It’s been a crazy couple weeks…first I was sicker than I’ve ever been since having kids, then little Gemma got her first real flu, then last night sweet K-fer was up for 3 hours happy as a clam due to my forgetting to inform him that it was nighttime.

I also don’t think Gemma has slept through the night more than once since before we had Kristopher…she has adapted without a hitch in any other way and loves her little brother to pieces, but her sleep patterns seem irreparably damaged.  Being a big fan of my previous 8-10-hours-per-night-plus-naps, this has wreaked havoc on my functioning ability.

Short nights catch up on us all!

In honor of my beautiful little blessings, here is a little list for you all:

You know you’re tired when…

… you fill up your contact case with solution and shut it but forget to take out your contacts before bed.  The next morning you think there has been a miracle and your vision is 20/20 (I actually uttered the words, “It’s a miracle!” and shook Carl awake).  Then you rub your eyes in amazement and realize there is something glued to your eyeball.  A little disappointing.

… you remember to take our your contacts before bed but forget you remembered and poke around in your eye for a good minute before realizing there’s nothing in there but eyeball.

… you take your 3 week old (or 4 month old…oops) baby out to the store and when someone stops you you cannot for the life of you remember what you named him (this is very embarrassing, because the first time you just stutter out the first thing you see (Dorito?  How unique…) and the next time (yes, this happened more than once), you remember how that went and instead you stand there and think about it and look just as completely crazy.  Lose lose).

… you put your potty-trained child on the toilet with her underwear still on and are even more confused than her about how it ended up wet.

… you memorize all your kids’ story books (I have about 35 down pat) so you can read them with your eyes closed and pretend to yourself that you’re resting.

… you cannot remember when you last showered or washed your sheets…if you’re going to do one you have to do the other, so you decide against doing either.

… you cannot remember your phone number, address, or worse still, email password you’ve have since the seventh grade (yes, I know I should change it more often, but really, if I can’t even remember it this way, that would just be asking for trouble).

… you know your mother/mother-in-law is coming over and you don’t even dust.

I’m sure you can all add so many more and I’d love to hear them! :)

Obviously, I wouldn’t trade having my kids for the world, and I find the effects of extreme sleep deprivation quite entertaining (especially after a good nap).

Who can resist this?

Really, when you’re running on 3-4 hours sleep for a couple consecutive weeks, I certainly hope you can laugh at the effects, or you better sit down and have yourself a good cry and a good nap, and leave things in the hands of a good husband, friend or family member.

Tomorrow is another day, and I laugh in the face of sleep – HA, WHO NEEDS YOU!?!!!

Ok, clearly I do.  Ah well, maybe next year :)