Humor, lack of sleep and good news

Top: Lilly sleeps on her great aunt Gail's shoulder Christmas day.
Below: Violet opens one of her Christmas presents -- a Cinderella bank and clock.

I pride myself on my ability to laugh in the face of hard situations.

Which is why the past few days have been pretty funny. Nothing earth-shattering has happened, overflowing toilets and Christmas tree catastrophes are hardly situations that can shake a family. In the end, Violet and Lilly are pretty healthy and we are blessed that Cindy has a good job and we both can be home for this important time.

Thursday we got some good news that Lilly has not only gained weight (four ounces!) but her Biliruben numbers are down slightly, from 17 to 16.8. Friday is another doctor appointment and another blood draw.

In an effort to do some additional treatment, Cindy and her dad have decided to rig up a full-spectrum light over the crib. We have the eye protection from the hospital and they are thinking it will be good just to glow-light Lilly for a couple of hours a day. I don't know if they know the specific wavelength of light Lilly needs, or if these lights even provide that -- but if it makes them both feel better, why not?

So tonight we finally have the spare bedroom available. I have been licking my chops all day at laying down on the twin bed in the nursery to get some uninterrupted sleep while Cindy offered to watch Lilly tonight.

I lay down at about 11 p.m. and nothing. I laid in there wide awake for an hour before I decided to get up. My mind is racing about a good many things -- chief of which is what to do about daycare for two kids and how to get Violet to and from preschool.

My little white car (1998 Saturn SC2) has a dead battery and it hit me that it was unlocked due to the lack of power. I started thinking about all of the things I have in the car -- camera tripod, GPS, radio scanner, CDs, gloves and other odds and ends and decided to get up and clean it out. In the dark. In the middle of the night.

Kind of like putting lights on a crib.

Hey, whatever helps you sleep, right?

Well, off to stare at the TV and drink some water before another attempt at sleep. The funny part is I even cut way back on the caffeine today to try to help my sleeping.