The one where life is different than you think it's going to be.

So. Monday, I would've said I was coming off a really rough, say, 4 or 5 days. I would have mentioned some 2 day long tantrums, a series of sleepless nights by children which mean a series of sleepless nights for their parents, a headache that's been hanging on for days, and right, that surprise trip to the ER on Saturday. I would've said, sure, the last few days have been really tough, but we're past it, moving forward, going great.

Apparently, that would've been overly optimistic.

Sleeplessness has persisted, my headache has persisted, and last night, Thing 1 woke up screaming about a sore throat and an earache. Long night summed up, she didn't fall asleep, didn't REALLY fall asleep until after 6am. We watched a lot of Batman: The Animated Series, and I played the crap out of some Spider Solitaire. I mean, I didn't win once, (I blame the zombie-state of my middle-of-the-night brain), but I played the crap out of it.

So on to this morning. The oldest child has less of an earache, but is bona fide Super Sick. And probably even more miserable because of our No Sleep Till Brooklyn episode from last night.

And this, the exhaustion and the things, is a big part of the reason why I've been subsiding exclusively on coffee and candy so far today. Not doing good things for me, I'm sure. And to make matters worse, when the kids found some of my candy wrappers, I lied and said that their father snuck the candy, and they believed me because they are dumb.  They'll get over that soon enough, I'm sure.

This week just didn't get easier. Stuff like that just happens some times. I've come to believe that there is no situation these days wherein our family will be completely healthy. There is no situation where Shane and I will be well rested. There is no situation where it is quiet and relaxed here. Our house has 241 square feet per inhabitant (Harper takes up most of them though), and that's including the laundry room and the closets, which we need to use sometimes, because privacy only lives in closets these days. And that is okay. Because that is family and it is insane, and that is okay. That is okay. That is okay.

 Kaden had some nice perspective to offer this morning. I was trying to take care of Madelyn who was crying about her head hurting, and I suddenly need to clean up mister Harper "Oops, I crapped my pants" Miller, and the 2 middle children were begging for attention, asking for help with snacks and a tv show. I had to ask them to sit, to wait patiently.

"You know," Kaden offered, "Some families only have one kid..."

Don't I know it, my friend. Don't I freakin know it.