Sleep

Isn't there a Barenaked Ladies song regarding sleep.....something like "Who needs sleep? Yeah, you're never gonna get it.  Who needs sleep? Hey, what's that for?"  Am I making this up?  Anyone?  

Even if I made it up....that's where I am right now.

Catching up - sort of

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy in the Sharp-LaMagdeleine house. This is my pathetic attempt to sort of get caught up.


The last weekend of Spring Break, Parker's Aunt Sally came to visit. She had recently taken a trip with her high school marching band to Disney World and she came bearing all sorts of gifts. Parker doesn't quite understand why she is wearing mouse ears. Aunt Sally stayed the whole week and then Grandma and Grandpa LaMagdeleine and Uncle Eric came to visit for Easter. I wasn't able to get any great shots of Parker rooting through her basket, but this one is pretty cute.

Grandpa LaMagdeleine introduced me to beer. I loved to play with the bottle. Too bad my moms wouldn't let me actually have some!

Then, later in the week Grandma L. and Eric came back to celebtrate Uncle Eric's birthday. I helped him open his gifts by "personalizing" my card to him.

Then, Saturday was such a nice day that Parker got to spend some time in my backyard hanging out with the fam.

Now, we are back in musical hell. However, it will be over soon. I should get to see Parker before she starts driving at least. Sigh. Oh - and I would like to point out that P is wearing a dress in TWO of these photos!

Why I'm so tired or The people I love

Last night was the worst night of sleep I have gotten since being pregnant. I just couldn't sleep. My brain would not shut off. I was so tired; I couldn't even open my eyes. However, I was wide awake and my brain was thinking at the speed of light. Well, maybe worrying at the speed of light would be more accurate.

Here's what I was thinking about:

Alica - I'm incredibly sad and worried about her dad, but I am even MORE incredibly sad and worried about her worrying about her dad. Does that even make sense? It's just really hard to watch someone you love be so sad and scared and not really be able to do anything about it. I'm a "fixer." I just want to make it better for everyone and I can't.

Parker - She's so amazing and so sick right now. She has this horrible cold and her little nose runs all the time. She, of course, hates having it wiped and we won't even discuss the torture of the bulb-snot-sucker-thing. She can't sleep laying flat at all, she just chokes on her own snot. So, we've been sleeping her in the carseat. But, she doesn't sleep well in there. She tosses and turns all night long. She just wants to cuddle and sleep all day long (and I have to go to work.) Plus, I'm doing this musical which makes our lives pretty chaotic right now and I worry about the effect it's having on her. The poor baby doesn't feel well and I'm just dragging her around the world everyday.
As a sidebar, I would like to make a list of some of the things I love about Parker right now:
*Her "dolphin" squeal
*That she gives hugs
*That she will request to be held by someone by leaning toward them
*That she is fascinated by our couch
*That she "talks" all the time - She can say the consonant sounds of "b,m,d,g and occasionally p"
*That she looks like such a big girl playing on the floor with her friends Bryn and Shay when I pick her up in the afternoon
*Her laugh
*That she will innitiate peek-a-boo by pulling a blanket or cloth over her face, waiting for us to say "Where's the baby?" then pulling it away.

Finn - Our poor kitty. She was our first baby and now she is just old and broken. I had to take her in for her surgery this morning and I just laid in bed last night worrying about her being okay, about us being able to take care of her during her recovery, about her being scared when I took her and about me feeling guilty for not spending more time with her - especially last night.

And lastly, the University musical - It's no secret that I am pretty much in love with University High School and its students (despite all its flaws!). So, now that I am finally working with these kids in some way - it's stressing me out. I want to be so good for them and they are so smart/talented and sometimes I feel that I'm just not good enough. I mean musicals are not my strongest point (not that I'm awful, I've sucessfully navigated a few, but it's not exacly my main area of study.) I want to help them and I just don't always know what to say. I know it needs fixing, but am not sure how to tell them to do it. Plus, it's a little awkward because I'm not exactly sure what my role is and I don't want to overstep my bounds, but I also don't want to just sit there like a lump. All that combined with the dichotomy of my two "jobs" right now, just sort of hurts my head. (The difference between the kids I teach during the day and the University kids is really amazing. It's like my kids are 10 years younger, when in fact, many of them are older by a couple years.)

So, there you go. A brief glimpse into my head. Maybe getting it all out here will help me sleep better tonight! :)

Spring Break '09

I haven't been very good about blogging lately, but that's because we were on SPRING BREAK! We had intended to have a restful week, but fun got in the way! :) We began the weekend by playing in a friend's wedding, then we journeyed up to Northern Indiana to visit Alicia's parents. Parker had way too much fun staying up late with her Grandma! (So much for getting her on a better schedule!) We came back Tuesday afternoon and visited the Trader's Point Creamery. We enjoyed a great lunch and Parker had fun people watching. Wednesday, we got up and headed to the zoo.
Parker anxiously waits for the fun to begin! P watches "her" dolphins in the Dolphin Dome. (Lately, Parker has taken to shrieking very high and loud - much like dolphins. We think that she is calling the dolphins and forming and army to overtake the world!)

Parker liked the ostriches!

After fun adventures in cleaning the house and doing laundry on Thursday and Friday, we visited the Children's Museum Saturday morning.

Parker stares intently at herself in the mirror in the "Babyscape" section of the museum.

Although, you can't really tell from this picture, Parker LOVED the carousel. She was very tired, so she was a little cranky until the music started, but as soon as we started going, her mood changed! She liked it so much that she rode twice - once with each of her moms.

Now, we are back at school. :( However, there are only 38 more school days until summer and, hopefully, the time will go by quickly since we are so busy (which is another post for another day - for now, let's suffice it to say that we will be eating dinner in room 104 until May 3rd. Leftovers are yummy!)

OH - and we had Parker's 6 month portraits taken. If you haven't found these on facebook, you need to check them out at www.blog.micahbellphotography.com Seriously, he made my kid look like a model! :)