Help – I need sleep!!

Ok forgive me if this is full of misspellings, grammatical errors and anything else that requires brain power.

I’m running on very little sleep.

Well, “very little” might be a bit of an exaggeration, but definitely less sleep than I need.

Kate’s three-and-a-half (as of today, actually) and she is really a pretty good sleeper, but lately she’s been waking up in the middle of the night a lot and it’s killing me.

I think she might be having a lot of dreams or something, because she’ll often cry out in her sleep and say things about her friends/school/etc. that don’t make a lot of sense. She doesn’t always wake herself up when she does this, but she definitely wakes up me and Andy.

That’s another part of the problem – she’s not completely awake, but when we get up and go check on her, we wake her up. She did this at least four times last night, and once when I came back to bed I told Andy that I thought me going in there actually made the situation worse. He said he had thought the same thing the last time he checked on her (which was all of about 30 minutes earlier). Oh, and I should mention that even though she’s not all the way awake, what’s going on now isn’t night terrors – we went through that this summer and fortunately this is different (and not as awful).

So… I need some advice. How can we get her through this stage? How can Andy & I get more sleep??? Should we continue to go in and comfort her, even if it wakes her up? Invest in earplugs?

I’m anxiously awaiting your comments, readers. I have a short (ha, remind me I said that) six months until it’s newborn time!

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By the way, Jenny has the featured post on TopBlogMag this week! It’s called Beautiful Risk. Please do her a favor and head on over to TopBlogMag to check it out and let her know what you think!

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It’s a Nice Day for a Meme!

The very talented Avery tagged me for this Five Things Meme. Enjoy, and then go check out Avery’s blog!

What were you doing ten years ago?
1) Going to college
2) Studying
3) Dating my future husband
4) Wearing my hair all one length
5) Drinking a lot of Mountain Dew

What were you doing one year ago?
1) Being a mom
2) Complaining about being 8 months pregnant
3) Nesting frantically
4) Worrying irrationally about my unborn baby
5) Working part-time

Five snacks you enjoy:
1) Hershey bars
2) Yogurt
3) Cheesy chili dip & nacho chips
4) Baby carrots
5) Kashi TLC crackers

Five Songs you know the lyrics to:
1) At the Moment by Stavesacre
2) Ugly Girl by Fleming & John
3) Our Lips Are Sealed by the Go-Gos
4) Foolish Beat by Debbie Gibson
5) The Star-Spangled Banner

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire (what do you mean if?? hahahaha):
1) Buy my brothers & parents a new car
2) Buy a new house
3) Buy Bobby an electronic drum set
4) Send my kids to private school
5) Pay all my grandparent’s bills

Five bad habits:
1) Picking my cuticles
2) Biting my nails
3) Being messy at home
4) Checking StatCounter every 2.2 seconds
5) Worrying

Five things you like to do:

1) Spend time with my family
2) Sleep
3) Play Trivial Pursuit
4) Blog
5) Eat out

Five things you will never wear again:
1) Acid wash
2) A bikini
3) Plaid pants
4) Straight leg jeans
5) Bangs

Five favorite toys:
1) My laptop
2) My digital camera
3) My son
4) My daughter
5) ??

Five things you hate to do:
1) Fold laundry
2) Take out the trash
3) Dishes
4) Clean the tub
5) Clean out my car

Feel free to play along! If you want to do this one, you’re IT!

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I Only Bend at the Waist

Each summer, Bobby, the kids and I spend some at his family’s cabin in the woods about 45 minutes from our house. During this time, I don’t put a lot of effort into my appearance, because there is always a line for the bathroom. I mean, I make sure I’m clean and I use deodorant but I don’t really mess with makeup and my hair is always in a bandana or a ponytail. You know, I’m just there to relax with the fam. One evening when we were there last summer, I had to leave the family fun to go to a baby shower in town. When I returned, I was still dressed in my special occasion finery. “Wow, you look nice.” said Bobby’s sister Judy when she saw me. “Oh, thanks,” I responded, “this is Special Occasion Jenny. What you’ve seen this weekend is Family Vacation Jenny.” We both had a good laugh at this and I thought I was pretty clever. But then later I started thinking about it. It kind of weirded me out how different I can be in different situations. (Much like the different versions of Barbie!) I like to dress up, and be girlie and all that, but I also like to just slum around the house sometimes. So in the interest of true openness, I thought I’d share some of the different versions of my schizophrenic self with you all. Enjoy!

Wedding Day Jenny – Unfortunately, this was a limited edition Jenny produced in 2000 to celebrate her nuptials to Bobby. If you’re lucky, you can still find one on Ebay. Wedding Day Jenny features a fabulous up-do, three layer tulle veil, and Oleg Cassini satin wedding dress with train.
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Mommy Jenny – Since February 27, 2004, Mommy Jenny has been available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Although at some of these hours a day her capri pants and t-shirt are a little more wrinkled and stained that at other hours. Here’s hoping you catch her at a good time!
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Family Vacation Jenny – this Jenny is very relaxed and happy, and features a makeup-free face with a stylish bandana-ponytail hairdo. Family dolls are sold separately.
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Maternity Jenny – this is also a limited edition Jenny. It was available in late 2003 and early 2004 and again for most of 2006! She has now been discontinued, because she just got too clumsy, cranky, and uncomfortable. Also, the feet on the later-stage Maternity Jenny were known to blow up like balloons.
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Professional Jenny – Professional Jenny was available from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. on Fridays. She came with a different outfit for each of the three days. Savvy collectors had them all! Professional Jenny was also discontinued in June 2007.
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Bridesmaid Jenny – This is also a limited edition Jenny, although it has had many, many runs. It is currently unavailable. The last production run seen here was in June 2005 and featured and Apple Red David’s Bridal bridesmaid’s dress and a crazy hairdo. The next limited edition will run in May 2008 when Megan & Andy get hitched. This Jenny will also feature a red dress by After Six but the hairstyle is yet to be determined!
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Beach Vacation Jenny – This Jenny just had a brief run in August 2006 so they are hard to find. She comes with sunglasses, beach chair, and lovely bathing ensemble. She also had a 1st edition in July 2005, and manufacturers are hoping to bring out a new Beach Vacation Jenny each year, however, they did not reach this goal in 2007.
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Well, that’s a look at some of the different Jenny’s!

But here’s the one you all get the biggest glimpse of. I call her:
Laughing at my Kid While I’m Trying to Write a Blog Jenny!
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