Can I really complain?

Ok, back to sleeping through the night. Seth now sleeps from about 6:30pm until 5:30am, nurses and goes back to sleep until 7am. This is great and I really CAN'T complain. But I am going to. He won't nap very long during the day! I think he is now getting all the sleep he needs (just about) so he takes these 20 minute naps. I can't do school in 20 minutes!!!! I need at least 45 minutes and an hour and a half would be fabulous!! Plus, he is super grumpy around 5pm, I know he needs to sleep, but can I really put him down then? Seems pretty early...or late (if it's a nap.) It's amazing how this is kid#4 and I can't figure him out. Or maybe, I have figured him out and I don't want to admit that he won't take long naps. *Sigh*

Reading with Daddy

Does anyone else have a husband who ad libs when reading kids' books aloud just to make you laugh? I checked out a very multi-cultural, world peace type of book and Geo was reading it yesterday to the kids. I think the passage went something like this,,,

Couldn't we play together? And wouldn't it be fun,
If, to our surprise, no one lost, and Everybody won?

We wouldn't ever have to prove, By race of time or test,
Who's stronger, faster, smarter, A commie or socialist?

It could have spurred a lesson on free enterprise, but the kids didn't really notice the change in the words.

George does this a lot and it just cracks me up! Most of the time, the kids catch him and make him read it right. I just love reading time at our house!!

Politics

Thanks for all of your comments on my last post! I was glad to see that I am not the only one feeling like I do. I have been more involved in this election than any others. I have been to a rally, watched almost all of the debates, visited web sites, and talked about it with anyone that would. I hope I will make a good choice..though I still don't know what it will be. I think Uncle Dew's comment was closest to my frame of mind right now. Be prepared...because it'll probably get worse before it gets better. :) Luckily, we have the gospel which gives us actual hope because we need it!

Convince me!

I am ready to give up...I don't really like either candidate and maybe I will write in Mitt Romney (wouldn't it be nice to have him during this economic crisis?) or Ron Paul (for all of you that knew I was a fan:) But before I do anything rash, I want to know why you think I should vote either way. Advice, please, anyone??

Pictures of my storage room!

Can you believe it!!!!???? Yea!!!!

Food, glorious food!

We did it! We now have a 3 month supply of edible food and some longer term storage. It only took 5 carts packed full! Now, I just have to rotate it!! Our storage room looks like a grocery aisle. Very nostalgic to me..this is what we grew up with in our basement. We feel very prepared...and also we finished our 72 hour kits and got them all packed away until next General Conference when we will change out the clothes and food (if needed). I have been trying to do all of this for years. We finally have the means and the space and we did it!

During our first Aldi's run, a little old lady said to me, "You must be having a wedding." I said, "No, we just decided that instead of putting money into the stock market, we should invest in food!" She said, "Honey, you may have something there!" It was cute and it reinforced the feeling that we are doing what's right!

PS I tried to post pics but it's not happening so maybe later...oh, and I also cooked our dinner tonight entirely from food storage. Woo hoo! :)

Crying It Out (Beware! This is long!)

Seth is now 6 months old and has started waking up A LOT at night. I would say 4 times on average. It's killing me! I need some continuous sleep. Plus, I have other kids that wake up for various reasons every once and a while and when these all happen on the same night, it's just TOO MUCH! I have been seeing every hour of the night recently. Ugh.

So, after one of these nights, I decided it was time to train this kid to sleep. This is not new to us. I remember going crazy when Levi was this age, reading Becoming Babywise, and deciding to let him cry it out. George and I set a timer for 45 minutes and George had to restrain me so I wouldn't go up to the baby. As soon as the timer went off, I ran upstairs and was almost to the door when....SILENCE! I checked on him and he was sound asleep. It only took a couple of days to get this pattern down and I was converted! We did it with Natalie and Sam (though a little later in his life because we were getting ready to move when he was 6 months).

Before anyone roasts me for letting my kids cry, I must say that my older kids are GOOD sleepers. They go to bed around 8pm, wake up around 8am, and don't usually get up at night. They are good at sleeping anywhere. And they are happy, well-adjusted children (if I do say so myself:) So, I know this method works for us. Which is why it was Seth's turn last night.

I had fed him around 7:30pm and didn't want to nurse him to sleep, so around 8:30, George took him up and put him to bed. He was quiet for about 5 minutes and then began to cry. I knew that he was not hungry or wet (as we had just taken care of that) so we set the timer. And I left the house! This was emotionally hard for me...as it has been for each one. I went and watched a movie. I got back and the 45 minutes were almost up and the monitor was still RED! George and I decided to lengthen the time a bit and he got quiet within 10 minutes. And that was it. He made a couple of noises, but went right back to sleep after each. *I* got up at 7:15 because I had had plenty of sleep and my brain was racing. This is *not* me in the morning. I am SOOO excited. It's liberating! And now, at 8am, he is making happy awake noises in his crib.

So on we go to not nursing him to sleep (that's today's job) and more sleeping at night (hopefully tonight will be as good as last!) Gotta go feed the boy...to relieve the one not so nice side affect of him sleeping through the night! Ouch!

The letter C!

Rules: Leave a message and I will give you a letter, then you have to come up with ten things you like with that letter. Emily gave me the letter "C".


So, here's 10 things that begin with the letter "C":

1. Cookies. Chocolate Chip Cookies, specifically. My dad's are my favorite,
but Carrie's give them a run for their money.

2. Children's books. I am always on the lookout for great Children's books.
Some good ones I have read recently:
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
Hans Brinker
Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep
The George and Martha series
Goodnight, Gorilla

3. Cereal. Growing up, we NEVER had sugared cereal and now that I am the
parent, I feed my kids the Cheerios and I eat the Lucky Charms. Isn't life
grand? But the best was visiting my Nanny White. She had a huge green
Tupperware bowl in which she dumped all the sugared cereal that my
mother would never buy and you would just scoop the mix out with your
bowl. Yea, baby!

4. Children! I have so blessed with my four babies that are growing up so fast!
Levi is my helper. Natalie is the creative one. Sam is adorable especially
when he is trying to communicate. Seth reaches up to pat my face and I
know everything will be alright! I love you guys!

5. Christmas. Not only is this holiday associated with wonderful family
memories, great food, decorations, presents, and the best smells. It is the
day we celebrate the birth of our Savior and nothing is more important than
that.

6. Crayons. I have loved coloring with crayons my whole life and still enjoy it
every once and a while with the kids. It relieves stress!

7. Crafts. I don't know that I love to do them as much as I appreciate them. I
love homes that are filled with crafty decorations and I could spend forever
at craft fairs (though I cannot bring myself to buy things that I always think I
could do...ha!)

8. Croutons. I am a salad girl and I like croutons on my salad...and not the fat
free ones.

9. Chocolate. (I must be hungry because most of these things are food!) Let's
see. There's M&M's, fudge, buckeyes, ice cream, cookies, milk, hot cocoa,
Charleston Chew bars, cake, brownies and I could go on and on and on....

10. Comics. Every Sunday night, George and I sit down and read the comics
together. I LOVE that part of our week!


I am so brain dead that I had to Google "things that start with the letter C" to get some ideas to go from. This is what having 4 young children does to you:) Leave a comment if you want to play!

PS Sorry this is so dumb looking. I don't want to take the time to fix it, so here I am posting it dumb looking.