Christmas 2011

So I lost my daughters DSiXL, I saw my family in NY for the first time during Christmas (i.e. with my family), and I bought my wife a 50" Plasma TV. Life is grand when you have a family to love and money to spend. Unfortunately that isn't always the case with me (i.e. the latter) but I spend it anyway because I can't take it to heaven!

My children had a healthy Christmas that was filled with love, too many gifts, and too much junk food (e.g. cookies, candy and the like).

Friends, family and fun are what the holidays should be made of and mine was filled with that. Aside from losing my daughters portable game system and stressing about all of the work I must do before I get back to work, it is a great holiday season this year. Molly, Ella and Quen also are enjoying their holidays and this is apparent by their giggling and unending energy.

What will the New Year bring?

Sleeping Habits

So what are the sleeping habits of your little one(s)? MPM sleeps great but as for the other two, something goes terribly wrong in the middle of the night.

Take tonight for instance. I let all 3 of our children fall asleep on the couch because of a Christmas movie and Mom was coming home late from a meeting. Q went to sleep first, then Ella, then MPM. I took each of them upstairs individually, had MPM just walk up (she's 8 and can handle it). 

As we fast forward to about 2 hours later, Q wakes up screaming. At this point I'm tired and frustrated (due to flashbacks of Ella from when she was between the ages of 1-3 and did this regularly. I tried to put him to bed but it seemed as if he wanted to scream. This didn't go well with me because shortly Ella woke up and she is usually the main culprit.

Their rooms are next to each other so the slightest scream would set the other off.

I forgot how this story ends but my wife is usually better at putting them back to be than I am. I blame it on how often I got up when they were infants. 'til the next night terror sighting...

The importance of Nap time

Five and a half hours after I arrived home, from a secret trip with my children, my daughter finally wakes up. This is because she refused to take a nap around her nap time; i.e. anywhere between 11:30am to 3:00pm. I even had her lay in the bed with just a 101 Dalmation Pez dispenser and no "sleep movie". For another post I will elaborate on the "bed" and "sleep movie" puns but I am focused on elaborating on this point before she is done with her dinner. Oops, my time is up. Well here's my game plan:

1. I will give her the same dinner we ate at 8pm 
2. I will bribe her to eat most of it with an ice cream prize subsequent to her completion
3. Afterwards we will brush teeth, put jammies on, and I will put a "sleep movie" on with the repeat all active. 

May God bless me as I sleep tonight to not have any interruptions by her or her cranky brother.

A few things that I have learned from my 3 tricksters are as follows:

• If possible maintain the same nap time during the day everyday
• Make sure they are as active as possible (this ensures good exercise, enough energy exertion, and maximum fun for all)
• Snack between meals