A recharge

It's amazing how quiet the house is without a 3 year old in it at night. It's been a not-so-good day, so we shipped Anna off to Nana and Papa's house to spend the night. I got a text from Dane this morning at 9:30 saying that he has already lost every ounce of patience for Anna and that it was going to be a LONG day. Anyone that knows Dane, knows that he is the most patient man ever. However, we all have our breaking points and Dane hit his today. Anna has been pushing our buttons a little more than usual lately, and has been getting under our skin. Apparently, while Dane was out of the room with Drew this morning, Anna got her hands on the Pledge (my fault for leaving it out) and managed to spray over half the contents all over herself and the couch. Um, yeah...what a mess! Needless to say, our couch is dust free and has a very pleasant lemony scent to it (as does Anna!). It sounds like it was just mess after mess after mess today with a few tantrums and back talking thrown in there too.

I came home at lunch and stayed home for the afternoon (more on my illness later) and after we ate, I put both the kids to bed for a nap and laid down myself to try and get a little rest. I told Dane to leave the house and go do something by himself for a while. Before he left, he came up to our room and said "why don't we just see if Nana and Papa will keep Anna overnight tonight?" Wow...it must have been a REALLY rough morning.

You might find this hard to believe, but Anna has only ever spent the night somewhere else once, and that was when we were in the hospital having Drew. It was with Dane's parents and went pretty good, but we just have never done it again. I know...it's time to cut the cord! I think we're both realizing that it's nice (and necessary) to have that break every once in a while, and for Anna, I want her to look forward to spending the night with her grandparents, not to have anxiety about it. Maybe we'll make this a once a month occasion. I just came up with that idea right now, so I might want to mention it to Dane's folks before signing them up for it. :)

Tonight has actually been very nice and peaceful. Dane, Drew and I went out to dinner after delivering Anna, then I dropped off Dane at our friends house so he could be a man and watch Monday Night Football. Drew and I stopped at the store and then came home where we played for a while before putting him down for bed. Drew's asleep, Dane is gone and Anna is gone. Bliss! I can't tell you how wonderful it was not to have to do the same ol' bedtime routine with Anna and go through the same battles with her that I do every night. Instead, I cleaned the kitchen and picked up the house and now I'm listening to a little Amos Lee (very relaxing). I'm about to sit down on the couch and open up my new People magazine I bought for myself while at the store, and enjoy the Reece's Christmas Tree that I snagged out of my daughter's Christmas stocking candy (don't worry, I'll replenish). Now if I only had a Cherry Pepsi and Tostitos Cheese Dip out of the jar, life would be perfect.

Life would also be perfect if I could get over my illnesses. I tell you what, I am so tired of being sick! A week ago today, I woke up with the flu...it lasted 24 hours and I was done with it. Not fun, but at least it was quick lived. Last Tuesday I started feeling like a cold was coming on. Sore throat, cough...the usual. Wednesday rolls around and my voice is quickly diminishing and my cough seems to be getting worse and now my glands are huge and sore. Great. Thursday (even less of a voice) I head to the doctor because if there's something she can give me for this, then great, bring it on! Strep test was negative, and she tells me it's probably just viral and that I'm going to have to wait it out. Whatever, what does she know? She did write a Rx for me for an antibiotic and told me that if I'm not feeling better by Monday (today) then I can start taking it. By Friday I had NO voice at all...not even kidding. A whisper is all I can manage still and this stupid cough has me up until 2:30 a.m. (no exaggeration) every night with coughing fits. I didn't listen to my doctor, and went ahead and filled the Rx and started taking it. Unfortunately, I don't think it's doing much. Ok, so maybe she does know something. I've diagnosed myself with laryngitis and from what I can tell, it can last up to two weeks! Eeek! It's really inconvenient to not be able to talk! I'm just ready to start feeling better so I can get a good nights sleep and STOP COUGHING.

I think I'll go eat my candy now...I've heard that has a soothing effect on a sore throat and cough. Kind of like honey or lemon.

One more thing...HAPPY 35TH ANNIVERSARY TO MY DAD AND MOM!!!!! I love you both so very much and only hope that Dane and I are as happy as you two are after 35 years. Thank you for being amazing parents and wonderful grandparents to our children. You both are kind, generous, and loving to your core...I couldn't be more proud to call you Mom and Dad! Hugs and kisses!