I followed with some stretches. My muscles were quite tight and painful.

When my son returned, he took my grandson so I was able to eat in peace. By the time I got him back, he was definitely ready to go to sleep. In fact, he pretty much put himself to sleep at about 9:15pm. I then relaxed with some television before falling asleep about 10:20pm.

Today went well. Tonight is friday and I will have two late-nighters. The plan is to wear them out in the backyard with lots of water. The weather is very warm today so it won't take much. Give them dinner and by then they will be ready to relax.

Tomorrow is prom for my 17 year old. Excitement for him and his friends. The limo fell through :(. My son was disappointed, but he didn't waste time in developing plan B. So, all is well. He goes for his hair cut/trim tomorrow at 11:00am followed by getting the flowers. Then we will take pictures!! I am so excited!!

Frustration, Still Very Tired

Perhaps I'm expecting too much of myself, but I am extremely frustrated this morning. Yesterday's routine went very well with the kids. In fact, my two oldest boys actually went to sleep! That is not normal for them. I think both of them were not feeling too well.

Anyway, I found myself to be relatively irritable last night. So, after the routine with the other kids, I settle down to play with my grandson so that he can become sleepy and go to sleep, which he did by 9:40pm. Just before the doorbell rang at 10:20pm or so, my grandson's head popped up! He was awake! It did not take long for him to go back to sleep. However, he did wake up three times last night. This is still somewhat normal for him. He does have nights where he only wakes up once, but three times is not unusual.

I don't think my tiredness is a result of my grandson's waking up at night. I think I am use to it now. I did think of one more thing this morning that could be the culprit. I haven't been sleeping very well at all for months now. friend recommended B-Stress PM to take before bedtime. In the beginning, about 2 months ago, it seemed to be working nicely.

I'm thinking maybe I don't need it like I did before or it has built up in my system. It may be too strong for the short amount of time that I have to sleep. I get an average of 5 & 1/2 hours of sleep per night. I think to take a sleeping supplement the requirement is 7 to 8 hours sleep. Tonight, I will eliminate that as well.

I've taken out coffee. I've stopped taking the cough syrup. I've stopped my vitamins. Now let's see what this will do. I feel like I did before I started taking my supplements and vitamins. I eliminated a few of them because I wasn't having those particular symptoms anymore i.e. the pain symptoms.

All was good until my allergies went haywire. My body seems confused as it tries to get back on track.

Another Possibility

I just thought of another possible reason for my lack of sleep and irritability. I've been taking some cough medicine at night as well. It's a new one that I decided to try. I had stopped taking it as I got better with my allergies. Then when my allergies seem to start over again, I started to take it again, but only a half a dose. I'm thinking this could have been what kept me up as well.

Hmmmm.... Perhaps this means coffee is not the culprit! :).

Either way, I will stay off the coffee for the rest of the week or until I get back to normal with my energy. I'm still coughing but nothing severe. Just that occasional cough as residual from the big one.

I did sleep better last night. Took a while to get to sleep, a bit restless. It was kind of warm last night so I opened both windows for some air and to hear the highway out back. I feel better today. Hopefully, the next few nights will provide better, solid sleep. Tonight and friday night I have late night kids til 10:30pm.

I've developed a system wherein I get the kids prepared for the night earlier i.e. dinner, beds, movies, feed the baby and put him in his pj's, get his bottle ready for later, even eat dinner earlier myself and have the kitchen cleaned. That way, by the time the last daycare kids leaves at 6:30 pm, the night kids just get time to play for bout an hour then they lay down with movies. At that time, I put on my pj's, brush my teeth, and relax until parents arrive to pick up their kids.

Relationship Drama

A friend of mine just came over for a bit this morning to talk about her frustration with her husband. He is being a bit mean and unwilling to help out in the household. They have their grandson while their daughter serves in Iraq. It seems her husband's expectations for their 7 year old grandson are a bit too high. He wants to "beat" him for the mishaps he does. She feels their grandson is doing some of the mishaps to gain his grandfather's attention. Very sad situation.

Grandpa was raised that a man doesn't show his feelings, the he sucks it up. He is trying to instill this same value in his 7 year old grandson. Not good. She is doing her best to show him contrary. Her grandson spends some of his time here at my house. He likes to talk and ask questions. I try to explain things to him and let him know, without talking bout his grandpa, how life works, how people are different, how people deal with things differently, just to give him some other perspectives.

It's rather sad because his face is so expressive. When he is sad, he tries so hard to be a big boy. Rather than complain, he gets really quiet. It's a very obvious difference in his behavior. When you ask him, "What's wrong?", he shrugs his shoulders and says, "Oh nothing. I'm fine."

If you don't have an idea of what is bothering him, it's hard to help him.

Caffine Crankiness

I am getting rid of all my coffee...:( Yes, just a sad occasion. For the past week or so, I have started drinking coffee again, decaf coffee. Lately, I have been waking up feeling really down, from the moment I open my eyes. I have experimented with coffee before where it seems to alter my mood, which is why I drink decaf. I make it very weak and it still seems to have this effect on my mood. So, I've decided to give my coffee supply away to my neighbor. I have LOTS of coffee supply.

There's just something about coffee that's cozy, relaxing, tasteful, delightful to smell, all that. It's like carrying a cup of comfort...lol! No, I'm not really that big on drinking coffee. I'm not one of those people who just HAS to have that cup in the morning. I like it for the taste, the feeling... I just like it.

This means I will return to drinking tea. Tea is good, but it's not quite the same as coffee. I'm good with tea. I will make it fun by getting different flavors :).

Trying Again

Today we are going to try the drivers license test for my son again. Last time, I forgot about the crack in the windshield and the broken horn. My mechanic, Gabe, fixed them right away. So, we go today to take the test again. We have to go to the next town over because our city is booked for the next month. I've been letting him drive on his permit to go very short distances (keep that under your hat!...lol!), but I will feel soooo much better if he were legal. It has been such a help to have him driving now, especially now that he has his part time job :).

Next weekend, saturday, is the prom :). This will be my 3rd child with one more to go in three and a half years. We went down to San Diego to the bridal shop I have always gone to for them. We picked up his tux with no problem. This saturday coming, he has his appointment to get his hair cut/trimmed, then we will pick up the flowers. A friend of mine's son has paid for a limo for him and his friends. We will all meet at the school to take pictures. I prefer to meet here at the house, but most of the kids live near the school which will be more convenient for them.

The next journey will be grad night.

Almost There

We are almost there with being over the allergies/colds :).

I read this article about how allergies evolve. It had me a bit overwhelmed because sources come from both inside and outside our homes. In fact, it said that inside is usually worse than outside. It spoke of how chemicals can literally reside in a layer of dust that might be on the table or shelf; how we add chemicals into our homes by use of aerisols like disinfectants or furniture polish. Even humidifiers can add to our environments, cooler air being worse than hot air humidifiers. It spoke of how our air ducts can become contaminates as well. I can't imagine what happens when we vacuum!

In a nutshell, the article suggested dusting with a damp cloth, cutting back/discontinue use of aerisols, disinfecting with bleach & water on a damp cloth and having the air ducts cleaned regularly in addition to changing the air filter.

I began to think about my teenager's rooms and what it would take to get them completely allergin free. Oh my goodness!! I was sooooo overwhelmed!! I began to think about the rest of the house and getting it allergin free. I became so discouraged. I mean, my house is "clean" and I am a neat freak and an organized nut, but it just seems it's only so much one can do to be allergin free.

Then I began to think, ok, we can let the house air out more often, but I started thinking about all the pollens that were out there and letting in more dust!! I mean wha? My mind just really went overboard with the thought of keeping allergins out or to a minimum. I even thought about the mold that must be coming of the lake. We live fairly close to the lake which is not the cleanest lake. Every time one of us coughs, I think of what we can possibly be inhaling to contribute to out symptoms.

Wow!