Sniffles...

So I didn't sleep superbly last night, and upon getting up I learned that both my little ones have the sniffles. Yay. (Said very unenthusiastically.) So today was a lazy day. When I told Moose that, he said, "What's that?" I told him he could stay in his pajamas and we would just hang around the house and not do much. (I'm sure he's like, how is that different?) But he wanted to play the computer, and usually the rule is chores have to be done first, which includes getting dressed. So I was the loner in my pj's today, and doing my best to be lazy since my kids apparently don't get the concept.

Hopefully what we have is short-lived and doesn't get any more involved that sniffling. Moose's preschool group tomorrow is already cancelled since all kids involved are sick in one form or another. Goodness gracious. Oh well. Maybe I'll make tomorrow a lazy day too? :)

Girls Night and Nose Picking...

So last night I got home late due to a very needed Girls Night Out with frozen yogurt and conversation. I actually lost track of time. (Really!) But that's a goodthing, since I usually don't and I'll hurry home as soon as I think it's getting late. It was much-needed and great.

(Watch out, this may get gross!) So, on to nose picking! Twice now, including today and Wednesday night, Moose has given himself a bloody nose from picking. He told me before that he picks his nose in bed because no one can see him. The first one was pretty bad, getting all over himself, bedding, and he even touched his sister's face. (Eww, I know.) He had no idea what was going on, never having had a bloody nose before. Today he was napping on the couch and it wasn't as dark, so he went and got a tissue like we told him to. I didn't even realize he had a bloody nose til I came out from our room to go somewhere. It wasn't a bad one fortunately. But still, eww! I've tried to tell him how gross it is, but I'm sure this will be a long-term battle. Perhaps I'll have to ease up a touch and choose my major battles over the nose-picking. Maybe we'll have consequences for giving himself a bloody nose, but otherwise I'll leave it be unless I see boogers? Maybe.

Oh, the joys of parenthood. :)

Nice Moments...

So I've noticed ever since we've gotten Monkey back to her sleeping schedule she has been back to her sweet self. We made some changes to our routines lately, with the hubs leaving for work earlier so he can come home earlier, and I had to make a mental change to be more of a morning Mama. This was such a good thing. Although she's starting sleeping in til 7:30 (and then watching Baby Einstein for 30-60 mins.!) I've just had a better mental attitude about the kiddos during the day. I mentioned before making a conscious choice to not let their bad naps, cranky attitudes ruin my day, and boy has it helped! Anyway, lately her naps have been just short of 2 hours (vs. the 3 hours they used to be) and Moose usually goes down about 30 minutes after her in my room. So I have anywhere from 1 1/2 hrs to 45 minutes alone. A bit less than I used to. But I find that it's totally okay. She's in such a better mood when she's up and let's me get things done if I want to. But the last two days after she wakes up, she'll come sit next to me in our big lounger chair and she'll watch Baby Einstein (Baby Mozart) while I read a book. It's so great. Throughout the show she'll giggle and play with me, and it's the sweetest thing. We'll do this for about an hour. I really cherished it today, knowing that it probably won't last forever. I'm so glad for little things like this that can be so rejuvenating emotionally and just in general. Helps me keep going on those days when there aren't so many nice moments. :)

I smell...

As I was laying in Monkey's bed waiting for her to put something "a-way", as she would say, I snuggled up to her pillow and babies. They have a very distinct smell. Her smell. I just love it. I don't really recall Moose ever having his own smell, although I'm sure he does. But she does. I can smell her things that she sleeps with and it always has her scent. Makes me smile every time. :)

Discipline Update...

So since we've changed our tactics with Moose a bit, I thought I'd give a little update. Here's a brief bit on what changed. I've cracked down on his minor behaviors more severely that bug me (baby talk, talking back) so that we don't have a Mt. Everest breakdown later on while all these little things continue building and bugging me.

Ultimately, we have more timeouts. Which he hates. I find it ridiculous, because they're the easiest punishment ever. (I don't make him sit there that long.) I try to talk to him more about what he's doing, what's expected of him, what just happened and why. We did a lot of that with him when he was younger and it lessened our freak outs. After he loses a privilege we talk about it. Later that day we review and remind him what was lost and why, and how we'll act differently next time so he doesn't lose that privilege. He does seem a bit more emotional/whiny, but I think that's mainly because he's been getting away with a lot of behaviors that I should've been cracking down on. (The talk back mostly. Which has dropped drastically.) I think overall the changes have been very good.

Now, to figure out what to do with Monkey, our resident banshee. When something drops, most kids her age say uh-oh. She screams. Something happens that she doesn't like and she screams, she needs help and she screams. It's really getting old. Oh, and when we put her in time out she completely L-O-S-E-S  I-T! Yes, the capitalization and whatnot are necessary. I mean, seriously, she loses her mind. It's so weird. She's only been doing that recently, although she hasn't had a lot of time outs lately either. Perhaps she realized she didn't like them and has decided that if she gets one she's going to freak out big time? Very likely. Maybe I should bring the hammer down on her a bit too, just to remind her who's boss. In the end, I can always scream louder. :) (Not that I do, just saying.)

I knew it...

Today was a normal day. Although I'm starting to feel physically more tired by dinnertime than I was before. But I realized today I'm about 7 months pregnant with 2 pretty demanding kids, so I suppose that's pretty normal at this point.

Anyhow, I was somewhat stressed by the time dinner rolled by and the hubs took the kids to a family get together for a niece's birthday. It was in the later evening, and I knew the night would only be stressful for me since the kids would be staying up late, be overtired, etc. So I stayed home (and prepped for preschool group tomorrow. So glad I did that!) and the hubs took the kids for cake and ice cream.

Moose ended up having a huge tantrum when it was time to leave, and after it was all said and done, different discipline tactics tried, the hubs came to at least one conclusion I already knew concerning Moose. Spanking doesn't work. We haven't done it consistently with him ever, and it just doesn't do anything. I end up hurting my hand more than him for the spanking to even hurt him. Otherwise he just smirks at you, or forbid he even laughs. And of course that makes me more mad. So a long time ago I learned that spanking was futile. I'm sure we came to an agreement about it, but lately it had been brought up again. (The hubs remembers spanking as punishment for lying, which was an issue if you recall.) So he tried it. It didn't work. Not for Moose.

So tonight was a night in which I was able to be reassured (after much time had passed) that: yes, I know my child, and yes I was right that spanking is not a good tactic to use with him. Thanks for the reassurance hubs. :)

Oops...

As I was laying in bed last night, I realized I had forgotten to post. I was actually quite bummed. It'd been a while since I missed a day, and before now it was usually on purpose. So, last night was an accident.

Today was a good day. We took the kiddos to church, tried to do naps, but that didn't work. (I'm suspecting it was because they were in the same room. We had that working before Monkey's sleep issue hit, and have since regressed. Moose always naps in my bed cause they just can't handle it. Neither one of them.)

So when we go to the library most weeks for storytime, Monkey never gets anything. She doesn't really care about their books at her age, and Moose always picks the videos, which she's not interested in watching either. However, the last time we went she picked out a Baby Einstein video, so I got it for her. We got one once before, and she ignored it. But I thought I'd try. It's been over a week now and let's just say she loves it! It's Baby Mozart. And this week we found Baby Brahms (or something). It's so neat to see her sit and watch something intently. Although she does like to spin whenever something on the movie is spinning.

Anyhow, to today. She asked to watch it. (She calls it "baby" since we call it the baby show. Baby Einstein. Get it? Anyway.) So the hubs put in the Brahms one, which has a bunch of lullabies on it. Now, remember she hadn't taken a nap today, and after maybe ten minutes or so, she fell asleep on his lap. It was the sweetest thing ever! Our kids are not the type to fall asleep in odd places, on the floor, or anything like that. We put them in bed regularly enough, and mostly on time, so they just don't do that. But she did, and it was adorable. I even took a picture. :)

Carnivals and Basketball...

Tonight was a fun night. The high school was having a small carnival as well as a bunch of basketball games. So me and the kids went up (the hubs was still there) and Moose played a few games, they both got their faces painted, and we watched half the girls varsity basketball game. It was tons of fun. Moose was really excited. He remembers watching football and so he gets pretty into it. I enjoyed teaching him some of the rules, and the "whys" for the whistle blowing and whatnot. He seems to get more engaged in the game and pay attention more when he understands little bits. So that was nice.

As for our problems yesterday, today was pretty good. I think his day of lying was enough for him to realize it's a bad thing. He's not the kind to lie a lot either, so it just must've been one of those days. But I clamped down on his other negative behaviors and it seemed to work. He ended up losing his naptime song, any tv after his nap, and his babies that he sleeps with. He was on the verge of losing the carnival we went to, but finally snapped out of it and went to time out. (He was absolutely refusing to go. Seriously? Sit in a corner for a minute, or until you're calmed down, then count to 30 and come out. Such a wuss.) But after it all went down, we talked about what happened, why, and what he should do next time. So it was pretty good overall. I also talked to him about not yelling, and that things were going to change around here in that respect. It was good. Hopefully we'll continue to be able to make progress with regards to all that.

At least it seems like, for now, Monkey's sleep issues are pretty much gone. It almost feels like her big issue never happened, now that she's back to how it used to be. It's really such a relief. Sleep issues with your kids is so stressful. So for now, things are pretty okay. I wonder what will be next? With kids, it's always something. :)

A Lying Day...

That is what Moose called today in his prayer before bed. Let's just say it was a "lying" 24 hours. We had quite the event last night. Moose kept coming out of their room to tell us that Monkey was taking his "babies" (dolls he takes to bed) away, as well as his pillow. So she kept getting in trouble. Well, we eventually realized he was doing it. We don't know if she was originally, but by 8:15, he was getting out of bed and putting his babies and pillow in her bed. It was ridiculous. He had been lying to us the entire time and she was getting in some serious trouble. I was so annoyed and just downright bothered. He's lied before, about small things. But this just irked me something awful.

Today he has taken to lying a bit more. He lied to me this morning, right after we talked about what happened last night. Then when I picked him up from his preschool group he lied twice in a row. These were all about small things, but still. I couldn't believe it.

Aside from the lying, it was an emotional/screaming day. Me and Moose just butt heads over and over again. For some reason I wasn't handling it well today and reverted to some of my older/less desirable habits. (yelling) After he had a breakdown with his preschool teacher (thankfully, a great friend of mine) telling her all about our scream out, I realized I had to reign things in.

Fortunately, despite the awfulness of today, I've learned a lot. Or re-learned, or remembered. However you want to call it. Moose just doesn't respond to yelling. He yells back. Or if I catch him off guard enough with it, and growl just right, he breaks into tears and just bawls. Not only this, but he's starting to yell at Monkey. Totally unacceptable.

After some chatting with the hubs (he's such a great sounding board, and always on my side, no matter how horrible I've been) we realized one of the problems that led up to today. All week long, Moose has been giving me some serious sass. When he deserves a time out he comes back with a sassy, "No! I don't want to go to time out." Which is then repeated multiple times. Just today when he asked me a question about what was driving me crazy, I told him he was driving me crazy. He responded with a sassy, "You're driving ME crazy!" Little things like this, all week long. I don't know where he's getting it from, but I'm guessing it's what's been bringing me to the boiling point, very slowly, all week. So after our discussion, me and the hubs decided we need to crack down on the negative behaviors. Moose and I are going to have a long chat tomorrow morning (hopefully before he's done anything worthy of discipline) about what's not acceptable, and what the punishments are. His most common removals are: computer games (one hour a day), tv/movie watching (2 hours a day) or candy after meals. We are also, most likely, going to institute a reward type system of warm fuzzies. It's something he's been doing with his preschool group that he really responds to. We take an empty container, and whenever he's good or does something really nice for someone else, we put a little fuzzy ball in the container. (A "warm fuzzy") When he does something bad, we take one out. When the jar is filled, we give him a reward and start all over again. Teaching a child good behavior, and getting rid of the bad, is so much work. It's completely worth it, but goodness it can be trying. (As well as bring out your own worst behavior, which doesn't help any.)

Wish us luck. Oh, and the doctor's appointment went great. My weight gain is right on track. (At about 16 pounds, I think.) My uterus size (for those not knowing, they measure your uterus, not how big your belly is. Two completely different and separate things) is perfect too. She made me feel a bit better. Sometimes I get comments on how small I am. I was starting to think maybe this baby would be smaller than my last. But she said that how you show has no bearing on how big you are inside. Even as a doctor she can be wrong, by looking at someone, at how big they really are inside. So I'm just right, she said, and that makes me feel better. I still have over 2 months of growing yet anyhow. And it's not like I want to be huge or anything, although I do love a pregnant belly. I've just always loved my big belly and when people tell me I'm small I guess it makes me feel like they don't see all the hard work I've done. (Nor do they remember how small I was before hand.) :)

Anyway, 10 more weeks to go. Hopefully me and the kids will survive til then. (And maybe we'll even pick a name for our poor nameless baby.)

Our Secret...

So I think Monkey's sleeping habits have officially turned a corner in a good way. The revelation we finally had after 2 nights of insanity was that she was completely overtired all the time. Nothing big had changed except for the following: During winter break the kids stayed up a bit later due to family events, and they started waking up a bit earlier. After winter break, we started putting them back to bed earlier, but they were still waking up earlier too. So Miss Monkey had just been tired. So we started putting them to bed between 7 and 7:30 (as in lights out at this time) and she has been doing amazingly better. She cries out as we shut the door and cries out "Mama" a few times. But she doesn't get out of bed, and it stops after a few seconds. It's miraculous, the change. I'm loving it! So now she's back to going to bed between 7 and 7:30, waking up at 6:30, and napping for 2 hours in the afternoon.

Although this morning was a fabulous exception. She woke up at 4:30 in the morning, unable to find her pacifier. I gave it to her, and left their door open, knowing she'd freak out if she saw me close it. I went to shut their door right before 5, knowing the hub's alarm would go off and he'd be up and about getting ready. However, she wouldn't let me close it still. So I went into their room and laid down on the floor next to her bed. (We tried bringing her into our bed once when this happened and she didn't want to leave her bed.) So I shut the door and slept next to her bed. The bad thing was it was horribly uncomfortable. I couldn't sleep too long on my side without one arm going numb, and getting a kink in my side. Not to mention being horribly aware of how unsupported my spine was, and most likely nothing even close to straight. But I was still able to sleep. Moose woke up shortly before 6, but he stayed in bed as quiet as he could manage until 7, when I let him go out to the living room and watch a movie. But I stayed next to her bed sleeping on the floor. Me and Monkey didn't leave the bedroom until 8:20! That's the longest she's slept in months. I know it was mostly because I was there. I don't know how long it took her to fall asleep after I came in there. But it was definitely what she needed. She still took a nap from 1-3 and will certainly be down at her normal bedtime, after a few large yawns at dinner. I'm so glad to have things back to normal. It makes our evenings so much more relaxing and less stressful.

Oh, and we're mostly decided to take away her pacifier before baby #3 comes. Most likely at the end of February. So we'll have at least a month to get her acclimated before we have another one who will be taking a pacifier. But for now I'm not stressing it. I'm just glad she's sleeping regularly again without huge bouts of crying or screaming. (And having her missing pacifier wake her up at 4:30 doesn't help her paci cause any. I could practically take it away right now if that happens again. We'll see.)

So yay for progress anyway. So glad we finally figured out what the deal was. For tomorrow's agenda: Doctor's apointment! Week 30. 10 to go. How crazy!

To-do List...

Recently I bought a new planner for the new year. The past few months I had been guilty of not planning, remembering or scheduling much. I kept a to-do list, but it mostly centered around holiday things. So now that those are done with, I'm back to a normal to-do list. I'm proud to say I have been supremely productive. The nice thing is, when I'm busily attacking little (or large) projects throughout the day the kids let me do it. Or Monkey tries to help, which is fine too. It has been so awesome! I feel so much more put together. The house is staying cleaner, dinner is ready earlier, and laundry is totally being taken care of. I'm doing crafty projects, clean-up projects, random me-things, things that I've been working on for a year, and brand new ideas. I know this rush of productivity won't last for too long, especially with a baby on the way (which I'm still sort of in denial about), but I'm most certainly going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Ooh, just remembered something that needs to go on the to-do list! (Oh, and I've got a doctor's appointment Thursday. I'm going every 2 weeks now. Crazy!)

3 Day Weekends...

Today was our 3 day weekend. Yay! First thing that means for me is sleeping in a bit. It also means the hubs wearing out the kids nonstop in the hopes they'll fall asleep better at night. They get way more physical activity when he's around! I tend to be more productive too, since it makes me feel lazy to sit around reading or something like that when he's home since he doesn't know the meaning of "relax" unless it's night and the kids are in bed. (Naptime doesn't count. It's still daylight.)

So far Monkey's bedtime seems to be better. I'll still sit on our little revelation for another day or two to see if it continues to stick. But I'm feeling confident we finally figured out what was bothering her.

Baby 3 continues to grow. Her movements are much more visible from the outside of me. If you were to watch for a while, you'd see her kicks and punches jiggling my belly around. I still have a feeling she might be smaller than Monkey was (7lbs. 7oz.), which would be weird. If she's bigger, that's totally fine. Moose was 9 lbs, so anything smaller still seems a bit novel. (Even though he was a c-section.) I just feel small, belly-wise. But I know I tend to do a lot of stretching out the last trimester. I've got 2 1/2 months of pure weight gain for the little bun, so I'm sure the oven will continue to expand it's boundaries.

Well, I'm gonna go help brush some teeth. Nighty night!

Getting Better...

So far our hunches about Monkey are proving correct and she's now gone to bed twice without more than one scream as we close the door and then pure silence. No jiggles to the door knob, no crying out for Mama or Papa. A-Mazing. We'll see if tonight follows suit or not. (fingers and toes crossed)

So when I came home from visiting some gal pals tonight, I walked into a pitch black apartment. Then I see lights flying around the hallway as the kids come running to me with flashlights in their hands. The hubs had them playing some flashlight game. Possibly hunting aliens or something. They were loving it. We've taught them well not to be afraid of the dark. Monkey kept waving her bike light around saying "light". And of course Moose was thrilled with the new game. It was so cute to see them so excited. I just love my hub's creativity. I certainly never would've thought of a game like that.

So tomorrow is a holiday for the high school and the hubs has the day off. Woohoo! Totally jazzed. That means we can stay up a little bit later tonight and do things as a family tomorrow. I'm way excited. I'm feeling some popcorn and finishing our movie tonight. (We're watching "Creation".) Hopefully the kiddos will go to bed happily (again, fingers and toes crossed) and it should be an awesome night!

Nesting...

I don't really think I'm nesting. At least not yet. Although I have had a desire lately to pull out the newborn clothes. But I don't currently have anywhere to put them, so they've stayed in the tub under the crib. But today was another day of super productivity. Bathrooms were cleaned, kitchen spiffied, not to mention scrubbing the bath tub and shower. The kids (so cute) really wanted to help clean the first bathroom. Monkey loves going and getting a rag. Moose helped me clean the counter, and they both flanked the toilet to help scrub the outsides. Then they both took a turn scrubbing the inside once I was done. I've always tried to be uber patient when my kids want to help with chores since I want them to enjoy doing it as long as possible, so they're not super slackers with their chores like I was growing up. (No comment necessary Mom.) I must say, it's felt really awesome being so productive.

I also cleaned photos and videos off our old computer and put them on cd's. Now I'll put them on the new computer. I took off videos and pics from 2010, and a few videos from 2009. Those were mostly of Monkey as a little one. I just adored watching them. She was so precious. It was so strange to see her so young. (the youngest videos were of her at 4 months old.) When she woke up from her nap, she came and watched them with me, and absolutely loved it. It prepped me mentally, a bit, for the idea of having another baby that size in the house again. I'm still not ready, but I've got a little over 2 months to finish prepping myself.

And I know I just said I was done talking about this, but I think we might've figured something out. The past 2 nights after Monkey's finally fallen asleep, we've had long talks about what her deal is, and last night the hubs did some internet searching. You can really find useful opinions and whatnot out there. Anyhow, we think we might know what the initial issue is. I'm not going to tell yet. (Just in case I'm wrong.) But a few days should do the trick to see if it makes a difference. Then I'll share our insights. But I'm very hopeful that we've finally figured out what is causing her sleep issue. Fixing it still might be tough, but I'm far more hopeful that I've been before. So wish us luck.

Moving On...

So last night turned out to be one of those one hour put downs for Monkey. I'm so over it. We're still going to deal with it daily, as is our lot as parents, but I'm officially done talking about it. I could literally talk about it everyday until she figures this out. But I'm done.

Today was a pretty productive day. I've unofficially adopted Fridays as my do-it day. I got all the laundry done, sheets changed (at least on their beds), kitchen cleaned, random sewing projects done, and other little tidbits. It really is a good way to get the kids not to pester me. Tomorrow will likely be more of the same. Perhaps in the next week or so I'll actually finish Monkey's Christmas dress I was making her. The bodice is mostly done and all that's left is the skirt. So perhaps by next Sunday she'll be able to wear it to church. :)

I have less than 3 months until this little girl is born. With everything else going on in our lives right now, I officially don't care if she gets a name or not. I'm sure we'll pick one, but for now I could care less. It's hard to imagine the future, knowing it's going to get busier and harder, when things are busy and tough right now. I know it'll change and I'll adapt, but it's still hard to wrap my brain around. So I mostly avoid thinking about it.

Hope she falls asleep soon. :)

Returning to Normal...

Except for an unwelcome wake-up from Monkey at 5:15 this morning (which led to me being awake til 6) it seems like things are returning to normal a bit. Monkey's falling asleep a bit easier and taking nice naps again. She's been increasingly more pleasant. I find my days (as long as I don't have a wacky night's sleep) easier to manage and my moods have been better. I'm able to be more productive, not only during naptime but all day long. Monkey's finally getting to an age where she semi-entertains herself. Or she tries to help. Either way I'm able to do chores or cross things off my to-do list at times other than naptime, which feels nice. It feels like we're going to get in this nice flow with the kids and then we'll have another one and throw things back into chaos. But that's what happens anyhow. It's like they always say, "There's never a good time to have a kid." It's so true. But I suppose there are worse times to have one, and now's not one of those. And I don't have a choice at this point anyway. ;)

Tired Me...

The kiddos woke up just after 6 again today. And unfortunately I woke up about every 30 minutes from 3:00 on. Monkey woke up crying, and then after that it was just me. Bad dreams about her waking up, and who knows what else making me wake up. So I was a bit tired. I've learned that on days like these I just try to do the minimal amount of things possible so I don't get crabby and grouchy, cause that's never pretty. So I stayed in my pj's and read a book on and off while keeping the kids happy. While they napped I tried to nap, and by the time they were done (which meant I was done) I was ready to try and start the rest of the day fresh. So after a super hot bath we all went to the library (since we missed storytime this morning) and then came home for some buttermilk pancakes and eggs. (I must admit the pancakes were quite yummy. Thank you BHG Cookbook.) Then we all tried to relax together. I read, Moose watched Garfield on the computer, and the hubs and Monkey ate grapefruit. It was nice. Monkey was particularly sweet after dinner, making me smile and laugh every few minutes. Although it wasn't a stellar day, it was overall very pleasant. I made the decision this morning that I wouldn't let my tiredness ruin their day and tried the power of positive thinking again. I must say that it made a difference today too. Even if nothing was really all that much better because of it, I felt like the stress wasn't so bad. I didn't get dressed til about 4, but it wasn't a big deal. I napped for maybe 30 minutes, but it was enough, the kids weren't angels but they did their best. It was a good day, and I my mind was open enough to see it. I'd call that successful.
Perhaps this new mindset will help me prep for having another baby. I'm sure it will help on those days when I stop and realize, "Holy cow, I'm having another kid! What was I thinking?" :)

What Sleep Does...

Today has been an amazing example of what sleep does to my kiddos. Moose got up at 6:50, and Monkey shortly after 7. It was wonderful. She was absolutely delightful today. She took a wonderful nap from about 1:45-4:00. After that she continued to be wonderful. Her moods were so much easier to handle and overall she was so cheerful. Amazing. They're going down right now. If only we could duplicate whatever happened to make tomorrow go the same way. That's another thing with kids though. You'll have a successful day with whatever it is that ails them, but really have no way of duplicating it again since a million things happened that day and you can't tell exactly what it was that made the difference. Oh well. I've been working very hard (mentally) to keep a good attitude no matter what happened. Like when Monkey fell asleep getting Moose from his preschool group. Totally didn't see it coming, but decided before we got home that I wouldn't let it ruin my afternoon if she refused to nap or whatever else. Perhaps my attitude change was all that mattered? I guess that's an experiment I could try again tomorrow. :)

One Day...

We will figure out how to help Monkey sleep better. Today at nap time I sat outside her door with a chair (it's easier than standing) and found out that if I just left the door open, she fell right asleep. Then I shut the door and voila. However, in our attempt to do that instead of the open/shut game, she's babbling happily in her bed, but not going to sleep. How I tire of her inability to fall asleep. I'm sure it'll figure itself out soon. I really wouldn't mind as much if she weren't up before 6:30 every day. Blah.

Long Day...

Today was a long day. Not in that it was a terribly tough day, but we chose not to have the kids nap. The time that we attend our church meetings changed with the new year, and we get home at 2. It's hard to get Monkey down for a nap, if we put Moose down at all, and so today we chose to forego and put them down early. Monkey anyway. So it wasn't a typically relaxing Sunday that I'm used to, but it was still a good day. Poor Monkey was so exhausted by the time she went down shortly after 6. She fell asleep quickly as I sang to her. She woke up a little while later absolutely distraught. She calmed down when I held her and after a while I was able to put her back down without her starting back up again. Hopefully sleeping through the night won't be a problem. She woke up this morning at 5:13, crying. We don't know what her deal is. Perhaps a growth spurt. She's a tall girl for her age. She's still drooling constantly and lately has been chewing on her hands again. Two year molars coming a bit early? Anything is possible with little ones. That's what makes it so hard. Once you think you have them figured out, they grow and change and you never know what causes what. But we do our best. I just hope we can get her back to a decent falling asleep/sleeping routine before this baby comes. I don't know if I can handle jumping through hoops to get 2 kids to sleep at night. Doing it for 1 tends to take enough out of me. Well, time will tell. 12 weeks to go.

Sleep Patrol...

So it seems like things come and go, for a while they're good, then suddenly they're not. For us right now, that's Monkey and sleeping. Last night she gave us a real rough time going to sleep. It's like she's forgotten how to fall asleep on her own. For the last few days she'll fall asleep while I'm singing to her, and she's usually exhausted so it happens quickly. Otherwise she has to get really mad and throw big fits, then she'll fall asleep while I'm singing to her. Either way, it's kinda crazy since she used to fall asleep just fine on her own. So after thinking about it and talking to the hubs about it, I decided on an approach. It might take a while to work really well, but me and the hubs feel good about it and I'm hoping if we stick to it, it'll get her back on track falling asleep on her own.

Here's what I did. We do a pretty regular bedtime routine. Brush teeth, read books, sing songs. When we sing songs, they're generally tucked in with the lights out. Then after we shut the door (or as we're shutting it, or even before that) she starts crying. When we shut the door, she eventually works her way back to the door and opens it. I just stand there right outside the door, and once she tries opening it, I open the door and tell her to go back to bed. So she goes, I put her blanket over her and tell her nicely to go to sleep, I love you, that sort of thing. Then we do it all over again. Each time I opened the door she'd get a bit more hysterical. But the last time I did it, she finally went back to bed and her eyes were so heavy. I just talked to her gently about being a big girl and falling asleep on her own. She's about to be a big sister, and I don't want to have to use extreme measures to get 2 kids to bed. While I talked and shooshed her, she fell asleep. So I left. After around 5 minutes or so she stirred and realized I was gone. So the hubs is currently doing the same thing. Open the door (when she's out of bed and about to open it) tell her to go to bed. Tuck her in, say good night, then shut the door. We're hoping that with consistent use of this by both of us for the next few days, or maybe a week, (hopefully not more) she'll find her way back to falling asleep on her own without all the hoopla. Oh, the hoopla. We could definitely do without.

So wish us luck. I'm sure I'll keep you posted. :)

Busy Hands...

I've learned this before, but have recently re-learned this concept. If I really want my children to leave me alone, I need to keep myself busy. Sitting and doing anything sitting does not count. But if I'm moving and cleaning, or laundering, or anything like that, I can either find myself doing it alone or I'll have Monkey by my side wanting to do it too. (Or sometimes just keeping herself busy near me.) As I'm adjusting to being a morning mom and getting my energy back as Monkey naps, (Yes, she did today!!) I'm more able and willing to keep myself busy while they're awake. Today me and Monkey did around 4 loads of laundry, folded clothes, cleaned a few things, and more. She's just entering that stage where she wants to imitate what I do. We've already covered make-up. (And we're done with that, since she's about broken anything that can be broken in my make-up bag.) So now we're going to move on to chores. (And helping cook dinner.) It ultimately leaves me feeling really accomplished too because I'm able to get chores done without stress, since she's just being my little helper. Moose is very content to occupy himself playing the computer, playing his V*Smile (love that thing) or watching a show, if he's earned one. It definitely takes patience to do chores with a kid tagging along since nothing gets done as quickly as it would otherwise. But normally I probably wouldn't be doing these chores anyway. I'd usually be trying desperately to read or something like that while she bothers me and her brother non-stop. But this keeps her occupied and leaves me feeling like I did something great with my time. Win-win.

Pokes...

I had my doctor's appointment this morning. When my son asked me about it, he inevitably asked if I would be getting a poke. (aka needles) I told him yes, since I was taking care of my glucose test today. He was completely freaked out. I had to calm him down a bit. He's got a needle thing. Anyway, I did my glucose drink (for those not savvy, you have to drink this soda like concoction that doesn't taste very good in under ten minutes. Then within the hour you have to have your blood drawn.) and went in for my poke. I finally gained some weight. I think I'm at around 14-15 pounds gained. With 12 weeks to go, I'm hoping I can stay under 25 total.

Well, the kids are in bed and most likely asleep from exhaustion since naps were a total bust today. So I'm going to take this opp. to go and relax with the hubs. :)

No Nap For Me...

Or anyone else for that matter. Today was one of those days. I think I handled it pretty well. But I'm still exhausted. Miss Monkey woke herself and her brother up at around 6:15. Moose said it was too early and went back to bed for about half an hour. She was a grouch most of the morning and went down at noon. Unfortunately, she only slept for an hour. She woke up right as Moose went to sleep in my bed. I wouldn't let her get up, because I know better, and she had an all out scream fest. It was insane. I feel sorry for my neighbors whenever this sort of this starts. I hope they don't hear much. (But they probably do.) But it didn't last forever. Especially since I was laying down in front of the door. (I was completely set on taking a nap today, which is rare. So I was totally geared up for sleep.) She finally went back to bed and I layed down next to her, prepared to nap with her. She was getting all droopy eyed and whatnot as I sang to her, and then guess what happened? I hear a door open (not her bedroom door) and Moose's signature *thunk, thunk, thunk* down the hallway, calling my name. He wanted to know if he had taken a nap. (Whenever he has to ask, it's because he hasn't. He'd been in there 30 minutes.) This was all it took to snap Monkey out of her droopy sleepiness and put her on the road to awake. But I made her lay in bed for a long time anyway. I finally gave up right before 3 o'clock, making her lay there in bed by me for well over an hour. Right after I let her go out of the room (hoping to still lay in her bed for a while) Moose came out too, again asking if he had napped.

I still tried laying in bed after they woke up, but Monkey's not good at letting Moose play along with his new toys, so the peace was short-lived. So I'm one tired Mama. And I'm still adjusting to getting up with the kiddos whenever they wake up, instead of sleeping in til around 7 when the hubs used to leave for work. But I know I'll adjust. Or I'll just be tired until the weekend, when I can sleep in, or until spring break. (the week I'm due.) Even if I do catch up on sleep, I'll just go back to being tired once she's born. Oh well. Not worth thinking about. I can handle tired. I'll just look forward to sleeping in Saturday and Sunday. Two days should be rejuvenating enough. :)

Sleep Aids...

So whenever we go through a phase when our kids have a hard time falling asleep, we brainstorm idea to help them fall asleep easier. A few days ago the hubs started his "work them to sleep" routine. It's one we've used before, but as you might imagine, it's hard work. Fortunately for me, the hubs does most of the grunt work. 

Take yesterday for example. Before bed, he started playing games with the kids, ending with an obstacle course. It involved crab walking, crawling, basketball, jumping jacks, running, army crawling and so much more. Even I tried it once. :) Today's event was sledding. And after a good 20 minutes of laying right next to Monkey and singing quiet songs, I'm happy to say that after 10 minutes of the door shut, there hasn't been a peep, toy creak, or squeak or any other type of sound that generally comes from that room.

The only other sure fire solution we have is screaming. We try not to do that one intentionally. But honest to goodness, it puts Monkey to sleep faster than anything else. Well, I'm going to go sit my sore right-rear end (pregnancy stuff. Oh joy.) down in the recliner and read until the hubs comes back from an evening meeting. Good sleep to you all. (And especially to your kids!)

Morning Mama...

So I have never been a morning person. Ever. The hubs is totally the other way around. He'll jump right out of bed, hop in the shower and get to the day. Me, not so much. However, we're trying to change up our morning routine so he can get out of the house faster, and then get home earlier in the evening. So basically, in order for this to work, I have to get up when the kids do. Before, they would get up and he'd do his things while getting them breakfast, or otherwise entertaining them. No longer.

So this morning, I woke up with the kids. It actually went well because they slept in a bit for the first time in about 2 weeks. Moose was up at 6:30. (The hubs left at 6:15, so he was able to do his whole morning routine solo, which he liked.) He layed next to me in bed til 7. Then a few minutes later, Monkey woke up too. We took our time to make breakfast. (Not just cold cereal today! Oh no!) Then we all got dressed, doing our morning chores, and getting ready for the day. It turned out awesome!

I know this won't happen everyday, but I'm super glad it went so well on the first day. So now we're working on getting them to bed earlier, since they have a hard time with the concept of stay up late = sleeping in. This might give me and the hubs more time together at night to relax, and ultimately get to bed earlier too. The hubs was lights out on his side of the bed by about 9:45 last night. But he is the one who wakes up at 5. I'll sleep in as long as possible. I know once this baby is born and nursing I'll be the one with a multi-timed wake up every night. I'll enjoy this while I can.

So here's hoping I can handle another morning tomorrow. And that they'll not wake up at 6:00. :)

New Year...

So technically yesterday would've been the day to write about the New Year, but since tomorrow's the hub's first day back at work, it really feels like tomorrow is more the beginning of a new year. So here's our old year in review.

*Monkey turns 1. Holy cow!

*Moose turns 4. Double holy cow!

*I got pregnant. (No cow comments!)

*The hubs was able to start his second year teaching high school. It's been significantly easier than last year. Yay.

*Moose is smarter and more active than ever. He's getting pro at writing his name, he can add (using his fingers), and has started learning to read. We're going to vamp up his school days at home with some new stuff soon. Hopefully it'll be tons of fun!

*Monkey is communicating better than ever. She has a new word every other day and is so much happier and sure of what she wants. (Or doesn't want.) Her latest words include bite, glove, boot, and her favorite new phrase is "please papa". (Which she says to me too.)

*Monkey has also warmed up to our extended family that lives near us. She's been the more stranger-danger out of the two kids, but lately has completely opened up. It's so sweet. We had family over tonight to celebrate the hub's birthday and she was laughing and giggling with everyone. It was awesome.

*Moose started a home-group preschool with a few friends of ours. He's by far the oldest and so I didn't know how he would like it, but it's been a great way for him to socialize and learn better group behaviors. I don't think he's actually learning much, since they do letters and things, but we still do things at home for that. Overall it's been great and he's finally getting more friends here, which is awesome! (And it's a great prep for starting kindergarten this fall. I can't believe it!)

So it's been a busy year. It's all gone so fast. I've learned that the more children we have the faster time goes. But with the pregnancy that's been great since this one has gone so fast I can hardly believe I only have 3 more months. And I know those 3 will just fly by. This upcoming year we're going to add another baby to our family, hopefully start the hub's third year of teaching high school, put our oldest boy in kindergarten (Aah!!) and who knows what else?! Time will tell.

As long as I can keep my perspective on what's most important to me (this sweet family of mine!) I know that I'll be able to take everything that comes. :)

Sleepy Time...

As most parents do, we have had a few sleeping-related issues lately. The main one is they're getting up a bit earlier than before, and it's too early for Monkey. Moose has been getting up early (6:00) to go to the bathroom. Monkey usually follows within 5 minutes. It's obviously too early for her. She can barely open her eyes. Moose is the type to get into routines really easily. We're thinking he's just starting a bad habit. But we're going to try and take precautions to help them sleep better. For one, Moose got limited liquids tonight, and none past around 5:45. We made sure he still drank a lot before that so we would know he's not dehydrated or anything. (He sweats a ton if he's active.) And since they've both been waking up earlier, we're putting them to bed earlier. They had been staying up late over the hub's vacation. But staying up later and getting up earlier don't mix.

At the moment, the hubs is trying to talk Monkey out of freaking out when he closes the door. We remember having to be super patient with Moose when he was younger. I would talk him out of many a tantrum. She's still a bit young, but the talking seems to be helping. Instead of running to the door immediately and crying, she will cry out once or twice, but then stay quiet.

Sleeping is always such an issue with kids. We've made some serious structured routines for our kids and tried really hard to give them consistent sleep times and good habits for falling and staying asleep. But in the end each kid is so different and their bodies all work differently. I can see that they need and respond to sleep the same ways me and the hubs do. We cherish our sleep and get as much as we can as adults. (Lights out at 10:00 sorta stuff for us.) When we don't get enough sleep, we're grouchy. So are the kids. I just hope we can continue their good habits and teach them to our next baby too.

We're shortly going to be outnumbered, so things might get dicey. But I'm sure we'll figure it out. :)