I should've stayed in bed

Being eight months plus pregnant, sleep is a rather precious commodity on the best of nights. Last night was certainly not one of them. Besides the normal waking up because I had to go to the bathroom, the girls woke me up at least three times. Meagan was cold (go figure) because she'd taken her clothes and diaper off, and kicked the blanket off; Bethany was yelling in her sleep, I think she'd had a nightmare. Besides which, it took forever to fall asleep in the first place. Nate has been snoring a lot lately. It's not loud, really, but enough to keep me from falling asleep. I'd even gone to bed early (for me) in an attempt to get some sleep, because I had an early doctor's appointment. To top it all off, Meagan woke up at 6:00 in the morning, got disoriented in her room, and stood in a corner crying. I don't know what possessed me to take her back to bed with me, I'm claiming it was fatigue, but I did, deluding myself that she would go back to sleep. All she did was continually kick me and wiggle, and keep me from going back to sleep myself. Sigh. Finally I gave up and got up and got her some breakfast.

I was seriously considering blowing off my doctor's appointment, putting on a movie for the kids, and going back to bed. But I forged on, and since I got up so early, I actually got out of the house at a good time, and got to my appointment ten minutes early. It was a miracle. Usually, I'm rushing (i.e. waddling) as quickly as I can, and since Meagan still insists on being carried outside near parking lots and streets, by the time I get up to the second floor of the hospital, I'm out of breath and my heart is pounding. Just in time to get my vitals read. Yea. But today, I got to walk slowly, and had time to sit and rest before my appointment. I was so pleased. But then I sat...and sat...and sat. This was unusual, to say the least, because I often only wait a few minutes before they take me back. The kids started getting restless. I had to keep yelling at Bethany to quit climbing all over the chairs. Even a time out didn't stop the behaviour. After thirty-five minutes of waiting, with no sign of the nurse coming to get me, I'd had enough and just left. Partly I was annoyed at the wait and the kids' rowdiness, and partly I was worried about time. I wanted to get the grocery shopping done, since I was already out, before I had to get home and feed Bethany lunch in time for preschool. I did manage to get the shopping done, because I'd just left, but it was irritating, too. Bethany and Meagan kept fighting with each other, so I gave them some little notebooks and pens to keep them happy. Bethany intentionally drew all over her pants. I was remembering more and more why I try to shop while Bethany is at school. So, yeah, I should've just stayed in bed.

Later in the afternoon, I started sewing some curtains for the girls' room. We've lived in this house over five and a half years, and most of the rooms still don't have curtains. I finally decided to make some for that room, mostly because I wanted to make the room darker for bedtimes and naptimes. (They've only been in that room for a few months). Anyway, I was sewing, and Meagan disappeared upstairs. I thought she was just going to get something and come back, but she never did. So I went upstairs to see what she was up to, and this is what I found:

When I walked in the kitchen, she was happily sticking the knife in the cream cheese and licking it off. All she said to me was, pointing to the milk, "It's too heavy me, it's too heavy me." Thank goodness it was a new gallon, and hadn't been opened yet, or I might've had a major mess to clean up. You can't see it in the picture, but off to the side is a bag of carrots that she got out, too. At least she's getting out healthy snacks to eat, I guess. The really funny thing about this picture is that Bethany did something almost identical to it. At least Bethany put her bagel on the table, but I have a picture of Bethany spooning cream cheese out of the container and eating it. Funny how neither of them got around to eating the bagel.

We did get Family Home Evening done at least. Bethany and Meagan really like it, actually. I suspect that's mostly because we play Simon Says almost every week, and it usually ends with, "Simon says, go to the kitchen and get a treat." That's definitely their favorite part. This week, Meagan helped me make the treat: muddy buddies. They're chocolate and peanut butter covered rice chex, that are then coated in powdered sugar. I'd never made them before, but the picture on the box looked really good, so I thought I'd try it out. Meagan had a blast helping me. I told her to smile for the camera, and she said, "I am 'miling." The treat turned out pretty well, but I think it needs to be mixed with something salty, like nuts, because it was a little too sweetby itself. Anyway, I decided it was time to create a family home evening chart. Then the kids can be assigned times to choose the activity (I'm getting tired of Simon Says) and what songs to sing, and it will be decided beforehand who will be doing the lesson. So I've given myself the assignment to make one by next week, and introduce during next week's FHE. I hope the kids get it. They're learning, slowly, to take turns for things, so I'm hoping it will make sense to them. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to do it, and make time to do it...