Kids and SLEEP!

This is a hot topic among parents... why?  Oh, because if your kids don't sleep well then neither do you - but that's not all... oh no... if they don't sleep well (and they don't nap anymore) then you don't even have a CHANCE of having a normal, happy, relaxing day.  This is why some parents become sleep nazi's when they have young children.  I am guilty of being a little nazi-ish.

Ok so here's the scoop.  Olivia doesn't do well on little sleep.  We know this, we have experienced it time and time again.  Neither do Jack and Ellee for the record, but this week it has been about my Olivia.  My sweet seven year old.  She stayed up until 10:00 thursday night because she was reading in her room (I didn't know this until ten o'clock when I went to check on her.)  Then Friday night we had some friends of hers over who are older and do much better staying up I'm sure... but anyway she was up til 11. 
By the way... kids don't "SLEEP IN" at this age.  Not sure when that starts to happen but I'm going to put my money on it being high school...  If she goes to bed at 11 she still wakes up at seven!
Anyway, so by Saturday she is a mess.  A whiney, bossy, stubborn mess of a child that you have to walk around on egg shells to avoid upsetting her.  It is now Sunday night and I can finally say with hope that we are back to normal.   Two full days to pay for staying up those two nights late in a row.

Jack is finally sleeping in his own bed.  We sprayed the monster spray and scared all the monsters out of his bedroom, so it's safe.  He still comes down in the middle of the night crying sometimes, saying his knee hurts or his leg hurts.  This concerned us at first, but now I think it's just his thing he says when he wakes up at night.  So we get him an ice pack and go lay with him for a minute until he falls back asleep.  But overall he sleeps pretty well.   He doesn't nap anymore so it's usually pretty easy to get him down at night.  He usually sleeps from 8pm-7am.  On Olivia's gymnastics night he almost always falls asleep watching cartoons while she is gone.  Usually around 6:30.  We move him up to his bed and he stays asleep usually til morning.  Sometimes comes down around ten and needs his "milk with three ice cubes in his Elmo cup."

Ellee takes one big fat nap during the day.   She also goes to bed around 8 or 8:30 when the big kids do. She loves to climb into Jack's bunk bed with him.  Half the time I let her lay there for 5 minutes and pretend she's going to sleep there.  They snuggle and giggle and then 5 minutes later Jack is yelling to me  "Mom! Elle is bothewing me"  So I have to tear her little body from the bed while she cries "NO!"  She loves Jack.  She would also sleep in Olivia's room.  That girl loves her big brother and sister.

Ellee unfortunately has learned how to scream "MOM!" from her crib.  How come I'm not Mommy?  That's what I'd like to know!  Or even Momma.  Does she really have to skip right to Mom?   Anyway, for some reason she if she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming for me I have to go running upstairs (from zero to sixty... or at least zero to twenty mph) so she doesn't wake the others up.   The downside to having your bedroom on the first floor.

Sleep is a good good thing.  You take it for granted when you're getting it, but then if you have a bad night you remember how precious it is.  It's like gold.

Signing off to go get some sleep myself!  xo Marathon Momma

Dinner time...

As I was hauling in the grocery's today I was thinking about how many dinners (breakfast's, lunches and snacks) I have already made myself, my husband and our kids in this lifetime... and realized that I wasn't even close to being halfway done.  Cooking is just part of my everyday life.  I have found a few things that help me organize throughout the years though...
1.)  I plan out my weeks worth of dinners on Sunday and make a grocery list.  Then on Monday I actually go and buy everything on my list so I have everything I need to make my ideas for the week.
2.)  I am trying to make the kids meals similar to what we eat so I'm not making two completely different meals every night.  But sometimes I still do.
3.)  I am trying to enjoy cooking!

Trying is the key word b/c it's not really one of my favorites.  But I find that if I am organized and have what I need... and have an idea of what to make it's really not so bad!  I can enlist the help of Olivia and Ellee who like to "help" if you can call it that.

I just signed up with door to door organic's to receive fruits and veggies every wednesday.  I'm so excited about it!  It sounds so great!  My only issue with it is that it's not Monday... so I still had to buy some produce to get us through the first half of the week.  Hopefully it'll be a hit... I'll keep you posted.

xo Marathon Momma

Look in a book!

I'm a big book reader... here are books that have helped me with parenting, plus some more for fun...

Your pregnancy week by week- for pregnancy... love this book b/c it compares baby's size to fruit.

Happiest Baby on the Block - good for the first 3-4 months

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child- good for months 4-school age - helps kids sleep so you can sleep too! 

disclaimer: don't get toooo wrapped up in schedule or it'll drive you crazy!

Siblings without Rivalry- (thanks Jamie) love this one for kids to argue and bicker... 

Love and Logic- for discipline tips and ideas 

The Power- not a parenting book, but I love it :)

best novel I've read lately... - Water for Elephants.  I couldn't put this one down!

My kid's favorite books at the current time...  (this is just for fun!)

Ellee- Flush the Potty book, Elmo loves you,  Charlie Chick and basically anything else I will read her.

Jack- hmmm, doesn't really sit too still for books, but he does like Lightning McQueen books or Thomas Books.  Also likes the "Froggy" books.

Olivia- loves Junie B Jones books, The Rainbow Fairy books, Magic Tree House books and almost any other book intended for young girls.  The girl has sunk her teeth into books lately.  (YES she got that from me!)  I am happy to pass along that love of reading - its' such a gift.  

This is a test....

I am reading a book called "The Power"  it's awesome!! It's kind of like "the secret" actually written by the same people.  It's based on the same principal of the law of attraction, but its the secret behind the law of attraction which is LOVE.  I am just blown away by how true this book is for my life.  If you approach your day from a place of love, everything miraculously seems to go your way!  It basically just encourages me to have a happy outlook on my day.  Something I read last night truly gave me strength and a whole new way of approaching parenting today.
Ok, so last night I am reading a chapter about how what if you were to think of every person you come into contact with as your own PET (personal emotional trainer).  Every person's job is to teach you to choose love.  Some people make it really easy... cutie pie baby who lifts her arms up and says "mama".  Very easy to choose to be loving to her.  More difficult... daughter who cried and was defiant about four different things in an hour tonight... or son who cried LOUDLY in target this afternoon because I wouldn't buy him a new train.
Because of the chapter on them being my own little PET's last night I approached this challenge in a new way.  Instead of getting really frustrated and mad at them for not being agreeable or "easy" in my head I'm like "Ahah!  They are TESTING ME!"  They are making me STRONGER!   "I can win this" I say to myself and I am just outrageously patient and kind.  And guess what... it worked!! I won!!!


"Happiness depends upon ourselves"  Aristotle


When I rise above the chaos I feel so proud of myself!!  And so in control.  :) It's gonna be my new thing...  hahahaha you can't frustrate me!
marathon momma

Window into my kid's minds...

Today Jack said to me "You have a big bootie Mom! Just like Daddy.  You could turn around and bump booties together."  So this is what kids think about.  That Jack, he was looking for a laugh, he's a little comedian.  I of course thought it was hilarious.
Olivia tonight was playing with her new bicycle Barbie and turned to me and said "Mom, how come they make Barbie's so much prettier than regular people?"  All I could do was laugh and say "I don't know honey! That's a good question!"  

And Ellee has recently learned how to whisper in your ear which if that doesn't make you laugh until tears come to your eyes, there's something wrong with you.  Because she doesn't say anything, just whispers  really loudly "babuaduehadhiodht" and then looks proudly at you like "get it?"  Also, she is a SHOE girl.  She spends a good portion of every day sitting on the floor in the mud room trying on different shoes.  Jack and Olivia's shoes are her favorites b/c they stay on her feet better than Chris's or mine.

Just a quick entry today for some laughs.  :)
M.M.

Olivia's Birthday Letter

Every year I have tried to write a birthday letter to each of my children.  I've missed one here or there and sometimes they don't get written for months but today I thought I might just write it here on the blog and then later can handwrite it.

Olivia Love...
(or Olivia Claire or Olivia Amy) whichever you prefer because apparently you are currently embarrassed by your middle name.  Thats ok because I know you'll love it someday when you become a little bit hippie like me.  You have had an awesome year.  You are doing so well in first grade.  You are reading really really well.  Like, chapter books in your bedroom after I say goodnight.  You are like the perfect angel at school, always doing your best and following directions. I was so proud of you when you got chosen by your music teacher to be one of the eight children to sing "zip-a-dee-do-da" with your little mickey mouse ears on the stage at LSWest in front of an auditorium full of people.  You have played soccer this past fall with your team "The Froggies" including Holly, Taylor and Libby.  Your best buddies.  (You and Libby are all about calling each other BFF's.)  You are currently in gymnastics class, and just figured out how to do a back walkover all by yourself.  You lost both your front teeth this year and were toothless for awhile, now one of your grown up teeth is growing in.  You are an amazing big sister to Jack and Ellee (when you want to be).  Jack was scared to sleep alone most of this year and you let him spend almost every night in your trundle bed until just recently when you helped me spray monster spray and get rid of the monsters in his room.  Jack loves his "Owivia".    And you are always great with Ellee.  You have taught her to say so many things and love to pick her up.  She loves her "sissy".    You are currently "into" riding your scooter, playing with American Girl Dolls, and actually you are liking your Barbie dolls again, drawing, reading, doing crafts, playing with your friends (very social) gymnastics and swimming.
Last summer you were still scared to put your face in the water at the pool... although you LOVE to swim and can actually swim without putting your face in!  But just recently you overcame your fears and did it!  You also mastered snow skiing this spring in Beaver Creek.  You were so excited!  Going up the magic carpet, and even the pomme lift.  Daddy and I are so proud of you Olivia.
We will never forget today though.  You got to have a horse birthday party.  It was awesome, everyone got to ride on Emmy's horses and we did crafts, water balloons and pin the tail on the horsey.  Then we had pizza with the family at next door pizza.  I can't believe I've been a mom now for 7 whole years!! Wow.  This is just as much a birthday for you, as it is an anniversary for me!  Because by the time you read this I'll be able to share with you that I dont know it all~  I've learned a lot about how to be a mom from you!  And if I do say so myself, I think we're doing a pretty good job, because you are a  kind hearted, big spirited, happy, energetic, lovely little girl.  And I love who you are and who you are growing into.  Love you, Mommy
4-03-11