Category Archives: parenting

The Chaos of Four…

While watching 4 kids at once can be a tad chaotic, I can also see how some people get to a certain point and decide they might as well have more kids because adding one more doesn’t change things that much. That being said, we have no plans to have more children, but we did trade babysitting with my sister-in-law and her husband about a month ago and got to experience a bit of the craziness parents with larger families do on a regular basis.

I think the key to having so many kids is to not have too many under the age of 3. Once they’re over 3 they aren’t as reliant on naps and don’t turn into terrors if they miss said nap, also they basically just take care of themselves so you can keep a closer eye on the smaller ones.

Also, you’d think that with more kids you would need more toys, but in the fact the opposite is true. If you think one or two kids can destroy a room fast, you should see what four can do in half that time. Before you know it you have tiny cars imbedded in your feet and even the children are stuck in limbo afraid to move because each step brings pain.

Thankfully children are easily amused, and watching a neighbor mow the lawn can be called entertainment. With luck, the children will also play nicely together in which case you’ve found the golden ticket because you don’t need to spend half your time refereeing. Phoebe still got a little jealous at times, but she’s pretty easily distracted.

It also helps that if she’s tired enough she won’t fight it and will just crash. I cannot even express just how much of a gift this is. Sure, it has its downside like when you’re trying to get her to stay up just a little longer so her afternoon nap isn’t completely shot and she collapses on the stairs or in her chair, but for the most part it’s magical. With Enzo, the stars have to align and angels need to sing for him to take a nap anywhere out of the norm. Hey, you can’t luck out with every kid, right?

Truly, though, it was nice for the kids to fully wear themselves out with their cousins. They were all go-go-go and had a lot of fun (we did too). Granted, it’s always nice to settle everyone down for a movie and quiet time too. Ha ha!

Especially that big kid in the back… he’s a trouble maker.

Sunshine, Stress and Wellness

I have to remind myself that Enzo has only been 3 for a little over a month. Typically it feels like time is flying by, so it’s somewhat surprising to me that it’s really not going that quickly at all. I definitely need to slow down and be more present. I’ve also found myself shifting my priorities and goals and trying not to fit so much into so little time so I don’t feel as overwhelmed. I’ve been getting a lot of reading done, which has been awesome and don’t feel bad about putting off little projects I wanted to get done.

The aromatherapy studying is still happening, just at a slower pace. We had so much going on over the past few months and now I finally feel like I can just breathe and take my time with blends. I’ve come up with a few really good ones, and a few that need work, but more importantly I don’t feel as rushed and when I feel rushed, my blends aren’t as good. I think that’s the case with everything, though. You need to be able to give things the proper amount of time they deserve, but you also have to enjoy what you’re doing or the outcome won’t be as good as it could be.

There was a point a few months ago (maybe more, maybe less) where I felt so overwhelmed that if the kids weren’t in bed by 8:00 and kept getting up and wouldn’t stay down I would feel almost angry and put out because they were encroaching on my time and I needed my time to do things. Now, I feel differently. Sure, right before our trip I have things I need to do so the past couple of nights with fussy children not wanting to go to sleep has been frustrating, but at one point I finally just realized that it is what it is. No, I may not finish a few things, but that’s life. Were they really that imperative? No. So, instead I went upstairs, picked up Phoebe (for the umpteenth time because she wouldn’t let us put her down in her crib without crying big crocodile tears) and I carried her to our bed and held her and eventually fell asleep with her on my chest. Last night Josh and I took turns with the kiddos and eventually they slept – just not on time. Oh well.

I’m even at a point where I really felt like we needed to get the kids to stay in their rooms all night and it was hard and stressful, and now that we’ve kind of just caved and let the kids crawl in bed with us in the middle of the night Enzo has started getting better about staying in his room after we put him down and he’s stopped asking to sleep on the floor. We don’t always get a good night’s sleep, but I think I’ve actually been sleeping better now that we’ve just decided to let Enzo crawl into bed and if Phoebe starts crying in her crib to just bring her in. They won’t always bed share, just like Enzo will one day be fully potty trained and they’ll both give up their nuks. Working full time means we don’t see them as often as we’d like to, so I think at times they just need/want that extra time to cuddle and feel safe.

A very long post to really just say that I’m trying not to sweat the small stuff. It’s a work in progress, but I know that we’re all so much happier when we can manage our stress and just take life one day at a time and make the best of everything. I didn’t realize just how anal I could be about little things until this past weekend when we were gardening and then decided to fill the water table. Normally I would have been more careful about the kids not getting their clothes really dirty and would have tried to contain the messes more, but it doesn’t bother me as much anymore. I kind of like that I’m able to just shrug my shoulders at possibly ruined clothes and not care if they get completely soaked while not in their swimwear. Who cares! I want to be just as carefree as my munchkins.

Anyhoo…

I had my first acupuncture appointment on Monday and I’m feeling hopeful. I have an herb blend I’m taking now and didn’t have any negative reaction so the needles, so with a little work I’m hoping the whole hives issue can be resolved. As expected, I need to make some dietary changes, and so I’m doing that slowly. I haven’t dropped everything cold turkey, but I’m trying to cut back a lot on things like dairy and gluten and processed items and eat more proteins and greens. Actually, as he gave examples it sounded a lot like a paleo diet, so perhaps I should look into doing a Whole 30. I don’t know if I have the willpower, though… I haven’t given up my chocolate and last night I confess I may have stress eaten one too many rolls… whoops. Tomorrow is another day and I can try again. I already switched to gluten free oatmeal and coconut milk yogurt, so there’s that! As our friend Daniel Tiger would say, “Try, try, try, try, try it again!” 😉

A busy and somewhat chaotic weekend.

To my great surprise, the weekend ended up being much nicer than originally predicted! I need to upload photos, but for now you’ll just have to take my word that we were very productive and finally tackled at least one project that has been mocking us for a year. In the meantime, we have bubble photos because they need to go somewhere. As sticky and messy as they are, they cause such excitement when we bring them out.

I mean, sure bubbles are fun, but really? Nothing gets quite as many squeals and jumps for joy as bubbles do. Well, being allowed to jump on the bed is pretty awesome too. We had a bit of that this weekend, especially when Phoebe needed to be contained somewhere, so we put her in her crib.

I think Enzo may be feeling a bit under the weather, which could explain his moodiness and the extra tantrums we had this weekend. His nose has been pretty runny and stuffy and he woke up with goop in his eye that I’m hoping doesn’t mean he’s getting pink eye. Fingers crossed! The last time he was this cranky was during/after our California trip, so I’m trying to think of what was off. He did miss a nap on Saturday, but went to bed early that night and got a good nap Sunday. Otherwise his tummy has been a little off, so I’m thinking he may just be under the weather and without patience, which is always exacerbated when his parents are feeling a little stressed. It’s amazing how easily kids pick up on that.

I’m hopeful that we can get him sorted out this week and in time for our trip and that we can keep the stress low so we can avoid tantrums. The poor kiddo just doesn’t do well with change in his routine and gets really Hangry and needs a certain amount of sleep. So, we’ll do our best to accommodate him and also be more conscious of our own moods as both kids pick up on any and all stress.

While Enzo was on timeout for the umpteenth time this weekend, we had to keep Miss Sassypants from poking the bear. She wouldn’t leave him alone and was making the situation much worse, so we stuck her in crib. She didn’t seem to mind and just jumped and jumped for a while. We did get outside this weekend as well… a nice long walk and the kids helped me pick out flowers. Then I let them play in the water table on the deck for a while, which they both greatly enjoyed, especially Enzo because he was allowed to completely strip and run around sans clothing.

I don’t think anyone slept well last night, though, and by midnight both kids were in bed with us. Enzo either curls up right next to Josh or lays sideways and Phoebe prefers sleeping half on top of me or also sideways. Amazingly they don’t keep each other awake all night, but we do have those times when someone starts kicking and we have to do some rearranging. Funny… I didn’t realize we’d still be sleep deprived at this stage of the game. Oh well, this too shall pass and in the meantime I’ll make the most of these snuggles.

Another example of how all kids are different…

Well, we turned Phoebe’s crib into a toddler bed… for a day. A few weeks ago. Enzo was about the same age or younger when we switched him to a toddler bed and he did great – he was pretty much ready. Phoebe, on the other hand, was not ready.

Both kids started napping on cots at day care at around 14 months old, and did really well. Sure, there were days when they needed someone to rub their backs, but from what we heard they liked it, which is why we made the switch with Enzo so early. He really didn’t wander out of bed much when we made the change, and he didn’t make a huge fuss when he was put back in bed. I want to say the whole transition went fairly smoothly, which is why we decided to see if Phoebe was ready.

Both kids were eager to see what their dad was up to, and just as enthusiastic to help out. Phoebe, however, cannot be trusted with small objects as she still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, so her help was politely declined… and not so politely when she insisted that she hold the screws.

You should have seen the look on her face when we revealed her big girl bed. She was thrilled and climbed in (followed by her brother) and we high-fived thinking we had made a brilliant choice. Soon, it was nap time and the big test. It didn’t go well. She wouldn’t stay in her crib and she cried and cried and cried. We sent Enzo in to see if she’d sleep with her big brother… nope. He would nicely tell her to lay down and sleep, but she would go to the door and bang on it and cry. So long big girl bed, back to the crib we go.

In retrospect, it was really silly to have even tried the switch so soon. Unlike Enzo, Phoebe is fine being in her crib. She generally goes to sleep easily and is fine being in her prison (until about halfway through the night when she wants to be with us). I lay her down, say good-night and usually she sits up and waves nuh-night to me. Enzo, however, was always begging to get out of his crib, and has never enjoyed confinement. Granted, a lot of things have been different this second time around and every day their individual personalities become more distinct. Every day is a new adventure.

Thursday Musings

I’m not sure what to think of this silly weather we’ve been having… up and down and all the nice weather seems to fall during the week instead of on the weekend. Most Memorial Day weekends we’d be off doing something like camping, but we definitely weren’t about to do that last weekend. The kids have been extra cantankerous, though. I’m not sure if it’s the rain coming through or what, but I know I would certainly like some warm weather to actually fall on a weekend so I can soak it all up.

It doesn’t help that there has been so much going on either. It is time to fit in some evening walks and tackle our outside projects whenever the opportunity arises since summer is always too short. Soon we’ll be sending swimsuits to day care and trying frantically to fit in as many outside activities as possible. I want to camping, swimming, you name it!

The kids did get some cousin time in over the weekend, which is always nice, and I have some pictures from when we traded babysitting a few weeks ago that I need to go through. Josh got a couple of really good pictures and there are some fun ones of all the kiddos hanging out. I love watching our little tomboy keep up with the boys. I swear she’s more rowdy than her brother at times and giggles madly when she gets tackled.

Already she’s rebelling against the dresses I’ve gotten her… I put one on her the other day and she wanted it off. Then she wanted a skirt, but didn’t want a shirt on. Then Enzo wanted a skirt too, so I was like… okay, sure, why not? They both twirled and had great fun and then watched Strawberry Shortcake, which was Enzo’s choice. I think it’s good for both kids to get to do “boy” and “girl” things. I can’t imagine telling Enzo that I won’t paint his nails, but I’ll paint Phoebe’s because she’s a girl… he likes brightly colored things, so paint his nails I will!

Don’t ask me where this post is going… just random thoughts on a very hot afternoon from a very air conditioned office during the slowest time of the year. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough… plus its Josh’s birthday and I have surprises in store! There is nothing more fun than surprising someone. 😉

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures