The Imperfect Community

peglegginmegan · Slightly Flawed Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 27 Location: wv

Fall really just started, and already I'm wishing it were summer again. I hope I'm not the only wimp out there. Wayne and I are both in school full-time, and he's still working till 9. Chloe has moved into a not-sleeping phase, and she's also throwing some hardcore tantrums. The baby's sleeping with me again...he got an ear infection two weeks ago, and I haven't been able to put him back in his crib because he shares a room with Chloe, who wakes up screaming at least once a night, then still manages to get up at 6. So Wayne sleeps on the spare bed, and he's the luckiest of all of us. My only consolation is the fact that things change over time, but in the back of my mind I keep thinking, what if they get worse? I'm already behind on reading and papers. I feel really bad for thinking this, but I wish today weren't labor day, so I could take the kids to daycare! Blech. Anyway, I just needed to bitch. It really isn't all that bad, everything just seems worse when you're tired.

becky2005 · Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 12:21 pm Post subject:

I'm tired too! I get up at least once a night with Katie so I haven't had a full night's sleep in 6 months. She's only 5 1/2 months, but I did not sleep well the last 2 or 3 weeks of my pregnancy. You go months without decent rest and it really wears you down!

I'm hoping we both get some good sleep soon.

Anthromomma · Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:43 pm Post subject:

Ugh, I can relate. I feel like I'm about to fly apart at the seams and it's only two weeks into the semester. I'm taking a full course load, starting research for my senior thesis (independent of those classes), studying for the GRE (still, because I didn't get my shit together this summer and take it), applying to grad schools, and I have a teaching assistantship in a class that I never took, so I'm having to do the reading in that class too so that I can actually answer questions and be helpful. My babysitter, also a college student, is very busy this semester meaning that I really only have childcare two days a week. And dh works 70 hrs a week, as always, so it's not like he can pick up the slack around here while I'm so busy. I've been doing homework late at night (like, 'til two) because that's the only time I'm guaranteed any peace and quiet, and getting up with the kids at six thirty. S is having a hard time adjusting to kindergarten, Harper is teething and I'm just waiting for Miss A to start acting out because she's pretty much being ignored these days by necessity. I want to go hide in a hole somewhere.

I hope things get better for you guys. This is the first time all week I've had any free time, and I already have a crying baby at my knee-- so I probably won't be around much for a while.

Jessica · Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 1:50 pm Post subject:

Count me in with the exhausted camp.

Working full time and just getting back from a convention and finding out I have to travel in a week, I could use a week off.

The past two days, I took the kids swimming for their last hurrah before school starts and today, I just want to be lazy but there's shit to do and Graham has other plans.

When do kids start getting lazy and just want to veg in front of the TV? I can't wait for that to happen!

Petulant Pixie · Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 2:32 pm Post subject:

Jessica · Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:23 pm Post subject:

peglegginmegan · Slightly Flawed Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 27 Location: wv

Anthromomma! How are you even still functioning? You make me look like such a wuss. 3 kids, full class load, teaching, thesis, your husband's work schedule, and only two days of childcare?!?!? I don't have it bad at all, in comparison. Suddenly I'm not as tired as I thought I was! Good luck with the GRE, by the way.

Scout · Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:02 pm Post subject:

I'm not that tired, but then I don't do shit compared to you mamas! I don't know how you can manage school with little ones? I just can't even conceive of trying to go back to school until my kids are all older. Y'all are amazing!

Actually, I'm tired this week but in a different way. The last few months, I've developed a new kind of PMS that I like to call "fighting off the coma." WTF? Has this happened to any of you? It's like I'm drugged and groggy and it's not like a body, too-little rest tired. I can't get enough sleep no matter how much sleep I get, for the entire week before I start.

Petulant Pixie · Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:35 am Post subject:

Kristy, that happens to me the first day of my period. But, just before it I have tons of energy, kind of like nesting. I clean and work out and get everything ready so when it starts, I can just crawl into bed for 24 hours.

I'm tired, but I don't do shit. I have it so easy right now, thankfully, but I have almost no responsibility. I've systematically eliminated just about everything. The thing about that though is that I feel like my life is just passing me by. I feel like I'm just doing NOTHING. I'm hoping it's just a phase and when I get a grip again, I can start being a contributing member of society.

You ladies are awesome though. You should feel really proud of yourselves. And, the little kid phase will end.

Anthromomma · Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:34 am Post subject:

I'm the kind of person that needs to be busy, 'cuz if I don't have anything to do, I just don't do anything. I'm beginning to be afraid that I've bitten off more than I can chew this time. The TA gig was a very last minute offer that I didn't feel like I could turn down, so I'm just sucking it up and trying to think about how it will look on my grad school app's.

Scout, I had that same thing going on once I got my period back after having Harper (when she was three months old, which is not fair Evil or Very Mad

) I haven't been feeling especially tired lately, but I'm not sure I would notice these days. I'm not sure what changed.

Scout · Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:26 am Post subject:

I do not like to be busy AT ALL. I have schedule-a-phobia, really. The thought of having all of my kids in scheduled activities, or having my time committed to anything outside of work is just completely unappealing to me. I guess I feel like my life is very full with work and my family and friends, you know? I don't feel bad at all about the lack of structured activities. I think everyone has way too much going on, and it seems so mentally and emotionally taxing to me. I just want to come home, play with my kids, make dinner and chat with dh, maybe read or watch a little TV before bed, and that's it. We have a weekly Friday night cocktail hour with a group of friends and tend to do stuff with them and their kids randomly throughout the weekend, so we do have a social life. But yeah, I like it low-key.

Anthromomma · Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:11 am Post subject:

Well, you have a social life, so you're one up on me. I'm not sure my friends even remember my name anymore. We had baseball tickets we couldnt' use last night, and more than one person was shocked to hear from me when I called around to find someone to take them.

The scheduling thing, it's just that I turn into a slug if I don't have structure-- I have zero self- motivation. When I'm home over the summer, it's a major achievement if we ever leave the house before 2 or 3 in the afternoon, because before then it's almost a guarantee that at least one person is still in pj's. Not exactly the ideal stay at home mom, you know? Especially when our house is a teeny tiny kleenex box with no room to play. I'm not the same way when it comes to the kids, though-- maybe one activity, but definitely not more than that at a time. Like right now, Ainsley is taking ballet/tap on Saturdays, but she's staying with the sitter again instead of going to preschool this fall so we felt like she could benefit from spending time with kids her own age. Seam decided for himself that he wanted his evenings free, which is fine by me. He doesn't get off the bus until after 4:30, so I don't know how we'd squeeze something in anyway.

I'm just hyperfocused on getting through to next year-- getting accepted into a (funded) PhD program, Terry finding a job where he only has to work 40 hours a week, moving the hell away from here. I can put up with any amount of crap in the short term if it means that we're getting to where we want to be.

peglegginmegan · Slightly Flawed Joined: 10 Jun 2007 Posts: 27 Location: wv

"I can put up with any amount of crap in the short term if it means that we're getting to where we want to be."

I completely agree! The only problem is, I keep saying that every year, and the place we're getting to keeps changing. I have a tiny social life that consists of talking to my friend who carpools to daycare with me about all my other friends and what they're up to. Thankfully, my babies are too young to be involved in extra-curricular activities. And, incidentally, I stopped nursing Finn and got my period....I couldn't remember what it was like, and got all freaked out until I realized what was happening. And I had the whole tiredness thing too, which never used to happen.