Our Daily Schedule

My college roommate Jill asked what our daily schedule was like. So, here it is:

6:45am - I wake up, get in the shower, get dressed and ready
7:05am - I get everyone else up. Everyone goes to the bathroom, gets pj's off and we meet in the living room to get dressed. (Jody's on his own downstairs)
7:20am - Eat breakfast, brush teeth
7:40am - Silas out the door (either Jody or I will drive him up to school and come back)
8-11:30 - various activities (grocery shopping, preschool, snack, YMCA, library, etc)
11:30am - Lunch
12:30pm - Luke down his nap
1:00pm - Hattie down for her nap/rest
1:15pm - I try and take a nap or catch up on dishes, bills, etc
2:15pm - Everyone UP, grab a snack
2:20pm - Out the door to pick up Silas
2:30pm - Silas out of school
3 - 5pm - Various things (can include 1 hr of TV time, visit Jody at the office, play outside, homework, errands)
5:15pm - (or so) supper, dishes, family time, get ready for school the next day (we pick out clothes, pack lunches, pack backpacks, sign any papers...)
6:15pm - Start bedtime routine : bath, pj's, brush teeth, read books (everyone gets to pick out one)
7:15pm - Kids in bed
10:00pm - I go to bed. Sometimes Jody comes to bed, sometimes he watches TV, does stuff on the computer or reads.

Whew! Makes me tired just typing it out! I'm glad today is Saturday!

A HUGE Blessing

Tonight our family was the recipient of an amazing blessing! My friend from church, Sandy Dunagan and her husband Fred, brought our family a delicious supper! Homemade chicken pot pie, fresh pole beans and bran-apple muffins.

We all enjoyed it! My kids ate great. And so did I!

Sandy just wanted give me a break and add some iron to my diet. (Did I mention in previous bogs that my OB discovered that I'm anemic? I can't remember. I'm taking extra iron supplements. ) It was so good!

What a great way to start the weekend!

Another One of Those Days

My day started out bad. I made Silas's oatmeal too mushy. No wait, it started before that when Luke woke up at like 6:20am. It all went downhill from there. I forgot to let the childcare know at Bible study that I was bringing my kids. Hattie threw a fit because I asked her to help clean up. La da da.

Don't feel sorry for me. I'm FINE. The kids went to bed great, early. So I've been veggin and thinking.

I love this verse:

Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness.


I love that I get to start again tomorrow. And its Thursday. I have 3 whole hours to myself.

Sleeping Babies

I know that this is a weird subject and one that people either have strong opinions or don't really care. I am on the side of pretty strong opinions.

I read the Ezzo's Baby Wise before Silas was born. I liked the concept of parent directed feedings, but when the baby is a little older than the Ezzo's suggest. I firmly believe that each child is different. And circumstances are different.

One thing we took from the Ezzo's is that we wanted our kids to fall asleep on their own as early as we deemed possible. We have been pretty successful with this. It works well within our regular routine. But when something is different (being out of town, having visitors in your home, etc) its VERY hard to get the kids to sleep!

My sister sent me a book when we were overseas called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. Its not an easy, straight thru read. Its more like an encyclopedia that I have used to help in different situations.

The main premise of that book is that we, as parents, need to allow our children to sleep. They need far more sleep than we typically allot them. One of the surprises that the author proposed is that putting your kids to bed early will not make them wake up earlier. I have found this to be relatively true.

Ok, now I have 2 situations going on that are new for us:

1. Hattie is starting to grow out of her nap. She is 3 1/2 yrs old, and that's normal. But she really needs a nap. Without a nap, by supper time she is unbearable. And if we have something to do, like today's ballet class...I panic! She has GOT to have a nap. I have discovered that if I lay down next to her and help her to be still and quiet, she will most likely fall asleep. (thankfully that's what happened this afternoon). Its so strange for me though. I have never laid down with my kids. But now that I'm desperate for rest myself, I don't even care, if it works!!

2. Luke is consistently waking up earlier than normal. Its been averaging 6:30am. Bedtime has been the same. And he's ready for bed when we lay everyone down. (We do lay them down at the same time, and its usually between 7-7:45pm) He is ready for his nap whenever I will let him lay down. But WHY is he waking up so early??? And he's in a regular bed, so he just gets up and comes to our room. I don't know how to rationalize with him to stay in his bed until 7am or so or to go back to sleep.

Maybe with all the change in schedule with school and stuff we will settle into our new routine. What do you think?

Walmart on a Saturday

Walmart on a Saturday is not a great idea. Big shocker, I know.

But I took my dad to the airport and I needed milk and few things...Jody had the kids, so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. If I'd had the kids, I don't know that I would have recovered yet. But since I was alone, it wasn't THAT bad. I mean at least I didn't have kids with the gimmies during naptime, right??

Seriously...does pretty much everyone else in town go to Walmart on Saturday afternoon? I had to maneuver my cart around SO many people...it was very annoying.

I don't even like Walmart! And I'm not going there again on a Saturday.

Another First Day of School

It was a beautiful morning to start preschool here in Tigerville! Not only weather-wise too! We didn't have a tear or apprehension.

What did I do for 3 hours? I went to the grocery store ALONE, cleaned bathrooms, picked up toys, did some laundry...before I knew it, I had to rush to pick up Hattie and Luke on time. Then we went to my parents house. My sister's kids were still there and my mom was going to be gone. So I volunteered my services for meals, naps, bedtime, etc in assistance to Pa. I'm not sure if I was tons of help. Adding my kids and my pregnant/tired self to the mix is ify...but we tried AND survived.

I am already ready to go to be, but Jody's not home yet and I'm trying to wait up for him. Besides, its not even 9pm!

Post Labor Day

Our labor day was full of labor and I LOVE that!!!

Thanks to my in-laws and husband we straightened up the basement, put up a shelf for the detergents and found where a yucky smell was originating from. A wet corner in the basement was making some baskets and carpet moldy. Oh the sense of accomplish!!

The clan headed back to GA after a free lunch from Chick Fil A. (Wear any college logo and get a 3 count chicken strips -- which are FABULOUS!!) Silas especially was sad to see "the cousins" go. But it was a great visit.

Today Silas went back to school. He was very excited because "after labor day I get homework".

Holly's boys and my dad came over for lunch while my mom went to a meeting (Holly's out of state for a couple of days). We picked up Silas and his homework was reading a book together. So we just finished that. He can read SO many words now and is very proud!

I also got a call from my OB. The nurse said my iron is very low, "if you've been exhausted, this is why." Well GREAT! At least I have an explanation for needing a nap!! I just have to start taking iron...which I've had to do with each of the 4 pregnancies. Oh well.

So we are off to my parents so Silas can see Elijah and Graham. And we'll eat supper and curb some of that "fixing supper and cleaning up" exhaustion! :)

Look Who's 2!!!

Luke is 2 today! I can't believe it!!! We had a great day. Jody's parents and sister and 3 of her kids came to visit for the weekend. We went to my parents for supper and little party. Luke was SO excited about his Brownie Birthday cake. He LOVED his "baboons" and he loved his presents. Luke also shares his birthday with Jody's mom, Judi. So it was nice to have her here to celebrate with us.

Happenings

We've had a busy few days!

Holly and her boys came for a quick visit. Silas didn't even get to see them!!

My mom, Holly and I sang at a ladies event at our church. We haven't sang together in like 6 or 7 yrs! But we pulled it off and had a good time.

Today we had a luncheon for the Women's Auxiliary Board at North Greenville. Nice lunch, nice ladies...babysitters who fed my kids lunch.

BUT the rain!!! Oh my goodness. It has rained for 3 days. And today it literally rained ALL day! I'm not complaining. We have needed it. Then after school we got a tornado warning. I don't know why, but Silas freaked out. He was crying and saying what if the roof flew off...what about his frogs (a little aquatic cube Pa bought him)...what about his teacher, Mrs. Bright...it was strange. We ended up spending about an hour in our closet downstairs. The entire university was sent to certain places.

Silas didn't want to come out of the closet, but eventually he believed us that it was safe. Although he wanted to leave the frog in my closet just in case we had to go back in there tonight.

All is well now. Everyone was tired and ready for bed.

On a funny note...my college roommate, Jill, called me this morning and said something to this effect:

I know you are not going to be shocked at what I'm about to tell you, but we were late taking JJ to his first day of kindergarten this morning. I don't know what happened, but we didn't hear the alarm. We didn't let on to JJ that it was a big deal. And besides, he was only about 10 minutes late.

Even when Jill and I roomed together she was late. She NEVER heard her alarm. HA! I heard it EVERYTIME it went off. Not much has changed. But really, it was an honest mistake, the weather and all. Besides, if JJ didn't realize it...no big deal. You are a great mom, Jill and I love you!

27 Week Belly Poses

Jody actually took pics the other day, so I thought I'd add them. That belly sure is growing!!!

Olympics

Jody and I have really enjoyed the Olympics. Its something we both like to watch and talk about. I love the pride the athletes have (in general) for their countries. And for some reason the Olympics makes (just about) every sport interesting.

Here are a few exceptions:

• Diving: Jody hates it. He just thinks its "lame-o". He says where he comes from you get more points for the BIGGEST splash.
• Equestrian: I don't know, its looks a little fake-ish to me.
• Boxing: while I appreciate that they are at least wearing helmets, hitting for the sake of hitting just never makes sense to me.

Good Examples:

• Table Tennis: I caught just a little of this the other day and it was fascinating!!! Those ladies were sweating profusely! They were dog-gone serious about bouncing that little ball so many times before serving...I was enthralled!
• Kyaking: although it looked a little fake-ish to me too, the kids really liked it!
• Marathon: I am not a runner, but I could not stop watching this 26 mile run. It was so interesting. They pushed eachother, and I couldn't believe that! They struggled to grab their water as the ran by...and the gal who won was so determined.

What have you enjoyed and why? Or are you like my parents...I don't think they have watched one event!?

A New Routine

Silas had another great day. Firedrill, PE, buying his lunch, getting in time out...(that was for playing too rough apparently).

Now we are having to establish and fall into a new routine.

Silas has to be at school (preferably) by 7:45. So we are having to do some prep work the night before. We are picking out clothes, packing the backpack, and deciding what he wants to do for lunch (buy or pack) and do the appropriate preparation. This way when we wake up, everything is ready. We eat breakfast and get out the door. Thankfully we live very close, so 7:40 is cutting it fine. And only one of us (Jody or me) have to get in the car and take him.

Note: Do NOT take this to mean that I am organized. I AM NOT! This morning we got to school on time, but WITHOUT the backpack this. Jody didn't have a problem swinging it by when he went into the office at about 8:30. I think we need a check list.

Once Silas and Jody are out the door...here we go. The thing is, I am bound, timewise, to the school schedule, we have to pick Silas up at 2:30. Before kindergarten, nap time may be getting over at 2:30, but usually closer to 3. Now we have to be done by 2:15. That means we need to implement an earlier nap time.

This is hard. But its doable. We just need to have lunch a little earlier and lay Luke down by 12:30. Then, Hattie...oh that girl. She is trying to drop the nap altogether I think. But it sure makes for hard afternoons.

I did get several things accomplished. I vacuumed downstairs and decluttered the desk upstairs. I love when I get something measurable done. We also met my parents at the Y and my wonderful dad took my suburban for a wash/vacuum/oil change. WOW! It looks GREAT.

This is a boring post, but it was a long day!