Update on the move

So, Nick and Lexie slept in their new room last night without any problems. No one woke up in the middle of the night. It seemed to work out really well.

My biggest concern with the situation is that they are downstairs and I am upstairs. There isn't a bathroom down there, so if they wake up in the middle of the night, they have to come up the wooden steps while they are half-asleep. That scares me.

So, I put the baby monitor in the room so that I can listen to them during the night. It was kind of annoying though, because it amplifies the sound so much that the ticking of the clock on the wall was driving me insane! That will come down today.

This morning I was laying in bed, listening to the monitor when Nick came bounding into my bedroom. I didn't hear him at all. That worries me.

He has to walk up the steps and through the entire house to get to my room. There are many places to stop on the way - my computer, the kitchen, the door to the deck. Not good.

My mom gave me a good idea - to hang a bell of some sort on the door so that I can hear it open. First, I have to put the door back on the room though. We took it off and had a baby gate on there (for when Nick was younger). I think it's time to have a door again though. Why didn't I think of that before Andy left??? I'm sure I'm capable enough to do it, it's just not my thing.

So, I have another thing to add to my ever-growing to-do list.

It's noon and we haven't finished schoolwork and I haven't even started on the closets. The girls are busy trying to get my mom to buy Girl Scout cookies over the phone. Sorry Mom!!

I just made a lot of work for myself :)

Wow, have I been busy this evening.

I decided on the way home from dance class that I am rearranging the whole house.

We were in San Antonio for a couple of years. We were only at Ft Hood 2 yrs. We were in Monterey for 4 yrs, but we lived in 2 different houses and it made it seem like 2 tours :) Now that we're approaching the 2 yr mark here in Alaska, maybe the Army wife in me is itching to move? I'm not sure....but instead of moving, I am purging and rearranging.

Maybe it's because I'm so incredibly sick of bedtime. And sibling fighting. And messy bedrooms.

We have a 4 bedroom house with 2 living rooms. We have 5 kids.

Tori's crib is in my bedroom right now and I like it that way. She's close by. I can keep her in the crib while I shower. I'm not worried about a certain 2 yr old jumping in to visit her :)

Ellie, Kate, and Lexie were all sharing one small bedroom - a bunkbed and a single bed crammed in there. Lexie's constant chatter caused problems at night. Also, 3 girls sharing one closet was not fun. Their room was always a mess.

Nick had his own room (which doubled as the guest room) with a toddler bed and a full sized bed in it. He NEVER played in there. He NEVER fell asleep in there alone. And we've been here nearly 2 years and have only had guests one time - not really a need for a room devoted entirely to guests.

The bedroom downstairs was made into the playroom and the living room downstairs is the office/school room.

So, what I have done is moved Lexie and Nick both into the playroom together. I moved Kate into Nick's old room and Ellie has the room with the bunkbed in it all to herself. Everyone seems blissfully happy.

Tori fell asleep early. I held Nick down here at the computer (and he fussed as usual). During that time, Lexie fell asleep in her new bedroom without a peep. Then I decided to set Nick in his bed. I left him in there and he has been laying in there for 1o minutes. He hasn't gotten out of bed and he hasn't made a single noise. I just checked on him again and gave him another kiss goodnight.

Could this be the answer to all of my problems?? I sure hope so :)

So, instead of getting tons of schoolwork done tomorrow, I will be continuing to move and clean their rooms. I did the beds and dressers (why didn't I think of this while Andy was here so that I didn't have to move furniture down the stairs by myself??), but I still need to sort through the messy closets. It will take me a while.

I really can't believe how excited the older 2 girls are to have their own rooms. Kate is already taking such pride in the fact that it is HERS. She says that she wants to keep it clean and organized. We'll see if she sticks to that :) Lexie is pretty happy too. She said that she is the big sister in the room now (instead of the smallest of the 3 in their old room) so Nick will have to listen to what she says, because she's the boss! Ha!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works!!!

Oh, and if I can manage to move it, I think I'm going to move the treadmill into my bedroom so that the living room isn't so crowded (and so the kids don't climb on it anymore!). I'm not sure if I can move though - it's pretty heavy!!

I also moved the high chair upstairs (it was in the schoolroom) and I put a small kid-sized table and chair in the school room so that Nick has a special place to color and do puzzles during the day. The large table only has 3 chairs and he never had anywhere to sit. He already spent an hour sitting there tonight doing puzzles and hanging out. I am going to be a jumperoo/exersaucer thing for Tori in the schoolroom.

Well, I have more work to do, so I had better get to it!

Bedtime Nightmares

Bedtime is sucking the life out of me. Seriously. I feel like a little piece of Jennifer is gone each night.

I'm to the point where I'm starting to get downright angry and I don't want to. I can feel my blood pressure rising. WHY WON'T THEY JUST GO TO SLEEP? Or I guess I could be more specific, Why won't HE just go to sleep? Really? It's not so hard. It's a basic thing in life that we all need to survive. Our bodies are wired to do it. What is the problem??

I really can't spend hours trying to get them all into bed. I have other things that I need to get done. I'm waking up totally unprepared because I am forced to stay up past MY bedtime just to get everyone else sleeping. It's frustrating and it has to stop. It's hard enough when Andy is here to help out and we can share the burden. With him being gone, it now seems nearly impossible.

Nick is used to Andy putting him to bed. He doesn't want anything to do with me at night. He fusses, he fights, he head butts and bites (sounds like the beginning of a poem about a monster or something!). Short of tying him to the bed, I don't know what to do. As soon as I lay him down, he's back up again - jumping on the other bed, pulling books off the shelf, leaving his room and getting into things in the kitchen. I have to either stand at his door and take him back to his bed every 30 seconds (that gets old quickly!), or I have to take him downstairs and hold him until he falls asleep. That would work, but lately all he does is wrestle with me and he flat out refuses to even rest his head on me.

In addition to him, I have Tori to take care of. Usually she will fall asleep, but not always. She is only 8 months old and needs to be fed when she's hungry and changed when she's wet. If I'm spending hours putting him to bed, then she's bound to need SOMETHING at some point in time.

Ellie and Kate are pretty good about getting into bed. I don't mind too much if they read as long as they are quiet and don't bug me during the whole process.

Lexie on the other hand is a born chatterbox. She talks and sings and mumbles and makes weird noises when she is supposed to be quietly laying in bed. This irritates her sisters (who share a room with her) and then they come to me to complain. I can't keep her quiet. She makes noise constantly until she falls asleep. It's like she has a little soundtrack going in her brain and she has to let everyone else hear it. Bless her, she just can't seem to help herself!!

So, I am finding myself getting resentful. Why can't I just have a peaceful evening once in a while? I'd love to go to bed early with a thick book. Or do some genealogy on the computer. Or finish up getting schoolwork prepared for the next day. Or do some much needed housework. Or watch a movie by myself. Or just enjoy some peace and quiet! I can think of a zillion things I would rather do than put my children to bed.

Maybe that's the problem. I'm not feeling loving and understanding when I put them to bed. I know that emotionally Nick is having a rough time with Daddy being gone again. I know he's hurting inside and he can't let it out in an acceptable way.

Also, he's not getting nearly enough physical activity during the day. He's a little boy and he needs to run around. Right now, it's just too cold out and we, unfortunately, don't have a gym in our house. He needs to be good and worn out by the time I put him to bed.

I just wish we could be one of those families that read a bedtime story, tuck their kids in, and then they are out for the night. Do they really exist, or is that just in the movies? Maybe I'm fooling myself. I don't know. Something has to change soon though, because I can't deal with this every evening.

Okay, I feel better now that I have voiced my frustrations. I know that Andy has only been gone for a few nights and it's bound to get better. Nick is finally asleep in my arms so it's looking better already. It's only 11:15 - maybe I have time to get something done before I collapse :)

Monday Randomness #5

BACK TO SCHOOL
Wow, getting back into the swing of things is going to be difficult. Today was not fun. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be CHAOS. What to do with Nick? Preschool is sounding really good at the moment. Of course, then my day would be disrupted by taking him and picking him up - and I would have to pay for it. I can dream though :)

ANDY'S DEPARTURE
I think it was actually easier to say goodbye to Andy this time. It wasn't quite so emotional for all of us. I'm not sure why. Maybe because we got used to not having him here. That sounds horrible. We have all been doing fine though - except for Nick. He seems to be upset by Andy's being gone more than any of us. Andy was putting him to bed at night while he was here, so that job has been twice as hard for me the past couple of nights. Nick has asked "Why can't Daddy come home? I want Daddy to come back!" He knows that Andy is working, but he's only 2 and he can't understand why he's not here. I think his acting up today and yesterday is a direct result of missing Daddy... It's frustrating to me though, because he is so stubborn and physical and angry right now. Hopefully it will get better with time.

TORI
Tori is still such a happy baby. She is crawling all over her crib and playpen. I never set her on the floor yet for fear of her being squashed by Nick. She's sitting and making all sorts of weird noises. She says "MMM" when she wants milk. She gives kisses if asked - which are sloppy, but oh so sweet :) She is just a joyto have around!

Tori's First Tooth

I was wondering why Tori was being cranky yesterday. She is normally so quiet and happy, but I took her to my hair appointment and she cried and cried. Thank you Michelle for carrying her around and helping out!! Anyway, last night I noticed that one of her bottom teeth broke through the gums. She now has a tooth :)

Tori and I

Monday Randomness #4

I don't have much for this week. We're still busy with family time. I'm sure I'll be bored and lonely by next Monday and will be back to blogging daily. :(

DRY SKIN
I am finally healed from another round of extremely dry skin around my eyes and cheeks. The last time that it happened, I thought that it was the new face wash that I had used. Now, I'm starting to think that I was wrong. It may just have been the really dry, cold weather we were having. It was always worse when I got out of the shower (maybe I'm allergic to our water - wouldn't that be great?). Anyway, it seems to have finally healed and I am moisturizing the heck out of my face.

CONSPIRACY
Every time we decide that we're going to take the kids out for dinner, it seems like there is a huge line. We like to joke that they know we're coming and call people to form a line :)We drove to Chili's tonight, but there was a very long line and I wasn't going to wait with all of the kids. We satisfied them with a dessert from Carl's Jr instead. We will try again later this week (we forgot that tomorrow is a holiday and lots of people were out and about tonight!)

SLEEP
How long does a 2 yr old need to sleep each day - really? Because there is no way that Nick is sleeping enough. He is going to bed very late and waking up at the same time as his older sisters. He is napping once every couple of days (if he falls asleep in the car). It just doesn't seem like enough to me. I am so sick of bedtime. I wish that they all had an off switch!

Gone

These pictures are from yesterday. I could actually see the ground in my yard, which is very strange for this time of year. The snow had melted from the roof and from the branches of the trees. It was very different looking outside and not seeing snow covering every single thing. It didn't last long though. The warm weather is now gone and it's been snowing all morning. Everything is being covered with a blanket of snow again. It was nice to see the ground for a few days - and to be able to go outside and enjoy the fresh air. It made me eager for spring :0)

Flashback Friday #5 - Late :)

Here is a pic of me, my sister and my brother at Disneyland. I would love to take the kids there at least once! :)

Story picture

This is a picture that Andy drew for the girls. He makes up stories to tell them at bedtime, and this is from one of those stories. They enjoyed it :) I sure wish that I could draw! Alas, it's stick people for me. The page got a little wrinkled, because it somehow got into Nick's hands. I figured I should scan it in before it gets lost or ruined!

Andy's Apple Pie

I don't make pies. It's not my thing. That's why I married someone who does :) Yum!!

Andy is back, and snoozing....

Yes, he's back and he's tired :)
I'm sure he'll be back to normal tomorrow, after a good night's rest. Sleeping in airports and on planes for a few days doesn't lend itself to feeling well-rested.
Here are a couple of pics from a disk he brought back with him (which he hasn't seen yet).

I can't get enough of Tori

I just can't seem to stop taking pictures of Tori's cute little face. I love the age she's at right now. The chubby cheeks that I want to pinch. The smile she always has ready for me. The little noises and "words" she's learning to make. Do they have to grow up? She doesn't ever talk back to me. She doesn't get into anything. She doesn't make much of a mess. Does that have to change?

Monday Randomness #3

1. I have discovered that my vehicle's thermometer bottoms out at negative 40. I have been out a number of times when I know it was colder than that, yet the gauge still reads -40. I bet they didn't design them for Alaskan winters.

2. I am going to go insane with re-wrapping presents. Nick keeps opening them whenever no one is looking. He keeps getting disappointed when it's obviously one of the girls' and something that he doesn't want.

3. Did you know that Old Navy has tall clothes online? I knew that they had long pants, but I didn't realize that they have tall pants and shirts also. I ordered a bunch and what a difference!! The sleeves are nice and long AND the shirts actually hit me right on my waist. How nice!!

Flashback Friday # 4

"The Night Boat" on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland.

Dachau, near Munich, Germany

Salzburg, Austria

Linderhof, Germany

The Rathaus in Tuebingen, Germany.

Das Glockenspiel in Munich, Germany.

Today, I am flashing back to my trip to Europe as a summer exchange student with other kids from my German class. This was the summer in between my sophomore and junior years (1992) - I was 15 years old. We visited Copenhagen, Denmark for a day. Then we went on to Germany and stayed with host families. We met with eachother almost daily though and went on various trips throughout Germany (Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Munich, Dachau, Tuebingen, Stuttgart etc.) and took trips to Lucerne, Switzerland and Salzburg, Austria. It was such a good time! I haven't been back to Europe since. Maybe someday. The thought of traveling with 5 small children doesn't sound too appealing though, so it may be some years off.

Looking back through the pictures, oh how I wish I had owned a better camera at the time! They are all blah. We went so many fantastic places, but nothing looks very exciting since the quality is so bad (and the photographic skills). I can't wait to go back and take some better ones! Maybe we could get stationed in Germany next ;0)

Happy 2009!

Wishing You a Happy New Year, Victorian Angel, Father Time

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!! May 2009 bring you joy and happiness :)