Hard Night, Hard Morning

Remind me now....which medicine is it that you're supposed to take for "sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so-you-can-rest"? I need some.

I've been feeling this illness creeping up on me for a couple days. My first thought was that maybe it was allergies, so I took a sample Zyrtec and felt better. The next day I took another one and sort of felt better. And the third day it didn't help a bit. The fourth day I took a Claritin, which also didn't help a bit. and last night I took a sudafed, which also didn't help.

It was one of those nights where, if you want to sleep on your side, you need a small towel to catch the drip-drip-dripping of your nose. I might have been able to deal with that, if I hadn't started sneezing and sneezing and sneezing some more!

Eventually I realized that if I slept on my back on a fluffier pillow than usual, the snot stayed in my head (where it belongs?!) and I was able to sleep, even though this is not my preferred sleeping position.

This morning I woke up dark-and-early to get my two elementary school kiddos up. Izzy man has really been giving me a run for my money in the mornings lately. He doesn't want to get up, and is really, really causing my mornings to be very frustrating. I'm almost always doing the morning shift alone, so it's not like I can get my husband to put a spring in his step. Since I have at least one other child waking up at the same time, I don't really have the luxury of focusing on one reluctant riser.

So, we had a pretty ugly scene in his room this morning, and eventually I told him to just stay in his room. (Which of course then he didn't want to do. Too bad.) I do not want to spend my mornings fighting with my children.

For the last couple of years they really loved to go to school and would bounce out of bed every day. This year neither of them seems happy. There are probably at least a couple homeschoolers reading this right now, thinking that I should be homeschooling these kiddos. I've considered that, but really feel that everyone's best interests will be served by the arrangement we have in place for this school year.

So, what do you suppose is a good way for me to help this child turn his behavior around so that he can wake up like a civilized person? He has no trouble being an early riser on Saturdays or Sundays, and he goes to bed early enough to get plenty of rest, so I don't think he's too tired to get up.

So, what's on my agenda for today? Figuring out what to do about my wayward first grader :), keeping an eye on our lame chicken, trying to figure out what I can take or do to help myself feel better, try to get through a full day's schedule of homeschooling, hopefully get a nap. Try not to be jealous, gals.