I Need A Good Holiday Sedative

2:51 am - day after Christmas

We've had the plague circulating at our house for the past week and it's woken me up with coughing fits at ungodly hours the last several nights which would explain why I fell asleep on my bed at 8:30 pm on Christmas day, only after falling asleep earlier in the car on the way home from Connie's. And now it's 3 am and I've been awake for an hour dinking around on the internets, doing whatever it is that you do when everyone else in your house is justifiably asleep.

Tomorrow is gonna be amazing, I just know it!

Today was good though, really good. Even though I was awake at 5 am and my kids didn't wake up until 8, I managed to pull myself together for the occasion. Opening presents and making Christmas breakfast in my own house was 7 different kinds of magical. I'm not sure when I'll ever get over this whole "beholden unto none but myself" golden era I seem to be stuck in, but it seems like a fairly happy place to be. My favorite gifts received: a microplane zester and new measuring cups. The thrill! Favorite gifts given: 2 bouncy, inflatable donkey things (see HERE) promptly christened "Maxi" and "Julie" by the Nub. My boys spent their waking hours at home today bouncing Maxi and Julie all over kingdom come and probably giving themselves brain damage in the process. Worth it! Paul got a new air compressor he gifted himself weeks ago and some clothes. Oh, and a beard trimmer since his old one bit the dust. We like to keep things exciting!

Does anyone else come down with instant depression the day after Christmas? What's left to look forward to? January, February and March, that's what, the three triplet sister months of despair and stir-crazy when I find myself hitting the local fast food play land circuit more times than I'd ever like to admit. Nuggets and repeat exposure to communicable diseases for everyone! It's a pretty mind-numbing time of year for mothers of small children, am I right? I wonder if I'll ever stop wigging out about it and learn to deal, probably not.

Did I tell you we finally took away ye olde pacifier from Triple (or "fah-foo" as he calls it, don't ask)? I never thought I'd be one of those parents with a kid way past the age of normal still attached to a self-soothing device, and yet somehow I ended up with one thumbsucker and one paci-lover. We didn't end with any grand gesture, no paci-fairies or ceremony to signal the end, I just stopped giving it to him. He cried a little and got himself stuck under his bed looking for one before naps that one time, but mostly it hasn't been that big of a deal. It made me a little sad truthfully! Goodbye babyhood, although I think Triple passed that milestone about 20 lbs ago.

And since we're talking about pacifiers, I'll wrap this up with a video of babies fighting over one (thanks for that Rachel):

Merry Christmas!