Insomnia can be productive

I am a night owl. I have always been a night owl, and the summer months are always my worst time. Sleeping in, staying up late, that's my schedule. Of course right now, sleeping in means 9, and staying up late means anywhere from midnight to 3 am. During the school year, I was usually getting around 6 hours of sleep, and since the munchkins are my alarm clock, and they don't get up until somewhere between 8 and 9, even if I am up until 2, I can get enough sleep. It's a bad cycle. Sleeping until 8 or 9 leaves me feeling awake later at night. Ben and Maggie go to bed, Andy goes to bed, and I hang out on the computer or read. I have been reading up a storm lately. This is usually how my summers go, except technically, summer should be over by now.

This not having a job thing is weird. While I say I never imagined my life like this, it's a lie. I always said I wanted to be a stay at home Mom, I always planned to teach until I had kids. Only thing is, I never imagined losing my job instead of me making the decision to stay home, and I never imagined the finances being this bad when it happened.

Life goes on, days go by, and as August is coming to a close, reality is sinking in. I don't have a job. School started without me, and I no longer work at my old school with my old colleagues. It's strange. You spend 5 years in one place, you feel like you belong there. It's hard to figure out where I belong right now.

But one thing I know, I adore spending time with my kids. We have been to the library twice, to the zoo with friends, to a Kindermusik demo class, to the doctor, ran errands, and played outside. We have had visitors. I will sign up for library story time, we will have playdates, we will go to the zoo again. I can do this.

Sleeping is overrated, and at least on these nights when I can't fall asleep, I'm either reading a good book or doing something else for fun. Tonight it's blogging.

August 12 - Helping to stuff the diapers. Right now, they are into piling stuff up and moving it around. Little people keep stealing my stuff. They empty out the pajama drawer all the time, they pile up their books and empty the toy bin, and I really wish I understood what the fascination was. At least they are starting to enjoy putting things back too.

August 13 - We went to the wading pool with cousin Ryan. I think it's so neat that there are these wading pools in the park around here that are free.
August 14 - Maggie is reading a book to Key. See how nicely she is opening the flaps? The book is upside down, but he doesn't mind. August 15 - Huge creepy bug was on the kitchen window at dinner tonight. It was bigger than my thumb and I was really grateful that it was outside the window. Bonus points for anyone who can identify the little bugger.
August 16 - Ben has finally adopted a lovey. I think he's named him Ba. It is also kind of what he calls himself and what he calls things he doesn't know the name for. He has started carrying him around a little like Maggie carries Key. I am hoping that it helps to cut down on the lovey swiping that he likes to do.
August 17 - We went to the zoo with my friend Jenn and her two little ones, and my friend Lauren and her twins. My SIL was there with Ryan too, but she missed the photo. We were quite a sight at the zoo.
August 18 - We had dinner at Aladdins with some of Andy's relatives from out of town. I think the caption for this one could just be "Mmm, chocolate cake." August 19 - Is this thing on? August 20 - We went to a wedding for a friend of Andy's from college. This is one of only two pictures I took. See that adorable little flower girl? She is the daughter of the bride and groom. She was so cute, and so good, and I thought it was so sweet to see the family coming together officially. August 21 - Ben and Maggie had spent the night at my parents because of the wedding, and I guess that she was a little tired the next day since she fell asleep during dinner.
August 22 - I ended up taking quite a few pictures on this day. Big day. The first three I caught because Maggie was playing peek-a-boo at lunch. Stinking adorable.


Ben got his first haircut! This is the before, doesn't he look so big in that chair?
And after! He loved the girl who cut his hair (she was young and cute and gave him a sucker) and I couldn't believe how well it went. He looks like such a little man now. This is part of the photo shoot we tried to do in the yard. There is no good perfect photo to post from this afternoon so I thought I would show you this one. Good thing we don't live on a busy street!
August 23 - This is a sign that they are tired, and that they are maybe watching too much TV. Who knew they liked Blue's Clues?
August 24 - My loves.

One more, just because I couldn't stand how cute she was. Doesn't she look like a little dancer?

August 25 - Earlier tonight. One of the "Oh crap, it's after 11 and I didn't take a photo" photos. See the handsome cat? He's advertising our new favorite potato chips - Tangy Carolina BBQ. Mmmm. Time for me to end the Secret Life marathon, book-a-thon and blogging for the night. I just had to go up and rock a crying Ben - what used to be something I dreaded that I now actually look forward to every once in awhile. There's something so sweet when they are sleeping and cuddly, and I miss it. Hopefully that was the last time tonight though because once I go to bed, it's a lot harder to drag myself into the nursery, no matter how cute they are!