I experienced another first this past week--hitting a wall in a way I never have before! This past week was full of the usual activities of meeting with friends, hostessing, having some foreign friends and their kids over for playdates. We've also had some pretty heavy stuff lately we've been dealing with concerning future decisions, things we're doing here, who we're spending time with, etc. All this to say, I think that it all finally added up and ended up landing me in bed for the better part of two days! After being completely exhausted and barely able to stay awake while we had friends over on Thursday night, I crashed as soon as I could and managed to get up and the kids out the door on Friday morning. But once Noah and I got back from the bus stop, I literally could not pull myself off of the couch, even in response to Noah's persistent requests of "Read book, Mommy! Read book!" I struggled through several Dr. Seuss books from the library while still in a horizontal position (during which time Noah decided that sitting on my stomach was a good substitute for sitting on my lap!). Once our ayi came at 9:30, I explained to her that I was exhausted for some reason and just needed a little rest. Noah was only too happy to run outside and play with her so that I could retreat to my bed upstairs--where I spent the next 3 hours! I managed to pull myself out of bed to welcome Hud home a little after noon, sat with the boys while they ate, then again returned upstairs to lay down. After a SECOND two-hour long nap, which included skipping my scheduled Chinese class for the day, I spent a little time with the kids once they got home from school. Kevin graciously offered to take them all out to ride bikes, giving me another hour of down time before dinner. We did a family movie night, largely because that was about all that I was up for, and I again went to bed shortly after the kids did at about 9pm, sleeping through the whole night!
Now some of you reading might just be thinking this is my norm--but it certainly is not! I've never been so tired that a two-hour long nap couldn't cure my fatigue, so this has taken it to a whole new level!
Saturday was kind of a repeat of Friday for me, this time only taking two naps during the day and still being able to prepare dinner and host some of our Chinese friends who came over that night. But what has baffled me about the whole thing is that I have had no "sick" symptoms this whole time, other than a mild lingering cough that came with a cold I consider myself recovered from. So what is my self-proclaimed diagnosis? I'm thinking fatigue, and my body's way of telling me to shut it down for a little while. Which kind of feels like a terminal illness to me in some cases! Kevin has helped me intentionally weed out any "extras" in our schedule this week, something that is incredibly difficult for me to do myself. Dr. Kevin's orders are that I am to be focusing only on those things that I really want to do that would refresh me and preparing for a parenting study I'm leading that will begin this Saturday (I have a group of Chinese friends who have been asking me to teach on parenting--I seem to have fooled them into thinking that I'm some sort of expert largely due to the fact that I have more kids than anyone else around!). This study itself has taken it out of me already, as I'm trying to do it all in Chinese, and feel like my language ability really is not there yet! I've spent lots of time preparing and translating, and have learned probably a hundred new vocabulary words in the process. So thrilling, yet exhausting all at the same time! I'm sure I will have all sorts of funny stories to tell after our first meeting on Saturday!
So this evening my enjoyable activity was just to spend time with my kids--specifically trying to teach them all to two-step around our living room to Randy Travis' "Deeper than the holler" (which brought back great memories of this summer when we happened to see Randy at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse where Kevin and I were being treated to an absolutely amazing dinner--and smiles over the memories of my brother-in-law Rob's enthusiasm at the performer's presence only tables away from where we were sitting!) The easiest-to-lead award of the night definitely went to Noah, NOT because of his disposition, but because I could pick him up completely and spin him around with fewer inches of arms flailing to contend with. The most enthusiastic award went to Karis, who thought she was just being carried away by the rhythm, begging me to put the song on repeat again and again. Hudson was a little too busy practicing his blocking moves on his littlest brother that he'd just learned at Tai Kwon Do practice to be too interested in which foot should go forward first!
My favorite quote of the week was by Karis, who was desperately seeking her Daddy's full attention this weekend. I can tell this story only because Kevin is SUCH an attentive and engaging dad pretty much all of the time, making this story even more laughable! While Kevin was doing something on the iPad on Saturday morning, Karis stuck her nose in between him and the screen and stated very emphatically, "Dad, I'm here! It's Saturday!" (In other words, "I'm ready to play--give me your undivided attention!") So thankful for the frankness of our kids in expressing just what exactly their little needs are at any given moment! :)
