moments from today

Today Lily ask me to list the reasons why wearing underwear was necessary. I could hardly come up with one.

Today we went to the library to get some new books. We were also picking out some audio books for our upcoming road trip to my grandparents farm. Lily found a favorite story of hers from school called "Arnie the Donut" in the audio books. She told Amy (her aunt that works at the library) that there was another book, about scrambled states of America, by this same author. She asked Amy to help her find it. Sure enough, Lily was correct. There was a book called "The Scrambled States of America" by the same author. It's amazing to me that she remembers this sort of thing.

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My friend Andrea gave Drew a tennis racket today. He was really excited about it and so today, in the heat, he convinced me to play "tennis" with him in the garage. It basically required me to toss the ball for him to hit and then wait for him to chase it down and toss it back to me. I was texting between tosses (I know, I'm terrible). I swear I only texted a couple of times and then Drew said, "Mom! You don't play tennis with a phone!" And that was the end of my texting for the day.

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Today Julianna was playing babies where she didn't think I could hear her. She was trying to put her babies to bed, but apparently they weren't staying in bed like they were supposed to. I heard her saying, "Stay in bed, baby. This is not funny! We are not going to the bathroom again! Stay in bed. Shhhh! Baby is sleeping." I'm happy to report that she reflected a very patient parent that didn't really get upset, but was persistent in her effort to get her baby to stay in bed. Sadly, the game she played did not translate to a better bedtime. For some reason she has gotten really bad about going to bed. It lasted one hour and 25 minutes tonight. I know she was tired because I had to wake her up to pick Lily up from gymnastics. I know she was ready for sleep....I am so tired of the drawn out tortured bedtime.

avoiding bad dreams

Lily: How can I stop having bad dreams? No matter what I do, they just keep happening.

Me: Think happy thoughts when you're going to sleep. When you wake up from a bad dream try to remind yourself that it was only a dream...even if it feels real, it was only a dream.

Lily: I try that...it doesn't work.

Me: Well, what do you dream about?

Lily: Tornadoes. Skunks. Really, skunks.

Me: Do you try and run away from the skunk and you can't run?

Lily: No, I don't run. He just sprays and sprays me.

Me: Skunks don't hurt you. They just make you smelly. It's okay to be smelly. You don't have to be scared.

Lily: I know. I just hate to take baths.

Me: So, having to take a bath is your nightmare?

Lily: Uh-huh.

nap time rituals

Julianna has discovered the art of stalling her nap time. She takes forever to say she's done eating her meal. She then has to take a extended bathroom break. We then need to read her book...and then Drew's book...and then just one more, please. After all of that she has to kiss daddy goodbye, give Drew a kiss goodnight and then get one more drink of water and one more kiss and hug from me. Then and only then when she lay down to sleep.

She has recently added one more step to the nap time ritual and I think it's the sweetest thing ever - and it was all her idea. After giving Drew and Daddy their kiss she says, "Goodnight Lily!" and blows Lily a kiss....all the way to kindergarten.

Cue the "Awwwwww!"

brokenhearted

Julianna has decided that she's not a baby anymore. Yesterday at nap time she asked to sleep in a big bed so I moved her mattress to the floor to try it out. I'm happy to say that it went well. She napped just fine and came out of her room only when she woke up.

Today she asked me if we could do the crib mattress on the floor again. I decided to give her another try. I am definitely not ready to move her to a big bed yet, but it's okay to try it out once in awhile. So, we moved the bed to the floor and I tucked her in and left. I didn't even make it to the kitchen before I heard her leave her room. I found her in Drew's room looking through his toys. I picked her up and told her that that was not a good idea. I then took her in her room and put the crib mattress back in the crib. I told her that if she's a big girl then she has to stay in her bed for nap time.

Her reaction was heartbreaking. She just stood there without crying or talking. I could see her bottom lip quivering, but she never cried. I hugged her and kissed her and told her we would try the big girl bed again tomorrow. I laid her down in the crib and just kept telling her that she's was okay, she wasn't in trouble and that I loved her. She never responded. She still is quiet in her bed. Wow. I would almost rather she have a temper tantrum because this devastated reaction is terrible! I feel so bad for her! I am sure she's fine and has already recovered from this incident, but I feel so bad for breaking the poor girl's heart.

This is not the first time I have made her sad, nor will it be the last. But that girl really knows how to pull on her mother's heart strings! When she figures that out we're all going to be in trouble!

sleep log conclusion

I am feeling a little guilty about my sleep log. I still haven't gotten a good night sleep this week, but I have these friends that are worse off than me. I suddenly feel silly about my hour of lost sleep when I think about my friends.

I have one friend with babies that are six months old. Yes, two babies. She has twins that are not sleeping through the night. She is a nursing mother and so it seems that she is feeding a baby around the clock. It is very rare for her that both babies are sleeping soundly in their cribs. Mostly, she feeds one, falls asleep during the feeding, and then gets up when the other baby cries. Not easy. Drew was like that. Wanting to be fed and held around the clock...but I cannot fathom having to take care of two Drews during that period. I would have had to have been drugged or something. So, my hat is off to this friend and mother of twins. She is the rock star, not me!

I also have another friend. She has two babies, too. But, hers are 12 months apart. They are at different stages, have different needs and are not sleeping through the night. Generally, at 12 months a baby is a mobile mess-making machine. When they eat the are covered from head to toe in goo. They pour out their drinks, crumble their crackers and throw plates of food on the floor just to see what will happen.  They are into everything, discovering everything and exploring anything that they can get their hands on. And if they can't get their hands on it, they will climb and bend and risk life and limb to get to what they want. Not an easy stage! Now, top that with a newborn that is in need of constant care and needs to be fed every two to three hours. I'm pretty sure when dealing with such stress a mother may be living in survival mode. Simply trying to make sure that everyone is fed and safe throughout the day...day after day after day.

So, I am concluding the sleep log. When you have kids it's just a general rule that you will not actually be sleeping again for the rest of the time they are living in your house. Okay, so maybe it will get better...but, for now, I am resigned to the fact that my sleep life will never be the same.

Sleep log 2

I'm too tired to go into too much detail about our sleep last night. It always seems to hit me two days after a bad nights sleep.

Last night Tom and I went to bed at 10 and Drew was in our room at 3 o'clock and we dealt with him until 4.

Then Lily was up at 6 asking to watch TV and our morning routine began soon after that.

This weekend my parents have invited the kids over for a full 24 hour period. It's the first time in months...I'm not sure how many, but a lot. So, I'm really looking forward to that! :)

Sleep log

This weekend my brother-in-law, David, who has no children, was asking me about how much the children affect my sleep. These days we do not have a baby in the house and I know that that is typically the most sleep deprived a parent gets, but Tom and I are still losing sleep to our children's night lives so I thought I would log it for a week on here. I'm not actually good at daily logs, but I thought I would at least give it a try.

Night One

The children were in bed and asleep by 8 PM, or a little after. We are recovering from a holiday weekend, so it was a bit hard for them to settle down. Tom and I went to bed a little after 10 PM, but since I have a hard time shutting down my brain to sleep, I know that I saw 11:00 at least.

Lily had a bad dream around 3 o'clock in the morning. She did not get out of bed, but instead she yelled from her bed "Mom! Mommy! Moooom!" Lily calling for me did not wake me up, but Tom was stirring, and started to sit up in bed, and that's when I woke up. I went up to check on her and got her settled down. We talked about how dreams aren't real and that the house wasn't on fire. We talked about what we would do if the smoke detectors went off and that there was no way that anyone could sleep through their beeping.

About 15 or 20 minutes after I crawled back in bed, the "Mom! Mom! Mom!" started again. I waited Tom out and tried to ignore her for as long as possible. I won. Tom finally rolled out of bed and took care of her. I think he got her a drink of water and tucked her back into bed. It was some time around 3:45 when he went to her and about 4:15 when he came back to bed.

I managed to go back to sleep and my alarm went off at 5:20 so that I could go to the Y to work out. I managed to drag myself out of bed by 5:30. When I arrived home from working out, Drew was awake and in our bed. It was around 6:45, but I have no idea what time he crawled in bed with Tom.

This is a typical night. The characters change, the excuse change, but the amount of sleep we get is generally the same.

GET UP!

The rule at our house? Stay in bed until 7 AM. Lily has a clock in her room and we taught her many, many months ago to stay in bed until the first number on her clock said seven. Some people may see this as child abuse, but I'm not a morning person and it's just better parenting to wait until my brain is working before I'm up and around with the kids.

This morning Drew came and crawled in bed with me about 6:30. He laid with me for awhile, but after a bit he was done waiting! He wanted his breakfast. I stalled...I told him that the clock didn't say seven yet. I told him, "See, it says six-four-eight...we're waiting for a seven." Drew grabbed the clock and studied it for a minute. Then very seriously, he said, "It says GET UP!"

How can a person argue with that? It was time to head to the kitchen and get him his damn rice krispies! Some day they will be teenagers and I will be fighting the opposite battle. Some day I will be saying to Drew: The clock says GET UP!