Oh Holy Night

so, puddin has decided that she is not going to sleep at nights. she made this call about when chad's mom and grandmother came in from iowa for a nice, holiday visit the weekend before thanksgiving. it would start at the 9 or 10:00 feeding and last till 4 am and sometimes until 8am. at first she would scream and holler, but now she just is not asleep unless you keep putting the pappy back in her mouth every time it decides to pop out. i'm beginning to think that the pappy is conspiring against me. these are the thoughts that seem realistic in the middle of a sleepless night. 2 nights ago, i tried the bouncy seat, the swing, the ever popular hold her all night so at least one of us is sleeping, the walk around and bounce, the snuggle in bed tactic, and finally the baby einstein video so that i could get 30 minutes.......all to no avail. our bedroom looked like the circus. at 4:30, i woke up chad. when i woke up to get the boys ready for school and aiden breakfast, she was sweetly sleeping. when she started this, i thought...this is my fourth baby. i've trained all my babies to be great sleepers. i've been responsible for getting them all on great schedules from the beginning. i've prided myself in NEVER...EVER waking chad up to help me in the middle of the night. i've been in charge and in total control of their sleep patterns. i can do it again. now i'm asking myself, how can such a small person have such control???? and, how can i become used to being up all night where i will greet the other puddins as they skip down the stairs in the morning sweetly requesting breakfast just as i've gotten her to sleep? (well...it is probably more accurate to say that she, herself has decided to go to sleep.) anyhow, chad and i are trying to split the night because...let's face it...she is going to do what she wants and we are totally at the mercy of the conspiring pappy.

now, i've used every free minute of the tired time that i have to help other family members get their christmas shopping done. you know the calls. the "do you have any ideas for the kids?" calls. i've had 6 of them right off the top of my head...plus actually going to the stores 3 different times to help pick things out for them to get them. it is great that everyone wants to get them something that they all want, but now it's 18 days till christmas, all the stuff on their lists have been taken, and i have yet to come up with anything to get them from chad and i. plus, when the "i don't know" answer doesn't fly, i come up with something off the top of my head and under pressure and now i can't remember what i've told people. when did christmas presents for kids become so hard. a doll for suzy, a toy car for tommy...etc. shouldn't it be a little easier? this is about when i decided that they have way too much as it is and that next year we are scaling waaaayyy back. i remember coming to the same conclusion this time last year. i may sound a little bah humbugish...and for that i am sorry. i never said you would get anything but direct honesty here. and next year, i'm doing my shopping BEFORE i help everyone else do theirs!