Things Currently Saving My Life

So, where to begin? The house is preternaturally tidy, and there are bottles of pink goo chilling in the fridge. So, to clarify, more showings, and one kid with a sinus infection, another with an ear infection. It's been a fun week.
But it was very nice the last few days, and I dragged us all to the playground three days in a row, which was lovely. And also hilarious, because all three times we went, no matter if I was there with my sister, my SIL and one of my friends, or complete strangers, I ended up talking about pregnancy and birth. It's the inevitable conversation. "So, how old is your daughter?" I may ask, gesturing to the stocky, dark haired girl running around with Addy. Upon hearing she is three, I mention, "Wow, she's tall for her age!" The mother nods vigorously. "Yeah, you'd never know she was a preemie. They had to take her by C-section, eight weeks early...." And we're off, trading birth stories. It's like the secret password into the mom club.

I'm so tired and out of it right now. I laid awake last night, after finally getting Eli to bed at eleven thirty, suddenly panicked because I couldn't remember if his dedication at church was THIS Sunday or next. If it is this Sunday I'm kinda screwed, because I literally have bare cupboards right now, and I had invited all our family over for lunch and cake to celebrate. Looks like we'll be celebrating with takeout chicken! It is now eight forty on Sunday morning, and I still am not sure if it's today or next week. I tried to find it on the church website and the domain name was being refreshed or something and won't be available for forty eight hours. COME on! So now I'm just waiting until it's a reasonable time to call Jess. I'm assuming she'll know for sure, since her son is getting dedicated too, and like a normal, good mom, she'll probably have made some kind of MENTAL NOTE about it. Gaah.

Can I just say, in a whisper, that Eli is the worst sleeper in the world? I cannot remember the last time I slept for more than four hours at a time. I haven't had a full night's sleep (full, for me, being at least seven hours) in over a year. And our dream of somehow weaning him and helping him sleep through the night with formula is pure fantasy at this point, at he still refuses to touch a bottle until he is on the brink of starvation. He was so stuffy and miserable this week that I actually had to feed him expressed breast milk through a freakin' MEDICINE SYRINGE so he wouldn't die of thirst, as he had refused to nurse for twelve hours straight.

So ANYWAYS, to segue all this into the title, the one thing that has buoyed my spirits and kept me going the past few days, coffee and new Office episodes aside, is the discovery of this little pairing: Pillsbury crescent rolls and chocolate chips. It was in the RealSimple magazine this month as their cheat recipe, and it is heavenly in its simplicity and in its ability to satisfy my sweet tooth. You just roll ten to twelve chocolate chips (or more, if inclined) inside the dough, bake, and voila! Chocolate croissants. After the first successful batch, I got daring, adding coconut flakes, and it was just as wonderful as I had dreamed. If you enjoy chocolate and pastry together, you must try this pronto. Ideally, you would stop at two, though, and then add something sensible like bacon and eggs to round out your sugar fest of a breakfast. Ideally. But if you choose to eat four while watching Dan In Real Life- and wiping noses ten bajillion times- I wouldn't judge you. I may even have been there myself.
(Did you guys like this movie, by the way? I found it oddly endearing, despite the obvious hokyness and sap oozing out of every scene. I half expected one of them to pick up a guitar and lead everyone in a spontaneous round of Kumbaya. And yet I wanted to be adopted into their Rhode Island beach front house-living family all the same.)

Here's your mission, oh internetz. I want to hear what (fairly simple) chocolate fixes save YOUR life. Last night, croissants having been obliterated, I was reduced to eating straight chocolate chips, which, while perfectly delish, feels a little tragic and Cathy-esque. So send me some ideas to spruce those chocolate chips up into more life-saving treats!