Exhausted

The reason I'm not at work today does have something to do with staying home to help Hubby care for two croupy kids. (Thankfully, N is healthy... so far). But it also has to do with I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open. It's from a combination of sick kids who are having trouble sleeping, a recent increase in an already huge thyroid medication dosage, and Harry Potter. I'm reading two of the books at once - Sorcerer's Stone aloud to my kids. After getting halfway through Half Blood Prince, I realized I really should read the previous books again just to get more out of it, so I'm also reading ahead of what my kids can sit still for.

I love a first read of a book from an author I love. I'm still getting through "Salmon of Doubt" after having it for almost a year, simply because it is the very last first read of any Douglas Adams book for me.

The result is I'm more exhausted than I think I've ever been before. My kids are, too, poor things. But not exhausted enough to sleep at the same time. I usually only get the chance to read to myself late at night when everyone else has fallen asleep. By the time the book is falling out of my hands, one child wakes up. By the time she falls asleep again, the other girl starts coughing. When she falls asleep, I lay awake worrying about how little sleep I'm getting, feeling the PPD creep deeper in, and then a kid wakes up again. And so it goes through the night... for the past WEEK.

I really wish I had family nearby - I just want to be taken care of for a night.