Summin' up

I don't know why it's so hard to update here. Oh... yeah...

But that's okay, because the 3 people that read this probably know it all already.

I've been big into the lists now:

1. I quit my job back in August. An amicable split that benefits both parties. Although weird at first, this not working at all thing is lovely. Particularly because I have no idea how I would have done it and taken care of 3 kids. So it's all good. Someday I'll go back... maybe. ;-)

2. We might just hibernate for the winter. I'm cutting back on the playdate activity. I'm seriously paranoid about swine flu--I know that people can die from regular flu too--but I have a 4 1/2 month old baby and a toddler who has had THREE surgeries. I did not get her the swine flu vaccine. I did get her the regular flu vaccine so I'm not worrying about that. SkyWalker got the swine flu one because he's in school. Did I put that here already? I don't remember. Anyway, forgive my paranoia--I have delicate little ones. 

3. Chewie is 4 1/2 months old. I'm trying to hold out until 6 months for cereal. I know lots of moms do it right at 4 months, but I would rather wait. She doesn't seem to really need it. On a good day I feed her every 4 hours and then the dream feed at night. On a bad day it's more often but I think that's more my own reaction to bad naps... She needs the right combination of feeds and activity time or she's victim to the 45 minute nap syndrome. Usually if her first nap is 45 mins we're screwed for the rest of the day, but today I fed her and fed her and fed her and managed to get her to nap for over 2 hours for her second nap, so she wasn't quite as overtired as she would normally be. EASY* is not as easy when you have older siblings. Anyway, I don't want to do cereal until I really have to, so I'm holding out. 

4. I have a new quest--couple friends. Yes, I have become Lily on HIMYM. I've done a good job making mom friends and friends for my kids but we have no couple friends. Part of that is that my husband has no friends--or rather, the one friend he does have is just so busy that we never do anything. I'm not sure how one goes about making couple friends. I'm quite sure I will get no help from my husband.

5. I'm an Aunt! My brother and his wife finally quit playing around and had their baby almost a week late. Ridiculous. ;-) All is well and I'm quite sure she will be bigger than Chewie is when we go down there for Thanksgiving. I feel very far away. 

6. Chewie rolled over! From her tummy to her back. Let the games begin!

*EASY -- Eat. Activity. Sleep. You. I'm a Baby Whisperer. I don't feed to sleep. I structure my baby's day according to the same routine of eating, activity and then sleeping. The You flew out the window as soon as I had more than one child. It's much harder when an older sibling makes you go to gymnastics and storytime. But she doesn't need my boob to fall asleep. Or rocking or any other kind of prop. She falls asleep on her own. When she's had a horrible napping day and I'm feeding her extra I might let her sleep-eat for 10 minutes or so, but that's as close as I ever get to feeding to sleep. Except at 3 am. Anytime after bedtime there is no activity, it's just straight back to bed. But luckily there really aren't too many wake up nights anymore, and when she does wake up she *usually* puts herself back to sleep (one of the benefits of EASY).

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What Month is it?

Really need to work on that brain-blog hook up. Or vox needs to play nicely with my iPod touch. 

1. SkyWalker loves school. Loves the bus. There's supposedly a bully on it, but he wants to ride everyday and gets annoyed if we have to pick him up for doc visits. He's reading to us at bedtime and is so much better behaved. I think it's a combination of him not being bored anymore and me not having to deal with it all day long. Craziness at 5 pm is much easier to handle when you haven't been dealing with it since 7 am!

2. The Princess misses him a lot but is doing really well without him. She's doing better on the potty since he is not home to distract her. She is so good about entertaining herself. And she makes much fewer and smaller messes than he does... She's definitely getting her 2 year molars and one of them is a bit bloody and has a big flap of gum. This does not please her. But I would say for 90% of the day she is happy and pleasant and funny and a joy to be around. She is "farting" with "my mouth" on my arm right now--blowing raspberries is farting in her mind.

3. Chewie is happy and done with her screaming. I think she's going through a growth spurt right now, but for the most part she sleeps all night. She does not like to nap when we go out. She doesn't scream and cry, she just doesn't sleep. It's not a problem until we get home and then she's overtired. Because of this I need to stay home at least 2 days a week. We have storytime on Weds and gymnastics on Fridays so I *really* need to force myself to stay home on Tues/Thurs. Luckily my every other Thursday preschool group is cool with always doing it at my house. It is so hard juggling the needs of a toddler with the needs of an infant. 

4. I started running again--sticking with week 2 although at a faster speed. I hope to get up to week 3 soon. 

5. I've been thinking a lot about the type of parent I want to be. This deserves a bigger post. But in short: my big problem has always been wanting SkyWalker to listen--which really means I want instant obedience. But now that he's in school I'm starting to feel differently. Do I really want him to just automatically do what's he's told--whatever he's told? No. I want him to make good choices and decisions. I'm focusing on him but really this extends to all my kids. So I have been trying very hard to not just bark commands and give orders but instead to treat my kids with a little more respect than that and try to help them understand WHY I'm telling them to do things. Instead of shouting "get in your seat" I'm saying "please get in your seat so we can eat dinner now." And I'm trying to pick my battles--there are some things that are really important--don't touch the stove, hold my hand in the parking lot, don't run away, etc. And there are some things that are not important--going to wash hands, putting away toys, etc. I want to raise smart thinking adults--not sheep who follow orders. I want to be a parent, not a drill sergeant. This is only remotely related, but I'm also trying not to focus on little things just because everyone else does. My son can say "More milk" in a nice respectful tone. Does he really have to say please? He's saying it with his tone. I'd rather have that than have him say please but in a rude way. My husband can make the words "Excuse me" sound like "Get the hell out of my way" just with his tone of voice--I'd rather him say "move" but say it nicely. But society has hammered the please and thank you in our brains and we think we have to go along. So I'm trying to really focus on my kids and listen to them and not do things just because someone else decides it's a good idea.

6. Pediatrician visit yesterday: SkyWalker is now 35 pounds, 42 inches. Chewie is 12 lbs, 5 oz and 24 1/2 inches. The Princess did not get weighed since it was not her checkup. 

7. I need to click on the arrow to see what happens with Elmo next.

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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. 

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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. 

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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! 

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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! 

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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...

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