There's no place like home

I took the girls on a little roadtrip on Monday so that they could have their first real beach experience. We went back to Lake Tahoe where I had a mama's getaway weekend a few weeks ago.

We stayed overnight with the hope that my girls would actually sleep and if all went well, we were going to stay a 2nd night. If I had magic red shoes like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I would have been clicking my heels like crazy to get home asap when bedtime came and went last night.

My girls went without their nap yesterday (gasp) which was hard for this schedule-oriented mom to even think about without cringing, because the side-effects can be disastrous. We survived the day and had lots of fun, but as I expected, the girls had a difficult time falling to sleep at bedtime as well. Everyone had their favorite blankies, pacifiers and comforts from home, but being in a new environment kept us all awake.

Makena and Alyssa slept pretty well once the finally fell asleep, but Riley woke up at 3:00 a.m. and was wide awake. She ended up in bed with me where we kept each other company until 5:00 a.m. when she finally dozed off again. So, because we were all feeling sleep deprived and my kids would have been cranky monsters all day, we packed up and headed home in time for naps this afternoon. We will head back to Tahoe in August for a big family picnic at my Aunt Laurie's house.

When you ask the girls what their favorite activity of the trip was, they'll tell you it was riding the "alligator" (elevator) back and forth from our condo. The beach is an afterthought for them!

BF Jess and I missed the Season Finale of the Bachelorette because we were busy trying to put our kids to bed. Hallelujah for DVR and full episodes available online!

BF Jess and her kiddos enjoying Lake Tahoe with us

Nanny M helped me with the girls since daddy had to work. There is NO way I would even think of going near water with my girls without an extra set of hands. My crazy girls think they can run right into the water without looking back, so we really have to keep a close eye on them.

Mama and her beach bums

Makena thought it was hilarious to throw sand at everyone, which helped me teach the first lesson in proper beach etiquette. We also worked on not running across other people's towels with sandy, wet toddler feet!

Happy Birthday Ly! We celebrated her birthday on Monday night with some BBQ and pineapple upside-down cake. Nobody tops Ly's BBQing skills. She can marinate some meat like nobody's business and whip up side dishes that make everybody happy.

Freakishly strong-willed

I tried to get Makena back to sleeping in her crib last night by letting her cry it out. She was in her crib by 8:30 and the screaming and crying began. And it continued for most of the night. At 12:30 (yes, 4 hours later) I went in to try to calm her down and see if I could get her to lay down. I KNEW she was exhausted by this point.

Unfotunately, my presence in her room caused her to go apes**t crazy, which was why I hadn't gone in earlier. After another half hour, she quieted down a little bit but continued to fuss off and on. I tried to turn off the monitor, but I couldn't sleep and kept turning it back on to see if I could hear her. Every half hour or so, I would hear her cry out and by 3:00 a.m she was still doing this and I went back in to check on her.

She was standing up in her crib with her blanket balled up as a pillow and was leaning into the side of the crib and crib tent which was holding her up. She would doze off and her head or body would start to fall and that would wake her up and she would call out for me.

I knew she would continue this for the rest of the night and I caved and brought her in bed with me. Neither of us had gotten any quality sleep at this point and there was no way I was going to let her not sleep at all. When I picked her up, she curled right into me and was instantly asleep. I am no longer embracing the cry it out method for this child. It has worked with my other two, but I will have to come up with a different strategy for Makena. And it also won't be the "spank-her-hard-method" that was suggested to me by a commentor in my earlier post. I think most parents experience sleep issues with their children and there are some strong opinions out there. Some people may think I let her cry too long and others will say I should have just let her go all night. Parenting is the hardest job!

One thing I do know for sure is that Makena's strong will is what kept her alive and fighting when she was just a 1 pound, 6 ounce 25 week preemie.

All is right in our world

For the moment minute second. It helps that they are fast asleep. I felt the need to let everyone know we had a great Tuesday night. Barely a whiny, fussy cry out of the whole group.

But wait. I'm awake at 3 o'clock in the morning and can't go back to sleep.

Maybe Daylight Savings Time is still messing with me.

I will report that I am NOT happy with the daylight that has been snatched away from my precious children between the hours of 5:30-6:30 p.m. It means we have to go inside because it is dark outside and the coldness of night is rolling in.

What. in. the. world. am. I. going. to do. with. them. all. winter.

Not to mention when it starts raining.

Oops. Forgot I was supposed to be basking in all the glory that is my beautiful children.

The longest day of my life

The one extra hour added into our Sunday felt like twelve hours in our house. When daylight savings made her visit to our house last night, she dropped off a little bit of crazy along with the extra hour.

Makena was up at 6:30 5:30 which explains why I was exhausted all day long.The other two woke up around 7:00. The picture below was taken at 9:15 a.m. They were in the cribs napping by 9:45 a.m.

We had a good afternoon. Played outside in the near 80 degree weather and then the girls had a bath (they LOVE bath time). Alyssa and Riley went down for a second nap around 2:45....I was desperately hoping Makena would sleep too because I needed a nap, but the three hour nap she took in the morning was all she needed.

Until about 4:30 p.m. rolled around.

This is when the little bit of crazy kicked in. Lately, the girls have become very possessive of me and get very upset if I try and hold two of them at once. The girls try to push each other off of my lap. This is in between crying and screaming fits where both-- or all three--yell "Hold you mama" and look at me with crocodile tears running down their faces.

Which makes me try to hold all of them at once--which pisses them off--and they get a little bit crazier.

I had no other choice but to throw them in the wagon and take them for a walk.

I thought about taping a FOR SALE sign to the back of the wagon. I did offer a couple down the street to exchange the girls for their cute little terrier dog. Lucky for the girls, the couple had their hands full with the dog!

Today was a far cry from last Sunday.

Sleepy

She looks innocent enough...but at 2 in the morning, this girl has got a set of lungs that will wake the neighborhood. The end result was a toddler in bed with mom, finally falling asleep after tossing and turning for a couple of hours.

At least one of us got some sleep.