Sunday, January 27, 2008

Sleeping Solo

I have been happily co-sleeping with my baby since he was a newborn. I decided early on after bringing him, our 4th baby, home from the hospital, that if I were going to be able to function I was going to need sleep. By having P sleep with me, he could nurse as needed over night and I could get some much needed rest. Aaron and I have shared our bed with 3 of the 4 kids when they were babies. I have no regrets.

Lately P has been more difficult at night. He would rather crawl around than lay down next to me. He would rather jabber than nurse. He isn't settling in for sleep the easy way that he used to. I think this means that it is time for P to get used to sleeping in his own bed. Over the past few months, P has slept in his bed for several hours on occasion. But, he has always been sound asleep when I put him there.

Tonight, I am trying to let P put himself to sleep in his bed. If he would lay still and nurse, or let me rock him, I would gladly do it. But, he is Mr. Fidget, so I decided we would try the cry it out way. It's definitely not my style to let my babies cry it out. I hate it. I really hate it. I just want to grab them up and snuggle with them. So, I sit hear and listen to him cry. Somehow, blogging about it makes it easier. Maybe because I have something to do.

I remember when C reached the age, right around 6 months, that he was done with co-sleeping. I tried rocking him to sleep but he would fuss and arch his back. So, one night, I just laid him down in his bed, sang him a song and left the room. C laid his head down and I didn't hear another peep. He went right to sleep. Ever since that day, C has been my easiest sleeper. Even when we moved him from the crib to a toddler bed before P was born, C was so good about going to bed.

I also remember when K was right where P is tonight. She wouldn't lay still, she didn't want to nurse, she didn't want to rock. K wasn't easy like C. I had to let her cry it out. I still remember those first couple times of letting her cry herself to sleep. It was so hard. But, after a night or two of crying, she decided sleeping in her own space wasn't that bad after all.

I know that P will get the hang of sleeping solo too. I hope it's soon. Tonight he only cried for about half an hour. He's quiet in there now. But, you know something? It's not only the babies that have to adjust to this change. It's the mama too. I miss having them with me, snuggled up next to my side. They grow up so fast. So, so fast.

Before we had children, Aaron and I were never going to let our kids sleep with us. But when you actually have kids, there are a whole bunch of things that change. Both Aaron and I love to have the kids come and snuggle. We keep saying that we need to get a king size bed since several nights a week we have an extra person (or two) in bed with us. I'm glad that even though all the kids eventually go to their own beds, they still come back in and snuggle once in a while too! I know that someday they won't want to do that, but until then, we'll continue to snuggle 'em up!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Works For Me: Food Chopper


The Pampered Chef Food Chopper is what's working for me. If you've been to a Pampered Chef party, you've surely seen them demonstrate the food chopper. You can chop almost anything with it from nuts to onions to chocolate. However, the way the Pampered Chef chopper works for me is in preparing food for my littlest people.

Here is an example: Turn the chopper upside down and put in spaghetti noodles and some sauce. Place the lid on the chopper, turn it right side up, and chop away. You might bang the noodles off of the edge a couple of times. And then, voila:


You have finely chopped spaghetti in a matter of seconds!

My youngest son, P, is 9 months old and just starting to eat some table foods. I've been using my chopper to get his food into itty, bitty bites, and it has worked great. I hope that this idea works for someone else who is tired of cutting spaghetti noodles with a fork!

Head on over to Rocks In My Dryer for more Works For Me fun!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Poems by my son

N decided to join in on the poem writing action. N is almost 9 years old. He's my firstborn. There's just something special about that!! N is a very smart kid. He has a huge heart and makes me laugh a lot. N loves cars. When he was just 3 years old, we could walk through the parking lot at the mall and he would name the cars we were walking by (Honda, Ford, Chevy, Lexus, Mazda, etc.). He is also a pretty good artist. Guess what he likes to draw?? Cars, of course!!

He hopes you'll enjoy his poems about his little brothers.

My Lil' bros.

My Lil' brother C is cute.
He's sometimes a brute. But
usually actin' cute.
Wait, not cute, adorable!

My Lil' brother P is a can of sugar.
He's sometimes a booger, but usually cinamon and sugar.

I'm loving these poems the kids are writing!

N also drew a cool picture of the Nebraska State Capitol tonight.

Happy Monday!

Poems by my daughter

My daughter, K, wrote a couple of poems tonight. They are so sweet, so I thought I would share them on my blog. K is 7 and a first grader. She is a petite little thing, but her zest for life is huge!! She smiles and laughs and loves big. K loves to read, especially Junie B. Jones books. She is quick to make new friends and is quite the conversationalist. She's my only girl and I'm so incredibly glad God gave her to us!

All About Me!
Im cute pracktickley adorable
Im incuriging I Love my Big Bro
hes cute deffintley adorable very
funny he Love cars sometimes hes
mean...But...the best part of
all my Life is I LOVE GOD
***********************************
My Little Brother P
hes sweet like candy. :)
I love him very much.
hes cute!
***********************************

My Brother
We offten play.
When we fight theres a big knot betewen us.
But...when we get along its all better.

I didn't edit these for spelling or grammar. (Ha, I'm terrible at grammar, so of course I didn't!)
On this poem she drew three pictures. The first one they are smiling and playing cars together. On the second one they are both frowning. K is saying "dont" and N is saying "why" and his face is red (from anger, of course). In the 3rd picture, they are smiling and holding hands.

***********************************
I Love my mom
My mom is nice she cares for me.
I Love her and she Loves me.
She speshil olways to me.
Shes the Best!

I think her poems are pretty awesome! I hope that she'll continue to write poems. She LOVES to write in journals. I wish that poetry and journaling were things that I did consistently. I journal from time to time, but not as often as I would like to.

**Doh! I have no idea why the second half of this post is small. It looks right when I edit it, but it ends up all smallish here. Oh well. I'm not too smart at all this computer stuff.**


Friday, January 18, 2008

Limerick Fun

Shannon over at Rocks In My Dryer is having a limerick writing contest. At first, I couldn't remember quite how to write a limerick. However, Shannon had links to some sites that explained it. I decided to have a little fun with it. If I wouldn't have had so many things to do today, I would have written more, because honestly, I was having a ball! Here are some of mine...

My son won't get ready for school.
With his toys and his siblings he fools.
I plead and I yell,
It's not going well.
Does anyone have tricks or tools?

(For real, friends, we have serious ADHD morning routine issues. If y'all have ideas, leave me a comment!)

There once was a mom with four kids.
And too many bowls without lids.
Lots of laundry undone,
But she had much fun
In her crazy, busy life with four kids.

There once was a friend named Dee.
Who was sweet and caring as could be.
Though not good at art,
She had a big heart,
And could make me laugh 'til I peed.

I had so much fun with those. And, if not for running lunches to school, helping with a school party, making supper, taking care of the kiddos, and going to see this incredible woman in concert for FREE, I would have written more. I'm off to fix supper because the doors to the concert open at 6:30!

Have a great weekend!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Thanks for the Simple Things

Tonight I'm thankful for...

*sweet baby laughs (especially when all I did was sing his name to him)
*the fun friendship I see developing between my little guys
*Cinnamon Dolce Latte from Starbucks (mmmmm...mmmm...mmmm!)
*some time alone to go to the library
*a sink without dishes
*a challenging message from my pastor this morning
*no sick kids this week!
*blogs that make me laugh
*blogs that inspire
*good music and good books
*a pleasant and relaxing weekend
*that the reason my laundry baskets are overflowing is because I have a houseful of kids and we have plenty of clothes (because I'm really not cheerful about the laundry, I'm trying to look at the bright side) :)

What are you thankful for today?

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Apparently I'm a 50's Kind of Girl

You Belong in 1952

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

Monday, January 07, 2008

Couch to 5K

I'm on a mission. I want to be a "runner". My original thought was to try and run the half marathon in my town, which is the first weekend in May. My husband has been trying to tell me that he doesn't think I should bite off that much when I'm just starting to run. I was like, "Oh, honey, everyone I talk to says that if I start training in January, I can surely run the half by May."

Well, yesterday was my first walk/jog experience in a really, really long time. I'm not sure I've actually run since I was in highschool. Yikes! I took my almost 9 year old with me. He loves to run and is a pretty energetic boy. I figured he'd be complaining that his old mom couldn't keep up with him. We walked about 10 blocks to the beginning of the bike path that we were going to run on. Then we began our run for 90 seconds, walk for 60 seconds intervals. We did that for 10 minutes and then we were to turn around. My intention was to do the same thing for another 10 minutes and then walk the rest of the way home. N was too tired to run anymore, so reluctantly I agreed to walk the rest of the way home. Ha-ha-ha. Actually, I was secretly relieved. I was also feeling pretty tired. We walked home and stopped along the way to watch a construction site for a few minutes. We also played a little game to see who could shout the make of the next coming car first and correctly. If you know N at all, you know that I didn't have a chance of winning that competition. It was a fun experience and I'm glad N was willing to go with me!

Now, here is the part where I have to admit that my hubby was right! I'm going to persevere with this running thing, but I'm not going to go crazy and kill myself trying to get ready for a half marathon in just 16 weeks. My new and much more reasonable goal is to run a 5K this spring. That is something that is attainable but still something that I will have to work towards. I should go running again tomorrow, but my legs are KILLIN' me today. I may have to wait until Wednesday. I mentioned the sore legs to hubby and he asked if I had stretched at all (like he told me before). Um, no, I didn't. Gee, why does he always have to know what he's talking about??!!

Stay tuned for further Couch to 5K updates. And someone please say a prayer that I'll be able to walk normally tomorrow. :)

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Housekeeping Mission Statement

I want my house to be clean enough to be healthy, but "dirty" enough to be happy. I want our front rooms to be warm and inviting, and clean enough to invite drop by company in without hesitation or embarrassment. In order to tame the laundry monster, I want to develop the habit of doing one load of laundry each day. Above all, I want my family to be able to relax and enjoy our home (and always have clean socks and unders).