Ode to Sleep Take Two

Last night was the first time all three kids slept through the night. At least that I can remember... Yep, they slept, in their own beds, and didn't wake up til morning. How did we do it? I guess if you stick with a method it does work eventually. Real Dad and I went back to the suggestions in Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution and started implementing them again. We started with a bed time routine for everyone, including a story, music and lights out at a set bed time. We had to do so modifications over the weeknend because Real Daughter 2 and Real Son ended up getting sick. They both got really high fevers of over 103 F but know other symptoms. Both seem fine today which is good. We also stayed consistent (sort of) with how we put them back to sleep if they woke up. We gave them back their binkies, laid them back down and covered them up, then stayed with them til they were almost asleep again before leaving. As I said, two of them were sick, and Real Son ended up sleeping in our bed one night for most of the night. We also had all three of them in our bed one night this weekend. Oh well, they're young and when they're sick, they need comfort. One day (sooner then we think) they will not want to sleep with us. One night is nice, hopefully it's a trend that continues...

Ode to sleep

Oh sleep, how I miss thee, I can't remember the last time I got a full night's sleep. My 15 month old twins still do not sleep through the night. Real Dad and I have been trying to get them on a sleep schedule with the No Cry Sleep Solution, but it is a slow process. Right now it feels like a very slow process.

The girls are teething, that continual process which makes for much drool and grumpy babies who do not sleep well. This is a lot easier process when you only have to deal with one baby teething, two grumpy non sleeping babies is not very fun.

Actually I lied, they do sleep pretty well... in our bed. Yes that's right, there comes a point where sleep is more important then getting them to sleep in their cribs. So, around 3 or 4 am I give up and bring them into bed with me because Real Dad has to be up by 6 am anyway. I try to get them to sleep in past the alarm clock but since one is usually on top of me, I'm trapped if I can't get her to sleep in the middle after Real Dad leaves for work. This makes it hard to get up before the kids to get showered, dressed, and have a cup of coffee before the chaos of the day.

Lately it hasn't mattered because getting a little extra sleep has been nice. Except the fact that I've found that if I can't move, my back gets really sore and I wake up in pain, ugh. I would like to have a little time before the kids wake up to get my mind in gear and give me some needed alone time without the kids.

It's been hard dealing with the lack of sleep for the both of us since Real Dad does help out when both the girls wake up, or when they are up multiple times during the night. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

A visit to the resident leprechauns..

Real Dad and I made a trek downtown to visit the resident leprechauns at the world's smallest park Mill Ends Park. A very fitting way to start off our St Patrick's Day adventure. After saying hi (and the requisite photo op for both of us). We then headed toward one of the local bars that had bagpipers, irish dancers, and bands to celebrate this great Irish festival and enjoy a few beers. The bagpiper was awesome, and I had forgotten how much I missed bagpipe music. The band was also enjoyable, as long as you had a buzz going from the alcohol, definitely a good drinking band by the music they played.

We also stood in line for another local favorite Voodoo doughnut. Yep, we waited in line for half an hour for doughnuts, and yes they were worth it. We did bring some home for the kids and they also enjoyed their first voodoo doughnuts as well. Yep, that's right, the kids were home with the babysitter while we had some fun alone for the first time since Real Grandma's visit. Real DS and DDs had their St Patty's day fun on Friday the 16th with a craft at our indoor playground. I may show off DS' art and show his talents outside of wall drawings!

I hate housework...

There, I said it, unfortunately staying at home it seems to become part of your job. Luckily Real Dad understands that most of my time is taken up with those three kids, which can take a lot of time.

I have been receiveing emails from a website that is supposed to help you get your home, life and everything organized and free of clutter. It's called Flylady. She's great for a former federal employee like me. Why? Because she has acronyms! The government loves acronyms, so I'm very used to them after working for the feds for 11 years. My favorite is do you suffer from CHAOS (Can't have anyone over syndrome).

Problem is, getting the emails is great, but you still have to do the work. I've finally started doing her daily missions and have been trying to keep my sink shiny. I'll have to start uploading pics of my shiny sink to keep me honest...

Wall art

This is the reason why washable markers were invented. This was just one wall, Real DS actually managed to do three walls and the floor. Needless to say, mommy was not happy. Apparently this had been done during the weekend and neither Real Dad or I had noticed. I noticed this morning before we had to leave for our playgroup. I told him that walls were not for drawing on and he would have to help clean it up when we got home.

He did apologize and helped clean up the wall. The washable marker came off very easily, unfortunately Real DS had added purple crayon to his masterpiece which took a bit more scrubbing.

Did I mention we live in a rental? Luckily it all came off with a little elbow grease (mommy's elbow grease for the crayon part).

From March to August

Real Dad and I lived apart for five months. To be honest, it sucked, for both of us, and for poor Real DS. The only ones that didn't care too much were the twins, because they were too young, but being away from them during this time of major changes was hard on Real Dad. During this time I did a lot of applications, a lot of soul searching, a lot of praying, a lot of internet surfing... trying to decide what I wanted to do.

Real Dad knew that the decision to give up my career had to be completely my idea, I needed to own it, or it wouldn't work. (Honestly, I still have issues even though it's been awhile, hence this blog). During the time apart I was able to fly out with DS twice, once in April for a long weekend and then for a longer trip over the 4th of July. Real Dad visited us for a long weekend over Memorial Day for the twins baptism and again the week before our move to help with packing, loading and moving.

August 12th was my last day as a professional in a career I loved and had been in for 11 years, and the beginning of a new adventure. One I was not completely on board with, but knew needed to happen. Now Real Dad had offered on multiple occasions to quit and come back, but he had the better job, with promotion potential in a better location. I had a rural location, a dead end job in my current position, and not much potential for promotion for either of us in that location. I made the best decision for our family, even if it wasn't the best decision for me.

Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem, Seize the day! It seems like it's another popular comment to parents of young children (not just ones with twins). Savor every minute, it goes by so quickly. Okay, I get it, I know how time flies because I still can't believe that Real DS is 3 and Real DDs are 15 months. When faced with dates on the calendar it's easy to look back and go "Where'd the time go?".

Then there are days when minutes seem like hours and you're left wondering "when will it end". Those days when Real DS has been replaced by Bratasaurus Rex and everything is a fight, even if it was all fine the day before (or the hour before sometimes). When Real DD1 is teething and suffering from a runny nose, which makes her a wonderful combination of snot and drool, and all she wants to do is cuddle with you (which means snot and drool on your clothes too).

Yes, I know, seize the day, but some days when the bad outweighs the good in child rearing, I can't wait for the day to end.

The start of our time apart...

Real Dad and I packed him up and he began his move without the family on St. Patrick's day 2011. We took Real DS with us to the local coffee shop (our favorite place), and when I had to go to work Real Dad said good bye to the two of us and began his trip. I dropped Real DS off at daycare (he really had no clue that he wasn't going to see daddy again in person for awhile), and went to work.

I tried very hard not to cry at work that day, luckily I had a real office with a real door (not a cubicle) and was able to work behind the closed door for most of the day. Real Dad and I had not been apart for more then a week in the entire time we had been together (9 years at that point).

Real Grandma had moved in with us right after Real DS' birthday to help during the last part of my pregnancy and was able to stay to help with the kids while we lived apart. She understood considering she moved home with her son when Real Pop-pop was stationed overseas.

When I picked up Real DS he wanted to know where daddy was when we got home. I had to keep telling him that daddy had to go bye-bye for work and we would only be able to see him on the computer (once Real Dad got set back up, Skype is a wonderful thing). I had to stay in view of his bed that night (and every night after that) because he was afraid I was going to disappear too (Real DS was 2 at the time).

How it all started...

The decision to become a stay at home mom was definitely not an easy one. The Monday after Thanksgiving 2010, just a few weeks before the twins were born, my husband was fired from his job. Luckily we were double ensured through both of our employers and my insurance had already covered the majority of my pregnancy (okay, all of my pregnancy). Real Dad's words were "Hi dear, got fired, guess I need to start looking for a new job". We lived in a rural town without very many options, but he applied for anything remotely in the IT industry. Also, while applying for jobs, he started his own company fixing computers for people. We put an ad in the local advertisement newspaper with his business name and contact phone number. I was completely supportive because self-employed looks a lot better than unemployed on a resume.

Since we both had time on our hands because he was now home and I was on bedrest, we began discussing what we wanted in our future. We decided that now would be a good time to relocate for better opportunities for our family and hopefully our careers. We made a list of different cities and regions that we would be willing to relocate too, and we began applying for jobs in those areas.

I got an interview for one of the jobs I had applied for (I was in the to 10 of 200 applications). Unfortunately I did not get the job. Real Dad began applying in that area during the same time, interviewed, and was picked for the job. Normally you have 24 hours to decide if you are going to accept, he was given til close of business that day. We made the decision for him to take it and hoped that I would be able to get a job as well...

Back Pain, Something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy...

I have been suffering from back pain since 2001. When it first started it got so bad that it hurt to sneeze, cough, move, breathe. Yea, it hurt to do everything. I tried physical therapy and ended up in the emergency room in September of 2002 because my right foot was going numb. A week later I had a lamenectomy to remove the bulging disk between L4-L5.

This took care of the pain for a little while, but in the summer of 2004 it returned with a vengeance. I fondly refer to this as the summer that percocet forgot. Actually I wasn't on percocet until after my surgery in August, but I was on a combination of Tylenol 4 with codeine and Flexeril, not fun times.

The surgery was a success, I still had occasional pain and cramping in my right let, but I could usually get it to go away by resting, exercising and over the counter meds when needed. When we moved in 2011, the pain again returned and got worse. Of course having two little ones that can't walk to tote around didn't help. As well as all the lifting involved in the move.

I have been on a combination of narcotic meds again to help with the pain, which I do not consider a long term solution. I was referred to a pain clinic and started physical therapy last week and am happy to say it has been helping a lot. I have not needed nearly as many drugs and have been drug free during the day. It's a wonderful feeling!

Let's try this again...

Since I haven't posted for a long time, I figured I could reuse my blog for a completely new purpose. I love my blog's title because it can be applied to so many things in life. I figured this blog could be my outlet for all things related to my life. Currently that would be the change from a professional working mom to a stay at home mom (yes, I do prefer professional mom). Life as the primary caretaker of three kids, three and under. Life with twins and the amazing amount of comments one gets when you take them out in public (most popular comment when people see all 3 kids "My, you must be busy", my outward reply "Why yes, I am", inward reply "duh"). Did I mention the 3 year old? Yes, he's a very active little boy who demands a lot of attention all his own, I think I may use this blog to document some of his more memorable comments. My favorite so far is one of his friends has a little brother, he asked why she only had one baby (you know, because for him two babies is the norm!)

So be prepared for much rambling and both good and bad journeys as I tackle this real life first!