Sleepless in Central Illinois

Just when I think I am becoming a [relatively] successful mother of two, the wheels fall off and it turns out that it's not going exactly as I'd like. Last week, I was excited that we had seemingly come through the major difficulties of an infant and toddler; things were looking up. Marina was sleeping through the night and Eli was sleeping and napping without the need of a pull-up (we won't mention his daytime behavior...). He had mastered the command of his bladder while sleeping. I vowed to never buy him another diaper or pull-up. It was a great feeling.

Then this week decided to sneak up and whack me in the head. Eli has peed his bed for the past three nights and during one nap. He comes in our room to let us know and apologizes in such a sad little way you feel sorry for him. But then it is loads and loads of laundry and a big mess. The worst part is that we used up all the pull-ups with no plans of replacement and now I have no back-up plan. It would be nice to scoot to the store with kids in tow today, except it is -17 outside. I'm not that mean, even if they both rob me of sleep regularly.

Marina has decided to revert back to her very early days and wake up at 2 and 3 am all week and just cry without any plans of stopping. Poor Mark has to work in the mornings and by that time I have completely lost my mind and have taken to beating Fat Linda who can't seem to leave me alone while I sleep.

So in an effort to regulate my kids and sanity, I'm going to take a week-long vacation to Mexico, where I will eat endless amounts of guacamole and drink pina coladas. When I get back, everything will be perfect and my children will be wonderful sleepers and extremely well-behaved. Let me just get my travel agent on the phone and see if they accept payments of knitted and crocheted goods.