Sleepless in Joplin

It is 3:30am.  Last night the little boys didn’t want to go to bed and took turns jumping on my head.

No more rhyming and I mean it!  Anybody want a peanut? (Princess Bride quote).

Ronda when sleep deprived = goofy

I can’t wait until UPS brings me that crib tent.  Kael was up earlier then 3:30am this morning, 3:30am is finally when I heard him and opted to get up to supervise.  I could tell that Kael had already been downstairs because all the lights were on, and there was an empty can of soda lying by his toys (no doubt left half full on the counter within the Kael’s reach by either Sam or Colby).  Since I have a few minutes I will tell you about another time that Kael woke up early and instead of waking us up he went exploring.

Kael is our 3 year old and as I have mentioned in previous posts he has not slept well since he was a little baby.  He loves to wake up in the middle of the night full of energy ready to play.  We have tried EVERYTHING, no naps, keeping him up late, warm milk, melatonin, manganese, running him tired, music, fans, weighted blankets, you name it!  The Crib Tent by Tots in Mind is the only thing that has ever worked.  And we are very excited that a new Crib Tent is on its way via UPS 2 day delivery.  YAY!!!!  I could do a little dance right now, but will refrain.

About 5 months ago I think (I am terrible with dates right now while in a sleepless fog), Kael ripped the zipper open on the Crib Tent we had.  It was a fun game for Kael and Caleb to climb in the crib and zip themselves in.  A zipper can only take so much torquing from a couple toddlers before it snaps…the zipper and I are similar in this respect. 

One morning, Sam and I woke and were pleasantly shocked to see that it was 7am.  We headed downstairs where we found Kael asleep on the couch…naked…glistening from head to toe painted with a thick layer of butter.  The fridge door was wide open and the food inside was room temperature…which meant Kael had been at work for quite some time.  I will tell you, never has his skin felt more soft, that is the only upside to that morning, oh, and I guess the other upside was that Sam and I were able to catch a few more zzz’s.

Sam and I don’t fight, except in the middle of the night when we are arguing about who should get up with Kael.  So my dear friend Blythe got us the ultimate Anniversary present in December, a new crib tent.  You see Blythe was peering into our future and if there were to be more anniversaries in the Hickey household there must be sleep.  She didn’t realize, however, that there are two crib tents made by the same company, The Original Cozy, and Cozy II.  The Original Cozy just fastens over the top of the crib and doesn’t wrap under the mattress.  The Cozy II was created to solve the problem of the sleepless toddler reaching their arms through the crib bars and unzipping themselves which defeated the purpose of the tent.  So when the Original Cozy came in the mail we rejoiced and were so thankful for the sleep that came to us with it…which lasted about a week before Kael figured out that he could unzip himself.

So ‘Sleepless in Joplin’ is about to be called ‘Sweet Sleep in Joplin’… Oh happy day!

Here is a picture of a crib tent:

My burn looks like it is going to heal nicely.  Random thing yellow mustard and saran wrap, but hey, I will take it!  When you get moving quick cause you got to get dinner on the table and you are clumsy from lack of sleep, a hot oven is not your friend.  What am I going to blame my forgetfulness and clumsiness on when I start to sleep better?  Eh, problem for another day.

Here is a recipe for Biscuits and Gravy.  Sam love love love’s biscuits and gravy.  The little boys just like the biscuits.  So I don’t bother doing the all natural organic thing when it comes to my gravy, Sam will live.  I use the McCormick’s Sausage Flavored gravy mix and either almond milk or cow’s milk halved with water.  This is very quick and can be whipped up for breakfast in about 10 minutes if you work efficiently and want to use mixes instead of from scratch.  It is also very cheap and will cost you just a few dollars to feed your family.  You can use Bisquick for the biscuits or follow this recipe.  With biscuits the best advice I can give you is don’t over mix.  I have made a lot of biscuits and if you mix them just so that they are blended you will get fluffy soft tender flaky goodness.  If you overmix they will be tough. It won’t matter too much if you get tough biscuits though, because when slapped with a pat of butter and smothered with gravy it will be hard to tell.

Biscuit Ingredients

2 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ cup butter or margarine

1 cup milk

Directions

Heat your oven to 450.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  Cut in the butter either using a pastry blender or a butter knife (I use a butter knife because I don’t have a pastry blender).  Cut the butter into about the size of peas.  Stir, mixture may resemble coarse crumbs.  Stir in milk just until moistened, and mix (just until your sticky dough forms).  Drop by the spoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Or, you can turn out onto a floured work surface and knead 10 times, roll out and use a biscuit cutter to make them uniform.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  They should be lightly brown.  Serve them warm with gravy, or jam.  They also freeze great for another day.

Gravy Ingredients

McCormick’s Original or Sausage Flavored Mix (or google and make from scratch, and then give me the recipe!)

½ cup cold water

½ cup cold milk

Make as directed on package, it will take about 5 minutes to make.

Since I mentioned freezing the left over biscuits here is another little trick I do...

When I make pancakes for the little boys I make extra to freeze.  I put squares of parchment paper between them, wrap, and date them.  That way when I am crunched for time I can pull them out, nuke em’ for 20 seconds, drizzle with a bit of honey, and we are good to go!

xoxo

Ronda