The 9:45 p.m. weeknight bedtime is officially a habit for me and Philip. We finally got our Blizzards! Hooray!
We turn off whatever we’re watching or stop whatever we’re doing at 9:30 to get ready for bed. Philip preps the coffeemaker for the morning and lets Monty out while I start my getting ready for bed routine (which, by the way, seems to be taking longer and longer with each year!).
We “go and see the babies” together–always Walt and then Janie. In their sleep, Walt is a mini Philip and Janie is a mini Catherine. Walt startles when he hears us come in, sits up in a sleepy fog, smiles at us, and lets us lay him back down. We usually find Janie in some contortionist position that looks impossible to sleep in, and she sleeps through us repositioning her and re-covering her with her blankets.
Philip and I read for awhile in bed. I’m re-reading The Happiest Toddler on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp, and someday I’ll finish Mockingjay. Philip usually starts dozing after a few minutes of reading and turns in for the night. I try to get my “pillow talk” in with him early so that I don’t end up with sleepy Philip, snoring between sentences.
If I’m not reading a book, I check Facebook or Pinterest for awhile on the laptop. I am self-imposing a strict lights out by 10:30 p.m. policy. I’ve gotten carried away with that quiet time all to myself and have stayed up until 11:30 or midnight a few times! So much for an early bedtime!
Philip and I go in spurts of being good about praying together before bed. We have a great book called Day by Day With the Catechism: Minute Meditations for Every Day Containing An Excerpt From the Catechism, A Reflection, and a Prayer by Peter A. Giersch. We’d alternate who read the passage each night, discuss the reading, and the person who read from the book led us in a spontaneous prayer and closed with a formulaic prayer that the other would join. I’m sad to say that we’ve gotten away from that practice, and I’m putting that book on my nightstand right now to remind me to get back into it. What do you and your family do for prayer time? What about you and your spouse?
Despite being faithful to the 9:45 p.m. bedtime and getting out of bed at 6:00 a.m. for my prayer time, the kiddos haven’t been on board with this plan. Two weeks ago, Janie and Walt were getting up at 6:45 and 7:00 respectively. This week, they wake up minutes after I’m out of bed, and today they woke up when they heard Philip’s alarm clock. So, I’ve had to do my prayer time most days during naptime. It works fine on the days that I actually get to do it, but it would be so nice to have that dedicated time in the morning to start things off right, use naptime to get a few things done, and maybe even have a little break.
How do you other moms out there do it? How much do you sleep? When are you getting up, praying, exercising, getting the stuff done you can’t get done with kids around, and having a little you time? What’s your average day look like?
Despite my best intentions, I can’t seem to make prayer time at the beginning of the day work on a regular basis, and I’m afraid it might mean learning to get by with less sleep. Those of you who know me know that that’s going to be a struggle–for everyone involved! 🙂 I suppose I better start praying that either (1) I learn to get by with less sleep or (2) the children start sleeping in.
I was busy crafting away last week! Ever since I joined Pinterest, I’ve been adding projects and crafts to do. I decided to tackle a few of them, and I thought I’d share pictures.
Craft #1: Mother’s Day Cards for the Grandmas and Great-Grandmas (original idea found here)
I traced Janie’s hand on green paper and cut it out. I made the flower pot out of patterned scrapbook paper and cut out the flowers before attaching gluing them to Janie’s fingertips. I bent the petals to give them a little dimension. Janie loved this project. “I make flower hands! Flower hands for grandmas!”
Craft #2: Birdseed Cookies (original idea found here, but I used this site for instructions)
You need: 4 cups birdseed 3/4 cup flour 1/2 cup water 3 tablespoons of corn syrup
Mix ingredients in a bowl to make a big, sticky mess! Select cookie cutter shapes (I recommend using 3-4 inch shapes). Spread parchment paper on a baking sheet. Grease cookie cutters with cooking spray. Press the seed mixture into the cookie cutters with the back of a spoon, and use a straw to leave a hole.
Bake in the oven at 170 for an hour. Flip after thirty minutes. The alternative to baking is waiting for them to dry for several hours. Bake ’em if you don’t feel like waiting!
Voila! Birdseed cookie! If your feathered friends aren’t interested in the hanging cookie, consider leaving them out on a flat surface like your deck rail. We love watching the birdies and squirrels come to nibble on the seed cookies. Jane watches the action on the deck, and she announces whenever we have a visitor.
Craft #3 (I suppose it’s more of a baking craft): Ice cream cone cakes (original idea from Betty Crocker’s site)
Use a Ziploc bag and cut off a corner to pour the cake batter into the ice cream cones.
Fill 3/4 of the way with batter.
Follow mix instructions or use your favorite cake recipe.
My resourceful husband cut a hole into an empty cereal puff container to serve as a frosting stand. Clever, huh?
What’s an ice cream cone without sprinkles?! We added different colors to the frosting. We love the Wilton dyes. You can find them in
the baking section of most craft stores.
Craft #4: Tile Coaster Tutorial (original idea from The Cottage Home blog)
These were so fun to make, and they’re super simple!
Buy some plain white glazed tiles at your local hardware store. We found a 100-pack for less than $20.
Cut out squares of your favorite scrapbook paper. Mod Podge them to the tile. Add 2-3 coats of Mod Podge over the paper, making sure that each coat dries completely before adding additional coats. Sponge brushes work great for applying the Mod Podge.
Once the Mod Podge is completely dry, apply a clear acrylic sealer (outside!) to the tiles. I used Krylon brand. This will make the coasters water resistant. Don’t use warm beverages on the coasters for at least a month and make sure the acrylic sealer completely covered the entire surface of the tile. Otherwise, moisture will build up and cause the paper to bubble.
Apply felt to the bottom of the tiles with fabric glue.
Voila! You have a cute little gift! I bundled mine together with ribbon and gave them to the great-grandmas, grandmas, my sister, and sisters-in-law for Mother’s Day.
Now, we’re gearing up to celebrate Walt’s birthday on Saturday. Can’t wait!
I was busy crafting away last week! Ever since I joined Pinterest, I’ve been adding projects and crafts to do. I decided to tackle a few of them, and I thought I’d share pictures.
Craft #1: Mother’s Day Cards for the Grandmas and Great-Grandmas (original idea found here)
I traced Janie’s hand on green paper and cut it out. I made the flower pot out of patterned scrapbook paper and cut out the flowers before attaching gluing them to Janie’s fingertips. I bent the petals to give them a little dimension. Janie loved this project. “I make flower hands! Flower hands for grandmas!”
Craft #2: Birdseed Cookies (original idea found here, but I used this site for instructions)
You need: 4 cups birdseed 3/4 cup flour 1/2 cup water 3 tablespoons of corn syrup
Mix ingredients in a bowl to make a big, sticky mess! Select cookie cutter shapes (I recommend using 3-4 inch shapes). Spread parchment paper on a baking sheet. Grease cookie cutters with cooking spray. Press the seed mixture into the cookie cutters with the back of a spoon, and use a straw to leave a hole.
Bake in the oven at 170 for an hour. Flip after thirty minutes. The alternative to baking is waiting for them to dry for several hours. Bake ’em if you don’t feel like waiting!
Voila! Birdseed cookie! If your feathered friends aren’t interested in the hanging cookie, consider leaving them out on a flat surface like your deck rail. We love watching the birdies and squirrels come to nibble on the seed cookies. Jane watches the action on the deck, and she announces whenever we have a visitor.
Craft #3 (I suppose it’s more of a baking craft): Ice cream cone cakes (original idea from Betty Crocker’s site)
Use a Ziploc bag and cut off a corner to pour the cake batter into the ice cream cones.
Fill 3/4 of the way with batter.
Follow mix instructions or use your favorite cake recipe.
My resourceful husband cut a hole into an empty cereal puff container to serve as a frosting stand. Clever, huh?
What’s an ice cream cone without sprinkles?! We added different colors to the frosting. We love the Wilton dyes. You can find them in the baking section of most craft stores.
Craft #4: Tile Coaster Tutorial (original idea from The Cottage Home blog)
These were so fun to make, and they’re super simple!
Buy some plain white glazed tiles at your local hardware store. We found a 100-pack for less than $20.
Cut out squares of your favorite scrapbook paper. Mod Podge them to the tile. Add 2-3 coats of Mod Podge over the paper, making sure that each coat dries completely before adding additional coats. Sponge brushes work great for applying the Mod Podge.
Once the Mod Podge is completely dry, apply a clear acrylic sealer (outside!) to the tiles. I used Krylon brand. This will make the coasters water resistant. Don’t use warm beverages on the coasters for at least a month and make sure the acrylic sealer completely covered the entire surface of the tile. Otherwise, moisture will build up and cause the paper to bubble.
Apply felt to the bottom of the tiles with fabric glue.
Voila! You have a cute little gift! I bundled mine together with ribbon and gave them to the great-grandmas, grandmas, my sister, and sisters-in-law for Mother’s Day.
Now, we’re gearing up to celebrate Walt’s birthday on Saturday. Can’t wait!
I love sleep. I looooooooooooooooooooooove sleep. Fortunately, Janie and Walt (usually) love their sleep, too. Unfortunately, they still wake up fairly early, and I’m in the bad habit of going to bed too late. It’s a silly problem, and I really need to do something to fix it because it’s a bad day for everyone when Mama Bear doesn’t get enough sleep. When I don’t get enough sleep, I’m like this lady.
As I get older, I’m learning to embrace who I am and finally own up to my triggers (the things that set me off into crazy Mama Bear mode). Aside from hormones (ha!), my main triggers are lack of sleep, hunger, and a messy house.
I’m finally getting a handle on the messy house, and I’m discovering more and more healthy snacks to keep me fueled throughout the day. My big, remaining trigger is lack of sleep.
I don’t have a good reason for being tired or for staying up too late. Philip and I don’t get much time together in the evenings after we’ve gotten the kids to sleep, and we’re learning that we simply won’t get as much time as we used to have. He usually has to be up at 5:00 a.m. to be at the hospital for morning rounds, and the kiddos will be up shortly thereafter.
We make resolutions to go to bed earlier when it’s Wednesday and we’re exhausted from staying up too late, but we inevitably slide back into our old ways. We’ll watch one too many episodes of Downton Abbey, or I’ll waste away an hour on Pinterest after we’ve gotten into bed for the night. Before I know it, it’s midnight and I want to smack myself in the head for putting myself through what I know is going to be a tough wake-up call.
So, it’s time to build-in a new habit. There’s a new bedtime at the Boucher household, and it’s 9:45 p.m. That means we will be in bed at 9:45 p.m. There are several reasons we need to build this new habit into our routine:
Philip and I will both get the sleep we need.
I can have uninterrupted prayer time before the kids wake up. I have been doing my prayer time during naptime, but it’s unsuccessful for a few reasons:
I’ve been so tired from going to bed so late that I need a nap every now and then!
Naptime is the time when I can get things done around the house uninterrupted. I need this time to be doing other things.
Sometimes naptime doesn’t go according to plan and I’m not able to get a good prayer time in.
No more of what I call fire drill wake-up calls. When I wake up with the kids, I feel like I’m constantly putting out little fires until everyone’s settled and eating at the kitchen table. I end up re-warming my coffee several times before it’s even half-gone when I’m in fire drill mode.
More time to enjoy reading together or having a little pillow talk.
I can organize my thoughts before bed and relegate all of my mental clutter to the next day’s daily do-it list during this time.
We’ll be alert enough in the evening to re-dedicate that time to praying together as a couple before bed.
So, here’s to the new bedtime, and a more-rested & happy family! For a little extrinsic motivation, Philip and I decided we’re going out for a little Dairy Queen next Tuesday night if we successfully go to bed at 9:45 p.m. every night. Oh, how I love me some French Silk Pie Blizzard…
It’s hard to believe, but Philip has almost completed his first of three years as a pediatric resident. Yay, Philip! We’re so proud of you!
Thanks to the recent work hour restrictions put in place, Philip is able to see much more of his family than his predecessors. Nonetheless, he’s still working very hard, and sometimes the hours get the best of him. His most intense months are called inpatient months. During these months, he works a week of night shifts. With two little ones at home during the day, it’s tough for Philip to get much rest.
Inpatient months are difficult on our family because of the limited time we have with Philip. The trade-off is endless entertainment from sleepy Philip. He’s always sleep-talking, sleepwalking, or doing other goofy things.
During one of his most difficult inpatient months, Philip tapped me on the shoulder in the middle of the night and said, “Hey, who do you think will be the top-selling recording artist this year? Taylor Swift?”
Philip’s been known to sleepwalk and sleep-talk when we have a newborn. Sometimes it can be scary. One night, I had to intervene when I heard the bathroom fan and tub running. I intercepted Philip on his way to the nursery where he said he was going to “give Walt a bath”! Yikes!
Last night, I woke up at 2:45 a.m. to see that Philip had disappeared. I found him, asleep on the living room couch, and he had no memory of how it happened.
A few months ago, in the midst of an inpatient month, Philip decided he’d try to help convince Janie to take a nap. He said he’d try sleeping on the floor next to her daybed. The plan worked for about forty-five minutes. Then, I heard Janie making some noise. I decided to investigate, and this is what I found when I opened the door:
Philip was snoring on the floor, wrapped up in a blanket. Janie was standing over him in her footie pajamas, holding something. She had gotten the hand sanitizer off of the changing table, and was standing over Philip with the bottle, ready to squirt it all over him. Who knows what would have happened had I not come in. Now THAT would have made a good video! Here’s the scene caught on video:
Is my husband the only sleepwalking, sleep-talking resident out there?
