I am feeling so stressed that it wouldn't take much for me to walk out the door, get in my van and drive around for a few hours. Ten years ago, that would be an option, but now I'm older and have a few kids -- one of whom is determined to stay up until midnight. It's late, and I've got to go to the office tomorrow. So I'm going to try to rid my mind of all the things that I need to or should be doing.

I'm hoping Baby will sleep through the night. All the other kids were sleeping for 10-12 hours by the time they were 9 months, but Baby evidently doesn't want to miss out on a thing. He hasn't figured out yet that nothing is going on at 2, 3 or 4 in the morning. His older brother Jack can't resist a nice afternoon nap, so now he's flopping around on my bed doing everything he can to avoid going to sleep.

As for the oldest two, I can't wait until school starts. Maybe - just maybe - some of the whininess will get sucked out of Anna. And Jeremy will have other people to talk with ALL day. Yes, he will be in the first grade and gone from morning until afternoon. They grow up so fast, but it's not somthing I'm crying over right now.