A Good Mom Moment

There are some Mom things that just can’t be topped. One of those things is when you go in to check on a sleeping child at night. I just got back from checking on Jake and Allie and I am so full of love. It doesn’t matter what they do during the day (2 hours of Visiting Teaching with 2 kids in “Grandma homes” needs no further explanation) you can’t walk in on a sleeping child and not come away melted. Today when I checked on Jake during his nap, I found him sleeping like this…

When he woke up, I asked him why he fell asleep on the changing table. He said the new pad I put on it looked comfy. (That changing table pad has a terry cloth cover that I never brought up from the laundry room after the last cleaning…5 months ago.)
Tonight, I came in to find him hunched up, knees under him with no blankets. I tried to flatten him out so he could be more comfortable. There were obstructions however; any toy that made it into his room was in a pile under his belly. I moved it all away and he snuggled right in, sighing. Oh, it’s amazing how much I love that boy.

Next was Allie’s room. I couldn’t see her when I first looked in. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I found a kid sprawled out in the corner of the crib. Her legs were hanging out the crib bars to her knees. I thought she was on her stomach, but that would have made her knees bend at an impossible angle. I moved away the mop of hair covering her face like Cousin It and there she was…breathing through her mouth and all covered in drool. I moved her legs out of the bars and she snuggled right in with a sigh. Oh, it’s amazing how much I love that girl.

They are so great when they are asleep. I can stare at Allie as long as I want because she isn’t off moving on to the next thing.

See what I mean? Don’t you agree? It’s a Mom moment that can’t be topped. It makes the rough day okay. I love it.

How do they know which ones are nice?

Jake and Allie are into a serious monster phase. They go on monster hunts with their flash lights. They shoot the bad monsters and play with the nice ones. This is today’s dinner time conversation

Jake: “No, don’t shoot that monster. He’s a nice one.”
Allie: “Oh no! (In a shrill voice) I shoot a nice monster?”
Jake: “Yeah, say sorry”
Allie: (looking back at the imaginary monster in the room) “Sorry I shoot you. You’re a nice monster? Sorry, I won’t shoot you again. You’re a cute monster” (in sweet tones)
“Here, you want my cheese?”

Update on the Allie situation...if you care.

There have been no more climbing out incidents, so I'm not going to buy the crib tent. She stays in there now, and gets out when she is done sleeping. That is actually really handy because I like to be lazy in the morning. This way she can come in and snuggle with me and I don't even have to leave the warm bed...wow, that sounded really lazy. I just like to snuggle with my babies in the morning and stay in as long as I possibly can. It's usually short lived because the kids like the routine of strawberry milk and a show more than they like to snuggle me. Bummer.

The things I did wrong today…

The act: I forgot about my 8:00 meeting at the Church.
Result: Mike was annoyed with me because it changed his snowmobile plans as I rushed out the door.
What I did to make it right (if anything): I went to the first part of the meeting and came home early. They didn’t miss me anyway.

The act: I tried to clean the house.
Result: The kids were on a rampage today. Allie followed me around, sometimes dragging on my pant legs all around the house. Books and toys were out as fast as they were put away. I was fighting anger and frustration every second of the morning.
What I did to make it right: I did sit down and read two of the requested books. I let Jake “vacuum” and Allie “dust” (then followed them after and did it again, without them knowing). Then I put away the toys again, and again, and again…

If you can't see the blotchy face, just trust me...it was all spotted and made me sad. This is his new picture face. He is in the awkward, "I don't know how to smile without looking pained" phase.

The act: I didn’t count to ten before I reacted when I came upon Allie and Jake standing on the counter putting on my lip stick and eating a whole pack of gum.
Result: Some yelling (from me) and two kids crying “I want my Daddy”, and a blotchy face for an hour.
What I did to make it right: I apologized for yelling and fixed them lunch. Then we turned on some music and danced while we ate. I know it's looks dangerous to let the kids dance on the chairs like that, but I think I say "sit down" a hundred times a day, and they don't listen. I didn't want to yell at them anymore today, so we danced.

Another picture that you'll just have to trust me on. They were dancing, but you can't see that in a picture that snaps in less than a second. Can you tell by Jake's expression that it was a slower song?

The act: I washed “squares blankie.” You would think that would be classified as something I’ve done right. But that is not the case. Squares blankie was still in the dryer when I turned on Baby Einsteins. Jake likes to snuggle in on the couch with Allie and he was sad to find that his trusty blanket was not in his room. (Neither was any of his bedding because of the “accident” he had last night). He cried, but I reassured him that it would be dry by the time the show was over. The half hour passed quickly and we went down to get his blanket. It was clean, warm, and smelled oh so good. You wonder what could be wrong with that? Jake picked it up and shrieked… “It’s hot Mom! Squares blankie is hot. Wahh” He cried all the way up the stairs (a bit dramatic if you ask me) and into his room. He lay on his bed, and by the time I covered him in the blanket, it was cold. What a turkey.

Needless to say, I am glad for nap time today. By the way, no complaints on sleeping for Allie still!
I know I should finish all the jobs I started today, but I feel like I need to relax after the annoying morning. Maybe I’ll get back to it now that I’ve vented a bit…what a pile of silly kids.

I'm Lazy...

So, my Sister-in-law wrote about some of our trip and it made me jealous that I didn't indulge more and write more in my blog. I just looked at the pile of pictures and didn't want to take the time to post them. So if any of you want to look at some more pictures of our trip and see the cute dish that I bought, visit Kim's blog

I got the same necklace (only clear) and the same orange dish...cool huh.

Thanks Kim for doing all the work. I guess I did all the work of taking the pictures there, and what would our life be without the picture of the handsome man on the balcony?

Yay!

I don't want to get too excited and count my chickens before they hatch, but we have had two successful incidents in the sleeping department.


After yesterday's post, my friend Kristin told me some things that worked for her daughter Joanna. One of the things was to let her watch a half hour of Baby Einsteins to clam her down and make her drowsy before I attempt to put her down.


Mike tried it last night while I was at Young Women's and it worked. At first I was a little offended that he was able to get her to sleep without any trouble, but this is no time to play the "she loves me more" game. I was just thrilled that there were no escapes.


Then, I tried it myself today. We ate an early lunch and I turned on the t.v. instead of putting her down right after lunch. She and Jake snuggled right in and enjoyed their show. When it was over, I took her to her bed. SHE STAYED! It was quiet within minutes and I had to keep checking that she wasn't atop the dresser pulling things off the shelves. She was ASLEEP!


So, now my fear is that it won't work forever, but it sure seems like it will work. Anyway, thanks for the advice...we'll see how it goes from here!

Nap Time Woes

So, things haven't gotten much better on the Allie napping scene. Some of you might be saying "just give it up Sue, it's not worth the fight. She's old enough to quit napping". For those of you that are thinking that, let me plead my case.

Here are the reasons I fight my 2 year old child in a battle of wills:

• She is only 2! That can't possibly be old enough to quit napping.


• She follows me around crying, whining, and making me crazy when she doesn't nap.


• She is also having troubles falling asleep at night. I'm not about to quit fighting her to stay in her bed at night too.


• She falls asleep in the car faster than I can drive out of the canyon on days that she fights naps.


• The books say a 2 year old needs 11.5-15 hours of sleep. I know I pointed that out before, but I think it's important, and so do the people who write the books.


• She is still too young to comprehend the concept of "quiet time", you know, time away from Mom being quiet. That means I never get a break. Maybe that is fine with some of you, but I need time to recharge my batteries just as much as she needs sleep.
• I see Jake in bed snoozing away the hours with no complaint and I think Allie should need to sleep more than him.

I'm sure I could think of more reasons she should be sleeping; but for me, it is enough that she is 2. She needs to nap.

For a week, I was successful in bribing her with a treat that rested on her dresser until she stayed in her bed and napped. Then yesterday, I came in to find her eating Smarties on top of the dresser...

So, I started looking on e-bay for one of these.

Something has to be done. That is a tall dresser and very dangerous to fall off of. I made some bids and decided to rig something up in the mean time.

I had an old roommate that we called "Ghetto Stewart". Like Martha Stewart, she could make something out of nothing, but her finished products were a little ghetto sometimes. This "tent" is pathetic, but Allie thought it was cool. I tied that loose end up after I took a few pictures, then I left her to sleep in her tent. After a few minutes, I started to hear sounds of frustration coming from the room. She realized that she was trapped in there. It didn't take long before she had worked through my knots and tape, and was out. I reinforced things and that held for the night.
This is what she did for nap time today.

Apparently it makes a lovely hammock.

After a promised treat from my neighbor Karen, she made a new resolve to stay in her bed; only to break her resolve a few minutes later. I put her back in her bed and told her she had lost her treat...she fell asleep crying.

This is a tough phase. I guess I just keep hoping that if I can push through it, she'll be better off. She needs sleep. I need her to sleep. Now I just have to convince the climber in her of that...

One of today's fights

The latest fight in a whole day of fighting:

Allie: “Defense, defense!”
Jake: “No! you can’t say that. “
Allie: “Defense, defense”
Jake: “No! You can’t say that. Only my Daddy can say that.”
“Mom, Allie is saying defense!”
Allie: “Defense, defense…ah (cry) Mom, Jakey hit me!”

Now they are both crying: Jake is crying because he’s in time out for hitting Allie.
Allie is crying because I didn’t hold her long enough after the fight.

Mom

I am “Mom”. Years ago, I wanted that title so bad that I would cry each month when I knew that, at least for one more month, I was not going to be “Mom”.
Since then, I have had two kids that call me “Mom”. Sometimes, the title isn’t something that I live to hear. Sometimes it is screamed in anger, but mostly it is the needy “Mom” yelled from the back of the house requesting a resolution to a fight, or to put batteries in a toy, or to find the missing toy for that matter.
But now and then, I get the “Mom” spoken in a tone of love. Or “Mom” cried out in a time of need. Or “Mom, I love you”, and “Mom” when only my arms will comfort.
Those are the times that I wanted so badly before I became the profaned “MOM”.
I guess you have to take all the titles when you become “Mom”.

Some of the things I could buy with 324 dollars...

• A new lens for my camera, or
• A new flash for my camera, or
• An entire wardrobe, or
• New tires for the Pilot, or
• 6 new cartriges for my Cricut, or
• A new monitor for my computer.

What I did buy with 324 dollars...

Two hours of torture in the Dentist's chair.