Archives: sleep

Better sleep last night. I sometimes gauge my wakefulness on how I manage to prepare breakfast – more that one brand of cereal for each bowl y’see – so can I get it all right? I failed again this morning – but only to a minor point. Louise got a few crunchy nut cornflakes – which I’m sure she won’t mind.
Apparently I took some cajoling to get out of bed to go comfort the nightly howl from Eve. Don’t remember if she made it up the attic stairs or not, but I woke up with her at 4:10 & thought I’d get more room in our bed upstairs. I was wrong… but at least it’s the bed I’m supposed to sleep in. Jack grew out of waking in the night from all noise & bluster. Hopefully Eve will soon… but then there will be Jude. Hmmm… as I went upstairs to wake Louise & collect Jude this morning (he always seems awake at that time at the moment) he uttered faux words. Me in my tired state thought that one of the other kids must be up there – but no – it was he. He is using a wider range of noises at the moment, & that was one of those moments where he uses the intonation of a sentence.
Louise hoped she was beating her cold yesterday, but she awoke this morning as stuffed as ever. It’s not like her to have one in the 1st place, but she’s stuck with a real pest at the moment.

Poor little brain want more sleep.
Later I talk of…

Train home

hmm… does my brain work yet? I’ve been at work all day, but that does not mean…
Been up too late too much of recent – not really a good idea.
Why? Mostly just prating about. I have been trying to figure a way of getting files of this eMate & into OSX at home. Should all be logically easy – but I seem to have conspired against myself in an attempt to make things difficult. Hey ho.

Caroline came over for the day yesterday as well. She’s been oop north at a conference & opted to come over & see us. Stayed up too late again.
Should go bed earlier, but good company.
Silly
Stop now

No typing yesterday – stood in the rain for an age falling asleep waiting for the train to arrive & it was somewhat crowded when it did.

Eve’s birthday went rather well – she had lots of presents… We’d accumulated quite a few. Much excitement for her; when I got home on Wednesday she was a whirlwind of it, showing me this, showing me that. They’d sung “Happy Birthday” to her at playgroup & oh, a million other things. Happy, but already starting on the road to tired & delirious. Tea was early – pancakes & strawberries & raspberries. They scoffed all the fruit & I had a couple of pancakes. My mum briefly called & Eve shouted to her that it was her birthday to her down the phone. Eve had been anticipating the birthday since before Louise’s birthday – so it’s hardly surprising she was a bit excitable. It’s the 1st ‘occasion’ that she’s really ‘appreciated’.
That night she went to sleep straight off. Excitement being the only thing keeping her going by then, once calmed she was out.
Jack was in the bath when he complained of not feeling well. We got him out & got him dressed, then back to the bathroom to be sick. He’s not often that ill, but he has been ill on scoffing ‘too much fruit’. The raspberries were not as ripe as Louise would have liked for letting the kids have them …that’s probably what was to blame. Jack was awake again before 11:00 & I could not get him to settle again. In the end I got to bed at 12:30 …& then woke up a bit later to start a night of going up & down stairs to see how the kids were. Eve was probably suffering from the raspberries as well as they both had disjointed sleep. All were also awake when I was due to get up at 5:30… We’ve all had better nights …shame – tarnished a really good day.
Louise called me at work yesterday morning as Jude had torn Jack’s library book & she needed to know what I had done with the cellotape after present wrapping. The library book needed to be returned to school that day. I ended up with Jack on the phone, which evaporated my grumpiness by him saying, “Sorry for keeping you awake last night Paul”. Oh, my kids call me Paul & Louise Mum or Louise. I rarely get called daddy by Jack. Without Jack Eve calls me daddy.
They all did very well yesterday evening for the tiredness they must have felt. There was basically the one incident when I got home of Jack bashing Eve on the head for taking a sticker. This caused her to be sick. You can tell when upset will result in vomit from Eve by the way she cries. Louise’s mum was there & had a go at helping her; tried to calm her down, but that’s a little pointless sometimes when she’s ‘crying like that’. She took her to the kitchen & managed to hold her all wrong by the sink & ended up with sick on her jumper. Hey ho. Eve soon calms down & is onto other things.

Did a little shopping in Manchester on the way home – picked up my sunglasses (well pleased) & a few essentially for home. Popped into a record shop (as I just cannot resist) & had an impulse buy of the latest ‘best of’ from EBTG. Made the evening go well – all heads nodding to the music at tea time …well …except Jude.
Jack slept well last night; Eve a little less so. We all were in bed early as …well …it was needed.

hmmm
Eve – she fell asleep on me going up to 6:00 yesterday…. poor lamb -jiggered. Put her off to bed with only a small protest, she did very well for it. Stirred only once before bedtime. She & Jack have swapped beds. She was falling asleep in his bed while he had his bath & then I’d move her… but Jack kinda decided that he’d have her bed. This is fine by Louise & I because she’s the one who usually calls out in the night for attention & for someone to come sleep with her. Jack’s bed is a full size (single) mattress & this is a darn sight more comfortable than the other & the futon, which was the other solution for sleeping with her. It all works better. Soon we hope to be getting them a bunk bed, which should be OK for having to sleep with them. Lately I seem to have been sleeping more with Eve than with Louise… which isn’t right… but then Jude sleeps in ‘our’ bed anyway (after he’s done his requisite in his own cot – hopefully it’s after midnight he stirs). If you’re not a parent – all this bed swapping business may seem odd – but parents of young children will realise you sleep where you can. Jack sleeps well nowadays. He rarely wakes up to call out. I’m sure he probably does stir, but he keeps it to himself for the most part. Can’t think when he last called out.
Jack has been very excitable this weekend. He’s had difficulty in … I was gong to say ‘keeping still’ but that’s always a problem. He’s certainly been feeling chipper, & understanding ‘no’ – or rather getting through with ‘no’ has been harder. He wants to – he really wants to. I had to turn the computer off a couple of times over the weekend as he was just getting carried away. With Eve off to sleep early last night we had to continually remind him to lower his voice & to stop jumping about the room… These are very difficult things for a 5 year old to do. Out walking over the weekend, he was either trailing behind seemingly lost in his thought or gleefully skipping on ahead. All this, of course makes Louise worry that this week’s half term break might be a little hard, but as she has said before… If Jack is in a good mood then it makes everything else easy. Of course, if Eve is ‘off colour’ which she well might be, then the balance tips negative again. She’s clingy & screamy when ‘off’. She was very dopey this morning – wanting to lie down & rest, where she’s usually full of beans to be up & about. Jude being awake when I got Louise up helped; he excites her. She was coughing a bit & demanded a drink. I wonder is she has a sore throat? She was also sick just as I was about to go out of the door. Didn’t see what happened, but she was eating some of Louise’s cereal at the time & blearg! Nothing dramatic in reach – just down herself, but still a mess… Quickly cleared before leaving though, & did not have to rush for the train to much.
On the computer front… I believe that I have managed to get it working for the most part – the CD writer, that is. I’ve ‘burnt’ most of my files, & the mac actually saw the disks. Next backup is applications & thence the may be the next big move. I have more memory ordered, & I have (dun-der-daaaaa!) OSX (10.2) ordered. Blimey. So – many more hours spent wrestling with the computer to get the darn thing doing what it’s supposed to do… but… but.. I have been rather keen to move to ’10’. I have a lot of applications that are going to have to stay in ‘classic’ – but nonetheless, I feel it will be worth it. I made up my mind after checking that all my peripherals would be OK – & it seems they will – even the scanner (although the drivers are still beta – but at least they are there!).
The plunge, as it were.

Hey ho… Brain still awaiting catch up on the sleep thing. Nice & Groggy this morning.
Got my new CD-RW working last night after faffing about for a good while. The software the manufacturer supplies is… not great. By that I mean that certain unrequired components seem to freeze the mac on startup. I conclude that it is probably a clash with Login on my verson of Mac OS – which is well stinky.
It’s taken me a couple of nights of pratting about starting with extensions off to come to that conclusion – which is far more time than I’m willing to concede to any problem – but needs must. I now actually have facility to do a proper backup of my files – which is like – really amazing! Hmmm – that sounds a little ‘gosh, wow’ of me – but I have not been able to do a proper backup since I got the computer – which in my opinion is very unwise. I’ve had a few scary moments where I thought I’d lost all – & the risks become greater the more I accumulate. I’ve been taking loads of photos for nearly a year now without any safety net if I suffered major problems. Anyway – now begins the process of putting back extensions & hoping it doesn’t all go wobbly… Hey – That does give me the very good excuse of prattling with the kit to back up all files before doing that.
Thinking of doing some passive newspaper reading.
Summary on the home front: Jude is happy – seems past recent tummy upset. Standing up against everything he can. It is wise not to stand still for too long as he will crawl up to you & stand up against your legs now.
Eve is fractious – she has a back upper right molar which still has not come through proper. This makes her more barmy & volatile than usual. She is now going to Monday afternoon school playgroup as well. She likes it all & is not troubled by Louise leaving any more.
Jack is … well Jack, really; loving & boisterous.
Louise is going for an eye test tomorrow. The 1st in many years. A new pair of glasses! She may even get a pair of wire framed ones & a pair of free sunglasses!! Louise has never, as far as I know, had a pair of sunglasses – let alone prescription sunglasses.

Oh – Friday 13th – how amusing.
Jude didn’t sleep too well last night – he has a similar sort of cough to me – a bit in the chest. Louise is going to take him at least to the pharmacist today to see if there’s anything that might assist alleviation of symptoms.
For a disturbed night, I don’t feel too bad, but my neck is rather stiff & I feel distinctly uncomfortable looking down to type.
I whitter a lot about sleep at the moment – probably because I’m greedy for more. To irk me Fortean Times also has an article on hypnagogic, or half sleep – one of the periods of sleep I really like best – that time between sleep & wake in the morning where you can really freewheel – but I never have the time to indulge any more – sigh… I can let my imagination play then without my conscious mind impeding it. Hey ho.
Right – I’m off to play (try a little light sleep) & rest my neck.

One of those mornings where my mind was really convinced I was still n bed, but I was actually getting up, & doing those routine ‘getting up’ things.
I could do with some more sleep, but then, I always say that… I like sleep… I never have enough. Before I worked, I slept a lot more & revelled in the waking up dreaming state… which is quite impossible nowadays.

When I got home yesterday the house was empty…. No Louise or kids… I thought that perhaps they had gone shopping… I thought about joining them for a bit, then thought I had better get on with some work! The carpets are coming, the carpets are coming! So, in preparation for Friday I cleared just about as much as I could from the floor space in the attic area. The cupboards of the eve’s are now stuffed to the gills, but all the important heavy things are away. The wardrobe is still out, but that can be easily picked up & moved (it’s a kind of tent construction thing – quite funky). I even remembered to call the carpet cleaning people re the stairs which still have much ingrained dust from when they were doing the building work up there. We might actually be up there next week! Walls are not painted, paint on the beams is not striped, but hey… we can work on that!

Just woke from a snooze on the train. Closed my eyes on the platform & found that I continued as I got on the train. Feel a bit better for that, actually…
Jude was up early again this morning. Saturday & Sunday he woke at 05:00 & started burbling on happily as he does. This morning he awoke at similar time, but this time it was caused by Eve waking up & crying for a cuddle. It probably doesn’t take much for him to wake up at that time anyway. So, Louise is going to be jiggered today.
Jude is sitting up. Sunday morning I had him sat down & he was holding himself very well, & by the afternoon when Louise sat him down, he was almost confident about it. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to take him long before he’s figured out crawling now. He gets himself onto his tum & shuffles about at the moment, & he’s getting to the point where he’s lifting himself very strongly.

Jack’s birthday tomorrow. I have the day off as well – yeay! Did a stomp around town yesterday & was quite put out at how abysmal the toy selection is in the centre of town, until I remembered the toy shop (duuuuh) – which is only a little way off centre. Got him a few things & got told off by Louise for it later, as that was not really the plan… Still, could you resist? I didn’t spend too much honest!
It’ll all work out though.
Went looking on the Internet for a buggy board last night. I can find them OK, but can I understand them OK? It seems you have to know how they might attach to your pushchair before you can order, & as there’s scant information about that, it’s somewhat difficult know what your supposed to be getting & whether it will work with your pushchair. We feel do need one although we know it will cause arguments as Jack & Eve battle for it. Eve, on the whole is much more willing to walk than Jack ever was, but even she gets tired. Jack still angles for getting a ‘pick up’, whereas Eve would rather be put down. Hmm – that may be indicative of their characters though – Jack is very tactile, whereas Eve is only tactile on her terms.
Odd thing last night – went to bed & only woke up when my alarm went off – I was not disturbed in the night… weird.

Feeling better? Marginally. I conceded to feeling awful yesterday, & went to bed early, in the hope that I was just run down. Had a good nights sleep & …well, I feel better, but not great, by any means.

Jack slept a bit better last night. He woke at 3:00 & 3:30. I think dreaming is disturbing him at the moment, but he’s not specific about it. He certainly would like me to sleep in his bed, but I tell him I’d be too noisy at the moment (I would – coughing & snorting). I think he settled off OK again, but he must have stirred again as when I got up this morning he was sleeping against his bed like he had been sitting on the floor next to it to watch down the corridor; this was what he was doing when I first went to see him at 3:00. Oh, I put Eve back in bed properly then as well, as she looked to be straying to the point where she might fall out of bed. Unlike Jack, her bed is off the floor.

Eve has a spot of Impetigo at the moment, poor girl. She cannot go to playgroup or college. She is mixing with the kids on the street, much to my general concern, but you can’t stop that. She’s started saying to Louise, when she is told that she can’t do something that she will be able to, “when me chin gets better” (accompanied by vigererous head nod). She still uses ‘me’ for ‘I’, but on the whole she’s very acute with her language nowadays. You take such things for granted. She’s full of life is Eve, running, jumping & all that. She does not like animals so much though; anything larger than a medium sized dog or a cat freaks her out a bit. In a way, it was a good thing that there were not hoardes of animals at the Agricultural show this weekend.