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Merritt Misery
It was a pretty decent week if you ignore our colds and sleep disturbance.
We’ve had relatively mild stuffy noses and sore throats making their way through the house. Avey was up coughing through most of the night on Wednesday, so she felt bad enough that she chose to stay home Thursday. She is doing better now, but still not quite herself. It may not have helped that she went to an activity Wednesday night with other girls and had a blast with crafts and treats. It was probably worth it, though, especially to also get out of school.
I’ve had my worst symptoms yesterday and today. The throat soreness is not much more than an annoyance, but my energy is sure zapped. I probably pushed it too much the last couple of days, too, by being a single daddy, but trying to get a bunch of house projects done. The boys and I sanded down the walls after I’d filled the holes left from a bunch of shelves. Hakan then “helped” me install a bar from which to hang clothes, and then today I painted the closet walls so that it looks brand new. It looks fantastic, but I can feel the ache in my limbs. I also primed the walls of the bathroom upstairs today, which was probably too much. It turned into a bigger project when areas of the underneath paint started to peel, so I had to take off large sections to prime the drywall itself. But it will be so nice to get rid of the ugly brown color that clashes with the counter.
Friday night was a big Halloween bash at Carver’s school, so we made plans to take the little boys, as Avey was not really interested. I took them with me on a long drive while I finally disposed properly of some fluorescent light bulbs we’ve been carrying around for years. We also stopped by the County surveyor’s office to get a better idea of our exact property lines. Hakan fell asleep on our way to the hardware store after all of that, and then Merritt fell asleep on the way back home, so one would think he would have a better time staying up late at the bash. He was pretty miserable, making me carry him everywhere, and not wanting to try any of the games. At least the older boys had fun.
In fact, Merritt has been a hard pill to swallow lately. Maybe it’s the transition out of naps, or some new teeth coming in, but he’s been an emotional mess a lot of the time. He’ll wake up once or twice each night, screaming, and then he won’t let me comfort him – it has to be Kira. To get an idea of what it’s like, here he is one morning this week when he did not get to accompany Carver out to the bus:
The worst of all for me was Saturday night. After a long day home with the boys, Kira and Avey were in Illinois for various events. Avey visited a friend and went to an activity, and Kira went to the temple and shopping for some specialty items she likes. Merritt seemed to be ready to go to bed for the night at about 3:30 p.m. That would have made for an awful early morning, so I stalled him with food and such until about 5:30. By then, he would have none of it. He wanted Kira, and nothing but Kira. I dealt with him for about an hour trying several different things. I tried letting him play with his brothers for a few minutes just to break him out of the cycle of misery, but he just got upset at one thing after another, so I finally dragged him into bed, kicking and screaming, and rocked him in my arms for 20 minutes at a time. He fell asleep in my arms once, but then woke up as soon as I laid him down, so I gave him 5 minutes or so. He just worked himself back up, so I went back in and rocked him until he was finally fully out. What a mess! At least his older brothers went to bed easily.
I am over halfway through the semester, thankfully. I don’t mind the late night on Tuesday so much, but I really dislike the early mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At least the Spring will be pretty easy.
The kids can’t wait for the leaves to fall in our backyard. They have big dreams of making enormous piles to jump into from the trampoline. With any luck, they’ll also help rake it, but I won’t get my hopes up.