Good night, sleep tight

One of the most consistent parts of a parent's job is putting the kids to bed. How this happens, however, seems to differ from family to family and even from child to child. For us, bedtime routines are ever-evolving, yet are usually one of the best parts of the day (and not just because it means a "break").

When my girls were babies, I ignored common wisdom about never putting a baby to bed asleep. I nursed them to sleep every night and placed them gently in a bassinet inches from my bed. Not that the night was over by any means, but there was definitely something satisfying about laying down a sleeping baby.

As they got older and moved to their cribs, I would read them a book in the glider, feed them and rock them and lay them down gently. These few months were the holy grail of bedtime - every bit as sweet as you dream about when carrying that baby.

Then came the terrible 2s for Big A. I think we must have rushed her into a big bed too quickly with Little A's arrival because we had some rough bedtimes there for a while. Full on wrestling matches, jumping on the bed screaming...you get the picture. Not pretty or idyllic or satisfying. Just frustrating and draining.

Luckily that phase passed and Little A got a little older and we moved on to the whole family in bed watching a cartoon before bed routine. While this was enjoyable, it turned bedtime in an hour long process. And now, we rarely have that much time because usually before we know it, its time for the girls to sleep and there's no time for drawn out routine.

Since I've been back to work, the girls have come up with new routines that we are really enjoying. Both still get milk and a book, but after her book, Big A likes to "talk about our days" - its amazing what you can find out in a 10-minute bedtime chat. And she seems genuinely interested in our days too. One day I told her that I went to a meeting where they didn't serve lunch and I was so hungry all day. Now she refers to my work as "the place where you're hungry" and makes sure I pack extra food each morning.

As for Little A, she seems to be reverting back a bit. After her book, she asks to "rock and sing a song." I scoop her into the glider that hadn't been used in months, and rock her as I sing made-up words to old lullabies. She's a little OCD, so now I am only allowed to sing "Hush Little Baby" and she sings along softly with me. Honestly, I have to confess that I love this new routine. Even though her legs hang off my lap and carrying her to her bed isn't quite as easy as it used to be, it still feels just as good to rock my baby.

Who knows what is coming up next in the world of bedtime routines, but at this moment I love starting off my "break" for the day with a lullaby or a chat. And its even better knowing that there's now a good chance that I won't be seeing them again till the morning!

She's got spirit, how 'bout you?

Little A had "Spirit Week" at preschool last week. Not sure why a 2 year old needs school spirit, but it ended up being a fun week. Some photos:

Pajama Day! Apparently all the kids napped well this day!

 Forgot to get a picture before school, but after school we hosted a

Valentine's playdate with some friends.

 Crazy hat day! J looks for any excuse to get this hat out in the open (its a cheesesteak!)

 Favorite sports team day! Go Sixers!

 This was my favorite - mismatch day!! 

Little A had a lot of fun dressing up for school each day! I kinda wish every day was mismatch day! Then I could let J get the girls dressed. :-)

Do you want fries with that?

So after a long (7.5 hours ya'll) day today, I picked up the kids and hit the drive-through. I'm not above a cheap and easy Friday night dinner. For some reason, our local Mickey D's uses a person with an electronic order pad instead of the typical "scream into the box" drive-through. So I'm placing my order and get to the best part - my diet coke. Oh how I love thee, diet coke. But then?

"Sorry ma'am we're out of diet coke today."
"WHAT?" I screamed. "How can you be out of diet coke?" (shut up, I love diet coke and a MickeyD's meal is just not complete without it.)
As I'm trying to quickly think of how to replace my beloved diet coke (um, you can't), he suddenly got some fountain soda intelligence through his head piece. "Oh wait, we DO have diet coke." The angels sang.
"Oh thank goodness, you just can't eat a big fatty burger without a diet coke, you know?"
He laughed. A lot. He tried to compose himself but before I knew it, he was literally doubled over laughing. It was the kind of laugh that makes YOU laugh. So I started laughing too. Then I tried to explain further. "It's not the calories, I just like the taste!" It didn't help.

With that, I pulled up and the cashier told me they were having a diet coke crisis. They were using CANS instead. Sigh. Everyone knows that MickeyD's fountain soda is the BOMB. A can just can't compare. But it would just have to do.

And that folks is way more than you wanted to know about my exciting Friday night drive-through experience. Cheers!

That kind of day

Tonight I was truly exhilarated to do the dishes. I'm not even joking. Sunday night I put a few too many leftovers down the drain and its taken till now - Thursday - to get the issue fixed. In the meantime, its been takeout, paper plates, and a rationing of any real dishes. The girls were excited this afternoon when I let them have a real cup with a lid. The worst part of the whole saga was that I couldn't even bitch and whine like I wanted to, since I knew it was my fault in the first place. I gained a lot of respect for J for not throwing it back in my face - particularly since he took off several hours from work for the appointments. I'm not sure I would have been as kind. :-)

To top off the excitement around here, we also got our broken garage door opener fixed today. Seriously, I am really excited about this because now we have a keypad outside our garage so in those inevitable times when I forget my keys, I'll have a way into the house. Score! Not sure if I ever blogged about the time I made Big A roll under the 6 inches I could get the garage door open to let us in the house? Not one of my finer parenting moments...

I've realized that my excitement and despair over home appliances are signs that I'm getting to a certain age...I'm sure my 21 self would be rolling her eyes at this right now.

And speaking of getting older, when did I turn conservative? Today as I walked down the hall at work, a gray-haired older woman in front of me was wearing a black skirt with knee-high black leather boots with zippers up the back! I admit it, I judged. I know tall boots are trendy and all, but really? She kinda looked like a washed up hooker. I know, I'm a real pearl clutcher now. I am not sure what happened to that 21 year old girl wearing the shortest skirts she could find and wondering why my internship bosses openly made inappropriate comments. Oh yeah, she got old and fat.

I kid, I kid. But life sure has changed these last few years. Even when I intend to let my hair down and have a glass of wine at night, more often than not I end up eating some chocolate instead and calling it a night at 10 p.m. Yup, its pretty exciting over here. And actually, I'm just fine with that. In fact, I could use a little less excitement in the "what's going to happen next?" sitcom that is my life these days. But then again, then I wouldn't have anything to blog about...

Weekend Update

Since I haven't blogged in a few days, why not give a weekend update since I'm half-heartedly watching Madonna lipsynch the Superbowl half-time show. Have to say she looks damn good, if waxlike!

This weekend we hit the children's museum since we received a membership for Christmas. It was great to pop in for an hour and not worry about getting our "money's worth." In the afternoon, I went to see "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" with a friend. It was a very moving account of a boy who loses his father (Tom Hanks) in 9/11. I appreciated the perspective from the viewpoint of one person. It kind of brought home even more how much impact the event had when you saw one person's story because it makes you realize that there were countless people affected that day - from the victims themselves, to the immediate families, to the people they knew and on and on. I recommend seeing it if you can.

Today the girls and I spent the morning at my nephew's 5th birthday party. Just one more reminder of how fast time goes. He and Big A were born within months of each other, and I still remember talking on the phone to my sister when we were both pregnant, gulping down chocolate milk and cheese curls. Today they are great friends who play like brother and sister. Big A was a bit shy since all of my nephew's school friends were there, but she ended up having a great time. And Little A was her uncle's shadow which was also cute to watch. We're lucky to have such a great family.

A few photos from the weekend, and one video I just had to share:

Big A shows off her art project

 Alex's Lemonade Stand

Little A's audition tape for T&T

Hope everyone has a great week!