Hey y'all - I'm Bloggin!

Hey y'all! Check this out - I'm a blogger too! (ok - just got the Dr. Pepper tune in my head - He's a blogger! She's a blogger! Wouldn't ya like to be a blogger too? Be a blogger!) Anyway, several of my friends have their own blogs and I thought they were a really cool way to keep in touch with friends and family so, here I am giving it a try. Now, I will also state that if it weren't for my awesome hubby and his technical knowhow, this household would likely not even have an email account. I have little patience for figuring out computer stuff. So this will probably be a simple blog without a lot of bells and whistles but hey, no biggy.

As I'm sitting here typing, I'm listening to the oh so NOT relaxing tunes of a screaming six month old in her crib. She's overtired because we were keeping her up waiting for big sister Abigail and big brother Jared to go to sleep so that we could do our betime juggling act and let her (Rachel) go to bed in her crib. Let me back up and explain the situation.

We live in a 3 bedroom house so Abigail and Jared share a room while Rachel has her own. The older kids have loved sharing their room over the past year but it's been stressing us out. Unless Abigail is asleep when we put Jared to bed (for naps or night time) they party, they laugh, they scream, they fight, they throw things back and forth, they take things from each other, they bounce off the beds, the walls and each other. Hubby and I have offered bribes of treats if they will be quiet and stay in bed, we've taken away stuffed animals, we've spanked, we've sat in their room until they go to sleep or layed down with them (which of course takes time away from us and our personal down time before we get in bed). We have gotten totally fed up with this nightly battle to get them to go to sleep before 11:00 every single night (and their bedtimes are around 7:30 or 8:00)!

So, what we decided to do is this - are you ready? See if you can keep up ... We bought a blow up mattress and put it in the floor in Rachel's room. Abigail takes her nap and also goes down for her nightly bedtime in Rachel's room on this mattress. I leave her there for her full nap, either with Rachel already asleep in her crib or I may put Rachel in the pack 'n' play in our room. Jared is really starting to outgrow his naps so he can now play quietly or read during nap time. Before this arrangement, I had really been coming down on him hard for making ANY noise (keep in mind he's FOUR) and especially for waking Abigail during the nap time (but my sanity requires that he still have a nap/quiet time so that I can get a break or sometimes my own nap). So now, he just plays quietly and reads books in his room. He's allowed to talk and make some noise (as long as it's still quiet) and he's happier. I'm SO much happier. We're all happier.

Anyway, at night, we put Jared in his room, Abigail on her mattress in Rachel's room and the plan is for Rachel to already be asleep. I usually wait until John and I are about to go to bed to move Abigail back to her own bed in the room she shares with Jared. Both Jared and Abigail have been going to sleep MUCH faster at night and it's been MUCH less stressful for us! We still have to go back there at least a couple of times at night though because they want their doors open but they end up giggling across the hall or getting out of their rooms and running back and forth. So, I go back there and shut their doors. Abigail usually wails for a few minutes and Jared typically sneaks his back open after we're gone so I still have to go threaten him again before he leaves it and goes to sleep. Tonight, however, is not going quite so smoothly. Rachel was already up when we put Abigail and Jared to bed. So the plan was to wait until Abigail went to sleep, put Rachel in her crib, and move Abigail back to her bed. Unfortunately Abigail and Jared kept playing and opening their doors and not going to sleep. Rachel was getting really fussy so we finally decided to move Abigail back into her room with Jared , put Rachel in her crib, and have Daddy sit in the hallway ready to fuss the occasional "be quiet!" to the two gigglers while Rachel continues to scream from her crib. AAAaaaahhhh!!!!

Oooo! Hey ... they have all finally quieted down. I think we may finally get some peace and quiet tonight. Oops - nope. Spoke too soon....

Well anyway, this arrangement has been quite a bit of a juggling act but (other than tonight) it's been much better!

On to other topics, I took the kids to the pool today. Jared and Abigail are little fish with their little swimmies on. They love the pool! Rachel had a great time too. She's such a great baby - just laid back and goes with the flow. She sat in her little float and splashed in the water while the other two jumped and splashed and acted crazy. Here are some photos I took on my cell phone.