Julian slept

For the past few months we've been putting Julian to sleep at 8pm.  This has been hard on me because we go to bed around 9 so I can keep up with the boys during the day.  I have NO me time.  I know it sounds selfish to some, but even to write on this blog or get some dishes done without juggling is a special treat.

For 10 days we wrestled with no sleep from Miles.  He's been fighting a cold...again...and didn't sleep more than 2 hours.  He fed a lot and couldn't breathe unless held upright.  We've done this before and it wasn't pretty.  He also started talking in the middle of the night...making his coos.  I love it but not at 2am.

Last night I asked Dan if we could try an earlier bedtime.  J was having a rougher day, so 7 it was.  He slept till 7:30!  That's the 2nd time ever.

To back up a bit.  Yesterday we had the playcentre at 9am.  J was acting really tired before going and told me he was "miserable".  I said that we didn't have to go, but he insisted.  Right before we left he said he was scared of Miles because "Miles has fire in his eyes".  I was like, "what?"   He kept repeating it and I was dumbfounded and a bit nervous how he came up with that...and if he should ever act on it (I'll add the biting finger story after this one).  I told him that Mils doesn't have fire in his eyes.
Playcentre was a disaster.  He was having meltdown after meltdown because of sharing.  We left early and he slept 2 hours instantly.

Today after an awesome sleep, he was nothing but pleasant all morning, during playcentre and at lunch time.  What a difference sleep makes and how I wish it were more common in our house.  I know I'll back track that statement when they're teens ;)

biting finger story:
Last week Miles was crying and J tried to give him the pacifier.  Dan was closing the curtains and I walked in and it looked like Julian hit Miles.  I freaked out a bit hearing M scream.  Dan all of a sudden asked J if he had bitten Miles...ugh.  I had to call Plunket and then be referred to the health line.  After a long drawn out phone call stating that all should be fine despite how swollen it was, while Miles was crying, we had to deal with Julian.  That was a great learning experience and talking it out with Dan was really good.  J confessed and apologized and cuddled M.  Before the confession he said, "Mommy hurt my fingers and we went to the hospital and I hurt Miles' fingers and we have to go to the hospital"...ugh.  I felt no guilt though.

Julian is clever.  He just found his imagination.  He put two paddles on his side and said, "look mommy, I'm buzzy bee!"  He's making up stories all the time.  His animals talk to each other.  It's so cute.

At playcentre today he rode a stick horse and fed it water that another little girl put out for the horse.  It was fun to see the little girl and J play together.  Even though they weren't quiet happy with one another, they got that horse fed.

Auckland Trip:
We went to Auckland last week for Dan's conference and Miles' interview for his US passport and social security number.  The two flights up were awesome.  The boys did so well and Julian was a big boy in his own seat for the first time.  He loved it.  That day we took a car to the airport, 2 planes, a taxi to the hotel and a bus to the zoo. That was awesome for him!

The Auckland Zoo was fun.  It wasn't the best zoo I've been to (St. Louis and Cincinnati are hard to compare with), but it was nice.  J loved it.  He kept roaring at the lions and was excited to see the elephant and lemurs (King Julien from Madagascar).  It was great fun but both boys were EXHAUSTED!

The next day  Dan had the conference all day and I was on my own to walk the city with the boys and go to Miles' appointment at 1 pm.  The morning started off great in an awesome park except Miles didn't like the Moby wrap carrier.  He kept arching backwards to see.  He doesn't like to face me, so the stroller was a better fit for him. Well, after a nice romp in the park and some burger king breakfast, we sat on a park bench so I could feed Miles.  Julian dumps his water, so I try to help him down but he fell face first onto the concrete.  It was awful.  Blood everywhere and him screaming.  University students and business men just stared.  I thought for sure he broke teeth but nope, thank God.  I got the boys situated and walked up a long hill back to our hotel with a whiny J and fussy M.  They slept forever (because they didn't at night).

I had to wake them both up for M's appointment.  I planned to go to a park after the appointment.  The consulate was crazy.  I was trying to juggle the boys and paperwork, but with them both screaming by the end, I did it.  One American lady said, "are you ok hun?" as both boys were screaming.  I said, "I'm doing the best I can" and she just walked away.  Really?  ugh.  Well, J pooped at the consulate so we had to go home to change him.  No park.  I was too afraid to venture out again...but, what about dinner?  We ate all our snacks for lunch and that wasn't even proper enough and kids' meals at the hotel are $20...hmm.  I took them to Burger King but it was much further than what I thought.  J wanted to walk and he was moving so slowly in all the hustle and bustle of the big city.  It was comical but I felt for him.  We ate our BK and got back VERY SLOWLY.  I thought we'd all sleep really well but Miles kept us up most of the night.  ugh.

The next day we enjoyed a great breakfast and then got to the airport by taxi again.  The flight was at 2 pm and I think there were 50 kids on the flight.  They all went bazzurk at the same times.  J and M were so good on the way to Auckland but the way back home was awful.  Then after that stress, J finds a ride on car that you put money into, while Dan got our bags.  He did not want to come off that ride.  I have never seen such a struggle.  No nap, 2 nights of no sleep, pure exhaustion...he SCREAMED out of control like a possessed person for 20 min in the car.  He actually passed out.  It was nuts.  Thankfully we got back to normal soon after...well, he did, but Dan and I haven't gotten much sleep until last night.

Anyway, being 2 is hard and I feel for Julian, but I'm so excited for him sticking with things and learning and teaching Miles and other little kids things.  He's a sweet kid who is very smart...but is two.