Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Who Needs Sleep?

The babies have developed a nasty cough. The doctor assures us it's nothing to worry about and has given us some tips in how to deal with it. Some of these things are unrealistic but one of them was to put them in the bathroom while you shower so the steam can help clear their sinuses.

Steamed Wombats

I didn't need to shower so I just turned the shower up to full blast and let them steam for a bit. It seems wasteful to just run hot water for no real reason. It also is weird to hang out in a tiny bathroom from the 1940s with your two children for nearly an hour. It seems like some sort of panic room situation.

Acorn Squash

For dinner I cooked them up some acorn squash on the recommendation of a friend and they loved it. It ranked highly in the list of foods they've tried so far.

The Wombats' Favorite Foods (in descending order from favorite to least favorite)
  1. Pears
  2. Sweet Potato
  3. Acorn Squash
  4. Avocado
  5. Peaches*
  6. Butternut Squash
  7. Carrot
  8. Peas
Adobo Chicken with Rice, Sauteed Plantains, and Avocado
Once we bathed them and got them to bed I was free to quickly put together this dinner. I made roast chicken breast with adobo, white rice with scallions, and plantains. For the plantains I boiled them and grated them, and tossed them together with onion, pepper, and garlic in a little olive oil and adobo then added a splash of cider vinegar before serving this all up with avocado.
Lagunitas Brewing Company Little Sumpin' Wild
For a much-needed drink, after being awake since 4:30 AM, I poured this Little Sumpin' Wild from Lagunitas Brewing Company. This is a limited version of their normal Little Sumpin' Ale that is brewed with Westmalle yeast. This was recommended by a friend so when I saw a bottle I picked it up. Now I wish I'd picked up four or five of them. This is one of the best beers I've had in a long, long time.

After seventeen hours of being awake I feel surprisingly awake. In fact, after only four-and-a-half hours of sleep this morning I felt like a million bucks. Elliott woke up just before my alarm and I felt better than I've felt in months! It's amazing how adaptable the human body is to a need for sleep. I have long thought that the rigorous pace I keep in my teens and early twenties of working seventeen hour days and averaging five hours of sleep a night was just something I could never handle in my advanced age. Apparently I was wrong as I'm getting less sleep now than at any point in my life.

And I feel great. The smile of the Wombats in the morning and the promise of a tasty beer with Jen in the evening is all I need to make it through most days. You just kind of get used to exhaustion after a while.

Sleep is overrated.

7 comments:

Jen said...

The reason you felt so great is that you/we got six, not four-and-a-half, hours' sleep. That extra 90 minutes is make or break.

Unknown said...

You can believe what you want to believe. I prefer to believe the truth.

uberlours said...

I don't see bananas on the list of favorite foods.

caolan said...

I agree about 6 vs 4.5! 6 is totally doable, and 4.5 is a nightmare of pain, in my experience. Of course lately I have considered it a great injustice if I don't get 10-12 hours of sleep over the course of a day, so I may not be a great authority.

Chef Aunt said...

I was going to mention the banana ommission myself (being one of the many family members who abhors this vile fruit!) I know it ranks near the bottom of the list, but certainly not below the dreaded peas!

Chef Aunt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jen said...

The banana reaction was so horrific I'm now pretending bananas don't exist, and therefore can't be included on a list.