January 31

The last day of January is coming to a close....where did the time go?  I am so completely exhausted.   I'm not even sure that the scope of my exhaustion can be put into words.  I took two more kids in my daycare this week.  I will have them once a week on Mondays.  It is a one year old little boy and a three year old little girl.  They are so sweet and precious and I adore them.  They had to come really early this morning because of some family circumstances-so they arrived at 6am.  Because I was afraid of oversleeping, I had been awake since about 4am.  I kept looking at the clock and thinking, "There is xx amount of time to sleep."  Only problem....I just dozed for about 5 minutes at a time off and on.  So-they get here at 6 and because my house is new to them and its big changes-they refuse to sleep.  Nobody will nap...and these are kids who usually nap between 3-5 hours a day.  Awesome.  I finally got them to sleep for an hour, but I feel awful for their poor parents.  I'm sure those kids are no picnic tonight!  But to the parents credit-even though the kids were extremely tired and completely overstimulated, they were terrific.  They were a bit crabby, but amazingly well behaved and wonderfully polite.  I'm really going to enjoy working with them.
Since there was a ton of commotion early, Hayden woke up about ten minutes before 6 as well.  And he didn't go back to sleep.  He actually did really well for being so exhausted.  I didn't really see signs of strain until this afternoon and this evening.  Cebelle woke up a little earlier than usual and was actually kind of jealous of the younger kids.  She was in a bit of a snit all day until I explained that the reason I keep kids is so that I can stay home with her and Hayden.  Then she was fine and not so much diva....
Needless to say, I was chasing little ones around the house and dealing with crying at naptime and I was thinking, "Why on earth would I ever think I wanted to do this again?!"  I found it hysterical that Jeff came home and basically said the same thing to me.  
So-I am really looking forward to bedtime tonight.  I am getting ready to put my kids down to bed and I will probably follow not too long after.  It has to be said, though, that I enjoyed every second of today.  Kids are a gift from God.  Mine, yours, all of them.....I love spending time with them.  They are very entertaining and insightful.  They don't hide their emotions and they are straightforward.  They give and receive love eagerly and freely.  I think that most adults could learn some lessons from kids.  I know that mine (biological and daycare) teach me something new everyday.  It's always an adventure!