Xmas Vacation and Grand Kids

Over the last six or seven months, I have noticed a significant change with my sleep pattern. No longer do I spring from bed at 7am on a Saturday morning. Instead, I find myself sleeping until 8-8:30am, and that’s after going to bed earlier than ever before. I am not sure what the culprit, but imagine clues to the puzzle can be found by analyzing my lifestyle changes. There’s little question that being married and having a family leads to a more sedentary life style, but I suspect there’s even more to it than that given the frantic pace in which I move about and exercise. So what else has changed in the last seven months? Almost to the day, I changed my running routine in mid to late August at the beginning of the school year. Where I used to run at lunch time (12:45pm) I now run at 6:30am. That change alone impacted my eating patterns, and now I suspect it has something to do with my sleep pattern changes as well. I was up at 8:30am after convincing myself that the extra sleep was far more important than getting an early start. Fact is, I could’ve slept even longer, but since I was on-call I figured I’d better get up. I struggled to walk, my buttocks still aching from an apparent muscle pull. Lucky for me, it didn’t inhibit my calisthenics to any great degree. But walking Ykraps was painful. I couldn’t walk without a limp. I was genuinely worried about the day’s run. Back at home I enjoyed coffee while getting engaged in work related matters. I was very busy. In fact, I was so busy that I mentioned to Mindy the possibility of going into the office. After an hour or two I finally found enough time to squeeze in a run. And believe me, it was painful. I didn’t get 100 yards down the road before my butt cheek seized up like a knot. I completed my entire run with a limp. Afterwards, but before going back in the house, I walked to the backyard to inspect a maple tree growing along the water line. I noticed the trunk and roots growing along the water were bright orange. On closer inspection, it looked as if a beaver was eating away at the bark. I was saddened deeply. This tree is beautiful! My best estimate is that it’s 25 years of age, having lived here for 14 years and remembering how big it was back then. I wondered if it could survive. Not good! Back inside and back to work. That was how I spent the lion’s share of my day. During the afternoon Mindy headed out for the grocery store leaving me at home with the children. They were well behaved and stayed occupied with this and that. I did my best to help Mindy with cleaning the house. I vacuumed, did a little laundry, and made the kids lunch. She was admittedly stressed with seemingly so much to do prior to Jacob’s b-day party Sunday afternoon. After Mindy was back from the grocery I helped even more all the while balancing work related matters. Mindy agreed to fetch Lil’ Rocky around 5pm while I dealt with work issues. Shellie brought Kaileigh around the same time. We were also expecting to watch Olivia, but last minute Ashley reported her still having a fever and changed her plans. I was eager to have the grand kids over. Mindy & I both are very pleased that they now ask to come to our home. That must mean they enjoy themselves. Around dinner time Mindy informed me that she called my dad to let him know that the g-kids would be over in case he wanted to pop in. Our dinner was pretty much kiddie fare – macaroni & cheese and hot dogs. I had chili dogs. Around 8pm, and after dinner was behind us, we put in a DVD, Christmas Vacation. Not long after it started my dad showed up. I was surprised that he came, but equally delighted. He got the kids all riled up during the movie but they definitely had fun. He left after the movie was history – somewhere near 9:15pm. All the kids slept in Bella’s room with Rocky, Kai, & Bella sleeping on the air mattress. Jacob slept in Bella’s bed. Usually when the kids sleep in the same room everything but sleep gets done. Tonight was an exception. They were out quickly. The key seemed to be allowing them to stay up later. Note to self. Mindy & I weren’t up much longer. We were in bed by 10:30pm.