Hermitude has its benefits

We've barely left the house at all this week since we've become victims to the kindergarten cold. It's actually worked out fantastically. I've defeated the 45 min napping demon in the house... on Monday I watched Chewie's cues closely, made sure she was well-fed and not overtired. I put her down and at 45 mins she started crying. I went upstairs and instead of picking her up I watched her. She had her eyes closed and was still sleeping! I continued to watch her and she went through a cycle of crying and not crying for the next 20 minutes. And that was it. She slept another hour and I woke her up! And after having a good first nap she continued to have good naps the rest of the day! Had I been unknowingly waking her up and disturbing her at the 45 min mark?? On Tuesday she let out one cry at 45 mins and that was it. Today she didn't even cry. She has been waking at night but I think that's from her cold and not from actually napping during the day. 

It's so exciting. I love when I figure out what's going on. I'm sure we'll have a different problem next week. But for today, I am excited. I'm also terrified of leaving the house on Friday for gymnastics! What if napping in her car seat and not her crib sets off the same 45 min pattern?? That would suck. But I don't want to be hermits forever. 

I've also gotten the Princess to nap with Chewie again. Still no 3 hour naps here, but I've been getting a good 1 1/2 hours of free time. I have not been running because I've been in observation mode with the naps and because I have a cold and I'm a big sissy. We'll see how leaving the house on Friday changes things... it may be that I will have to commit to 2 days at home each week so I can get good naps and run. And then do the 3rd day over the weekend. I hope to start up again next week. 

Once again I planned a huge post about parenting and what kind of parent I want--and don't want--to be (okay, aside, I have 30 mins before SkyWalker's bus. I just looked out the window and saw yellow and almost crapped myself and it was... a big yellow truck.), alas I am too tired and unmotivated for a huge blog post. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Balance/Juggling/Why I need to clone myself

Balance. People. The balance, she eludes me. I strive for it everyday and everyday it slips from my fingers. 

SkyWalker is loving school. He's disappointed that he doesn't have more homework (he is so getting beat up). He has been much better behaved at home. He still has his moments but for the most part school has been the answer to everything. He peed his pants 2 days in a row and yet he still wants to go to school and enjoys it. Vader brought cupcakes to the school yesterday morning and passed by his bus. He was able to see SkyWalker smiling and laughing and having a good time. It's such a relief. 

The girls and I are doing well alone. I've filled the Princess's mornings with playdates and storytime and gymnastics. Today was gymnastics. She did much better than her brother years ago, but she did not respond the way I thought she would... maybe she was just in a bad mood. She wanted me to hold her the whole time. Didn't want to do anything. Luckily she had randomly insisted on bringing her baby doll--something I usually don't allow--and I made the baby doll do stuff and then she warmed up a little and did a little jumping and swinging. I KNOW she would love it if she would follow directions. We're going back and hopefully she will be in a better mood next week. It didn't help that Chewie started crying after only a 30 min nap. 

Chewie is doing better at night. I still dream feed her at 10ish and she doesn't wake until 7 (or  6:40 depending on how loud the boys are). She goes to bed at 7:30ish and she doesn't wake for the dream feed so that's pretty good... I'm still getting up at 5(ish) so I look forward to giving up that dream feed. 

The problem now is naps--for both of them. We had such a good routine going for a couple of weeks. I put the Princess down at 1:30, asleep by 2, put Chewie down at 2:15, asleep by 2:30 and then I was good. I could run. It was all good. Now the Princess is fighting her naps. Chewie is all over the place, 45 min naps, getting overtired. By the time I get them both down I have an hour or LESS before SkyWalker gets off the bus. Which leads me to....

Balance.

I have not run in a while. I skipped last week because school messed things up, naps messed things up, and I just don't know when I can do it. I tried on Monday but I went to week 3 when I should have repeated week 2. I couldn't do it. I walked for 20 minutes and was proud that I did that. The whole time I was watching the clock so I wouldn't get too close to bus time. AND my left ankle hurts again. This sucks. SkyWalker is in school all day and I have LESS me time than before! 

I should be folding the clothes and cleaning the house for his party tomorrow, but I needed to just sit and blog. As I type the Princess has STILL not fallen asleep (despite gymnastics this morning) and Chewie has just woken up after 20 minutes and is crying. She's been not pooping for a couple of days and then getting cranky and then pooping a lot. Who does that sound like? I know it's normal for BF babies to go days without pooping but the other 2 never did, so this is new to me. 

Something has got to give. Either I spend less time with the girls in the morning and run while they are awake, or I give doing anything else during any nap time and just run, or I don't know. I think I need to take the next couple of weeks and work on getting a consistent routine and getting both girls to take good naps and THEN fit running/cleaning/me into it. Because I am way too stressed out each day trying to get them down for a nap. 

It is now 2 pm. In 44 minutes SkyWalker will be off the bus. Chewie is crying. I would bet that the Princess is not sleeping either. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

And just like that

Kindergarten tomorrow. 5 years have just flashed by. Yesterday I was in the hospital being induced. Today I'm making school lunch. How did this happen?

Today was all about SkyWalker. We went to the library, the park, played baseball and bubbles, had mac and cheese for dinner, and did whatever he wanted to do on his last day as a school-free boy. I am behind on laundry and dishes and everything else. I didn't run yesterday or today and while it bugs me (!!) I'm glad I chose to spend the day with my boy instead. 

Vader is home from shopping. This is not nearly as long as it was in my head. Hopefully I will have a nice long post tomorrow about how lovely it was being down to two again... and how much SkyWalker enjoyed school! 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Week 2

I didn't think it was going to happen, but the planets aligned just long enough for me to finish week 2 of Couch to 5k and take a shower. The shower was interrupted by multiple children, but let's focus on the positive. 

Day 1:

total time: 29:38

calories: 190.8

miles: 1.88

laps: 7

1 mile: 15:43 mins

highest speed: 5

Day 2:

total time: 29:39

calories: 189.4

miles: 1.87

laps: 7

1 mile: 15:52 mins

highest speed: 5

Day 3:

total time: 29:41

calories: 196

miles: 1.92*

laps: 7

1 mile: 15:22 mins*

highest speed: 5

* lookee there. That's improvement. Now if I can only find something to fill this belly. Between nursing and actually getting off my ass I'm hungry! 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

let me sum up

I *would* have finished the second week of Couch to 5k but my ankles are starting to hurt and I think I need new sneakers. It turned out good that I did not since I forgot to eat lunch and probably would have passed out.

I think I'm going to call it an early night. Here's my quick updates:

1) SkyWalker and Vader rode the bus together for bus safety day yesterday. The Princess and I watched them get on the bus. One of us cried and one of us comforted the other. I'm not telling who did what. SkyWalker was fine and seems to be okay with the fact that Vader will not be on the bus next week. He and his friend sat together on the bus coming back home. That is good. 

2) The Princess speaks and speaks and speaks. And yet still she whines. You'd think being able to communicate would cut down on the whining, but alas, it does not. I do think her molars are coming in though. She's doing okay with the potty training, but I need to find a way to get her to pee on a regular basis without it turning into a fight. She is a stubborn one. 

3) Chewie is doing really well. She really doesn't cry all that much anymore. No more screaming. She smiles a lot and seems so much happier. I moved her to the girls' room at bedtime now. I started on Monday and she has slept longer each night. Last night I gave her a bottle at 11 and she slept until 5:30. I've been giving her bottles to try to get her used to them. But she only takes 2 ounces, whether it's at 10 or 11. Tonight I'm going to skip it and see how she does. The girls do just fine in the same room and both SkyWalker and the Princess seem to be excited to have Chewie up there with them. I'm glad that I had the girls nap together from the first week. I think that helped a lot. I stopped swaddling Chewie since it didn't seem to be the miracle cure it was for the Princess. I just have her in a sleep sack and she's doing great. I kind of miss her at night, but she was in my room longer than the other two so it was really time. She turned 3 months yesterday. 

4) This is not as quick as I thought it would be. 

5) I ran two of the three couch to 5k days this week and I've already improved. I don't see myself ever running a race. I don't like to run in front of people. But I am enjoying the experience. It gives me the energy boost I need in the middle of the day and I am So proud of myself for sticking with it. I might have some scheduling problems once SkyWalker starts school--since the time I normally do it is nap time for the girls and that will be when he gets off the bus. And after being in school all day I don't think I can tell him to just wait for me to run... The Princess is better at entertaining herself so maybe I can actually attempt to do it while she is awake. Or try to get them down for early naps. I'll have to play around with our routines.

6) I need to hook my brain up to the internets so I can blog directly from it. I blog a lot in the shower. And then forget it when I see the screen...

Read and post comments | Send to a friend