Life as I knew it has changed

Well, the past year as a stay at home mom has come to an abrupt end. By chance I happened upon a teaching job. I happily accepted the position and am trying to adjust to the huge changes currently underway in my household. This blog may become less about all the moments I have to observe my children and become more of a work in progress which is definitely how I view life in general. I am sad to be spending less time with my girls but excited about the new possibilities. If I thought I was having sleep issues before though, that was nothing compared to staying up late, waking early to an alarm and still having a toddler run through the halls yelling for mommy between the hours of 3-5am most mornings. I imagine that will pass, but in the meantime I sure am tired.

Here we go again

This is the 3rd day in a row I have been awakened at an unreasonable hour. Yesterday it was an early morning bloody nose, but that is another story. Here is today's:

This time the sound to awaken me was the ringing of the telephone. Why would my phone be ringing at 5am? Even more curious, why am I the only one in the house who can hear it ringing? I stumble out of bed and drag myself through the house looking for the handset. Of course the handset is not in the charger. I take full responsibility for that fact. I walk around the house dropping of items such as the remote, phones or keys when I realize I no longer need to be holding them, so they end up in the most random places. I finally locate the phone as it rings its last ring. The answering machine does not pick up. Yeah, I probably would not leave a message either if I called someone at 5am. I search the call history. Private Number! You have got to be kidding me. My first thought is that should be outlawed. My second thought is there must be a way to block calls from private numbers- although that seems like a lot of effort to put forward calling the phone company and talking to someone. You should not be able to call someone if you won't tell them who you are. As the person who is receiving the call- at 5am no less, I should have first right of refusal. It is I who does not want to talk to you. Even so, I want to know who you are, so I can complain about you calling at 5am to anyone who will listen.

4 AM

"What", I exclaimed as I jumped out of bed already in motion towards the bedroom door. I had been awaken from my slumber by the sound of a bedroom door slamming shut. As I entered the hall, I could make out the shape of my youngest daughter sprinting towards the kitchen. Sprinting may not quite be an accurate description for what I saw. Hayden runs like Fred Flintstone. There, I said it. My beautiful 2 year old runs like a cartoon caveman. Her entire body bobs up and down as she moves forward. Yet, the only portion of her lower body that seems to move is her toes. She appears to bounce across the floor as each big toe hits the ground it is immediately replaced by the next. As I approached her I could hear her muttering "Lilah's water, Lilah's water". Ok, she can have some of Lilah's water I think. No, that was not quite it. She actually wanted her own water. Once I made sure that she had her own Dora sippy cup of water she was willing to allow me to lead her back to bed. After a few moments of passing the cup back and forth- she willingly snuggled up to Shorty(the no neck giraffe) and Bongo(the much chewed on stuffed monkey) and drifted back off to sleep. Her mother on the other hand was not so lucky- it is gonna be a long day!

Oh Fruck

"Fruck, Fruck" she beseeches at me. Her eyes pleading with me to understand. Her agitation is obvious. She tugs at my hand using the entire weight of her body. She points to the window, her body shuddering at the thought of what is wrong in her world. I follow her to the front window- she leads the way gripping my hand tightly. "Fruck" she exclaims pointing to the landscaping truck parked in front of our house. The dog barks and she jumps up and down in a mixture of fear and excitement as the workers lounge under our mesquite tree taking a lunch break before they begin to work on our yard.