Sleep, wherefore art thou, sleep

This week has been epically bad for sleep. The worst part is that I can't exactly point to one cause as to why. If I could, it might be easy to fix. 

1) Shimon is getting home earlier. 

When he was leaving the office at 10 or 11, it was easy to just go to bed. He'd get home so late that there was no point in staying awake. He'd only come home, shower, and go to bed anyway.

2) Little girl has a cold.

She has a cold and is waking twice instead of once at night. It wouldn't seem  like a big deal, but that extra waking has found us both falling asleep on the tatami at around 4am. She stays asleep, while I wake up super sore in the morning.

3) Toddler T hasn't decided to sleep until a certain time consistently. Generally speaking T wakes up at 6 or later. I can live with that. But then there's the occasional 5am wake up call if "Mama mama." This week that 5am conveniently fell in line with the Workd Cup final. So I didn't mind waking up. Problem? I haven't caught up on any sleep all week.

4) Being stupid. 

This one is all me. I should go to bed when all the crap is done around the house. That could be as early as 9. But do I?? No. I watch TV. Or work on class work for my online class. I usually do both. Then, by the time Shimon's almost home it seems silly to go to bed. So I wait for him.

Which lands me in the trouble I'm in now. I wake up feeling like a pile of poo. Feel that way most of the day. Go to bed feeling that way. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

Next week, I vow to get to bed earlier. But for now, I'll just have to do my best to make it through the weekend.

Wow, I look "special."

The No-good, very bad day

Yesterday I had to take Raina to the doctor. She has a slight cough that hasn't gotten better on its own. So, we had to go.

This is the first time that I had to take Raina and Touma to a doctor's office. I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. 

We arrive a bit before 11am, there weren't many people waiting. (In Japan, doctor's offices are mostly first come, first served. No appointments.) Good timing, I thought to myself. 

We got in and I filled paperwork out and waited about 10 minutes to see the doctor. Touma was not really behaving himself, but the staff were good about keeping him busy looking at books. That is, until Raina was done with the doctor. Then it was back to me chasing after him. Yeah, that was not fun. And he continued to be somewhat of a pill.

Then it was time to get the prescription filled. The pharmacy was close. Got there and was going to have Touma stay in the stroller. But there was a water cool. And a cup dispenser. He NEEDED out. 

It was actually good that I did as filling the prescription took longer than expected. He dispensed a cup every time he wanted a drink. 4 cups in less than 10 minutes. :( Finally!! Prescription is ready! Touma is not. Pharmacist gives me stickers to bribe him. They don't really work. We leave the pharmacy (step outside the door). I continue to struggle to get him in. Finally I forcefully put him in. He cries and yells.

We leave the building. Touma is crying the whole way. Old lady tries to "help." She just annoys me. I head to the supermarket.

Inside the door we run into a lady who works at the local playroom. She offers to stay with Touma as I run and get us lunch! Excellent timing!! I come back, with a sandwich for Touma and find he's calmed down. Yay!

By the time we got home, Touma was asleep. Raina was awake. I was exhausted. The rest of the day was not bad per se, just exhausting. It could not end quickly enough.