It's ALL About Me: Sleep

You can find more information about the idea behind this here. 

 

 

Do you ever think about how ironic it is that, as a teenager, you can stay up 'til all hours no trouble. Making midnight was never a struggle before children, since children I don't think I have made it into more than one New Year awake. Now that I need the stamina to stay up or get up I have none. Zip.

In the last week or so we've had sickness, sickness and a little more sickness (you know, just to shake things up), add to that a teething Little Man and it's fair to say there's not been a whole lot of sleeping going on. For anyone, really.

It is completely tempting to spend today; my second Day Care day out. Last week was so lovely and I dream of spending it in much the same way, however, I know tiredness is a trigger and grumpiness a warning that I am starting to crumble. I need to rest, recoup and get the energy back to be the kind of mother I should be. 

So, today if you need me I will be napping.

 

Don't forget to do something for YOU today!

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To play along; all you need to do is link up a post focusing on what you've done for YOU over the past week or a photo of something that depicts something for YOU (or what you've tried to do or even why you couldn't get that time) and then visit the other participants to support their efforts.
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If you're not a blogger, but want to join in you can link a note, photo etc from another source (like FaceBook)
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At the end of a month, every time you have linked up gets you an extra entry into the giveaway which is focused on YOU. Your happiness. Your time.

** Please note: I have been made aware of some people trying to insert links and it not working. Ultimately, I hope to find another link tool but am finding myself at a dead-end currently. If you want to play along this week, please just put your links in the comments as that saves you time, rather than fiddling with a crappy widget!

The Joy of Toys

Kahlei loves going to bed, in fact she gets quite excited, so long as you remember to surround her with as many toys as humanly possible. It started with Little Tigger (who has met with an unfortunate demise and we don't say his name out loud to avoid tantrums), then Big Tigger joined in and somewhere along the way she has collected other favourite toys that simply MUST be in bed with her.

As I place each toy with her she laughs and cuddles them to her, it seems like so many toys and so much laughter would lead to her playing instead of sleeping, but we've always been quite strict about bedtime and she just snuggles down for a lovely sleep.

The best thing I have discovered is that the more toys she is snuggling with, the longer she will sleep at nap time :) Bliss.

It certainly helped this weekend when I spent most of my time in bed trying to get rid of this cold + pain! What did you do this weekend?

Join in with more Point & Shoot fun over at Fat Mum Slim.

{52 Weeks}: Nap Time

Currently, one of my favourite times of the day is nap time. I can barely get through the day without having a sleep and I certainly can't get through the day without the girl's having a nap! Kahlei has never been one to happily sleep in our bed - the two times she's ended up in our bed have been a nightmare for all concerned, so she happily goes to bed with Tigger.

Ellie has slept in our bed for naps since she was a baby and will happily sleep with me during the day. We have a little chat, she tells me a story and then we have a cuddle until we fall asleep.

Other than the fact that I love when my children sleep and I love having a sleep myself, I really enjoy that special quiet time Ellie and I share in that time.

The Mumma, The Diva and The Princess

Today started like this

We played, built towers and danced the morning away. Once nap time arrived I was exhausted and looking forward to starting on my entry for the GDS Supreme Team VII Contest. I get Kahlei settled in bed while Ellie had something to eat then put Ellie to bed and started the download for the kit for round 1; "Your Day" by Dani Alencar. I was impatiently awaiting the moment when I could check out the kit and get started when Ellie started knocking on her bedroom door saying "Kok, Kok" (knock, knock). Uh-oh.

I went in and tried to get her to lie down. Nope. Then I laid her in my bed with me, for a moment or two it seemed this was going to be a successful move. She snuggled into me and even went so far as to close her eyes, prompting me to close mine and the next thing I know she's chatting up a storm, wriggling and sitting up. So, I figure we'll try again later and give up on starting my layout.

Turns out The Diva decided she was too big for a day sleep. Thanks anyway, Mum. So, we go back to chasing each other around the house and I get her to help with some chores. Then, The Diva wakes The Princess, who had been sleeping as a Princess should. We make afternoon tea and head out the back for sunshine, fresh air and some water play. I thought I would wear them out.

We come inside and The Princess decides The Diva is onto something with this staying-up-while-being-ultra-tired-thing. By this time The Mumma's getting pretty frustrated and tired. A full day with a wakeful yet grumpy toddler? So not ready for that!!

Bed time came, The Mumma kissed The Diva and The Princess goodnight and finally got some quiet time! Enough time to start and finish a layout:

On crying babies and barking dogs

Ellie's finally gone to sleep, I spent over an hour trying to get her down - she can be a champion fighter when she thinks she might be missing out on something. She tried to get all cute giving me big smiles and talking to me even while her eyes were slowly closing because she was so tired. Eventually she stopped fighting and was on the verge of sleep when surprise, surprise Scraps decided it was a great time to pipe up and bark at nothing in particular. *Pulls hair out* So, Ellie woke up, this time upset. Add another 20-30 minutes and finally I had a sleeping baby and a quiet dog.

I am absolutely at my wits end with Scraps. It's almost as if he waits until she's finally asleep on these days when she's so difficult to put to sleep and stay asleep. He's making my life a whole lot more difficult than it needs to be right now and most of the time I simply can't stand him. It's horrible, yes, but he's so frustrating and all my energy is already taken up by Ellie and the house work.

I rang Aunty Meredith last night to ask her to look after Scraps while we go to see my parents for an early Christmas and I got the impression that she wasn't thrilled with the thought, so now I feel bad and am wondering if I should be making other arrangements for him... but, what?? I'm not prepared to miss out on visiting my family because of him again. It's been almost a year since I've been there, dad's only seen Ellie once, Josh hasn't seen her at all yet and it's so important to me to have a Christmas with them. Then there's the tentative plans we've been talking about for New Years to get away, I doubt I'll be able to ask Aunty Meredith to have him again, so I guess we'll stay home :(

The single worst thing is the days when I am exhausted and need a nap when Ellie's sleeping and he starts on one of his insane barking things. I'll be on the verge of a deep sleep and he'll go off. It makes me so angry.

It doesn't seem to matter what I do, Ellie and I will go outside to play with him and he'll show us little or no interest, even if I am throwing him a ball.

Well, I have to go my baby girl is awake ... I will have to write later about Ellie's first Christmas party!!!