Sleep vs. Blogging

This is probably the longest I've gone without blogging, but I had a really good reason: chronic, debilitating sleep deprivation. Every day Bella's dolls are Mommy and Bella. Mommy is always sleeping and alternatingly screaming at Bella that "you woke me up! I'm still tired! Go away and let me sleep!" Although I don't think I've ever come off that harsh in real life, I'm definitely struggling. Being woken up 2-3 times a night by an infant, a few times during the week by the other two, and then having them jump on my bed at the crack of dawn demanding, "What are you going to make for breakfast? Will you play with me?" makes me place a much higher priority on getting to bed than posting some pictures on my blog.

Funny story some of you have already heard that illustrates how sleep deprivation affects the mind: I had a moment to myself while the kids were downstairs and I thought, "I'm hungry, I should eat something." Sidenote: studies show that people who are sleep deprived have decreased levels of chemicals that signal satiety, so they tend to be hungrier often and over eat much more than people who get enough sleep. Combine that with nursing and I'm pretty much hungry all the time. Anyway, so I'm hungry and I get some leftovers out of the fridge and pop them in the microwave. Hit the 30 second button and step away. Then I think, "I'm hungry, I should eat something." Open up the fridge again to get something and hear the microwave beep. "What's in the microwave?" I wonder. "Who put something in there?" I open it up and then I remember - the leftovers! The leftovers I'd put in there 30 seconds earlier! I'd forgotten them. This is just one of many examples I could share of how dumb I've become, but sadly I've forgotten the rest. ;)

However, setting short term memory loss, irritability, mood swings, and shortened attention span aside, I'm doing great, so I thought I'd take a quick moment and post some recent pictures.

We got a bumbo-type seat for Christian that's become our new best friend. On the floor in his bouncer seat he would cry and cry, but place him in his seat on the table (I know - don't lecture me on the dangers of falling - I never place him near the edge and he's never in it unless we're sitting at the table - I promise!) and he's happy as can be. So he's our centerpiece at every meal and pretty much any time we're doing anything there - play-doh, coloring, working on the computer, etc. He is so happy as long as he's part of the action.



Also, it snowed on Sunday and we made our first snowman and had our first snowball fight. So fun. It was amazing packing snow. It got too heavy and icy by the end of the day but thank goodness for afternoon church because it left us all morning to play. I love snow and cold.