Give me some caffeine, and this what I can do.
Yeah! So! Yeah!
Let’s review the past 9 years!
- December 2002: I get pregnant. Give up coffee like the books scared me into doing (also, was barfing too much to ingest much of anything).
- January 2003: Dave tells me, in the nicest way possible, that I am much less bitchy without caffeine.
- 2003: Henry is born! And he never sleeps. Ever. I am too frightened to drink coffee again, afraid that he’ll get a caffeine molecule and, improbably, sleep even less.
- 2006-2010: I have another kid, then another, and then another.
Sleep doesn’t really happen at all anywhere in there. Yet I don’t drink coffee. Well, I do. I drink decaf. Because I love coffee. The taste, the ritual, the warm mug. All that. (Also the leftover coffee you can make into iced coffee after lunch.) But the kids don’t sleep, so I don’t sleep, and I continue to view caffeine as the Monster Under the Bed who will pinch at their toes if I dare to take a sip.
Then, last week, Dave and I were having Yet Another Conversation about how I have all sorts of lovely intentions, but I never do any of them. That, at the end of the day, I wonder what I did at all. And that it makes me feel like a lame-o.
And the universe spoke. It said: DRINK COFFEE. DRINK REAL COFFEE, JULIE.
And I did! I did! And then I went crazy. I cleaned the house and challenged Dave to a game of basketball even though he’s a foot taller than me (I lost, but got a respectable number of baskets), and then we demolished part of our house! And now I speak only in exclamations!
What took me so long? Why didn’t anyone tell me, remind me, that coffee will make me less tired? That I might get more done?
Hello, joe. I missed you.
You are awesome! I started drinking coffee after my third born. My second born was only 15 months old at the time and boy when that new baby arrived I found that “Joe” was my new best friend! Regarding the “lovely intentions” I have decided that life happens in stages, I have about 30 stages left which includes all the lovely intentions of my own, spread out over time….right now I am very busy keeping my family safe and moving forward with a solid foundation and direction…everything else will come!
Timely post. I was thinking about you yesterday (really) and wondering if you were still off coffee. I need to make some dietary changes due to some health issues and giving up coffee is recommended. And, I thought about you and said to myself, “If Julie can make it without coffee, well then…maybe I can, too.” But, I am having a really hard time. In fact, I am drinking a cup as I write this. But now, I see that people CAN’T make it without coffee. At least not indefinitely. Nevertheless, I will try to reduce my intake. But, perhaps you should increase yours. Keep us posted!
Thanks Tamra! I agree with life happening in stages, and I know I’m not supposed to be getting a TON done with all my littles around, but I really was getting the bare, bare minimum done on many days. I can’t believe it took me so long to realize I was just tired. I think I was too tired to figure it out!
Elizabeth, I’m not sure I would have been able to give up coffee so easily in the first place if I hadn’t been feeling awful and not wanting to ingest *anything*. Good luck! Seems like if you gradually decreased the amount of caf in your coffee, it’d be easier to deal with the transition?
My goodness – what have you torn up there, Missy? I’ve cut down to two cups in the morning (during weekdays) and try to hold it at 3 on weekends. But it’s tough, as I do love my Joe.
That is some gorgeous demo, Ju! Clearly, coffee just enhances you. I limit myself to weekends (who wants an amped cranio therapist?). Oh, Joe, we love you so.
If you ever have time for a nap, the perfect thing is to have a cup of coffee, lie down for a nap, and then in 20 minutes with the caffeine kicks in, it will wake you up and you will have had the optimum nap, with no groggy feeling.
Susan: it’s our upstairs bathroom. Finally expanding from a half bath to a full bath.
Lori: That is brilliant.
Just stumbled across this post. SO VERY FUNNY!
Miss you guys.
-Chris