crib to bed.

so we all know (well some of you may) that i dont transition from a crib to a bed for a while. if they can get out, i tent. (well, being fully honest, i tent BEFORE they can get out lol i started with aidan bc the cat would sneak into her room. it worked so well, i did it with sawyer, too).

aren't you glad i figured out white balance and focus the past few years? geesh.






and this is what sawyer's room looked like a little over a year ago - soon after we took the glider out, got her a new white dresser, etc.


anyway, when they get a little closer to 3, i give it a chance. basically, when a few months before aidan turned 3, we moved into this house. so we got her this bed



and then let her choose between crib and bed for a while. until she said bed - then we replaced her crb with the dollhouse. then it was fine :)

well, sawyer began to cause, um, trouble with her crib tent. she'd lean on it too much, and uhhh try to SIT up on the ledge of her crib and relax on the crib tent itself LOL so it was time.

sawyer's room is smaller than aidan's so i couldnt fit both a bed and a crib in (like i did with A). we just took the front off of her crib and converted it down.



we put some of her toys in here


and she was happy.


....at first.

she crawled into bed with her blankie and cuddled up. until the storm we're having tonight got louder. she burst into tears (which she'd do even if in her crib) and so i went back in. i read her a book and then tried to leave. nope. "i waaaant you" through the tears. so i brought some toys down from her fun area and tried to get her to play. within mins, she was so scared of the storm, that we had the best/worst idea EVER.

move her to aidan's room.

so now, i have my 4.5 year old and my almost 3 year old in aidan's bed watching madagascar 2. giggling. tattling through the monitor (we swapped the video one in there tonight). and laying in bed <3

we'll they SLEEP there? who knows. but aidan told sawyer not to be scared. that they are best friends. and that "i will 'atect you, sister" (protect. obvs.) so we'll see.

eventually we'd move them together, im sure. and aidan's room is big enough to put sawyer's crib/now toddler bed in so..... ::shrug::

things in sawyer's crib.

i took inventory this afternoon.



it seems as if she has:

1. four blankets - 2 that are hers, 1 is reese's, and 1 that is aidan's.
2. her lamb lovey.
3. a chicken little soft book.
4. sesame street counting book.
5. a blackberry.
6. a garmin GPS.
7. five mega blocks.
8. an incredible hulk action figure.

pick your battles ;)

dear paci.

dearest soothie,

your green (and later, blue and pink) translucent sheen has covered my middle child's face for long enough. her teeth and palette have grown fond of you - and even made a nice comfy form fitting home for your rubber (is that what it is? lol) shape.

my deepest apologies for cutting a large hole in your tip on saturday, but its tuesday now and it seems sawyer has forgotten about you.

through the tears, sawyer conning to come "downstairs" for a "nack" or to try to play in the "gameroom, peeeese!", and lack of naptimes - i can safely say that im 95% sure we dont need you anymore.

it was hard. it was. sawyer told me you were "broken. need new paci!" at first. but since sawyer has gone to bed without her beloved paci for 2 nights now without a fight, i am confident that naps will continue to go back to normal and that life will resume without you.

sincerely yours,
amanda.



now. for the *how*.

i was tickling sawyer and playing around in our bedroom on sat. she was laughing hard and i look into her mouth and see exactly what that bastard of a paci has done. so that was it :) i had EJ cut a whole in the top of one and only let her have that at bedtime.

it was rough going on sat/sunday nights. we'd have to bring her down and wear her out a bit more (she is not a very good self soother. never has been. she's just the type of kid to settle down MORE if she could have a few mins of time with us alone... then she's good to go back to bed).

monday/tues nights she went to bed perfect. :) so we'll see how it goes. the only things we have to do now is be on the look out for stashed pacis ;) who knows where she has them! lol so i have to catch them before she does!

what are your great paci transition stories? do tell!

lets go to bed early tonight.

EJ and i wanted to go to bed early last night. sounds like heaven, right? i had gone out with some girlfriends for drinks on saturday night, so i needed sleep. EJ cleaned/organized the kitchen yesterday (it looks awesome) and I tackled the gameroom/their bedrooms. so we were just worn out from the whole day.

at about 7:30pm, i found myself sitting in a pile of puke. on the couch. sawyer walked over to where i was feeding reese, looked at me, and the next thing i knew - im covered in everything she ate yesterday. ew. and let me say, there is no more paralyzing thing than getting puked on. you sit there thinking, "what do i do? i have to get up. should move her. my clothes are covered. omg the smell...." til you finally get up. or, rather, when i called for EJ to help me ;)

she then puked on the rug annnnnnd then again in the kitchen. this was then bath 2 for sawyer.

thank dog we have a steam cleaner. lordy.

we let her relax down stairs for a while. she is dead tired so we put her into bed. all is quiet. i check on her later, no smells, nothing from her room. she sort of wakes up, starts to cry, so i go to get her for a few mins and omg - the smell. she had puked in her bed. EJ brings the bed stuff down, i strip sawyer down. and now its bath 3.

aidan had noticed the commotion. and being the little nurse that she is, she wanted to come down and help. its about 11pm at this point. sigh. she is a sweetie and tells sawyer she loves her (even this morning, she just goes up to sawyer and rubs her head, says "i love you sawyer" and sings her songs) anyway,i now had 3 children in my room. so much for going to bed early?

sawyer continues to puke in our bed on towels. at this point its only bile. but i feel so bad bc its so crappy to throw up. just hurts.

finally - i tell aidan its time for bed and off EJ goes upstairs with her while i lay with sawyer. aidan was totally fine til he shut the door and got down the stairs. then she was livid. i hear the ruckus upstairs and grab her video monitor. she is stomping around grumbling and then... she takes her "jelly fishing net" (thanks spongebob. its just a fish tank net in real life though) and turns her light on. ugh. that wont be in her room anymore.

then i dont see her for about 30 seconds. she walks from the direction of the closet into the view of the camera. she now has on her easter dress. and panties, i assumed, bc i had seen her throw her nighttime diaper in the trash.

in full amanda form, i grab my camera and head upstairs. my deal with her - "put on a diaper and lay down and you can wear your easter dress to bed." perfect. deal done and 1 child down.



we put sawyer up in bed bc we are certain she had nothing left in her belly. we were wrong. we heard her puke again, and EJ goes to grab her. more laundry. lol

all the while, reese has been sleeping through this in the pack n play in our room. good little 1 month old :)

...until she got hungry. okay. no biggie. so i scoop her up and take her to the couch to feed her. EJ sits with sawyer on the bed and i *hear* sawyer puke from the bedroom. i run in with reese in tow, turn around and let her swing bc i DO NOT want her sick, and help EJ strip the bed and clean up sawyer. again.

i go back to feeding reese and decide that she's gonna have to sleep upstairs tonight in her room. first night ever (bc i am super lazy at night lol). its after 130am? at this point. at least. i really dont remember.

our bed is too high for sawyer to sleep on with us. it comes up to my chest-ish when standing so we make a pallet in the pack n play for sawyer. EJ sleeps on the floor, I sleep on the stripped bed with 1 blanket and we all pass out.

we wake up a few times to gagging noises and throw sawyer up onto a towel and eventually we all go to sleep for good -- well until reese wakes up at 630am to eat. while im feeding reese and EJ jumps in the shower, i hear sawyer throw up AGAIN. i throw her in the shower with EJ, finish feeding reese and eventually put sawyer back up in her own bed.

i am tired. ive already steam cleaned MORE this morning. but sawyer and reese are sleeping right now and aidan is just playing so i wanted to remember how the night went. yawn. 3 kids are fun. exciting. giggly. and there's so much love every day. its rewarding.



but it can be exhausting. and today, as i feel like i did in college after i stayed up all night during finals - while only drinking diet coke, eating cheetos, and smoking cigarettes... im mentally fried. but of course worth it, right? ;)

what we do all day.

stay at home moms ask on message boards all the time - "hey! what do you SAHMs do all day? do you have a schedule?"

why yes. we do. so here goes it.

[keep in mind this is obviously aidan and sawyer's stuff. reese's schedule is simple. sleep. wake up to eat. look around for a while. go back to sleep. lather, rinse, repeat]

A and S wake up anytime between about 830-930am usually.

i get them, change them, put clothes on them, brush teeth and we head downstairs.

they are rarely "sitters" for breakfast. we usually grab breakfast and take it into my bathroom where they picnic on blankets and eat while i take a shower or get ready. sometimes aidan does her "makeup" with me lol (and copycat sawyer is getting into that now too, of course).

other times, i get ready before they even wake up.

then we plan the day. i try to get out of the house in the mornings 90% of the time. some days, we just play in the gameroom instead.

when i can go to the gym again (and the schedule for a while) will be/has been - go to gym at about 9am. class at 930. be home by 11ish. if we dont go to the gym, we walk around the store. and basically the same timeline applies. we used to go for walks, but its SO HOT out now by this time that its not worth it. they love it though



i asked aidan a couple days ago if she wanted to go for a walk. she thought for a moment and said "momma, we gonna need a BIG STROLLER!!" lol she is right.

then lunch and getting ready for naps.

i will start off by saying how lucky i am. i have great sleepers *knock on wood* sawyer will nap for around 3 hrs without a fight. aidan used to. but now she has "rest time" in her room for a little bit. usually until she says "ok, i come down now" and i go get her. her room is a haven for little girls and she rarely ever argues about rest time. she has her dollhouse, littlest pet shop sets, blocks, and [judge away] her tv mounted on the wall (only set up for dvds. no cable or tv or anything). where i time her movie for a little bit and she relaxes. she NEEDS this time. without it, i pretty much hear nothing but tears over anything by 4pm. its miserable. she gets too over-stimulated or something. her room usually looks as if toys r us puked in there by the time she is done playing (or she pulls out blankets lol), but thats okay.



anyway, this is when i pick up the house from the first 1/2 of the day and throw in laundry. and do things like im doing now - nothing. blogging. message boarding. facebooking. editing pics. etc.

when they wake up we have a snack. and do anything from this list -

gameroom playtime



pool time or sprinkler time outside



coloring/painting (lol)



etc... but we RARELY leave after naptime. there's no point. lol EJ gets home soon enough and then the evening schedule begins.

we eat dinner. now that its summer, we eat outside sometimes.



sawyer wants a "lick! lick!" outside after dinner. fine by me ;) they'll have a popsicle or something and then we're back inside for baths. bc, um, sawyer usually looks like this:



EJ does bathtime. always has. now, i usually have to feed reese during this time so it works out nicely. sometimes they might take a shower.





then we chase them. as they go crazy running through the downstairs naked.



go upstairs and brush teeth.



and then some gameroom play and bedtime.

i give sawyer a bottle (99% water) and drop her in bed with her paci and blankies.

i turn on aidan's movie, time it for a few mins, give her her scoozie dogs (all 3 of them plus "baby scooze") and something to drink.

and thats that. they get into bed by 730pm at the latest. then its time with EJ and reese downstairs :) reese sometimes cluster feeds at night, but lately she's been going down between 9 and 10, up at about 2am, and then up at 6ish. but then back down until i feed her in the morning again :)

so thats that. a rough schedule of our day. the trials and tribulations of things such as the store with 3, how they are situated in my car, and other things like bad moods... will be discussed later. haha