After Christmas Returns Include: My Sanity!

It was recently brought to my attention that my New Year's post seemed a bit... Well... Discouraged. So, if anyone else out there was concerned for my mental well-being, let me assure you, you can put away the straight jacket and the Prozac, I am doing much better.

To explain, my Christmas break from work started off with me getting sick. Awesome. I fought through and got through Christmas. Then, Taryn got sick. About the same time, my dad arrived to visit. While this is not a bad thing by any means, we always give up our bedroom and stay on the futon in Taryn's room when he visits. (Nothing at all is my dad's fault. Our house is just too darn small for a 3rd adult!!) Sharing a room with Taryn isn't all that fun on a normal night, but when she is sick, FORGETABOUTIT. Taryn stopped sleeping. She stopped napping. The only sleep that I was getting was little catnaps in our LaZBoy. Then (perhaps due to my lack of sleep) my illness made a curtain call. At one point my mom sent me an email saying "Maybe Taryn just isn't going to nap anymore. Some kids give up their naps early." It almost sent me on a killing spree.

Finally, on January 1st, in the pics above, you can see when Taryn finally slept again. She fought me on a nap for a good 3-4 hours. She threw temper tantrums, I threw a few myself. I was ready to move out, divorce Lee, disown Taryn, and jump in the river... Finally, at 5pm, she fell asleep and she was CRASHED OUT. She woke up for dinner and a little bit of play time and then went to bed. And slept. And I slept. And the next day at 6am, my dad left and Lee and I immediately reclaimed our bedroom. And we slept some more.

Taryn is back to going to bed at 7:30, waking at 6:30 and taking a few hour nap in the afternoons. And things are suddenly a lot brighter. It's amazing what a little sleep can do for ya!