Sssssshhhhhhh

There was a time when Laika was little that Leif felt left out, sleeping all alone in his bedroom.  So we set up the little igloo tent in our room and when he came to visit in the night he had a cosy place to go that didn't involve taking up the entire middle of our bed. 

Sleeping arrangements are constantly changing around here.  Though Leif and Laika are pretty great at going to bed there are still nightmares, nosebleeds, trips to the bathroom and (like this morning) taps on my shoulder, "I just barfed in my bed."  I remember before having Leif my friend telling me that since her daughter had been born 4 months earlier she hadn't had more than 4 hours straight sleep.  I could not believe it.  I mean, I believed her, but didn't want that to be true.  Well.  It is true.  Though Tineke has BEEN a good sleeper, she is going through a little 6 month growth spurt or something that has her waking frequently in the night and not going down as easily as before.  I'm pretty much guaranteed a waking at 2ish and then at 4:30 she's hungry and from then on she's waking quite a bit until about 7:30 or 8.  So there is that whole 4:00 5:00 6:00 blur when I'm just hoping she won't notice the sun starting to rise.

Erik and I are both quite tired.  He's working on a new film and this means longer hours as he takes meetings and travels around the city checking out all of the locations (tech scout).  By the time he comes home we are both exhausted, but we aren't out of the woods yet.  We still need to make sure everyone is full, bathed, played with, teeth-brushed and to bed.  By 9:30 the little ones are all sleeping soundly (usually).  If I were smart I would just go to bed right then, but it's nice to have 10 minutes or so to talk to Erik.  I don't know, just to see what's going on.  A few days ago I tried going through the day without coffee.  It didn't work.

I'm not worried, I know that these things all work themselves out.  This is probably the toughest sleep time of our lives, so things can only get better!  

As for the barfing - I had hoped it was just that he had swallowed too much water during swim lessons last night, but I don't think so.  Right now Leif is asleep on couch with what I'm hoping is just a touch of a flu and Tineke is napping peacefully.  Laika is out for a walk with Chaplin and his mom and dad.  I'm taking the opportunity to wash bedding and towels and disinfect doorknobs and keyboards and light switches.  Last April we had a horrible 3 day festival of puking.  Leif and Laika each threw up every 10 minutes (NO EXAGGERATION) and Erik threw up 11 times.  I was sick once, but I was pregnant, so who knows.  Anyway.  What I did learn is that I want everything in this place to be in order in case I come down with gastroenteritis.  So, I'm off to fold towels and remake beds.