Eject-a-bed

so here we go...bedtime X 3, by myself. All tucked in and sleepy. I'm waiting to see if we have the Eject-a-bed plugged in tonight or if she is really going to go to sleep.

This is Little Miss's fourth night in her big-girl bed. It's not been as easy a transition as I was hoping it would be, but all-in-all, not as hard as it could be either. Saturday night was her first night in her bed. She took 1 1/2 hours to settle down and finally go to sleep. I'm pretty sure it was on her bed. Sunday night she was much more tired--not having had a nap I think helped. It only took 45 minutes for her to settle down. Last night she was like a Jack-in-the-box with the damned mattress being her springboard. Everytime she would jump back into bed and we would turn around, she was out of bed again. It took nearly 2 hours for her to settle down and go to sleep. THEN, she was up at 4 screaming her little fool head off in the living room. Not sure why she ended up out of bed or HOW Dave (who was sleeping on the couch) didn't hear a thing, but after I ran up the stairs to fetch her, it took a full 5 minutes for her to stop screaming. Then I took her back to my bed whereupon it took her another hour to finally settle into a deep sleep.

Tonight, she settled into bed easily. So far, I don't think she has even gotten up. I don't hear anything and I haven't seen her pop out of the door yet. I don't DARE look! Heaven forbid she be falling asleep and I disturb her by opening the door! Fingers crossed! :D

First day of school

So today my kids will start school. I must be excited. It's 4:45 AM and I have been up for at least a half an hour. I can't sleep yet AGAIN! Sometimes I wonder if this is my body's way of getting me ready for the new baby and sometimes I think I am just a retard for not sleeping when I can! Unfortunately, I am not capable of just shutting down and going back to sleep. Not sure why that is, I have never had trouble sleeping in the past.

Anyway, in just a couple of hours, my precious little girl will start KINDERGARTEN and my handsome boy will be a 2nd grader. I am torn about which one I should walk to class, but I think I am going to take Ellie. I don't want to miss out on her firsts. Dave can take Jayden to class. I'll probably take both kids to Jayden's line and get Jayden lined up and situated and then take Ellie to her line. Our neighbor's granddaughter is going to be in Ellie's class. El is pretty excited that she already knows one of her classmates AND that it is the girl that "lives" next door. She doesn't actually live there, but since Grandma takes care of her, she is there most of the time.

Jayden is pretty excited that his buddy Alex is in his class. He was in kinder with Alex but not 1st grade. His other cub scout friends are together in a different class this year. I'm glad they didn't separate Jayden from all three kids. That would have been hard on him I think. He's a pretty emotional kid, my son. :D I think he gets that from me.

Ah well...Off to spend some quiet dark hours alone before the chaos starts.

Money money money money...

Just spent the last 2 1/2 hours sorting, counting, and wrapping coins from Jayden's and Ellie's piggy banks with them. They had WAY too much fun with this! Jayden has quite a haul with nearly $60 and Ellie has about half that. I think when they were "trading" coins, Jayden ended up with the lion's share of Susan Bs. I don't think I ever saw quite such a large collection...he had nearly 30! I think he is going to have to share some of that with Ellie tomorrow when we take them to the bank to open accounts for each of them. We will probably also have to chip in as I think the account minimum is $100. In any case, I gave Ellie all the "extra" unwrapped coins to put back in her piggy bank and I am going to have to trade out some green-backs for the gold coins Jayden gets from the tooth fairy. I don't want to have to go out searching for more of those when I can just recycle the ones we've already used! :D

Wonderful update!

I have a wonderful update to this morning's early post!

My dear friend who was going to have to send her daughter to the ghetto school of the neighborhood has now gotten her precious one into a better school in the district. I'm so glad that she called up the district office and asked for a transfer to any of the better schools (they are all better than the one she was assigned)! I don't feel like I will have to worry about this sweet child so much now. :)

Eliana was a trooper today also! She got her lower front teeth fixed. They did cap them, but with tooth colored caps instead of metal ones. They look like crap, but anything is better than stainless steel caps. I'm relieved about that. Also after talking to my friend (mentioned above), I feel better about Ellie's need to take several trips to the dentist to fix her teeth. Apparently as a kid, she had many cavities as well and spent several days going to the dentist to have them fixed. She said that having a little done at a time over several appointments was easier on her as a kid than to have a marathon fixing session. That makes me feel better about the whole deal. PHEW!

Ellie gets her teeth fixed

TODAY! I couldn't be more upset about this! I'm not upset that she is getting her teeth fixed, but the dentist Dave is taking her to wants to put stainless steel caps on her FRONT teeth! Since when are we so GHETTO that we can't figure out how to preserve appearances with tooth colored caps or fillings?????? I'm disturbed by the whole damned thing and feel like I am failing in parenthood. :( How can I possibly think that I should be bringing ANOTHER child into this world, when I clearly can't take care of the ones I already have? HOLY CRAP!! I'm as bad as Octomom! On the bright side, Ellie is finally going to be cavity-free for the first time in more than 2 years. It was while we were sitting in the hospital after her tonsillectomy that I first noticed the decay on her lower front teeth. I didn't know what a can of worms we would be dealing with when I first saw that. It makes me sad and angry and heartbroken all at the same time. :( No wonder it's 5AM and I am up already!!

The other thing on my mind is how sad it is that my dear friend is torn up about the school she has to send her daughter to this fall. She tried to get a transfer to our school, but really ended up in the ghetto of all schools in our district. She found out YESTERDAY--the week before school starts--that they have a "common dress" policy to prevent the girls from being slutty and the boys from having their clothes fall off and the gangs out of the classroom. The sad thing about this is that she is sending her daughter to KINDERGARTEN!! I am horrified to think of my children having to deal with all that crap at their ages! Maybe she is right to move to Indiana and live near her family. I'm thinking we should be moving out of the big city, too. I wonder if Dave would ever consider it.

Clearly my imagination is working overboard right now. If only I could go back to sleep for an hour or two so I could be fresh when I have a house full of moms and their kids later......

Cubscout camping

Tonight Dave, Ellie, and Jayden are up on Mt. Madonna camping with the cub scout pack. Apparently it is quite cold up there. Dave is texting me about how cold he is. So sad that Janea and I had the forethought to stay home. :) Maybe next year we will go too, but this year, I am not in shape for sleeping on the ground. Wonder what Janea and I will do tomorrow....just the two of us! :D

On the plus side (other than my size), I have about 3 1/2 months to go and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Dave's sister told me tonight that she is planning to come down to visit from Alaska around Thanksgiving this year. I'm pretty excited about that since we haven't seen her in over a year and she might very well be here when the baby is born! :) That would be so awesome! I just wish I could be there for her when she has hers in January. BUT, there is no way in HELL I am going to Alaska in January! Nevermind the fact that I would have just had my own baby....Alaska in general is the epitome of cold in my book. Alaska in January is obscene! Love you anyway, Michelle!

Odyssey or Sienna? 2010? 2011?

I am stumped! There is so much information to digest about these dang vehicles that I can't process it all and make a damn decision! I was putting it off because we don't have the money to buy anything, but today that all changed and now a decision must be made! HUH??

Oh yeah! I have the best daddy in the whole world and I am going to brag about it! My daddy buys me a new car every time I need one! Yes, from the first one, to the second one, to the current one, and, today, he offered to buy me a minivan! I don't really know what to say. I said thank you, which doesn't even begin to cover how I feel about the offer. I know Dave and I have been struggling with the money issue and the ever increasing need to get rid of my car in favor of something big enough for the whole family. BUT, to accept a gift of this magnitude is just too grand to simply say, "Thank you!"

So, it is with that enormous gratitude in mind, that I am now studiously looking at the differences between the Odyssey (both 2010 and 2011 models) and the Sienna (2011 and 2012 models) to decide what we might purchase. I am leaning toward the 2011 Sienna EXL w/nav since it has the eight seats that I want, leather, power sliding doors, and the in-dash nav system that Dave wants. Any input other than "we have the XXX minivan and we love it" would be helpful. I'm looking for serious qualities that you either like or don't like about the vehicle you have or why you chose to buy or not buy either of these two.

Long day

Today was a very challenging day for me. I woke up for no apparent reason at 4:30 this morning and could not get back to sleep. By 7:30 I decided I needed to take advantage of the situation and I got my grocery shopping done. By 9, the groceries were home and put away and all three kids were fed breakfast. That was the end of my productive day. I crashed by 9:30 and was sound asleep when Janea wandered downstairs and scared the daylights out of me by climbing up on my bed. She managed to wake me up twice in the whole hour that was I in bed. I am guessing Dave was in the shower by that time leaving no one to look after her so she went awandering. So, being awake anyway, I got up and played trains with the kids for a while. When they were hungry for lunch, I made sandwiches and then I announced it was going to be quiet time. I put Janea in bed for a nap and sent the other kids to play in their bedrooms--I know..I don't like toys in their rooms, but this was a good thing. I tried to sleep. Ellie came out and woke me up 3 times and my phone rang twice. I was doomed to sleeplessness.

Luckily, I found inspiration to go to the library after Janea got up from her lovely long 2 hour nap. It helped pass the time until dinner. The kids helped make English Muffin mini-pizzas. I threw together a little salad and we dined pleasantly. Janea apparently decided she wanted salad (I didn't make her one because she lacks molars) and shouted at me "SAT! SAT! SAT!" until I figured out that was her word for salad. She didn't want me to just put some on her plate, though. NOOOOO! I had to feed it to her on a fork--from the BOWL! She had to get hers just like everyone else did! She is such a little tyrant! Bless her little sweet self! :) I am now off to bed to seek the sleep I so desperately need. Here's to hoping I don't wake up until AFTER the sun comes up tomorrow!

Another Day in the Life...

So much happened today that was of the mundane order, yet it all seems to be the importance of the day today. I managed (with a little help from Mom) to get through 5 LOADS of laundry today...all washed, dried, sorted, folded, and put away--A feat in itself! Once everything is washed and dried and put away, I intend to go through and weed out the things we have that we really don't need to have. I suspect there won't be much there as part of that laundry was blankets, sheets, and towels. BUT, I have to try!

I also had 5 kids here today for several hours. A friend of mine had an appointment today and needed some extended care-time for her precious little ones. They played rather well all 5 of the kids together, but at times the gang was really really really LOUD! It makes me tired. Fortunately, there were no real catastrophes and hardly any problems.

And, the last fun thing that happened today, Janea just brought me a diaper. Sometimes, she is just playing with the diapers, but this time she needed a change. She pooped and decided it was time for a clean diaper. I told her the next step is to tell me before she poops and we can try to get that potty thing going! :)

Off to get Jayden from karate now. Hope he was good there too!

Scared Dave!

HAHAHAHA!! I got home from choir rehearsal tonight and when I walked around the corner upstairs, Dave was getting the garbage ready to go out. I popped around the corner and announced, "I caught you!" Apparently, he wasn't expecting me quite yet. I scared the poop out of him! I couldn't help laughing at him but he got all mad! He nearly hit me with the pizza box he was so scared! HAHAHAHAHA....sorry, Dave! I can't help it! It was funny and just what I needed after the day I had.

Today we had our babysitting group here. So, 8 kids from ages 1.5 to 7 running around playing for FOUR HOURS! It's a long time! We had a toilet clogging to deal with (that was disgusting!) which totally explained to me why men are supposed to be in charge of plunging toilets. It's gross and dirty work! But, for the most part, the kids were all well-behaved and played nicely. However, there was little down-time for us grown ups during the day and then, of course, there was dinner to deal with and choir tonight. So, I needed a good laugh when I got home. :)

Knock Knock

Jayden: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Jayden: Not me! ZOOM!

A minute later....

Eliana: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there?
Eliana: Not me! ZOOM!
Jayden: Get it? She's running away! HAHAHAHAHA!
Me: I get it.

A minute later....

Janea: Dot Dot
Me: Who's there?
Janea: Ot me! OOM!

I love my kids! :)

All by myself...

NO...this is a GOOD thing! My mom came by and picked the kids up. They (all three of them) are having a sleepover at Grandma's and Papa's house tonight! :) WOO HOO!!! I am enjoying the quiet right now with a yummy snack of smoked Gouda, sliced cucumbers, and a taste of Cabernet. Peace! I love it!

Keeping it up!

So, I figured since I was up at 4 AM again anyway, I might just as well keep up my blog and post again. This time, though, there was no one to blame for my being awake except myself. Janea had a screaming fit sometime after 11 and Dave brought her upstairs with him and there they were when I got out of bed. So, now I gots ta wonder if my waking up was habit or my body getting used to less sleep so that I can start taking care of the new baby when he arrives. I think habit.

Of course, all the stupid things that I am thinking of don't help me at all to go back to sleep. Let's itemize....no let's not. I don't want to rehash everything in my head AGAIN!

On the bright side of things, Jayden had a fun playdate at his friend Johnny's house today. While he was there, Eliana got to go to the neighbors' house and play with Sydney and Dietrich. I stopped in to chat for a while after I dropped her off. We decided to have dinner together (Round Table of course) and spent a lovely evening. Tiffany and I teamed up against Dave and Alan for Cranium and we won! I know...it's hard to believe that Alan didn't win. He has always won every game we have played together. This was rejuvenating.

Additionally, the kids had a lot of fun playing together. They built a fort in the playroom. Tomorrow's task (or is it today...hard to say that when the sun hasn't come up yet) is to clean up in there (again) and secure the shelves so we can really use them. I want to get all the darn toys up off the floor! Perhaps I can get a vacuum cleaner through there soon! Oh well...here's to hoping!

4 AM

Here we are again. It's 4 AM and I can't sleep. Why? Might have something to do with someone coming to bed at 3:30 and waking me up after I have been asleep for several hours. But, the snoring is the worst part. Even if he just woke me up and didn't snore, I might have had trouble going back to sleep, but with the snoring---no chance!

What am I thinking about? Still that woman at GG with the moving my stroller crap. Seeing the situation unfold in 30 different ways each more imaginative <> than the last. A little ridiculous to be sure. I also imagined a massive gang fight at Great America. Not at all sure where that came from. Didn't see anything there at all that would lead me to think we would be subjected to witnessing violence when we were there just one time an entire MONTH ago! Must be my subconscious telling me that I'm nervous about taking the kids back there by myself. I should probably wait until I can get some company.

Jayden had a friend over today. Dave overheard him telling his friend that his parents are "a pain in the butt" because "Daddy is at work all the time and Mommy is always on the computer or watching TV and neither have time to play games with him". We must really suck as parents. I am going to work on making a bigger effort to spend time with the kids doing kid-like stuff. Tonight, Dave spent an hour with Jayden making "slime" from a kit that Jayden got from my brother for his birthday. Jayden insisted he wanted to do it alone with Dave and no Ellie. So, I pulled out an art project for Ellie to work on. She lasted 5 minutes. After she gave up on that, we put a puzzle together. She actually sat through and finished the whole thing. She was very proud of having finished the puzzle. I hope she remembers the sense of accomplishment and sees more stuff through to the end. She doesn't seem to have the patience to finish things. Well...I'm not sure if patience is the right word, but follow-through is an issue.

We'll just have to see. I guess it will take more discipline on my part to see to the kids' success. I will need to be more diligent.