About Last Night

I'm going to go ahead and confess that when it comes to bedtime, I really funked it up as a mom when my two were babies. I really enjoyed loving on my sweet boys so I rocked them to sleep when they napped and for bedtime. Sometimes I even held them for an hour or so after they slept because I too had fallen asleep, or Daniel and I were watching a show or movie so we just stayed like that.

OH. OH, how I see the error in my ways! I really wouldn't give that sweet time holding my babies back for anything, but I probably should. I should give it back so that they (Andrew) will go to sleep on his own and not call for anyone to sleep with him in the middle of the night. We JUST (a couple weeks ago) quit having to lay down with Eli to get him to sleep… But really, it wasn't that big of a deal because, unlike his brother, he literally falls asleep the moment his head hits the pillow. Andrew, this kid tosses and turns for 30-45 minutes until he just wears himself out. Then, I leave. I go to my bed and somewhere between 11:45 and 1 am he yells,

 "Mommy!                       MO-mmy!?                    MOM-myyy!                 MOMMMMMMMAAAAYYYYY!?!?!?"

I go in, lay down and he is back asleep. But so am I. Sometimes I don't even remember going in there. I wake up confused and not sure where I am or how much I drank…

Oh… yea.  Not a wild night in that sense.

I have tried cutting out his nap thinking it would make his night sleep more productive but it only make things worse. He is great at falling asleep at nap time. We lay down, he says he isn't tired and then falls asleep just 2 minutes later. We cut out a lot of screen time. I have cut down on his sugar. We do relaxing things after dinner and try not to get too riled up.The other day we were outside after nap time and I know that kid ran a mile around our neighborhood, he jumped on the trampoline and chased Duke around the yard. 

I'm giving him 18 more months. Then he's on his own. I don't really know how Eli would have done if we had quit trying to lay with him at this age so I guess we will just push through.

Last night I fell asleep in his bed while trying to get him to sleep. I got up at 12:45 to brush my teeth and get into my bed. While I was brushing, he started yelling. He continued to talk in his sleep until we got up at 6:45 am. He wanted specific toys that Eli was apparently taking from him. He wanted a peanut butter spoon. He wanted to go to the park. It. Just. Didn't. Stop. 

I was wide awake until at least the last time I looked at my watch-3:30.

I had a million thoughts running  through my head so I typed them on my phone's memo pad. Glad I did because I don't even remember what they were now. At least I have a few blog topics due to being awake for such a miserably long time early this morning! I have a lot of friends who are recently becoming moms. They're all smarter than me to begin with so I am sure they're laying their babies down once they even begin to look tired. I'm not going to tell them to read this, but if they do…I hope they heed my warning and buy some earplugs and let those kids cry.it.out.

;)

I'm going to drink a Spark and start feeling better!

Pardon me...

If this post is totally incoherent. But I have to ask, "When is this going to stop?!" 

"This" being the constant notifications of my children's toys, safety seats, vitamins, medicine, and whatever else under the sun containing poisonous paint, not securing your child as intended and rubber in my food. 

Last week an article was passed around announcing that Subway's bread contained an "ingredient" that was also used to make rubber yoga mats and the soles of our tennis shoes. I mean, really? That doesn't sound like eating fresh to me. Another Facebook friend posted today about the dangerous ingredients in foods at Panera (which if you're like me, you love this place.) 

I'm so discouraged. There are hormones in my milk and meat if I'm not buying organic. God only knows what's in the noodles and sauce I made my lasagna with last night. What do I do? 

What do we do?

How is this legal? Studies are showing the side effects of the poisons that are being passed off as food and yet they're still on the shelves. Do I put my kids in daycare and go to work so I can buy 5-$8 gallons of organic milk a week…on top of the 3x higher price tag on fruits and vegetables that aren't genetically modified and doused in bug killing chemicals before they make it to the market? 

Do I make my own bread and pasta from scratch? I'd say I don't have the time but I'm sitting here blogging during a rare occurrence of naps in my home. I was actually vacuuming with all of these thoughts and questions in my head that I had to just sit down and write it all out.

I'm just so annoyed and upset that I'm poisoning my family daily, multiple times each day, with every bite we take. 

New blog!

I had become so discouraged with my lacking of blogging on "across the lake" I decided to start fresh with this (already) second day 2014 with a whole new blog. 

It seems appropriate though since we are now back on the western side of the Atlantic ocean. It is so hard to believe we have been back for 7 months now.  I am going to try and recap as efficiently as I can. 

• We bought a house. This makes me so unbelievably sick/nervous I can hardly stand it. We always said it was crazy to buy knowing that we will be moving in as little as 2 years. But, I LOVE, love, LOVE our little house. I wish I could take it with me everywhere we move. And it's so awesome being able to paint, stain, and add whatever we want without asking a landlord. 
• My babies have grown into real little boys. Eli knows his ABCs, how to write and identify them, he's got a good grasp on telling time (the hour anyway), he can ride a bike, and he's VERY good at playing pranks on people. Andrew can say his ABCs up to "O" if no one is paying him attention, count to 10 (also if no one is listening), he got rid of his pacifier, and he is doing a pretty good job potty training. They fight constantly. Whatever Eli says he wants to do/be, Andrew does as well.
• We adopted a puppy back in July. While a my parents, I forgot to put him up and he was run over. We told the boys he found a new home with little kids who really wanted a puppy and are taking good care of him. I just wasn't ready for all the death questions. However, Eli reminds me that his Papa is going to beat up the people that took his puppy. I am not sure if I made the right decision in what I told him. For Christmas my parents got the boys a Border Collie. He's smart, thank God.

Well, it seems these 3 bullets are all I've got. I am making it my goal, or whatever, to update less on social media and blog more. It's just always easier to click a pic and post whatever is going on at the moment, but then I've got nothing to talk about on here once I do that!

I feel like 2014 is going to be an awesome year, my stomach is in knots (good ones) for some of the things we are working towards this year! I'm tempted to post about them now…but I will wait :)

I hope you all had a wonderful 2013 and that 2014 brings you much happiness!