Mysterious Arousals and Other Mysterious Things

A couple of week ago, I had my sleep study done in St. Joe. John and the kids dropped me off that evening and then picked me up the next afternoon. It pretty much sucked. I forgot just how annoying all those electrodes can be. Their brochure says, “A sleep study is somewhat like spending a night in a hotel. The difference is that you'll have a bunch of sensors attached to your body and someone will be watching you sleep.” That makes it sound so appealing, huh? I had trouble sleeping, even with taking my sleeping medicine. I woke up for a really long time in the middle of the night. Then I had to stay the next day for me to take a series of naps. They make you lay down at certain times during the day. They give you 20 minutes to fall asleep. If you don't fall asleep within that time, they come back in and get you up. If you do fall asleep, they monitor you for 20 minutes and then wake you up. I fell asleep for each nap but I don't really know any results yet. My appointment with my doctor to find out the results isn't until next month, ugh... I asked the lady doing the sleep study if she noticed anything in particular. She said no sleep apnea or anything like that (where you stop breathing). She said that she just noticed that I have mysterious arousals. What she was meaning was that I seem to wake up during the night for no apparent reason, but I almost started laughing. I should have told her there was no way I could get aroused hooked up to all those wires.

I've been thinking that maybe I have something called Sensory Processing Disorder. I have a lot of weird quirks and I always just thought I was weird (and maybe I still am). I remember my mom getting frustrated with me when I was younger because I would holler for her if I had a wrinkle or something on my sheets and I'd beg her to fix it. If I remember right, I would annoy her with that quite a bit, lol... I'm very picky on the way things feel and I think it's getting worse. If I'm just at home, I usually just wear sweat pants because jeans aren't even feeling comfortable to me any more. There are a lot of types of shirts that I can't wear. Oh, and don't get me started on bras. My hair annoys me – I usually just put in back in a ponytail. I rarely wear make-up because it makes my face feel “dirty”. I've been having trouble wearing jewelry lately. I'm extremely sensitive to smells. Can't get my face wet. The list just goes on and on... I'm thinking that I have passed this on to Mikayla. I am having the hardest time finding clothes that she will wear. She refuses to wear jeans – she has to wear cloth pants. They have to be a particular kind. Nothing can be close to her neck at all. She will only wear some materials. Most of the shirts in her closet she won't wear but she won't explain to me why. She won't wear anything that has glitter on it – and if you've looked in the little girl department lately, you will know how hard it is to not find anything with sparkly stuff. Of course, I totally understand where she is coming from there because I have this weird fear of glitter. Oh, and I can't get her to wear dresses or skirts any more. Gone are the cute girly girl days – now she just wants to wear cloth pants and t-shirts.

Anyway... If you know Dakota, you know that he get obsessions. Whatever he is obsessed with at that particular time is the only thing he can talk about, play, watch, etc... His obsession with wrestlers lasted for a long time, but it has suddenly stopped. One day he just stopped wanting to watch WWE or play with his wrestlers. He started watching Godzilla and Ultraman videos on youtube – that's what he was obsessed with before the whole wrestling thing came along. We had to buy him these toys from Japan for his birthday that year because Ultraman is a Japanese show and he didn't want anything else. Well, one of the Ultraman monsters is a giant spider... and this has led to an obsession with tarantulas. He has been begging nonstop for a pet tarantula. I told him he could get one when he is 18 and moves out – and then I will never come visit him at his house, lol... I don't really get this obsession because he is terrified of bugs. I guess tarantulas are more like an animal with all that fur. **shudder** He has made himself a home for his future pet. He has put dirt and stuff in a small storage tub. The past 2 days after school, he has been walking around the back yard with a stick looking for a tarantula. Today, I heard a noise and I looked out – he was standing there bawling because he couldn't find one. I can't get it through his head that they don't live around here, or that we will NEVER buy him one. He is going to be one very disappointed kid for Christmas because he is asking Santa for one. Oh, and apparently he has been sneaking his toy tarantula to school to play with. I bet you can guess what he is going to be for Halloween...