You Don't See That Every Day

So how do you handle stress? Some people I know wake up at 3 am and don't go back to sleep. Some people I know get cranky with everyone else. I internalize, and then I have these dreams. They are not fun dreams either. I used to dream I was driving a car, from the backseat, in reverse. Waking up from those I would realize I was stressed about something. Thankfully I haven't had that dream in a long, long time. But I guess it has taken a different shape, because I have had similar dreams in the past couple of years like this one: Last night I dreamed my husband and I were in college, but weren't married. And here we had all these kids. And then he tells me he's leaving, and I'm on my own. And I don't handle that well. (Remember it's only a dream) And then I tell him he can't go because we are married. And then, this is the crazy part this time around, I actually woke up, in a bit of a haze you know, when I was still probably half asleep, and I...

It was time to unload all the photos from my cameras today. And I even found time to do a little blogging. What a week! My husband was able to work from home part of the week, so the computer was not readily accessible to me. It was sure nice to have him around though! I made these cream puffs and they did not last long at all. We devoured them! I went through the boxes and boxes of baby clothes that I have had stored in our 'playroom'. It's all part of my de-clutter and minimalism effort. Plus, I'm pretty dang sure we don't need the baby clothes anymore! The girls' book reports this past week were 'dioramas' that portrayed a scene in the book or an important idea from it. All three wanted to make one - so we've got the kindergartner's book, Bailey goes Camping The 3rd grader did "Princess Alice and the Glass Slipper": And the 5th grader did a Boxcar Children book: In the middle of the week we took part of the day off...

We have a guest blogger with us today.  My 11 year old daughter is at the age - not wanting to play so much with the younger set, and not sure what else to do - so I let her try her hand at this: Guess who got a new bed today. Little K couldn't wait to try it out. She helped(?) take her old crib apart and put together her new one. Everyone felt the urge to sit on it.   "Okay, Mom, you can turn off the lights now, I'm ready for my nap!" (I'm back thanks to my girl for filling in) Yes, Little K is no longer in the crib. I was SO tired of getting her out of bed in the middle of the night to snuggle with me in my bed. Yes, we have fallen into that habit. Now it's time to change.  Because she shares a room with her older brother, I couldn't just let her cry it out. Poor Brother needs sleep! since he has to get up early and go to school away from home.  So I usually just tuck her in next to me and try to sleep. It's getting old, re...

We got to go out on a date the other night! Thanks to the school my son attends - our name was drawn in a raffle - we had a night at Red Robin! Yum! That bacon guacamole burger is so good, And it was nice to just talk and hang out with my best friend. We didn't even end the evening at Home Depot like we usually do! Today - Saturday - was a work day. After the young girl's basketball game (7 down, 1 to go) we got things done around the house. I finally got out to take down the Christmas lights off the gutters. We are in the process of transitioning the littlest into a bed. All of the others were in beds by 18 months or so. She is almost 2 and it is time! We start with naps in the big bed and then eventually move to nighttime also. And the men of the house went to work upstairs! It's mudding time! Which means it will eventually be time to paint. And then order the carpet and flooring. And then move the kids in! They started in the boy's room: ...

Last night was the first night. We are back at the crucial time in baby's life where she learns ... to go back to sleep on her own.  I, too, have to adjust my habit of going in every time she cries, picking her up and cuddling her. But oh, how those sweet hugs and whimpers break my heart.  I stood strong last night, after I finally turned off the light, and prayed a million Give me strength prayers. She woke up 3 times during the night, with each crying time getting progressively shorter! I was able to lay there and just listen to her without going in. I must admit, I was more worried about my reaction than hers. But we both came through just fine, both rested when we awoke in the morning, and we were up and out of our pajamas by 8 am! A breakthrough for sure!

I ran once last week. A week ago today I think it was. My youngest two girls went with me, one in the stroller, the other on her scooter. My 5 year old might just be the runner I have dreamed of having in my family. She likes to run already. She once ran around the track with me, in flip fops, without complaining, and actually enjoying it. She is the one who asks, Are we going to run? when I suggest an outing. Yay! So my run last week - yes, it felt good to be out there, but my shoulders were all tense from pushing the stroller. I'm still trying to get the hang of it. And about 3 hours later I had such a bad headache I barely made it through getting the kids fed and to bed before I toppled into bed to fight off the queasy feeling the headache had brought on. The point? I want to run. I long to run. I see runners and think, "Me!" But my body and sleep schedule don't seem quite ready for it yet. We are beginning to train baby K to sleep through the night. This has a...