16 posts tagged “kids”

Stewey Griffin, meet your match!  Introducing Baby M!  This girl loathes sleeping. 

Wednesday night J & G were home from their dad's so we stayed up relatively late playing cards, walkie talkies, games, watching movies, etc.  So we headed for bet at 11:30pm. 

Fast forward 11:45pm and Baby M starts crying and yelling Mommy.  So I go in and she has the "Cling-On" syndrome and won't let go for anything.  I try to take her to the Daddy who is still up playing WoW.  She wants no part of him.  (sigh)... so I put her in our bed.  This in itself was a huge transition in which I thought I had won the war.  So I put her in bed with me and like a metranome she flinches every 3 seconds,  arm up, leg figit, head turn, repeat.... I look at the clock it's 1:58am.  The daddy comes in the room and comes to bed. I decide they can have the bed and I proceed to go and sleep in the comfy glider rocking chair in Baby M's room.  I put the Baby Gate up so no one falls down the stairs in the middle of the night. 

At 2:48am I hear Baby M in G's room carrying on a full conversation with herself and our dog Chloe'.  She is carrying on with, "Hello, how are you today, I'm fine Thank you."... What is your name, My name is M,   And Hello to you Chloe', you are such a good Dog.....   and then she is accompanied by the jingle jangle of Chloe's collar making noise.  G gets up and and Chloe gets up and G asks Baby M, what the heck she is doing up and how she got out of her bed.  I explain to G to go back to bed.  I tell Baby M she absolutely must go to sleep because the Mommy has to work in the morning. 

Baby M starts out crying a little and then proceeds to recite her alphabet and count while clapping her hands and plopping her leg in her bed. Then she decides to sing.  I close my eyes and pretend to sleep, I look at the clock and it is 5:45am. ohhh good lord, I should just go back and work at the hotel...

Look Baby M I know you are far smarter than any other two year old that only says "Cookie"... and you don't have any kind of Stewie accent, and thank God my name is not Lois, but the mommy needs some sleep. 

Life is a ginormous roller coaster with children aged 13, 9, and 2. 

My 13 year old has the most gorgeous smile and has sworn for the last 12 years he would never have to have braces, well one weirdo tooth in the back and several thousands of dollars later. He does indeed have to have braces.  My poor baby.  As they were putting them on, he had the look of defeat, like why are you letting them hurt me mom... argh, I hate that look. 

That is the same look tht the 9 year old Drama Queen had after her kidney surgery last year in July. G is an emotional roller coaster going from giggly to tears 10 times a day for every reason under the moon.  She ran into her bestest friend that she has had to endure all of summer without seeing, at the pool on Sunday.  She was ecstatic to go down the tube slide with her best buddy,  when all of a sudden, another mutual friend arrived and then proceeded to steal the best friends attention away and the double tube would then be occupied by her instead of my Drama Queen.  There was a whole lot of pouting and hurt feelings going on. 

Meanwhile, my 2 year old prodigy that swears she is 6 years old on most days when you ask her, is involved in heavy conversations about words, spelling, alphabets and kids her real age that don't respond when you say hello.  Baby M is very friendly and wants to make friends quickly when she goes to the playground.  She often starts out with a hello and proceeds to try and engage the other small child in conversation and when they either don't talk or only babble, Baby M doesn't understand.  She asks me, "Mommy, I said hello, why don't they talk, why won't they play?"  I have to explain to Baby M, that not everyone is able to talk yet, or that they may be feeling shy. 

Baby M is scheduled for extensive Kidney testing on Monday, as she has the same genetic Kidney disorder that the Drama Queen had surgery for last year.  They initially scheduled a renal exam, which very quickly got changed to a DMSA scan which she will have full blood work up, physical, and she will be sedated for.  I have not discussed any of this with her and hope and plan to take it one step at a time.  We shall see. 

So while the EMO 13 year old sulks because he can't eat anything, the Drama Queen pouts over outfits, friends, and Barbie's hair having tangles, and the two year old is working on her Levitation Algorithm, or the first flying car... I blog and vent, and try to convince myself that someone may enjoy reading this. 

Okay I just went to the bathroom at work, and noticed I had a Lacy Baby sock stuck to the back of my underwear. 

Okay so this sleep thing is like a full time job.  I think working at the Hotel standing on my feet for 48hours straight with no sleep might be easier.  My older kids commented that they wish I still nursed.  Although at the time they all had comments about that too.  What is crazy is I still have milk.  We stopped nursing the end of November.  I don't know if my body somehow is triggered by all of this and thinks she needs it or what is going on.  Last Sunday morning, G brought me breakfast in bed of Cinnamon Toast crunch with my favorite vanilla rice milk, (yum) and Baby M woke and started crying a little.  I leaked all over my pajama shirt.  G was like, "Mom, are you leaking". And the Hubby was like,   "Ummm is there something you need to tell me"...    no I don't think so, 'cause Aunt Flow has been making her regular visits like clockwork. 

So Sunday, getting Baby M to bed took until 10pm as we had the whole family over for Mother's Day.  Monday night went well and Baby M was asleep by 8:20pm  Tuesday by 9pm,    And last night.... I really tried to shoot for 8:00 and it turned into 10:00pm...and then she was up at 4:40am...    ARGH!           Her little mind is sooo busy.  She is too darn smart for her own good. 

At 23 months, Baby M has pretty much potty trained herself.  She knows all of her alphabet and can identify any letter in any order.  She knows her numbers 1-20 and can identify any number in any order.  She knows all her colors and shapes and not just basic shapes.  She can identify Octagons and Hexagons.  The other night at dinner, G said she wanted a (spelled)  C-o-o-k-i-e and Baby M said   "Cookie".....     As I drive she knows the way home.  As I drive past the mall on the way home, Baby M says, "I would like to go to the Mall and walk"...       When we pray at night she can recite the "Now I Lay Me prayer...   

So I don't know if her little mind just like never shuts down.... or what.  I need to find Glow in the Dark Letters, Numbers, or some kind of Algorithm or Math Equation and glue it to her ceiling so she can lay in her crib and figure it all out and hopefully her busy little mind will finally compute that ummmmm    "It Is Time To Go To Bed"..

I think by true definition they should say, when you have a 22month old, or an active minded Toddler, you get no sleep.  Our 22month old does not sleep.  She would gladly stay up until midnight, get up at 5am, skip the nap, and happily go about her day.  My older children commented saying they wished she still nursed so we could all have some peace. 

I have decided to sign up for the Nickelodeon Parents Connect link.  I found an interesting article about 30 Days to get your kid to go to sleep, so I thought wow this is for me.  Of course, I'm the mom that wants to read ahead and skip chapters to get the final scoop and unfortunatly there isn't one.  You literally have to go 30 days, checking each day for the next step. 

So the first step is to commit to doing this 30 days.  Both Mom and Dad on board. 

Step 2 evaluate how many hours your child requires to sleep.  Okay according to the chart, Baby M is supposed to sleep 11 hours and take a 2 hour nap... (LOL!  wow, that's hilarious)... okay ahem... seriously, really, that much....

So last night I get her ready for bed, we have a big production to brushing our teeth, I put her in her jammies and we read two books while rocking, I put her in her bed awake as indicated by my reading and the games begin. 

Baby M begins with outstretched arms and the saddest face imaginable and puckers her bottom lip and says, "I hold you me..." which is her way of saying she wants to be held.  I told her she was okay and that it was time to go to sleep.  Then she grabs at her diaper and says, "I have to go poopie, pooopie, POOOPIE!!!!!!!"   I said okay after you go poopie, then you have to go to sleep.  So I go downstairs and fetch the pottie, remove jammie pants and diaper, while she indeed uses the potty, we flush, wipe, and wave farewell to the flushing poo. I then place her back in her bed.  Then she decides she needs a drink.  I am almost chuckling at the stall tactics she is so quickly coming up with.  I think it is funny that her little mind works this way, after all I know who her mom is... (wink wink).   So I give the drink and then kiss her and tell her good night. 

Then Baby M just gets flat out angry and destroys her bed.  She takes all stuffed animals, blankies, and her socks and throws them on the floor, she continues to undress herself and throws all her clothes on the floor, then she yells that she is cold.  I go back in pick everything up, dress her and put her back to bed.   I stroke her cheek and shush her to sleep telling her every couple minutes in my sing song voice.... "Its Okaaaay"..."Shhh, Shh, Shh"....    So the first night I put her to bed at 8pm and she finally decided to go to sleep at 11pm.  Last night I put her to bed at 8pm and she was asleep by 9:30pm.  So far that is our progress... 

Some of you are aware that I have taken on a second job working 2 nights a week in addition to working my full time job.  So on Wednesdays, I wake up at 5am and take Baby M to the sitter and arrive to my full time job by 7:30am then I'm off at 4:30pm.  I drive to pick up Baby M by 5:00pm, then drive to G's Basketball practice that starts at 5:30 and ends at 6:30pm.  I then get dinner and homework done by 7:30pm and bathe and get Baby M ready for bed.  I shower and get into my own pajamas and try to sleep from 8ish until 10ish.  I have to be at my other job by 11pm then I work until 7am and then come home and scoop up J and take him to middle school.  Well Last Thursday morning, Baby M was awake when I arrived home to pick up J and she wanted to go with me.  I had to explain that the Daddy would be taking her to the sitter.  She was not happy and refused to tell me goodbye and frowned, scrunched up her face and pouted.  I kissed her all the same and told her I would see her later.  Later Thursday evening when I needed to run out and pick up our Market Day items from J's school, I told her I would be right back and to stay home with Grandma and Daddy. I was greeted with the same little pouty face, but it was so cold outside and she has been struggling with a cough, I just didn't want to bundle her up and have her face the cold outside.  Well when I arrived back from picking up the Market Day items.  She ran to me at the front door, yelling, "Mommy" and then she grabbed my arm and bit me so hard I saw stars.  I couldn't believe how hard and strong she bit me.  It nearly broke the skin and became bruised and swollen.  I had to put ice on it.   My mom, (grandma) stated that maybe it was an accident and that maybe she had run into me with her teeth...   I explained, no I don't think so, and when I confronted Baby M that she really hurt Mommy and that that is not okay to do, she gave the same little pouty face, but looked embarassed and kinda looked away as if she wished we would change the subject.  Thank God this has not been a repeat offense.  My son J kinda laughed about it.  See, J was never a biter, but G was like a little baby vampire and bit us all.  G is 9 now and J is 13.  When Baby M bit me, J laughed and said, "That is G's baby sister, not mine". 

My older kiddos have had the past coupld of days off of school.  On Wednesday evening, G exclaimed at 7:45pm at night that she had homework and a lot of it.  I needed to get Baby M off to bed and help G with her homework, plus I wanted to play a game with J.  So I elected the Daddy to put Baby M to bed which is never easy on Baby M, myself, or the Daddy.  I helped G get all of her homework done and still had some time to play a quick game with J & G.  Everyone then got ready for bed and I told J & G to meet in my bed for story time.  They both asked if the Daddy had ever exited Baby M's room and I sat puzzled for a moment.  I told them I really wasn't sure.  We said our prayers and I began to read a story when all of a sudden over the baby monitor I heard a growling, snuffling, loud snoring sound.  G asked, "What in the world is that noise?"  I listened more closely and discovered the Daddy had fallen asleep while putting Baby M to bed.  Hilarious to hear him snoring so loudly over the baby monitor. 

My Very, Talented Sister in Law is a professional Photographer and she was sooooo patient with us, she even pretended to talk on Baby M's Play Phone to try and capture the shot.  We attempted to get a good family pic of all of us at my cousins wedding and it was a no go.  So we took 2, then 3, then what felt like 300.... God Bless You Auntie Leigh...

These picture were Take 1, and Take 2.(no one knew which camera to look at.)   Then came....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

okay time for a break, switch backgrounds...

 

 

 

 

 

okay, let's try this again...

 

And finally we decided on this last one.  I wish Baby M had smiled, but was just happy to have a family picture.  Yay!

I often refer to my hubby as the Papa Bear and Baby M as the Baby Bear, and myself as the Momma Bear. 

Night before last, I put baby bear to bed and she didn't cry, (Thank God).  At 11:57 I rolled over in bed to find the Papa Bear had left his night stand light on full blast and had fallen asleep on top of his book.  I asked him if he needed the light on and he said yes, however he was talking to me in his sleep.  Flash forward one hour to the minute, 12:57 and Baby Bear starts screaming her head off.  I waited a few minutes to see if she would go back to sleep no such luck. So I go and get her and she has zero desire to sleep.  I put Baby Bear in our bed and she wanted to talk and play.  I told her Momma Bear and Papa Bear needed to get some sleep.  Baby Bear did not care and refused to go back in her crib by screaming and crying.  Papa Bear grumbled.  So I get up and tell Papa Bear I will stay up with her and He responds with relief "Good".  At 3:30am I fed Baby Bear a bowl of Cheerios just in case she was hungry.  I changed her diaper and put her in a different blanket sleeper, just in case it was itchy.  So at 4:40am Baby Bear is still going strong playing and does not appear tired at all.  I thought I had better get some kind of sleep.  So I put the screaming Baby Bear in her crib, knowing that she was fed, dry diapered, warm, and comfortable.  I dialed down the baby monitor and reset my alarm for 6:00am.  I shut my eyes unitl the clock went off.  Papa Bear still asleep, I get myself ready for work and then go in and get Baby Bear, who has decided now that she is very sleepy.  She was soo sleepy that she even let me put her hat on her since it is very cold outside. She didn't wake up at all until I got her to the Baby Bear sitter. 

When I arrived at work I was informed that my co-worker was ill and I would have to work until 7:00pm.  So I call the Papa Bear and informed him that he will have to come by my job and pick up the car seat for the Baby Bear, and fight the normal Momma Bear Traffic and pick up the Baby Bear and feed and take care of the Baby Bear while I work until 7:00pm on 1 1/2 hours of sleep.  The mere thought of Papa Bear juggling this was motivation enough for me to work until midnight.

When I arrived home, the very sweet, sexy, Papa Bear had porch lights turned on, dishes done, floors vaccumed, and mopped and He and the Baby Bear were dancing a jig to some Blue Grass Music.  Baby Bear had her Pretend Broom helping the Papa Bear.  It was very, very, cute.