It Has Escaped.

What has escaped, you may ask? My ear. From the death grip of an exhausted nearly-two year old who spent an hour in hysterics because he DIDN'T WANT TO GO NIGHT-NIGHT and who wanted to GO DOWNSTAIRS. The only thing that would calm him down was to have a tractor and truck clutched in one hand and my ear in the other, which wasn't working so well for me since I had to do a variation of downward-facing dog to achieve the perfect ear-grip for him. Napping has been an ordeal lately, with Roanen sleeping a maximum of one hour before waking up and coming downstairs extremely cranky and needy. Naturally Tristan is usually fussy at this time so I end up with the two of them fighting for prime lap space (ok, Tristan does more crying than fighting but whatever) until Roanen wakes up enough to remember that he likes bulldozers better than me. After being good in the middle of the night for a while he's back getting up at least twice (on a good night) or screaming and refusing to stay in his bed (on a bad night). Most mornings there are 4 of us in our queen-sized bed and if we're really lucky Josey will squish in as well when he gets up and amuse himself by alternately kicking at us and pulling out my hairs one by one.

I'm a week and a day into not having any dairy products in case Tristan is sensitive to them and I'm thinking that it's not making much of a difference. I've mostly decided that he's just really sensitive to being uncomfortable in any way. I still think he's got reflux because he's not screaming in pain every night now that he's on medication, but otherwise when he gets upset I can usually attribute it to having gas or being overtired. He seems to have bad circulation too and I'll sometimes get him out of the swing or bed when he starts crying suddenly and his hands, feet and face are freezing cold. Just one more thing to talk to the doctor about when he gets his shots on Thursday (yes, already. Groan.) One thing that is making life easier on me is the swing. He really likes it and falls asleep pretty easily in it so I've gotten really lazy and I rarely try to put him in his crib during the day anymore. We'll see how that works out for me when he outgrows it...

Last bit of news is that Russ got a new job and he starts in 2 weeks. Instead of working from 8 to 5 he'll be working 7 to 3:30 (with 40 minutes of travel time each way) so he'll be getting home about an hour and a half earlier than he is now. In my mind it will be extra time that he can play with the kids while I happily make dinner without one kid in my arms and another (or two) holding onto my leg. In his mind I'll be able to get a job a few evenings a week since I'll have enough time to get somewhere for 5:00. Yes, apparently even though he can't handle the baby on his own for longer than about 15 minutes (because Tristan hates him, you know), if I get a job he'll be able to get all three kids fed, bathed and in bed without committing infanticide. Riiiiiiight. I'll start looking tomorrow.