Make Up Gift?

So after my breakdown this morning, Scott and Kanin had a hair appointment.  I stayed at home with Caleb (Grace went with them) and continued to clean my little heart out. 

Scott walked in carrying a cute little bag with pink tissue paper out.  He told me that it was a "We love our Mommy" gift.

Boy, does he know me!  He said that he saw it and knew it was something that I'd love.  He was right.  I am going to wear it tonight to meet the Pioneer Woman and my blog friend, Holly.  Paired with some skinny jeans, boots, and a cardigan.

Love him!

Are you Right Brained or Left Brained?

My Results: Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain Dominance: (16) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

Kym from Travel Babbles:  Living the (Hockey) Life posted this quiz this morning.  If you want to take the quiz, check it out here. 

Are you left or right brained?

Saturday Morning Tyrade

 I woke up in a good mood today.  I really did.  I did my normal go-to-the-bathroom thing and then when I walked out, it was like I was seeing my house for the first time.  I must have still been blinded by sleep on my way to the bathroom because when I came out and took a look around, I was a whole, new Mommy. It all started when I sat down to separate the folded laundry into piles.  Being a family of 5 I have to do laundry every day.  If I skip one day of laundry, it is piled up and takes me forever to finish it.  When finished, I carry it all upstairs and then lay it out into 5 different piles.  Once the clothes are all piled up, I have Kanin come put his clothes up and then I put up everyone else's.  I cannot stand this job.  Yes, I understand that it is necessary but it is just so time consuming.  Of all the household chores, laundry is my least favorite.  I think because it is never-ending. While sitting there laying out the laundry, I glanced up into the playroom and, for some reason, I just snapped.  I had had enough.I immediately started yelling at the kids and telling them, "Get in that playroom and start picking up those toys."   I think the commotion startled Scott and he asked what was going on . . . wrong thing to ask.   "I am tired of being the ONLY one who picks up around here.  I can't keep up.  There is no way for me to do the deep-cleaning things like scrub toilets and wash windows when I can't even walk through this house!  I am tired of living like pigs!!!" I'm pretty sure that he would have loved to have just said, "Oh" and roll back over to sleep but I'm also pretty sure that he realized that was not the right answer.  LOL So, he hopped out of bed and helped to clean up and you know what?  It only took about 15 minutes to get that playroom clean.  15 minutes!  It would have taken me 2 hours by myself but 15 minutes with the 3 of us (you can't really count Caleb and Grace because they pretty much make more of a mess). There is still a lot to do . . . laundry, sweeping, mopping, vaccuming, etc. etc but at least I feel like I got help getting it started. I know that one day I will miss all of these little toys, sippy cups, blankets, dolls, cars, Legos, binkys, and diapers laying around everywhere and I try to remind myself of that everyday but sometimes it is hard to believe that I will miss it.  I long for a clean, put-together, nice house.  

I Think I "Hate" Them

Gotta say . . . I didn't love them.

I just can't decide about these ladies.  I think I "hate" them because they are all hot.  They are beautiful, they are sexy, and they have accents.

Yep, I think I "hate" them.

I Wanna Go, Too

Caleb loves his big brother and sister and always wants to be with them.  We can't chance him going up and down the stairs, though, so this is a common site around our house.

1/100s, f5.3, ISO1000

Toddler Talk: Bedtime

The dreaded bedtime routine.  I have to be honest, and I know it is going to upset a lot of people, but I really don't have issues with bedtime.  I am a firm, firm, firm, firm--did you get that?--FIRM believer in routine.  I have always tried to keep my kids on a pretty strict schedule when it comes to meals, naps, and bedtime.

Of course, we have the random

"I need a drink"

"I need to go potty"

"I wanna sleep in your bed"

issues and when those arise I just deal with that issue right then and then send them right off to bed.

The child I had the most trouble with is Gracie but that is because I kept her in the bassinet my bed way too long.  Yes, you read that right, I have co-slept with all of my children up until about 4 months.  Now, I don't necessarily mean that they would go to bed with me but I had the bassinet right next to me and usually ended up having them sleep with me.  I was always so worried about SIDS and not being able to hear or see them breathing.  I figure that I slept better and I know they did, too.  I know that it is controversial but it worked for us and I would definitely do it again.

Because I waited until she was about a year old to fully put her in her own crib, I had a good two months of crying and screaming every, single night but I stayed with it.  Every night I would walk in to her room, lay her back in the bed, and walk out.  Did my heart break?  YES.  But, it finally worked and now she goes to bed when it is time to go to bed.

With all 3 of my kids, I'm blessed to say, all I have to do is say that it is bedtime/naptime (not Kanin anymore) and they will just lay down and know that it is time to go to sleep.

If I were going to give "pointers", I'd say:

1. Be consistent . . . don't let them go to bed with you one night and then next night try to make them sleep in their own bed.  (Of course this rule is meant to be broken when they are sick)

2. Stick to a routine . . . whatever you want the routine to be.  Bathtime, snuggle time, bed

Read a book, play, bed

8:00 every night, etc.

I know it sounds absurd but when trying to teach our kids the routine, we literally have hurried off from restaurants, friends' houses, etc just to make sure that they were in bed at bedtime.  We are more relaxed about it now that everyone understands that we might break bedtime every once in a while but when teaching them we always stuck to the routine.

3. Don't keep them in bed for you for your sake . . . does that make sense?  It is so awesome to get snuggles and kisses and hugs from our babies and I think a lot of time we want to hold them in that baby stage but it is really more to fulfill our needs than theirs.  There is plenty of time for snuggles during the day or maybe set aside a little extra time each night but you don't want them still sleeping in bed with you at 7 or 8, do you?

I know this sounds "too easy" and it definitely has not been.  Lots of work, lots of practice, lots of tears (from them and me) but I've always kept in my mind what I wanted my goal to be:

A drama-free bedtime routine!


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