Tonight I totally forgot rule #11 in the "Care and Feeding of Lunatic Autism Mom" rule book.
Do not feed mommy caffeine after 3pm.
Caffeine was my one true addiction before I had kids. I drank caffeinated Diet Coke like a fiend and on trade show days I would take additional "all natural" caffeine pills. And then I would sleep like a baby every night. Then I got pregnant. Caffeine is bad for you. Aspartame is bad for you. Processed meats are bad for you. Too much tuna is bad for you. So on and so forth. I gave it up, all of it, for the love of my babies. awwwwww......
The side effect is that now 10 years later I cannot consume any caffeine after 3pm and really it is better if I cut it out by noon. Dang it! Don't get me wrong, my deep and abiding love for Diet Coke lives stronger than ever (much to my husband's infinite chagrin) I just drink caffeine free. The only problem is...... most restaurants offer no diet, decaffeinated options and tonight we ate out. The few exceptions to the rule are mapped and cataloged in my phone, Five Guys & Chick-Fil-A have "unleaded" Diet Coke, Panera & Fuddruckers offer "unleaded Pepsi" (will do in a pinch). My fail tonight: sweet tea at Famous Daves, yeah, not only did I hit the caffeine, I added in sugar too! Smart Mag.
Don't get me wrong, I am the first person who will tell you that Aspartame (the 'tame) is bad for you, really you should avoid it at all costs and I would never, ever, knowingly let my kids have it. It ranks so high on the chemically engineered, processed, overused, conspiracy theory list that there is no way it can possibly be anything but bad news. "They" say it isn't addictive and that if you are addicted to Diet Coke (or the like), you are addicted to caffeine. Well, obviously "they" have never met me since I gave up caffeine 10 years ago and I have tried to stop power chugging Diet Coke about 100 times in those years. Something else in there is addictive but I am not a conspiracy theorist so...... I will someday cut back to moderate levels, maybe even give it up but tonight is not about Diet Coke it is about the evil caffeine and what the heck was I thinking to drink it at 5:30 pm!
The up-shot of the lack of sleep is that I now know where my grey pjs are since I was cold and I had to find them before I came downstairs. Also, I have made an outline for my crazy pre-storm Monday which includes a power shop trip to Costco with my bodyguard (read: Husband) as soon as I drop the boys off at school and then we are back home to make lunch for Jan (read: mother in law or Nona) and then head out back to the school to watch the boys receive academic awards for last term (!!!!!!!!!!). Proud mama post to come and I will have plenty of time for it since some huge, massive, ice/snow/rain thing is supposed to cover half the US tomorrow and I'm absolutely positive that I'll be spending the rest of my week chillin' out and entertaining 2 boys! We'll make each other insane and thus I should be loading up on sleep tonight!
The other up-shot of my insomnia is that while laying in bed trying to force myself back to sleep, I came up with some new blog topics! Stay tuned for the following (and let me know what you want to read more about! I'm always open to suggestions!):
- Stop My Brain, I Want to Get Off (wow! that sounds way more dirty on screen than it sounded in my head! HA!)
- I Like Talkin' About You You You You Usually, But Occasionally I Wanna Talk About Me (what I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see..... a nod to my country roots)
- The Day I Stopped Hearing Drums In My Head
- The Gift Of A List
- Keeping Time
- I'm trying to talk Rob into writing a guest post!
- and I'm sure more and more about my babies, my 'isms, my rantings, and more.
PS- I have followers! I love you all and love all your comments, cares, concerns, etc! I have an opinion on just about everything so feel free to send me any kind of message (below, on FB, email, text, etc.) on what you like/hate, want to hear more/less about, what color shoes I should buy, anything! Good Night (hopefully)!!!
I read this today while chugging starbucks in the car while Grant napped in the carseat. heehee. I have bedtime insomnia sometimes, (though not lately - too tired) and every afternoon I want a nap. A nice, long nap.
ReplyDeleteI can't do caffeine at night either, though.
I Like Talkin' About You You You You Usually, But Occasionally I Wanna Talk About Me (what I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see..... a nod to my country roots)
ReplyDelete... This one please!
okay, i am a friend of your cousin, heather feliciano, and i work with students that have autism. this is my 6th year working with them and i love my job. my students are 9-12 years old this year and i just have to say that i love reading things from a mom's perspective. i'm really looking forward to following you on here and sharing some laughs and tears along the way with you!!
ReplyDeleteTademy- I'm so glad Heather passed my blog along to you, I LOVE teachers! Seriously! It has been the hard work and dedication of my sons' teachers that have made all the difference in our lives. I think I'm gonna need to write a blog post about that, thanks for joining me here. HUGS!
ReplyDelete