Cold Feet (Literally)

Last night was not such a good night for sleeping in this house. Jason and I have an arrangement for waking up. If Juliette wakes up in the middle of the night (which is pretty often), it's all me. I'm the one up with her. But if Zachary or Annalise wake up, Jason's on duty. This system works out great, except when Jason is out of town, like he was last night. It was not a great night. First, Juliette didn't even go down until after 10:30. What's up with that? And then she was up a whole bunch of times during the night. But Zachary also was up. He has this problem in the middle of the night where he says his feet are cold. We put socks on him every night (even when it is HOT outside, like last night) and sometimes he will wear two, three, even four pairs. Sometimes we pile blankets on top of his feet. It is the strangest thing. Jason and I are totally stumped. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it seems like it is really painful. Last night, his left foot woke him up three times. One time he was up for almost an hour, cuddling with me on the couch, in front of the TV, trying to distract him and get him to stop shaking and crying. It's starting to really upset me. It's been happening now for over a year. Our doctor has had no explanation so far, but I think we're going to have to talk about it again. Maybe his foot is falling asleep and it just won't wake up. Maybe he is dreaming. Maybe he has a circulation problem. I don't know. But I'm hoping to find out soon. Triple socks in the middle of summer in Southern California is just not practical.

Cuddle Time

Yesterday I wrote that we don't have a family bed. Apparently that's not entirely true! Sometime in the middle of the night Annalise crawled into our bed, leaving me sandwiched between her and Jason. (And I mean sandwiched -- the girl is a heat-seeking missile. My side of the bed was mostly empty as we all snuggled up on Jason's side.) I didn't sleep very well because of the sandwich (and Jason's pillow is way too high) and Juliette has been having sleep issues as well. But that is a whole other post. I was about to be annoyed and grouchy until I thought that I probably don't have too many years left of snuggling with her in bed. And then I remembered that in high school my mom used to climb into bed with me every morning. "Move over," she'd say, just like I say to Zachary whenever I cuddle with him. My mom and I would lay there a few more minutes, cuddle and talk. It's one of my favorite memories of my mom at that time of my life. What a great way to connect with a grouchy teenager -- corner them when they are happy to not go anywhere. A few more minutes in bed? Sure! I'll have to remember this when Annalise is more interested in boys, friends and her cell phone than she is in me. Hopefully cuddle time has a lot more years left in it. In the meantime, I'll try my best to savor all those special moments, even if they come at the expense of some much needed sleep.