Hm. I meant to just enter a blog. Not restart a whole new blog. Guess I screwed up somewhere. Whatever. I'll just blog what I was going to blog about in the first place. Make my first new one I suppose.
So. Like I said, Parenting isn't for sissies. Or at least that's what I'm learning.
Three kids. That's alot of work. I'm tired a lot. Like A LOT, a lot. I have my own things to deal with, health and mental things, but those tend to have to take a back seat an awful lot. Today is a good example.
I woke up this morning in a reasonably good mood and at a reasonably good time. We are late plenty enough and now Logan has a friend who walks him to school in the mornings. Good for me stress-wise because I don't have to get the little ones ready to go right away. Not so good because this little guy shows up around 755 almost every single morning. So...sleeping in past 730 is not a good idea. Hell, sleeping UNTIL 730 isn't probably a good idea. But we make it manage, with a little stress on my part and a little fighting on Logan's part.
But today, we managed to do it reasonably well. Good for me. I had started some of Olivia's laundry last night and put that into the dryer, started a new load, got the baby fed, changed and dressed, then after 9 we went upstairs to clean up Olivia's room and put Grady down for a nap. That was the easy part. This afternoon, I had to take Logan to a doctor's appointment. We've encountered an interesting issue that I didn't realize was an issue and really, I guess, isn't a real issue... But...it is an issue. Are you following me? I'm just as confused. Trust me.
Logan hasn't had a dry night in seven years. That's right. Never, ever ever...not once. Now, I suppose that if a child isn't fully potty trained, day and night, around four years old, most parents would question it and probably try to solve the issue a lot sooner than I have. I'm not saying I'm a bad parent, lax or anything...but I didn't really see this as an issue. I saw it as him. Just a glitch in Logan's otherwise normally perfect persona. We haven't had any famillial traumas, no big changes in life since he was born, we're reasonably stable, only having moved twice in his seven years and both of those moves happened in his first two years. No biggies. So, I didn't see an issue. I just continued to buy his nighttime pull up diapers monthly and shrugged it off. Jeff's been going on about it for a while I keep brushing it off, until the last rotation he was home. I guess maybe it started to strike me that most, if not all of his friends, are no longer in nighttime diapers and this WASN'T "normal". I called our Health Link line and asked them for what is in their consideration for "normal" and was given good information. They suggested trying to get him into an anuresis clinic (new term for me too) which is a clinic designed to help children with bladder issues, like nighttime wetting. I promptly made an appointment to see my family doctor and was waiting breathless to see her, knowing her well enough to know she was going to check him out first, do some tests and try other methods before the clinic.
I was right. She did exactly those things. So now, our new "mission" shall we say, is to get him to NOT drink after six pm, no mean feat, that's what we've been doing for ages, then he MUST pee before bed, and when I go to bed myself, I wake him and take him to the bathroom. Whereupon if he gets dry diapers in the morning, he gets a sticker. At this point, seven stickers in fourteen days gives him a "prize". (We're working on a similar method for Olivia's tantrums...another thing altogether)
After the doc appointment, we went for a pee test for Logan to rule out any issues that could be underlying, such as diabetes, which I highly doubt, but you never know. After that interesting experience (I had to "help" him with some of the logistics) we went to our neighbourhood mall, got a few groceries, went to the little play area they have there and came home. We ate cold Chinese food and that was that. Baths, cuddles, bedtime.
Now...I'm sitting in my living room and I hear all sorts of noise coming from the boys' room. Turns out, Grady's happily playing in his bed after messing his diaper. So...I'm exhausted, on my way to bed, with a baby happy and smiling in a dirty diaper and I need to wake his big brother. I get Grady changed and then try to get Logan up. HOLY CRAP MAN! The kid sleeps heavier than a log! It took me probably TEN minutes to get him up just to tinkle! And I have to do this NIGHTLY?! Oh man. But hey, it gives me some insight into the issue.
We have a month to see some form of improvment. A month. God, I hope this works. It will save us at least 15.00 a month in just what we need for Logan, but I'm not pinning my hopes on a quick fix here. And considering the magnitude and what we believe are the reasons for Olivia's tantrums...no quick fix there either.
So I guess that's why I say that parenting isn't for sissies.
It's gonna be an interesting month. Wish us luck!
