3/16/08 The Family Bed?

I can give myself a pass for blogging on a Saturday night, especially when I'm in the throes of a monstrous headache. But I had a moment worthy of noting, at least to me. So here goes.

Last night, I tried taking Prontalgine, an over-the-counter headache in France, that has caffeine and codeine, among other things. Hmm, codeine: sleepy; caffeine: wired. What's going to win?

I was up all night long. Not headachy, but irrepressibly wired. Finally at 5:30am I fell into restless sleep, and had no trouble getting back up at 7:30am to take care of children. One of whom woke up in dry underpants.

Katrina was miserable all morning, crying and grumpy and clingy and refusing to eat. I took her out for a quick errand, distracting her, but back at home, it was more of the same. At 10:30am, I was ready to crash'n'burn, so Dave took over, and I lay down for an essential nap. We had an appointment with our kitchen designer this afternoon, and I needed to be in good shape.

Dave came to wake me at 12:15, and then lay down with me for a few minutes. Then Gabriel appeared, and I invited him onto our bed. Soon Julian joined too, and I had a wonderful magical long moment of snuggling up with all my boys. I held Gabriel close and talked to him about doing things together, held his hand, and was completely absorbed in him. We did this all the time when he was a baby, but not so much now that he's 6. We talked about the summer and I told him about ideas I had and things I did yesterday....then I made the mistake of telling the boys an embellished story about when I was lying in bed with Dad this morning, listening for them, and then P U -- Dad farted! Oh my, nothing gets little boys laughing harder than fart stories. They howled with laughter when I said I had to fan the quilt and guffawed uncontrollably at my gross-out sounds. That was an animated ending to a nice calm half hour together, but it was time to get up to get ready for our appointment anyway. I glowed all afternoon from the fresh memory of holding my sons so close.

Peggy dealt with toddler grumps the rest of the afternoon while Dave and I met with our kitchen designer, shopped for lighting, went out to dinner, then shopped for TVs. Peggy reported that Katrina was fine outside, playing with a tricycle, but was clingy and grumpy otherwise. Another bathworthy blowout didn't help, and further explained her lack of appetite.

I'm still dealing with waves of full-on migraine, like dozing briefly in the car and waking up thinking I'd left my swim cap on, from the pressure around my head. If the pain returns full-force, I have mixed feeling about taking more Prontalgine: it was very effective in making me spin in circles -- but it also gave me a much-needed respite from the scourge of the migraine! I want to be in good shape to enjoy my children tomorrow...or at least deal with a miserable grumpy toddler again if need be.

3/15/08