Are You Sleeping, Are You Sleeping?

When you have a baby, the big question is, "Are you sleeping?" or "How is he sleeping?" or "Is he sleeping through the night yet?" 

Now that Little Bear is almost three months old, I thought I'd let you know how it's going.

When I had my first baby, this question used to stress me out. Would there be some kind of judgement if he wasn't sleeping good? What would the questioner think of me if I said I had actually let my baby cry to sleep? I would wonder if the person questioning me was a co-sleeper, a Ferberizer or Baby-wiser!" I think people have mellowed out now, but ten years ago there were some pretty strong opinions out there about sleep. 

I like my sleep and I am a very grumpy "awake in the middle of the night" person. I have greatly improved my middle of the night demeanor over the years purely for my children's survival, but still, it is not pretty. Mister Baseball isn't too pretty in the middle of the night either. Well, correction, he looks good, but can be pretty grumpy too. We both like our sleep.

You know what is great about this- when they are not coughing, throwing up, having bloody noses, stomach pains, bad dreams or itchy skin- our kids like to sleep too. I hear about kids getting up at 6am and my mouth falls agape. During the school year, our boys sleep until dad wakes them up to get ready.  In summer, they sleep until 8 or 8:30am.

Our dog will even sleep that late or even later with us. 

By six months, all of our boys were sleeping from 7pm to 7am. Fabulous!

So, how is Little Bear fitting into this sleep loving family?

He is doing great. I don't think I have bragged lately about how absolutely fabulous this little boy is. He certainly got the memo that he is the fourth boy and must be a complete delight so his mother appears to be able to handle four boys. A COMPLETE DELIGHT. So easy that it is almost comical. He eats heartily (obviously), naps wonderfully, and smiles and coos when he is awake. We take him to a RIDICULOUS amount of baseball games all over town and he just goes with the flow. Okay, done bragging. Maybe. Back to the sleep question.

He goes down to bed at around 8pm. I put him to bed awake in his crib and he just goes to sleep. At first he had to get used to his crib and would cry for a few minutes. This only took a few days. He sleeps until 2:30ish. At this point, I pick him up out of his crib and bring him into bed with us. I nurse him on my side, during which we both promptly go back to sleep. He then sleeps until 7:30 or 8am with me, sometimes waking for a second feeding around 5:30ish.  He wakes up happy and lays in my bed smiling and talking to me. I don't miss much sleep so I'd say he is fitting into this sleep loving family just fine.

A friend of ours called us a few weeks ago on a Saturday morning. It was a little after 8:30am. He woke us up. He was like, "You have all those kids. I thought for sure you guys would be awake." He has three boys that are friends with ours. His wife said to me last week, "We have you guys figured out. You are slipping them all some whiskey!" She caught us- that's the trick!

Really though, I am a reader of books, a researcher, a person who wants to know everything about anything that I find interesting or necessary. I thought that "Babywise" and "The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" and "The Happiest Baby on the Block" all had some really great information. I tend to take what works for me and then let the rest fall away. But, I have to say that my award for the best book on sleep goes to, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." It gives you information about a child's need for sleep through the teen years. 

So my answer about sleep, "Great, we are doing great."

Errr or Orrr- Speech Issues!

Is it nermal fer you to want mer cern er to per ernge juice when you sner?

This is what it sound like around here for the last few months.

Translation- Is it normal for you to want more corn or to pour orange juice when you snore?

My children can't say their r's and have also struggled with other sounds. When Mister Luke was little, everyone thought he was from New Jersey. He used to call himself Yuke and Jack- Yack. Then he started going to speech at age three and had mastered his sounds by age six.

Did you know that speech problems can be hereditary? Mister Baseball was in speech until 6th grade and I learned that his aunt and his grandfather were also in speech.

Jackie Boy has been working on his R sound for two years so we have been practicing things like rrrrrrrred, rrrrrrrrat, rrrrrace, rrrrrrock, or betterrrrrrr, strongerrrrrr, borrrrrrring. Drawing out the er sound helped him learn to bring his tongue back to make the right sound.

I thought he was almost ready to exit speech until something wacky happened.

Suddenly, for became fer and more became mer. I think he was overcompensating. The ER just stuck. Then Toots picked it up and so we had two speaking this interesting language. It just wasn't nermal- ooops- NORmal.

We have made progress though. Now, they both say, "Can I have mer (pause) moooooooore juice?" or "How much it is fer (pause) foooooooooor that?"

The upside is that if they can figure it out, Toots will have so much practice that he won't need speech by the time he reaches Kindergarten.

If they can't, we might just have to head for the Ozarks!

REST

Sing Over Me

The past few nights when Little Bear starts to cry in the night and I pick him up out of his crib and carry him to our bed, I have been holding him close. Even though I am practically sleepwalking, there has been something sweet about this moment in the night. I am acutely aware of my love for him. I breath him in and say to him in a whisper, "I just want to sing over you." To be honest,I am not a great singer. In fact, I am quite horrible. But, I have this urge to sing of my love over him so he knows how deeply he is loved and cherished.

I remembered the song "Singing Over Me" by Building 429 this morning. 

Here are the lyrics.

It amazes me that our God sings over us too!

In the middle of the night


When I finally close my eyes


With the memory of the day


Running circles in my mind


The voice that calms the seas


Is whispering to me


Putting all my fears to rest


Yeah You put them all to rest



Then I realize that 

You’re always by my side


When I stand, when I fall, when the lights go off



You You’re singing over me


You’re singing over me tonight


With every star that’s in this midnight sky


You, You’re singing over me


You’re singing over me tonight


And my heart is overcome with Your song
with Your song



From the depths of my soul


You are calling me


To the evidence of You
In all Your Glory


From the iris of an eye


To the mountains majesty


Putting all my doubts to rest



Yeah then I realize that you are always by my side


In my worst and best, in this beating chest,


When I’m living dying always finding



You You’re singing over me


You’re singing over me tonight


With every star that’s in this midnight sky


You, You’re singing over me


You’re singing over me tonight


And my heart is overcome with 

Your song
with Your song



I’m singing along
Yeah, I can hear it


And I’m singing along

A Kitchen Tour!

Hottie Husband ( I'll refer to him as that in this post only just because he deserves it when I get to show off his wonderful talents) so.... Hottie Husband and I basically rebuilt our home over a 9 year period. This was, of course, over many pregnant and very small children years. Our boys have grown up to the sounds of nail guns and saws. We spent many years with plywood floors and three years without a kitchen. Those were the first three years of Jackie Boys life. But, here are some of the results.  

This is my little office space that is located in our great room, adjacent to the kitchen. I love it because the bottom drawers hold my files. It also keeps the computer in an area where I can see exactly what the kids are doing. It is where I sit at this moment.

My mother sewed the curtains above the windows. I wanted something simple.

I love my farmhouse sink.

The cabinetry was all made by Hottie Husband. He wanted the pieces to look like furniture. I love all of his detail work. 

I then painted the cabinets with a flat white and covered it with a glaze to give it that distressed look.

The copper sink is my cooking sink. It works great for chopping or filling pots.

We painted the island and the pantry black. We wanted the pantry to look like its own piece. 

The butcher block top on the island is wonderful. It cleans easily and adds warmth to the room.

Notice the beams on the ceiling. Those are beams from a barn in Vermont.

I love this room. It is a great cooking space and also a wonderful gathering place.

I am a chandelier person. There are many throughout my home.

I really like different dishes and would love to have a different set for every season. I have also dreamed about having different sets of linens and sheets for each season. I have never done it though. I think this is translating to my blog. I looked at it yesterday and thought it was much too dark for the summer season. 

Thus, the new header. I made it on Scrapblog. Some of the backgrounds and stickers are still free. The great thing is that a page is the perfect size for a header. Once you make it, you can download it to your computer in jpeg and then upload it to your blog.

BUSTED!!!!!!

I went to the mailbox today and found this letter from our local water department. At first, I thought they were just letting me know about the new "Orange Alert" but I guess it has been in effect since June 1st.  It was a reminder for me about the new regulations.

Then I thought, "Oh no! I got caught!"

I thought it was because THIS was our first summer activity on Monday!

Someone must have witnessed this wacky mom letting her kids stand on top of her SUV and actually wash her car! 

Side note- my kids have never done this before and actually said, "You can wash your own car mom?"

I guess not!

Then I looked closer at the notice and realized that someone had reported us the week before for some water run-off. Hmmm, we were not sure what that was about. But, apparently we can only water on Tuesdays and Saturdays, you may NOT wash your car, you may not clean or fill any decorative fountains and you cannot put any water in your pool.  We have unknowingly been  breaking all of these rules. 

I hope they don't think I was blatantly thumbing my nose at them by my car washing display. Now, they are really going to be after me!

I guess this normally rule abiding citizen is causing some problems because I also got a notice that the gas meter reader has not been able read my meter for the last four months due to fear of Destructo Dog! 

Who knows what I'll do next!

Weigh Down Wednesday

The results this week are in. 

The following contraptions were used faithfully 

and resulted in some major heart pumping training and muscle toning

and stomach crunching

and I truly believe that under the flab that is visible in the mirror, there are some muscles under there, just waiting anxiously to show their glory!

But this little critter got in the way a bit this week, 

so the muscles are going to have to have patience.

Regardless of this naughty little temptation concocted by my own mother, 

I lost another gigantic ONE pound. 

At least I'm still going in the right direction.

And I just had to show this picture because it made me smile.

What's the low down on your weigh down?

The Summer Do

WOULD YOU TRUST THIS MAN WITH YOUR HAIR?

Yesterday it was Summer Do Day!

And Jackie Boy was the first to trust Mister Baseball with his precious locks.

He turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. 

And I just looooove to rub that head!

Then it was time for Toots!

Is he cute or what?

His faces were killing me!

He wasn't so sure about this.

Then it was Mister Luke's turn. 

Where could he be?

Would he brave the clippers in that shaved headed man's hands?

Not this year!

Relentless!

Somebody rescue me!

Something is taking over my house and it is relentless.

It keeps coming...

and coming

and no matter what I do

or how hard I try to battle it

it JUST WILL NOT STOP!

and even when I think I am gaining ground, it likes to linger in places around my house,

reminding me that it is the true victor, and acquiring more strength with every meal, spit up fest, baseball game, baseball practice, diaper blowout, drink in hand, basketball game or roll in the grass.

There will be no surrender!

I will fight this battle to my dying day!

And I will have a secret weapon against it.

I will take each piece of clothing that I fold and I will take that time to pray over the person who dirtied it to begin with. I will give thanks over the tiny little baby clothes that Little Bear wears. I will smile over the very dirty variety of uniforms that Toots so expertly soils and pray for his safety. I will look at the massive amounts of food and drink that Jackie Boy somehow gets on his clothes and pray that he will be healthy all the days of his life. I will take Mister Luke's nearly already clean shirts, who it seems just yesterday were the size of Little Bear's, and I will ask that he continue to have good friends who love him.

 I will take the clothes of my husband and I will pray wisdom and strength and joy and health over him.

Then I will look at all those darn socks and pray that they will all turn their socks right side out before they put them in the hamper!!!!!!!!!!!

REST

Troublesome Tooth Fairy

We are having some trouble with the tooth fairy at our house. Actually, this isn't new for her. She has done a pretty poor job with our kids from the start and we just don't know what to do with her. Maybe you can give me some help because we are at our wits end with this little sprite.

First, she forgets the most important thing. She forgets to go into the boys rooms at night and leave money under their pillows. Mr. Baseball has saved her from complete shame many a time. After consoling crying children, he has suddenly found money where moments before there was none or has come up with ideas for places where the tooth fairy may have hidden the money.

Can you believe the audacity? The tooth fairy hiding the money she leaves for the tooth! What has happened to her that she has resorted to such trickery?

Grandparents have also had to come to her rescue so that her reputation will not totally be soiled. One time, she put the money in the motor home where the grandparents were sleeping instead of under the pillow where the tooth was left. It makes no sense that she would do such a thing! She must be losing her mind or desperately need glasses if she actually thought that my child was sleeping in the motor home when he was obviously in his own bed. 

She also has no idea what to do with the notes. Sometimes she writes one back in this crazy curly cue writing, sometimes she leaves the note there and sometimes she just takes it with no response. She needs some lessons in tooth fairy etiquette. 

Oh, and I must tell you that the amounts she leaves must be some type of bribe for all of the hassle and heartache she causes my children. Mister Baseball thinks it is ridiculous that one tooth would warrant $5.00. But, to her defense, she sometimes does leave some cool coins.

Perhaps she needs some medication to keep her more awake and alert for all of her middle of the night escapades.

Maybe I'll put some out for her next time, kinda like putting cookies out for Santa!

*Mud Day * Welcome Summer!

Toots (not as in tootsie roll, but as it toot, ewww that is smelly! Just trying to make sure you have the correct pronunciation here.) Anyway, Toots had his last day of school and it was MUD DAY, which is one of my favorite days. It is a fabulously messy preschooler's heaven way to welcome summer and say goodbye to school. The kids get to go to school in their bathing suits and there is all kinds of water play.

He got into this pool and said, "Mom, am I in the deep blue sea?"

This made his day because blue is his absolutely, positively, I will never like another color in my lifetime, favorite color.

Here, his friend is pushing him on the very well-loved tire swing. He said, "I am going like 60 on the supah dupah fast tiwe swing." Have I told you that my children have trouble with their r's? A post for another day.

And Toots would not be Toots if he did not have a ball in his hand at some point during the day.

Now, here was my favorite part.

We are going, yes we are, maybe if we duck

Keep going, keep going...

We made it! Wait, where did my friend go?... It's okay... I'm heading back

Tiptoe, tiptoe through the sprinklers.

And I'm through.

I love summer. 

I love that there is no homework, no have to do this or have to do that, no up, get ready, eat breakfast, out the door. I love just playing with the kids. We don't have many plans this summer, so I will have to be my own camp director. It should be interesting (tongue in my cheek).

Just a few more classroom party things to do until it is official- bake cookies, bake apple pies from scratch (Mister Luke actually requested this for his party) and bring all the trappings to make sundae's to Jackie Boy's party. 

Oh, and I also need to have the sun make its way out from behind all those clouds to heat my swimming pool and lose fifteen pounds so I don't tremble at the thought of putting on a bathing suit. 

Then, I will really be ready for summer!