Hello,

I hope all of you had a good weekend.  Things are fairly normal here, which means up and down with no real trauma.  We have focused a lot on sleep lately.  Last week I put Sharmi on an acia berry blend drink.  I was religious at giving it to her along with her vitamins and grape fruit seed extract to fight off a cold.  By the end of the week she was feeling pretty good.  She was happy and obedient, but I could NOT get her to sleep.  We would lay there by the hours in a power struggle just trying to get her to hold still.  I finally decided to pull her off of everything and gradual start them up again one at a time.  About two days after she was off of them, I got the cranky, tired, disobedient girl back, but she did have a couple of good nights of sleep.    It seems like it is always a trade off. 

We have also made changes in the sleeping arrangements this week.  My mom gave us an inflatable mattress to put beside the bed so that we can all hopefully sleep better and Dean and I can get our bed back.  Sharmi is very excited about her new bed and her uncle Chris’s old Mickey Mouse sheets.  She has slept in her bed three nights so far with Dean or I needing to crawl in with her in the middle of the night.  Two nights ago Dean with sleeping with her and Chantel  was sleeping good, so I was all by myself in a king bed.  This has been a dream for months, and I thought I would have slept great.  However, I couldn’t sleep without Sharmi beside me.  I just realized yesterday that it has actually been 11 months since Sharmi was diagnosed with cancer (I lost track of time).  It doesn’t seem possible.  Eleven months ago I slept in the crib with her at the hospital and I have only spent a handful of nights without her by my side since.  It is bitter sweet that she is moving back into her ”own bed.”  (If you can call a mattress on the floor in our room her own bed.) But I am very proud of her. We have to focus on baby steps around here.   

She is such a kick.  She is a very strong willed little girl and the other day at grandma’s we were focusing on potty training.  She would get chocolate for her reward for going in the toilet.  During one of these times she was trying to gain control, as a two year old, and she shook her little finger at me and said, “You are not the boss, I am the boss.”  I simply held up the chocolate kiss with a smile on my face and said, “Who is the boss?”  Being the smart little two year old that she is, she quickly corrected herself and stated, ”You are the boss mommy. ”  We both laughed and she got her chocolate.  I am becoming a firm believer in manipulating my children with chocolate.

Well, the little ones are awaking.  I’ve got to run.

Cheris