I want to scream at Mama...

Despite the heading, today was a good day. We used some alternative tactics to get Monkey to sleep last night. She was really struggling with the cough. She just hates coughing when it's time to be sleeping and gets so frustrated. So the hubs propped himself up in bed, and got her to lay with him. Then when she was comfortable and sleeping, we made a small pillow pile between us in our bed and laid her on it so she would be propped up. We tried propping up her mattress, but she still moves so much I was worried she'd spend half the night with her feet where her head should be, making her cough worse.  But nestled between the two of us she didn't squirm nearly as much, and she was probably so tired that helped too.  So she slept in our bed til around 2 or 3 when I took her to her own bed. (At her own insistence. The hubs was going to carry her and she asked for me. Half-asleep at 2 am and she still prefers me. Go figure.)

Today was significantly better. She slept in til 7:20 and took a nap from 12:30 til 3:30 without crying or coughing at all. It was miraculous. And she just went to bed and I have yet to hear her cough. That doesn't mean she won't, but the progress is fantastic compared to the last few days. I'm hoping she'll be over it within a day or two as long as she can keep sleeping this well.

So, the title. I sang her songs and told her good night. When I shut the door she started crying and screaming. After a minute or so she got up and opened the door. The hubs was the one who went in there and once she saw him she started crying, "Mama!" I thought to myself, "What? You'd rather scream at me, and not him?" I know she's clingy about me still but sometimes it just makes me laugh. Like the occasional time when she walks out into the living room and if he starts to walk towards her she starts crying "Mama" and running away from him. It's kinda cute, but tiresome after the first few times.

Yay for kids getting better. We ended up not having preschool today. With Monkey sick, another kid's brother was sick and in the end you have to have more than 2 kids, so it just ended up falling through. But I'm truly surprised we've gone this long with a group of 5 kids without having it cancelled due to sickness.

Well, she's crying now (5 minutes after I started this post) but it's not due to coughing. I guess that can be counted as progress, right? :)

Cough, cough, cough...

So today was up and down, mostly about Monkey. She's still coughing a bit, although she didn't wake up once last night. So at first I thought it was going to be a better day. But when it came to naptime, things just didn't work out. I put her down early, and she cried on and off, possibly sleeping in the off times, for about 3 hours. It was awful. I felt so bad for her. But she only coughs during sleep times. She doesn't cough consistently throughout the day, but when it comes to sleeptime, that's a whole other story. Then she also ended up staying up a little late tonight too, due to company. But she's quiet now, so maybe, just maybe she's already passed out from exhaustion. And if her cough is actually improving like I think it is, she might even sleep in to make up for lost time.

It was a slightly difficult/tiresome day, but despite that it was still productive. For one, we had some killer homemade pizza for dinner. :) Then I was also able to work on one of Monkey's Christmas present during "naptime". I'm definitely gearing up for some relaxation tonight.

Oh, and I'm hosting preschool tomorrow. Asssuming they still bring their kids after I emailed the moms all about Monkey's coughing situation. We'll see. :)

Another Day...

Today was pretty average. We all went to church. The kids took naps. The kids are now in bed. The only news is that Monkey is still struggling wtih a cough that wakes her up too early in the morning and too early from her nap. I can't wait til it's gone because I'm betting she'll sleep in really late that morning since she'll finally be able to sleep more peacefully.

Me and the hubs set up our new computer (from which I'm blogging). Our old one is 6 1/2 years old and we worry it's going to crash on us. So we got our wonderful new computer set up and I taught Moose how to play some news games, introduced him to "paintbrush" (what kid doesn't love playing with that) and overall got more organized. It feels awesome.

This coming Tuesday and Thursday it's my day to do preschool. Let's hope I can handle it all in my somewhat more advanced pregnant state. We'll see.

Hope Monkey doesn't cough too bad tonight. Well, I'm off to see "The End" of Lost. Can't believe it's finally over. :)

Have I Mentioned Being Busy...

As predicted, the busy-ness hasn't slowed down one bit. Yesterday was a busy Friday, as usual. Not to mention the nasty cold I have/had. It hit me really hard that morning, so I spent as long as possible dozing in bed while Moose watched a movie from the library and Monkey played around me. Then last night me and the hubs had a date night, finishing off most of our Christmas funds and hooking up our new Blu-ray player to our tv and setting it up to watch our Netflix on the tv. (Very exciting for us!) So we were psyched up to watch an episode of our show on tv last night (via our new Blu-ray) and blogging was postponed. Not to mention the pure exhaustion I was feeling.

Today was slightly better. Equally busy, although the hubs was home most of the day. (YAY!) Me and Moose made some chocolate chip cookies. We're planning on making goodie plates to give to a few families, and wanted to get him involved in the giving process. Then we had a great Christmas party tonight where we experienced "Bethlehem" and ate foods they would eat, dressed up (yes, towels on the head, that sorta thing) and sang some great Christmas songs to a short program. It was great and the kids had a good time. Monkey loved it because we all sat on the floor for the most part, so everything was on her level. They also got a driedel. (I'm sure that's spelled wrong) A top, for those who can't figure out what that says. It comes complete with instructions one how to play a game with it. Moose was super excited because he was able to figure out how to spin it. (Quite the fine motor skills involved in that one.)

Now the kids are in bed (hopefully for the night), things are mostly  put away, and we're about to finish the last episode of "Lost". Oh, and I started making Christmas project #5 today. It's a pinafore for Monkey. Gonna be adorable. Anyway, time to relax. With the insane busy-ness lately, we take our relaxing very seriously. As should you all. :)

So tired...

That's about all I can say. Last night wasn't nearly as smooth as I was hoping.  Monkey woke up at 3, still with a fever, and pretty much stayed awake til somewhere around 4:45. I slept by her bed on the floor to keep her reigned in and not coming out of her room every few minutes. We slept in til a little after 8, but it was still exhausting. Her fever has persisted today, but it's slightly lower. So hopefully by the end of tomorrow it'll be low enough that it won't bother her so much. I know she's pretty exhausted too.

Christmas is continually coming closer. I can hardly believe it's almost 2 weeks away. I just hope I can get my projects done by then. Even if I don't, I'll still make them for the kids. But it'd be nice to meet the deadline.

I'm looking forward to a day of nothing to do but school with Moose. (at home) Mondays and Fridays are my haven at home days. Nowhere to go, no schedules to meet. Since he started preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Wednesday has become our official library day, (all of these good things) it keeps us really busy. It's been good for the kids to get out of the house so regularly, especially in the snowy winter. But it makes me enjoy those days at home all the more.

Can't wait til the kids are in bed. I'm looking forward to a big bowl of popcorn and watching a few episodes of "Lost" in bed. Hope Monkey sleeps better tonight. For all our sakes. :)

Keeping busy...

I am learning that over this holiday season I will be kept very busy. Unless I completely drop the ball, anyway.

Yesterday we had preschool, me and Monkey kept busy while he was gone. I've been Christmas crafting during naptime, getting some serious work done. The hubs had an evening meeting, so I was busy with kiddos and bedtime. Then we relaxed with some tv episode watching on Netflix, one of our more favorite past times.

Today was equally busy. No preschool, but our weekly trip to the library. More crafting during naptime, finishing Christmas project #4 out of 8. Then I had some evening business to take care of. There's still wrapping to be done, shopping to be done (probably get it done during our date Friday night), and more sewing!

Poor Monkey is feverish. She woke up with a pretty high fever. I hate seeing her lethargic or sicky. I mostly just saw her grouchy, but gave her a dose of tylenol while she was in bed (when we put Moose to bed) and she just seemed so sad. I'm sure it was just her being tired because she was woken up 2 hours into her nightly sleeping, but still. I hope she's feeling better tomorrow and doesn't wake up at night due to fever or other discomforts.

Darn those winter maladies. We've almost all got coughs and runny noses. Grrr.

Spring Cleaning...

Sorry for the two day lapse. Saturday night we had a long day with the hubs at work and we spent dinnertime with a friend who was in town. Yesterday ended up being a mass spring cleaning day. The hubs was inspired by one thing and it turned out being a huge overhaul of the apartment. It was great. We have tons of tubs. Living in apartments and moving often, we've acquired plastic tubs. Big ones, small ones, medium size ones. We pulled them all out (over half of them hold the kids smaller clothes, for when we need them again) and rearranged, consolidated, and purged. We also put together a bookshelf deal with doors that's been in its box on the floor for a week. We ended up with multiple empty tubs and an empty shelf. We were able to put it all away and have the house feel less cluttered and more organized. I did one last bit of it this morning with Moose and he was so excited to organize. He thinks it's the best.

So, an update on the big girl bed saga. It's getting better. We've had a few rough go downs, but all in all she's getting used to it. Although she woke up crying at 6:00 this morning and was basically awake from then on. Needless to say, she had an early and long nap.

As part of our cleaning, the school/craft area is extremely more organized. (That's what the new bookshelf deal was for.) I was feeling super inspired to rejuvenate Moose's school we do at home. So we had school today. We didn't really do anything new, but with things more organized it just felt better. He was super motivated too and did a ton of pages from one of his activity books, practicing writing the alphabet and numbers. It was great.

I'm trying to pick up my Christmas crafting, knowing that the holiday is going to spring up on me before I know it. I just finished Monkey's first project today, a dress-up skirt. It has jewel type things all over it, so it's a bit sparkly. I like it. Next is project #4, a camera case for Moose. (for his digital camera he got for his birthday.)

And a few days ago me and Moose made a Christmas paper chain from my Christmas scrapbooking papers and put it on their Charlie Brown tree in their bedroom. It's not long enough to really go around the tree more than once, but it still looks great. It's currently decorating the bottom half of the tree. Sometime during the rest of the week we're going to make a popcorn chain, and paint a few styrofoam balls. Perhaps even toss some glitter on them. :)

Monkey's already broken one Christmas ornament. Luckily, it was fixable. :) Hopefully the rest of the ornament will survive the Christmas season.

Progress...

So today was better. Slightly worse in some ways, but better still in the end. If that makes any sense. 

Monkey was up at 6:30 in the am with her brother, who normally gets up at that time. (Take note, that's over 2 hourse earlier than usual for her.) They still went to nap at their normal time of 1 o'clock. Moose ended up in my bed again, after one strike from missy getting out of her bed. She was better about staying in it. She'd just get up, get toys, go back to bed, and repeat over and over. But once he was gone, she wasn't a happy camper. She noticed immediately that I locked the door. It only took 2 visits to her room before she was down for the count. The second visit was mainly due to the fact that she dropped her paci and couldn't find it. So all in all it was very productive. And she took a 3 hour nap, thanks to her early wake up.

Bedtime, fantastic. Didn't go in once.

And I haven't found her on the floor lately. Ever since that one night, I check on her everytime I get up for my midnight/early morning potty break. She maybe she's slowly figuring out this bed thing. Perhaps I'll even be able to let them nap in the same room soon.

Progress is progress. Thank goodness.

0-Me, 1-Someone Else...

I'm going to sum today up, then drown my sorrows in a bowl of vanilla, chocolate syrup and whipped topping.

I was woken up by Moose, who had shoved a small plastic something up his nose. Fortunately I was able to remove it, using a dull-tipped crochet needle. Thank goodness. No trip to the ER today.

Naptime was a total bust. Monkey is just not digging the idea of napping on that mattress. So after 1 1/2 hours, I put Moose to bed in my room (he was such a trooper the whole time) and locked her in her room. She fell asleep within an hour or so. Unfortunately, I went to check on her after a long quiet period, only to realize she was asleep against the door, and I stirred her. She fussed, went back to sleep for 20 minutes, until Moose woke up, closed my door in a not-so-quiet manner, reawakening her.

Then there's the diaper change. She was poopy, so I went to change her. She wouldn't lay down, so I laid her down. Not entirely unusual. But she completely lost it. I ended up wiping her bum while holding her with one hand on her ankle, body mostly hanging upside down. Putting her diaper on was equally difficult. After that little escapade she had another time in her room with the lock on, so I could cool off and recover from such an exciting diaper change.

So I don't know who got the points today, but it certainly wasn't me. Tomorrow's another day. Let's just hope it's not another one like this one. :)

Big Girl Bed Saga...

I have a feeling this one will be lasting a while.

Miss Monkey woke up at 6:30 again this morning when Moose got out of bed. So again, I went into their room and laid on Moose's bed while she went back to sleep. (For those who are wondering what on earth Moose is doing, he sat on the couch til 7, then watched a DVD from the library with headphones on.) She did fall asleep again, and slept til 9:45. I think I won't let her sleep in this long. Because her normal 1 o'clock naptime was too early for her and she struggled. So I ended up in their room at naptime to help her fall asleep. I ended up laying next to her on her mattress and watched her fall asleep. (I've never done that before, with a kid this age. It was actually really cool. Once she stopped squirming and fighting me.)

However, bedtime tonight didn't go so hot. I came home from somewhere as the hubs was calming her down for the first time. They heard me come in, and instantly she started crying. (Her whole attached-to-Mama-at-bedtime-unless-she's-not-here thing.) So I calmed her down and put her to bed. She came out of their room about 3 times after that. Finally, I think, she's down for good. I was starting to get worried that she secretly liked me being there when she fell asleep, even if I terrorized her for the first 45 minutes of it. (It took an hour.)

But she didn't wake up at all last night, not until 6:30 anyway. But she's definitely getting a 9 a.m. wake up call from now on. Especially since Moose has preschool tomorrow at 9. I'm teaching him to be fashionably late at a young age. Even if our version of fashionable is questionable. :)