Thursday, September 29, 2011

Go to sleep….PLEASE!

I am so very frustrated right now. I am going on 40 minutes of listening to Kamryn cry and scream for me from the crack of her door which then echoes down the tile hallway making it 10 time louder and waking Keegan up and keeping Kade from being able to fall asleep.  I feel horrible, I want to walk in there and hold her in my arms until she falls asleep but she doesn’t. She never falls asleep! EVER! She used to be such a GREAT sleeper. She would go to bed at 8 wake up at 8 or later. Never had any problems with her. Our only problem is that she would only sleep in her bed or in the car seat when we were driving. Well during out trip to Utah and Montana this summer she refused to go to bed. She figured out how to crawl out of the pack n play  and would come out of the room. (she just stopped crying and it has been exactly 45 minutes since this all started.) We would put her back and it would continue on and on. She would finally cry herself to sleep. I know that she was not comfortable where she was at but we had done this at my parents house before. We went to Montana and she had never been there before and she had to sleep in the same room as us in the pack n play but she would climb out. I hated leaving her in a strange room in a strange house so maybe this is where I went wrong but I laid by her hoping she would fall asleep. After 3 hours of hitting, kicking and screaming to come out I finally broke down and we went on a drive and she fell asleep and we transitioned her into her bed. We had to do this every night in Montana or we would have been all night. She did better in Utah as she got used to it. Then we get back to AZ and ever since not one single day has she gone down without screaming and crying at the door. In the beginning I felt bad for her because as a kid had a fear of the dark and so I empathized a little. I tried letting her sleep with the door open. She has a nightlight.  I tried letting her share the room with Kade and I tried Kade letting her sleep in his room but he would end up fast asleep and it would be 10:00 at night and she would be playing or climbing over Kade. If I left her door open she would sneak right out and lay on the couch and slowly sneak up on us. I tried laying by her to comfort her. But she just doesn’t sleep if anyone is around her even in the pitch black. So after a few weeks of playing around with making her comfortable I reverted back to what we had to do in Utah and how we originally got her to sleep through the night and self sooth in the first place, the Cry it out method. Which I have used with Kade, Kamryn and Keegan and it has worked well, until I try it on a 2 year old. Usually it takes a week or 2 at the most for there to be no crying but I am now going on 1 and a 1/2 months of her crying at her door. I don’t like it at all. It drives me bonkers! I feel so bad for her but I know that if I go in there that she will know that crying gives her attention. We have a routine and we stick to it every night.

There are so many good things about not co-sleeping with your kids. You get your own space, they aren’t still 4 and climbing into your bed in the middle of the night. Kade slept in our bed a lot and luckily shortly before Kamryn was born that changed and he was no longer allowed to come get in our bed. That kid would fall asleep almost anywhere. Sometimes I wish Kamryn was like that. If I wouldn’t have to put up with the screaming every night I would lay by her for 10 minutes (if it worked). I would let her fall asleep in my bed or on the couch and move her to her bed once she was asleep but she DOESN’T sleep anywhere unfamiliar. I can’t remember the last time she fell asleep in my arms. She was that little. I can’t remember her ever falling asleep without being strapped in something or in a pack n play or bed. She isn’t quite old enough to understand bribery or the reward of sleeping in her bed. At least I don’t think she does anyway.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to feel like a horrible mom but she needs her rest and this is the only way to do it, let her cry for 45 minutes until she realizes that no one is coming to get her. But how many days does it take to realize that we aren’t coming??? Does it take more days as they get older?

Sorry for the rambling I am just annoyed and wish I knew how to “fix” it but all I can do is try my best. I pray every night that she is comforted and that she will be able to fall asleep without screaming. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned and I have not yet come to learn it so God keeps it up until it gets through to me? I don’t know.

Thank goodness she is asleep!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Splash pad fun!

Today we went to play group. I haven’t gotten to go much because I used to work every Wednesday. The kids loved going to the splash pad. Kamryn didn’t want to run through at first and eventually had a blast! I didn’t bring my camera and the pictures didn’t really turn out of them running around but here they are after, ready to go home and have some lunch.

keegan9.28 kamryn9.28

Kade has been doing so great in school. We have a deal that if he gets green lights the entire week that we will get to go on a date! He has all greens so far and he keeps reminding me only two more! Hopefully he makes it!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

More blogging

So I have been told by my sweet husband that I need to blog more. He has already told me this but he has now told me that my followers are asking if I’m okay and why the heck have I stopped blogging. I guess I feel like there isn’t anything interesting to blog about. He pointed out that our life isn’t any more interesting or exciting as it was a year ago when I was blogging everyday, which is true. I did point out that I have posted recently….and he noticed but that’s recently.

I think I am having a hard time putting my true thoughts and feelings out there. Afraid of what people might think….who me, care what others think?  I have also had some changes in my job which has required me to possibly have to find a new one and it has caused much stress in my life and I guess I am afraid if a potential employer googles my name and sees a post that sounds like I am NUTS then they definitely won’t hire me! Haha! Luckily I am getting the hours I need for our family to survive but not doing what I want to be doing.

I will try to be better. I have been HORRIBLE at taking pictures of my kids lately. Is there a reason? No, I just haven’t. I am mad that I have almost reached my limit on photo uploads through Picasa and I don’t know how to fix it. I think that was one of the biggest discouragers of blogging. I also got sick of seeing/reading blog posts about how perfect, wonderful, and blissful life is. Don’t get me wrong I like to see the wonderful things about life, but I like to see that I am normal and not alone when it comes to the imperfectness of life. It makes me feel like not such a bad mom after all :). I could go on and on on that subject, trust me. I have 2 blog posts that I started and then deleted because I didn’t want to offend anyone but was so bothered by it.

I don’t remember if I posted this on here but a couple weeks ago little miss Kamryn put a piece of corn up her nose and days later sneezed it out during dinner. Well tonight during dinner she was trying to put more corn up her nose and I stopped her. Well as I was changing her diaper she was rubbing her nose like something was bothering her and a piece of corn started to come out but before I could get to it she snuffed it back in. I tried many different things to get it out…one of them may have worked because I swear I saw it come out but I don’t know where it went. Which leaves me wondering if she snuffed it back in again. Luckily tomorrow is Keegan’s 15 month check up and I hope the doctor will be kind enough to look up Kamryn’s nose with her cool little light and see if she sees any corn! Speaking of the little cutie I like to point to pictures of our family on the wall and she says their name. Well when I get to her I usually don’t understand what she says and figures she just has a hard time saying her name. Well today I understood. She was saying, “That’s you!” Because that’s what I always say to her. We are working on saying her name or saying, “That’s me!”

Here are some pictures from our day….

P1060397Kade playing play dough. P1060393Kamryn was refusing to smile for the camera. Silly girl! Maybe she is just embarrassed that her lunch is all over her shirt?P1060394Touchdown! P1060395

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Cook, Who me? Couldn’t be!

Those that know me well know I don’t like to cook very often. I love to bake but not cook. When I do cook is is always the same stuff. I would say I try something new maybe once or twice a year, not even exaggerating, ask my poor husband! I could name the last 4 things I tried cooking for the first time and the first of the 4th was done when Kamryn was about 4 months old.  Pinterest has popped the bubble because in the last couple days I have baked something new and cooked something new. Monday I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies, they were sooooooo good. I forgot to add the coco, but they were still good. So if you happen to not have coco and want to make them you can and they will still turn out. Also I recommend using a glass pan if you have it because they seemed to turn out better than the ones I baked in a non stick baking pan.  They are super easy, Ryan was asking me today if I wanted him to go buy some more pumpkin so I could make some more.

Tonight I made Chick-fil-a chicken nuggets and they were delish! Kade even said they were way better than Chick-fil-a and they were SUPER easy. My biggest problem with recipes is that they call for things I don’t normally buy so I have to make “special” trips to the store and then if I don’t feel like trying the new recipe I am stuck with the ingredients and usually they end up going bad. But this recipe only calls for the day to day things that everybody should have in their cupboard.

Next on the list to try are Cheesy Ranch Potato Bake and Crock pot orange chicken.

Thank you pinterest for inspiring me to cook new things!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Flag Football

This was Kade’s second flag football game. He did great and the kids had a fun time cheering him on!

 P1060384   P1060387  P1060389

Friday, September 16, 2011

Our Crazy Kids!

So yesterday I started a post and a while later I couldn't figure out where it went…I have not blogged in so long that I am not even sure what to blog about! I usually like to have pictures to go along with blogs because honestly that is what I usually enjoy about reading others blog posts. Unfortunately I have been HORRIBLE about taking pictures lately. Maybe if I had an iphone it would be easier?

Anyhow I have all these funny little things about my kids floating around in my head that I don’t want to forget.

Kade: He just started flag football and had his first game last Saturday. He was so nervous he faked having a sprained ankle. He got over it fast and was out on the field in no time. Kade is such a helper when he wants to be and is always asking for another sibling. Maybe he has the same problem I do. I just feel like we are missing someone, Kooper. I don’t think I will ever feel complete, even if I had 4 more kids…Kade is doing good in his school work but he is not coming home with green lights. I am not happy about it so I asked his teacher why he is having such a hard time. Apparently Kade likes to entertain the class with arm farts and who knows what else. Once he is moved to the front he can focus and actually get work done!  So hopefully he starts doing better.  Kade is always so concerned about others and is so caring.

Kamryn: She is the little diva of the house. She has a silly personality only you wouldn’t know if you were a stranger because she is so shy! Much shyer than I think I ever was. She loves to dance and last Saturday we had corn with dinner. Well on Tuesday during dinner she sneezed out a piece of corn…so she sure does know how to store food just maybe in the wrong places! She is learning things so fast and Kade has almost mastered teaching her the arm fart. Great! She is having a hard time going down for naps and bedtime. She screams in her room and kicks the door and I just have to ignore it. Today after she stopped crying I went in to check on her and luckily I didn’t open the door. I noticed something sticking out from under the door….it was one of her pig tails. She was fast asleep on the floor next to the door. I just wish she would lay down and shut her eyes like she does for the babysitter!

Keegan: Keegan is the happiest boy on earth. The other day we were at McDonalds and he was over playing with the kids. I could see where he was at but not what was going on. Apparently someone bit him and he didn’t even make a sound. He is a tough little guy. I guess you have to be when you have an older brother and sister that wrestle with ya! I noticed last night that Keegan kind of looks like Dopey from Snow White and the seven dwarfs. It’s that big smile of his! He is such a sweetheart and I couldn’t imagine our family without him. He has recently started to say new words. I was a little worried because he has only said 3 words for the longest time and now he is finally repeating words. He is very observant little guy though. I love to just watch him.

The kids are crazy and fun and we love the joy they bring to our lives even though there are times where we wish we could just go hide in the closet….I think that is why god made bedtime! So the parents could recoup and prepare for another crazy day with the kids!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

High heels and taking notes!

The kids can get pretty board while Kade is gone to school…

P1060363 P1060225If you are wondering why my kids have not pants on, it’s because I am constantly changing diapers and I get sick of putting on and off pants…oh yeah and it’s REALLY hot here….so it’s just another way to stay cool! Right? Or maybe just laziness???   Don’t worry they eventually get their pants back on…it just might take an hour…or two!