Thank goodness for family who are willing to babysit for the Boddicker crew. We all know it's a busy and exhausting job (a job without pay). We can't say thank you enough for the precious time we spend out of the house!
Last Friday I had an appointment to check up on baby # 4 and Grandpa Darby was so kind to babysit for me. I think I was gone for 90 minutes max. When I left, Thomas and Caroline were both napping and Jack was enthralled in playing in the basement. Piece of cake for Grandpa, right? WRONG.
In the short time that I was gone two potential disasters were brewing. Jack was playing with a toy that needed batteries so he left the basement where Grandpa and Caroline were and decided to get some new batteries. Problem, we keep the batteries in an overhead cabinet above the desk in the kitchen. Naturally in Jack's three year old mind, it made sense to climb on top of the desk and open up the cabinet to grab batteries that were three shelves up. Meanwhile, Grandpa came upstairs to see what Jack was up to and boy did he catch Jack red-handed. Jack instantly saw Grandpa and exclaimed, "Don't tell Mom." BUSTED. Crisis averted, no one got hurt, thank goodness.
In the midst of the battery crisis, Caroline found a small Lego amongst the sea of other potential choking hazards on the basement floor and decided to pop it in to her mouth. She didn't swallow it, she just chipmunked it for quite some time. The Lego was discovered when I got home from the doctor and we all felt a sense of relief that we didn't have to visit the E.R. that afternoon.
Much later after Grandpa left and we thoroughly checked each child to make sure they were safe from any sharp objects we noticed that someone had generously applied several stickers to the doorway entering the dinning room. Hmmmmmmm, I don't remember this happening under my watch. When we questioned Jack about the stickers, he said, " I just wanted to decorate." Lovely, at least it wasn't anything permanent. Jack proceeded to tell us that he had time to put the stickers up while Grandpa Darby was here. We laughed! What exactly was Grandpa doing for the 90 minutes while I was away? Napping? Eating pretzels? Watching ESPN? One will never know.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Sleep Deprivation
Corey and I have been severely deprived of sleep over the past three years and I know it's not going to get better anytime soon. The lack of sleep lately is definitely catching up to me. Just last week I caught myself putting face soap on my tooth brush before bed. Awesome. I have also tried to put the milk lid on a few sippy cups early in the morning on more than one occasion and tonight was the kicker...Corey actually fell asleep in our room around 6:30 while the kids and I were running all around him playing red light green light. So around 7:00 I put the kids to bed and here is where my lack of awareness/clarity comes to play. I went to check on all of the kids after I put them to bed and I noticed light seeping out from under Caroline's door...I put her to bed while leaving her light on. No wonder she cried so long before she fell asleep. Goodness gracious!!!
While I am on the topic of sleep, when really I mean a lack of sleep, I should document the sleep patterns of the kids to prove to them years down the road why the dark circles under my eyes are so bad!
Right now Jack is the best sleeper out of our three kids. He is generally a pretty heavy sleeper. He sometimes sleeps with his hands folded nicely behind his head like such an old soul. He does have his odd sleeping habits though...Jack occasionally roams the halls at all hours of the night, he often walks into our bedroom to tell us something very important like he needs to go potty or he needs chap stick, or the best one yet, "My pj's don't match" (sorry, he gets that from me), or sometimes Jack even camps out in front of Thomas's door on the floor. We have seen it all.
Thomas was a fantastic, routine napper and really a great sleeper until we took away the pacifier when he turned two. Ever since the magical pacifier has been taken away by the trash man our nights consist of his constant crying out for me. I mean constant. Almost hourly some nights. Just recently Thomas made it through the entire night without waking up and crying for me. We pray he is turning the corner. Despite some success with sleeping all night, Thomas continues to be an early riser. He is our 5:45 wake up call, not that we need one at that hour. We have talked to him in great length about laying back down and trying to rest until everyone else is ready to get up. He has managed to sleep in a little later and I thank my lucky stars we aren't starting our day at 5:45. OUCH.
Caroline has also been a great, routine napper and a good sleeper at night since about 6 weeks old. She did have some fiery nights in the first few months that flat out exhausted us and made us seriously think twice about whether or not we could stand the sleepless nights of having a fourth baby. HA HA HA! We better start mentally preparing ourselves now. Caroline is approaching one year next month and I am seriously thinking about taking the pacifier away now before she becomes so attached like Thomas was. That darn pacifier just comes in handy and makes life so much easier! Caroline does typically sleep all night and wakes up anytime after 6 for a bottle and then sometimes even goes back to bed. Not too shabby.
Corey always tells me we can sleep when we are dead (which also sounds like something my dad would say). So who needs a full night of sleep? There is time for that later I guess!
While I am on the topic of sleep, when really I mean a lack of sleep, I should document the sleep patterns of the kids to prove to them years down the road why the dark circles under my eyes are so bad!
Right now Jack is the best sleeper out of our three kids. He is generally a pretty heavy sleeper. He sometimes sleeps with his hands folded nicely behind his head like such an old soul. He does have his odd sleeping habits though...Jack occasionally roams the halls at all hours of the night, he often walks into our bedroom to tell us something very important like he needs to go potty or he needs chap stick, or the best one yet, "My pj's don't match" (sorry, he gets that from me), or sometimes Jack even camps out in front of Thomas's door on the floor. We have seen it all.
Thomas was a fantastic, routine napper and really a great sleeper until we took away the pacifier when he turned two. Ever since the magical pacifier has been taken away by the trash man our nights consist of his constant crying out for me. I mean constant. Almost hourly some nights. Just recently Thomas made it through the entire night without waking up and crying for me. We pray he is turning the corner. Despite some success with sleeping all night, Thomas continues to be an early riser. He is our 5:45 wake up call, not that we need one at that hour. We have talked to him in great length about laying back down and trying to rest until everyone else is ready to get up. He has managed to sleep in a little later and I thank my lucky stars we aren't starting our day at 5:45. OUCH.
Caroline has also been a great, routine napper and a good sleeper at night since about 6 weeks old. She did have some fiery nights in the first few months that flat out exhausted us and made us seriously think twice about whether or not we could stand the sleepless nights of having a fourth baby. HA HA HA! We better start mentally preparing ourselves now. Caroline is approaching one year next month and I am seriously thinking about taking the pacifier away now before she becomes so attached like Thomas was. That darn pacifier just comes in handy and makes life so much easier! Caroline does typically sleep all night and wakes up anytime after 6 for a bottle and then sometimes even goes back to bed. Not too shabby.
Corey always tells me we can sleep when we are dead (which also sounds like something my dad would say). So who needs a full night of sleep? There is time for that later I guess!
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