Sleep Redefined- Step 1

Last night proved to be a lot smoother than the night before. Was it due to Gabe's obvious exhaustion from getting to bet at 10:30 the night before or because the new system jives with him a little better? Who knows.

I went into the evening with a Big Plan^TM. The old evening routine involved giving Gabe his asthma treatment (he sits SOOOO nicely and holds the nebulizer mask himself) while watching a favorite video, transitioning to the bottle (you have to rinse the mouth after treatment, so a drink is non-negotiable), and then turning off the video after about 15 minutes (saying "night-night" to the creature du jour), and then letting him fall asleep on the couch in a dim room. He would get carted off to bed once he was really out for the night.

Lately the plan has been foiled by the fact that even when the video is off and the room is dim, when the bottle is done, instead of handing it to me ("here, mommy") and rolling over with eyes shut, he hands it to me and jumps off the couch to go and play. I was miffed because the plan had given us a step-down from me having to hold him for sleep.

So, the Big Plan^TM(as dictated in my head) was to give him his treatment in the company of a favorite video, take him and the bottle upstairs to his room where drinking would be accompanied by two books, and then placing him in his bed and letting him drift off alone.

See- you are laughing at me. Why did no one tell me this perfect plan would not work in one night? Hmmm? What up with the big secret?

Let's now rename the Big Plan^TM as the Goal^TM.

Step one in reaching the Goal^TM went like this:

Treatment with video (smooth)
Bottle with video for 10 mins (concession granted for tired mommy)
Upstairs for two books (smooth)
Two books becomes three (concession made)
Three books is firm limit (protest from Gabe)
Ask Gabe to get into bed and lie down (smooth)
Mommy leaves room (screaming commences)
Mommy returns and promises to sit in chair (Gabe lies down again)
Gabe jumps up from bed and heads for bookcase (sigh)
Mommy holds firm on no more books (screaming and tantrum on floor)
Mommy picks up Gabe and starts rocking (screaming continues)
Mommy explains calmly that it is either chair or bed- no books (screaming continues)
Rocking continues for 10 minutes (screaming starts to die down)
Gabe finally falls asleep (around 8:30)

Mommy celebrates by doing a load of laundry.

Belly Shot

Bethany reminded me that I had promised a belly shot in my last post and then failed to follow through. Truthfully, I kept forgetting to bring in the shot from home, so I went over to a coworker's office and had her snap one a short while ago. I also decided that I hated my pants today, so I cropped it a bit. But you still get the belly (21w3d). I keep thinking that I am just HUGE, and then I see a photo and decide that I don't look pregnant at all.

It has been a rough couple of days. Sleep has become an elusive luxury, and Gabe has entered the terrible twos full-swing. Last night I spent two and a half hours wrestling with him (almost literally) to go to bed. In the process I received a head butt to the bridge of my nose and several body slams. Not fun. He is normally a really, really laid back kid, very gentle- so this new personality twist is quite unusual. I have decided that tonight will be step one of a new bedtime routine because it has become obvious that the old one is no longer working. I'll keep you posted.

And All That Jazz

I thought you might enjoy a picture of what I look like with false eyelashes, stage makeup, big hair, and more sequins and glitter than should be allowed on a person at one time. This picture was actually taken at our show last fall, so I'm not sporting the baby belly. I have a belly shot at home that I'll post next week (home internet connection is run by very old hamsters).

Oh, and I don't really have a gaping hole where my right eye should be located. Photoshop seems to have randomly cropped it (I cut out my fellow chorus members who might not want their mugs on the internet).

Am I Dreaming?

I can eat cherry pie and lower my cholesterol? Now that's some health food I can really live with!

The silver lining

I suppose that even a second place finish has a silver lining (pun intended). For one, our chorus achieved its highest score ever, a more than respectable 618. For another, our chorus was the only one at competition to receive a full-audience standing ovation at the end of the performance. We are, without question, always a crowd favorite. Were Sweet Ad*line competition American Id*l, we would totally be going home with the record deal. In fact, at the international conventions, our members are always approached randomly with the question, "aren't you the chorus that performed the William Tell at IES?" And yes, yes we were. For those that didn't see us (and where the hell were you, I might ask) the contest in question happened in 2002 at the International Educational Symposium- essentially an international competition for the smaller choruses. And the song performed is a comedy rendition of the William Tell Overture. We do comedy well. Really well. And at that performance we inspired an international audience of 1500 to leap to their feet screaming at the end of our performance. And we ended up in fourth place. But to this day, we are remembered by all. Not too shabby.

I guess what I'm saying is that although our finish did sting on Saturday evening, we know as a chorus what is really important. We have an awfully tight bond as a chorus. We really care about each other. We improved our score, so we're moving in the right direction. And we made a lasting impression on our audience.