Refund, Please...

To Whom It May Concern:

Because I feel like this today:

I am requesting a refund for the whole day!

It all started around 2:30 this morning when Nathaniel woke me up for my nightly wake up call. I did what I usually do when I get this call. I get him a bottle, we snuggle up on the couch until he falls back to sleep and then I put him back in his bed. This morning it took about a half hour for that scene to play out.

After I put Nate back in his bed, I go to the little ladies room (Thanks to #5, it's a nightly ritual as well - I still love you though). While in the ladies room I hear Eric say, "Go back to bed." Which means that Nathaniel has ONCE AGAIN escaped from the confines of his bed and room. I spend a few extra minutes in the ladies room until I am sure Nathaniel has exited the room.

When I get out of the ladies room, I listen for a minute and all is quiet, so I climb back into bed. I try to sleep, but you know it is sometimes a fruitless effort being pregnant. So around 3:30, I hear something going on in the kitchen. I think that one of the dogs is getting into something, so I go to see what's up.

I get into the kitchen and see Shaylyn getting Nate another bottle...I tell Shaylyn thanks for the help and tell her to get back to bed since it is a school night. I try to snuggle with Nate again, but he will not have it. He is just so ornery...So, because I haven't had a lot of sleep and feel a headache coming on, I take him to bed with me.

For the next 2 1/2 or 3 hours, he sleeps very restlessly. At times talking (mumbling), other times crying, and sometimes just not holding still. He is just not sleeping well and so neither do I. Around 6:00 he finally settles down and we get some sleep. I only get about an hour of sleep before the older kids wake up. I stay in bed though as they can fend for themselves.

I am aware of the older kids as I drift in and out of conciousness. At one point when I "wake up" I realize it's time to do Shaylyn's hair, but I should probably go to the potty again...So, just as I'm coming out of the bathroom I hear the front door close. Apparently Tanis & Shaylyn decided to leave for school early, which means my daughter most likely looks like an orphan. It doesn't occur to me to run to the door and call them home either, instead I just crawled back in bed.

A bit later, Nathaniel wakes up. He is actually in a good mood and plays with Lex for a good part of the morning. I do my usual "computer" stuff while they are playing so that I am aware of when it's time for Lex to go to school.

When 12:30 hits, I tell Lex to go. He wanted to ride a scooter so he went out the door to the garage and out the garage. A few minutes later, I hear violent wind and when I go check the door to the garage, it was still open. So I close the garage and the door and lie back down. A few minutes later, I hear violent rain. I check the time and it's time for Kindergarten to start, so I relax.

Now, for whatever reason - maybe about a half hour later - I am in the kitchen and decide to check if there are really any new messages on the phone or if they are all old. Well there are 2 new messages. The first one is from the vice principal - one of those prerecoreded messages that every parent in the school gets and it was about something I'm not even going to pretend to care about.
The next message is from Lex's school teacher asking me something to the effect of, "Did Alex make it to school today. A few kids said they saw him riding his scooter, but he's not here. Call me back, but I'll call your cell as well." (Just for the record, I never heard either phone ring)

Just as I'm ready to freak out that my 5 year old never got to school, the phone rings again. It was Lex's teacher and she said that she found him. He got caught in the major downpour and the vice principal caught him and took him to the nurse's office so that he could get out of his drenched clothes and get into some warm clothes. I breathed a sigh of relief and asked the teacher if he needed his own clothes. She said it would probably be nice.

Well I hadn't gotten ready for the day, so I took a quick shower. Then, while I was cleaning my contacts to put them in, I broke one in half! So, I had to resort to using my glasses (which, by the way, are the wrong prescription and probably have been for 5 years) and I HATE glasses. There is a reason one of my very first 'real' paychecks went towards contacts. So for the next couple days I get to wear glasses that I can barely see out of and which cause me headaches.

So, I figure the day couldn't get much worse...and it was okay for a bit. Nathaniel finally took a nice nap and I was able to watch a show from last night in peace. But, when Nathaniel decided to wake up - it was hell.

Nathaniel spent a good hour or so, just screaming. I don't know why. Sometimes he is just that ornery and nothing can calm him down. And just about the time he decides to calm down and go downstairs to play with his siblings, he falls down the stairs! Luckily he is fine - but the screaming starts up again!!!

So, please can I have a refund on this day and start it again around midnight, where Nathaniel actually stays asleep all night???? That's not too much to ask for right?

Sincerely,
Eager For Some Real Sleep

P.S. I think I should also get credit for not complaining about the rain....besides the fact that my kid got caught in it...