Ten for Tuesday 3.09.10 Saturday Night Edition

1. You know it's Saturday night when. . .

Your child throws up at 3:30 in the morning. Honestly, it's like clockwork. I think Ty must be allergic to church. Ty has thrown up pretty much every other Saturday night since Christmas. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but not a huge one. I'm sure he's thrown up on at least 5 separate occasions since Christmas, and we've missed a lot of church lately. Anyway, it's starting to get weird. What could be repeatedly making him (and then me a couple of days later) sick?

2. So, I did a quickie carpet cleaning job right away, and then pulled out my trusty Bissel to shampoo the floors more carefully on Monday. I also had a couple of spots needing my attention on the main floor, so I figured I'd have to spend a couple of hours on it. I was trying to get myself geared up when the Kirby salesman knocked on my door and offered to come in and clean an entire room for free. Sold! Come on in! Three hours later, I was wondering if I'd made the right choice!

A couple of years ago a carpet cleaning business stopped by and offered the same deal. They were in and out in 20 minutes, doing a job that would have taken me at least an hour. Plus, it was free---and there was no sales pitch. So yesterday I thought it was the same company doing the same deal. She said it would take 15-30 minutes, and they'd get their equipment and do it right then. Uh, not exactly. They didn't actually show up until we were 15 minutes to dinner, and he stayed for over 2 hours. Anyway, my carpet is clean, but I'm not sure it was worth the hassle. Just a word to the wise if they come knocking on your door!

3. So, back to the whole "up in the middle of the night with the kids" thing. When my kids are up in the middle of the night, they come straight to my side of the bed. Always. I'm not sure how Reed trained the kids to do that, but he was pretty sneaky about it.

4. My kids have never slept in my bed. Ever. And for this, I am extremely grateful. One of the best things I ever figured out as a parent was to let my kids sleep on the floor by my bed if they are having bad dreams. For the longest time if my kids woke up with nightmares I would go to their room to soothe them and sit next to their bed until I thought they were back asleep. And then without fail they'd be back in my room 10 minutes later crying again. Repeat, repeat. Finally I figured out that if they just laid down next to my bed, they would feel safe and we could both actually go back to sleep. Talk about major light bulb turning on! What a wonderful revelation!

5. Still on the middle of the night thing. I was up with Michael last night who was having leg cramps. I got him back settled in bed and then went back to my own bed. A few minutes later he came back to my room and said "Mom, I'm sorry to wake you up again, but. . ." He was now hearing strange noises and couldn't go back to sleep. Cue the sleep-next-to-my-bed trick! But, the best part about this experience was that he said sorry for waking me up. What?! Up until now, my kids have pretty much assumed that I am at their beck and call anytime. Plus, I'm the mom, and I love being up with my kids in the middle of the night, right? But now, I have a child who is actually acknowledging that I might not actually want to get up, and he was trying to be sensitive to my feelings. Ahh! Beautiful mother moment. . . even if it was 3 am.

6. Okay, we're done with middle of the night drama. You're welcome.

Michael and Ty got to go skiing for the first time on Saturday. Since Reed doesn't ski, and I'm clearly not in a position to right now, my Dad was so nice to teach them! My dad and siblings spent several hours with them on the bunny hill, and while I'm sure it was an exercise in patience on their part, the kids had a blast! Thank you!

Michael and Grandpa.

Ty and Ryan.

Dad, Dana, Ryan, Zach, Alison, Ty & Michael.

7. Blake had to stay home. He was consoled by his puzzles. Blake has recently discovered puzzles, and he's really pretty good at them. He also has been enjoying coloring a lot too. I'm so surprised how much concentration he has.

8. While I was as the ski resort on Saturday, Reed and his brother Matt moved our bookcase upstairs in the nook between my bedroom and the laundry room to make room for the furniture they picked up from my parent's house.

I'm trying to get used to the new look! We've basically had an empty front room ever since we moved in, and we had no prospects of actually buying furniture anytime in the near future. So I was happy to accept the furniture from my mom. It's actually kind of strange to walk down the stairs and have the room be totally full. I need to find some new pillows for the chairs and couch. They are totally uncomfortable without pillows. For now I just brought down the pillows that belong on my bed. They won't really be missed upstairs, because lately it's a pretty rare occasion for my bed to be totally made. One of the main reasons for this is. . .

9. Laundry: the bane of my existence. Does anyone else have a bed that looks like this. . . pretty much every day? I swear the dirty laundry breeds in the middle of the night. I can never seem to catch up!

10. Well, time to get the kids to bed, and then off to watch LOST! I might actually watch American Idol too. Although I have to admit that at this point I'm much more interested in Kara's eyeshadow that anything coming out of the contestants' mouths. They are making some seriously lame song choices, and the show is a snore this season, BUT, I can't get over how much I love Kara's makeup. Allison posted instructions on how to do the smokey eye, but I know I could never pull it off. Every time I put on eye liner I think I look ridiculous, and I wipe it off. . . and then try again in 6 months and repeat. But for now, I can drool over Kara's eyes and dream of having a little more style.

Til next time!