Martini Momma

Routine

Over the last few days I have come to understand the importance of routine in a baby/child's life.  I know some people may disagree, but in our house, routine is becoming everything.  Although my days have been starting earlier, which sucks I may add, naps and bedtime are consistantly running smoother so long as we don't miss the window of opportunity.  Her signs of exhaustion are becoming clearer as every day passes. She squirms, rubs her eyes until they're glossed over, and purses her lips tightly to avoid her soother. At first sign I am able to heat a bottle, swaddle her tightly, and rock her just long enough to see her eyes fade away into dreamland. This routine allows me some much needed time to catch up on household tasks, sit down with a cup of coffee, and engage in some mindless tv.  It allows her the time to rest her mind and body so that she wakes up smiling and is ready to spend quality time with her mom. My sister has told me for years that knowing when your kids are going to go down for naps and bedtime is crucial for both them and us. I absolutly agree. Our lives won't stop simply because Ivy has to be in bed early, but it will make us think twice about where we go and what we'll be doing.  Two times in the last week we have been faced with a wild child because the window was missed.  I personally don't think it's worth it. What do you think?

 

One of those days

I got an early start today, 4am to be exact. I was up for a bottle at 3:45, then crawled back into bed (again) and stared at the ceiling praying that my mind would allow me to doze back into a sound sleep. My body so desperately wanted it, but my brain, not so much.  I'm usually pretty good at getting back to sleep, mostly because I'm not sure I'm even fully awake when I get up to feed her. Needless to say, it was a VERY long day. I have to admit, it was one of those days I was envious of my husband off at work- is that terrible? Our naps have grown shorter, therefore everthing else has grown longer, very long. The fussing added to the frustration, but somehow I managed to power through. We play on the ground, watch Barney, sit in the exersaucer, go for a walk and basically move through the same circuit all day - Can you say tedious. Good thing we have plans most days because being at home could easily drive you crazy. The highlight of my day - the Bumbo!!! It was her first time and it was a hit!! Such a big girl, growing way to fast for her Mommas liking.  Anyways, now she is fast asleep and the house is quiet. It's time for this mom to sit back, relax, and gear up to do it all over again tomorrow. TGIF.

My Little Pumpkins

All I can say before this weary body heads off to bed is that we've been busy.  Very busy.  But not to busy to take in the pumpkin near our house with my 2 girlies.  It was a treat for just the "girrrs" while Ty practiced and Daddy coached the East St. Paul Red Hawks Tim Bits team.  Take a look!

 

 

 

 
 
 

Oops....Forgot that part!

I've been feeling pretty cocky lately, events are listed on the calendar, forms from school are completed and returned, hockey schedule is not overwhelming us.  Smooth sailing.  Ty's 6th birthday is tomorrow, party is planned for U Puttz.  I like this place, they take care of everything, loot bags, food, invites, EVERYTHING.  The man told me just bring the kids and the cake.  I can take care of that.  A Hockey Rink cake.  Easy, peasy.  2 rectangular layer cakes, iced to look like a rink with the players from his stick hockey game plunked in the top. I stopped and bought all ingredients on the way home, Grey's Anatomy and baking....a perfect night.  Grey's is a repeat.  Bad News.  No worries, I'll watch the PVRed version of Parenthood instead.  Box cake mixes....making life easier, nothing wrong with that...but oops I bought Angel Food confetti instead of supermoist rainbow bits.  Enter Chad....first trip to Sobey's.  Katie calls, crisis has been averted, knee deep in cake mix I am.  "That's awesome, you're making cake for Ty to take to his class tomorrow."  Sinking feeling sets in.  I forgot that part.  Ok, scramble, scramble, so I need to make something he can share with his class.  Monster cookies are his fave, so we'll do that.  Enter Chad...second trip to Sobey's...this time for a giant bag of Smarties, you can't do monster cookies without.  The most beautiful part of this story is when hubby willingly offeredto go for the second time and did NOT complain.  All he said was, "Ty is really lucky you're his mom."  Good, good man!  3 hours later, we have 2 cakes waiting in the freezer to be iced hockey style, 30 cookies packed in his backpack.  He woke this morning to this surprise and he was over the moon, bouncing off the walls to get his day going.  It made the 3 hours I stood in that kitchen baking and cleaning worth every moment.  Next stop....glow-in-the-dark mini-golf with 14 kiddos.  Good times, I tell you!

Sleepless in Winnipeg

The last few nights have been sleepless in our household. I have been bragging about my sleeping baby for months, but it's official, she has turned on me. I am literally pulling my hair out in the morning as my hubby is fast asleep and we've already started our day (Jared gets up at 5:45am). More bottles, a couple of diaper changes (I feel bad knowing that she's pooped and not changing her, the pee I can live with), crying but not knowing if she's still asleep.  You name it, it's happening. 

We've started an earlier bedtime, but this getting up every 20 minutes is killing me.  HELP!!!! A girl today said, "Your problem is that you keep getting up for her. Turn off your monitor and let her cry it out".  Are you kidding me? How can I ignore my 3 month old babe. My husband says that he's tired of waking up to me getting comfy, hearing another scream, and in a rage yelling, "F#!$" as I slam bottles around in the kitchen (please tell me you've been there before). Can you believe I would use that kind of language before 6am?

Yes, I know this is just another bump in the road of motherhood, but I think sleeping is the biggest one. I beg for suggestions or maybe just a good story. Weekend, please come faster!!

We're here.....

We need to be here.....

 

Playing Strange....again

Toady Ivy and I headed out to meet Grandma Judy to get Tyson's birthday present and to grab a bite. After lunch we walked over to Urban Barn to try and spend a gift card that has been sitting in my wallet for almost a year. My big treat -new cutlery.  Over the past six months we have found that our cutlery has dwindled down to the point of hand washing just to get a spoon. Treating yorself to new forks and knives, how exciting!

While shopping, I quickly ran into the bathroom leaving Ivy with Judy only to hear a hysterical baby crying before I had my jeans down. It couldn't be Ivy, she's been a perfect angel all day. I opened the door only to realize that it was in fact my daughter. What could be wrong? As soon as I came back into view the tears stopped as fast as they started. She was all smiles now that mom had reappeared into sight.  Isn't three months too early to be playing strange? By no means am I concerned, but I do think it's important for me to be able to leave her without the fear of a looming meltdown. Spending all day togther obviously gives us a bond that nobody else can replace, but what will I do if this continues?  I'm calling on all mom's for suggestions in case this becomes more than just a phase.  Motherhood, a series of new daily challenges!

Chaos in the house

So Mol dropped her three little ones off here this evening so that she could go join The Mamas for an early dinner and then go belt out tunes along side Brad Paisley (lucky girls!). Adding three kids into our mix = chaos. Not bad chaos, busy chaos. The girls fought over who got to hold Ivy on the couch. The resolution- Auntie Katie counts out loud to 10 and then they switch. 10, and switch.  10, and switch.  If Sadie didn't move fast enough, Maggie pulled her off the couch by her feet.  If Maggie didn't move fast enough, Sadie screamed with all her might. Chad arrived for a quick bite before taking Maggie to Gymnastics, so I was left with just Ty and Sadie.  Sadie had a melt down when Chad left, and Ty like a perfect big brother, went over to her, knelt down and in a high pitched voice said, "It's okay Sades, Daddy will be back to get us. He just has some other things to do right now".  Sure enough, the tears subsided immediately and she followed him downstairs to play make believe cell phones. At this point Ivy had fallen asleep in my arms, the stimulation clearly exhausting. The rest of the evening was full of wrestling while laughing hysterically as Olive licked them relentlessly, picking flowers out of my dead pots on the deck for Mags, and snack after snack after snack.  I will no longer complain about the exhaustion of one when others have two, or god forbid, three. I love that they can't get enough of baby Ivy, especially Sadie (two year old's are so damn cute).  When the Kaatz clan comes over it gives me a glimpse into my future. The amazing part- it doesn't scare me at all.

Painstaking Process

Every night Ty brings home a book or two that he reads to us as part of a fairly structured home reading program.  He uses his little finger to follow along the words and we painstakingly make our way through the books.  There is a reason that I do not teach elementary school, I do not embrace this whole teaching to read thing.  Frankly, I don't think I'm very good at it.  I know as a mother, I should be in awe of my son's fast growing repertoire of words.  I should be excited for the end of the evening routine when we sit down and snuggle and settle in for some of the world's most dull books.  If this weren't enough, the list of weekly sight words come home that we need to review and find in everyday readings.  Come on, could this process be anymore painful?  I try VERY hard to seem enthusiastic and encouraging but there are days....The question that begs to be asked is this, is there a better way to teach your kids to read.  Ty is well on his way and really his list of sight words is quite lengthy but I'm wondering if anyone knows some great websites that encourage early readers.  He loves the computer, he can do it without me taking the lead, there must be some great ones.  I am fully expecting my early year teacher friends to insert some advice here...Shauna, that's you, in case you weren't sure.  Mommas, lay it on me!

Mama's girl

I'm afraid I have a mama's girl on my hands. Secretly, I'm happy she loves me so much!! For the last few weeks she only wants to be home and with her mom. There is no issue when we go out, out to the grocery store, out for a walk, out running any type of errand. The problem comes into play whenever we go to someone else's house. The second issue comes into play whenever anyone gets too "in her face".  Immediately, the flood gates open and trying to get them to stop is challenging to say the least. The funny thing I've noticed is that the more a baby cries, the more people get close to them like they've got the secret weapon to make it all just magically stop. 

I'm not sure why other people's environments have become such a problem.  Does she not feel comfortable? Does she miss her own "things"? Is she scared I'm going to leave her there?  I know this is the first of many phases I'm going to be faced with, but it can't last too long, we've got places to go and people to see!  As for now, I'm happy to snuggle her as much as I can.

A Plea For ZZZZZ's

One month ago, we started back to school, busy days, full evenings, a perfect recipe for good sleeps and with the dark of the fall mornings, I knew sleep-ins were around the corner.  What I expected and what has transpired are about as far apart as you can imagine.  For 3 weeks, my two darling daughters have been rising long before the sun.  5:40, 5:20, a few days they were on the brink of breaking the 5 am rule.  We're not real supportive of their new schedules but worse, we don't really know how to fix it.  Our girls are no longer little babies that can be forced to "cry" it out in their cribs.  Sadie rises and from the dark, I can hear her screams, "mama, mama, mama", they don't cease and they don't get quieter.  Chad and I battle in bed about who is getting uo or even whether we are getting up to retrieve her.  The days start early and the nights are no better.  For months, they have been sleeping like rocks, waking happy and at reasonable hours, now suddenly even the nights are interrupted.  We were up from 3 to 4 the other night, listening to the crying of our baby.  I snuck in at 3 and told her it was bedtime, laid her back down and as I walked out the door, the screaming started again but this time she was screaming for the Wiggles.  So I just brought her to bed and put on the Wiggles.....just kidding.  I'm not that weak but it was close.  I just want to sleep, I want a full night, I want my hubby to stay on his side of the bed and stop stealing my blankets.  Suddenly, the basement couch seems pretty inviting.  I want my day to start with the soft whisper of my alarm's country music and not the wailing of my girls.  I want 6 hours..actually I want more but I'll take what I can get.  Am I asking too much?