"I am the crawling dead, a phantom in a box, shadow in your head..." (Okay, okay...that's Rob Zombie..not Janet Zombie)

I am in for a long day. I can just feel it. How?, you ask. Because I'm running on no sleep and things aren't exactly looking up from here.

I was up countless times last night with a very sick little baby who continued his pattern of crying and coughing and coughing an crying from the day well into the night. It all started at around midnight, I guess, with my first trip to the living room with Michael in my arms, my eyes blurred with fatigue, trying my best not to trip on anything and fall down with Michael in my arms.

And it was all downhill from there. Any time I did finally get the kid to sleep, Kate would wake up for some water, or to cry about a nightmare she had and just as soon as I would get her settled into her bed and I would dare to crawl back into my own bed, Michael would surely wake back up with another coughing fit or another ear piercing crying fit.

I finally just gave up around three o'clock this morning.

I scooped Michael up into my arms and made the trek back into the living room where I cuddled him on the couch and watched some crap TV. I also ate a bowl of AlphaBits cereal with Rice Milk. I know that I fell asleep at one point because I remember waking up at around five to Michael's crying in my arms. It was then that I decided that it was time to start some marathon coffee drinking.

I'm still at it. I've lost count of how many cups of the stuff I've downed this morning.

Hence me looking like a zombie.

This morning hasn't been much better, between Kate screaming and crying over the lack of milk money on her lunch kit for today (the deal is that if the girls make their beds without my asking them to, they can have money for milk at school. Otherwise they have a juice box)and then literally throwing things around the house when we were supposed to be getting ready to get the bus. Michael coughed and cried through all of this...in fact, he has been coughing and crying (the most pathetic of cries, too, I might add...it's really weak and sad sounding)all morning long, not even allowing five minutes for me to try to tame the hair or put on a bit of mascara.

Hence me looking like a zombie.

This would all be bad enough but when you add to it the fact that Rock is going out tonight with his friend, Dusty, and won't be home until tomorrow morning or afternoon, it becomes downright fucking horrible. I won't even have somebody to kick in the middle of the night to try to coax a bit of help and maybe some sleep for myself.

Hence me probably looking like a zombie again tomorrow.

I'm almost wondering if this is Universe's way of making me put my money where my mouth is on the whole, "I can do this alone" stuff. Maybe it's a lesson in actually not having a single solitary person to give me a hand. Maybe it will be good for me to realize that I can do this on my own, eh?

Or maybe I'll just end up actually becoming a zombie. Ha!

Happy Friday, Everyone! I'm off to read, read, read in between the coughing and the crying coming from the baby's room. I'm starting with MrsStu, whom I have missed terribly and then I'm working my way over to Heather, Singlemom, to do some much needed catching up!

And then there's always my other zombie...so much stalking, so little time. Ha.