It’s the middle of the week (& crazy close to the middle of January), so I’m thinking a completely random post is in order. Here goes! 🙂
1. I have to start with it, ROLL TIDE!!!!!!! We are big college football fans, & even bigger Bama fans, I was up way later than I’ve been in months (maybe years?) on Monday night but it was more than worth it. So freaking excited!
2. Anyone else obsessed with watching their kids sleep? Avalon is a pretty deep sleeper so it’s become easy for me to be the biggest creeper ever lately. I seriously can’t stop.
3. Speaking of sleep, I feel like I’m constantly in the dilemma of whether or not to try to get Waverly to nap lately. Most days she will fight a nap (& try damn hard to negotiate her way out of it), then by the time she gives in, she ends up sleeping for so long that I end up having to wake her up. At that point she’s usually groggy & moody for a little while, gets her second wind and of course, then bedtime is near impossible (the other night she was up “teaching a class” to her dolls in her room until 9:30!). So those of you with kids around age three, what do you do? Is your babe still napping? I never thought I would want to see the day that I didn’t get a nap time to get things done, but I almost think it would be easier for everyone. I would love to hear your thoughts!!
4. My husband is making us a new headboard and I’m so excited for it to be done soon! That was all I asked for Christmas from him, it’s taken a little longer than we had planned but I know it will be worth the wait. One of my goals in the new year is to redecorate our bedroom, we recently got this duvet cover (plus the matching pillows!) for our bed to pair with it. They are SO comfortable, we feel like we are sleeping in a hotel bed.
5. My baby girl will be three & a half at the end of this month. Like halfway to FOUR! So crazy. I plan to do a post on her soon, she has grown so much in the last few months since starting school and I’m so proud of her. We started with tears every time we dropped her off and now she wakes up every morning and says “is me going to school today?”. She absolutely loves it and I just couldn’t love her one little bit more.
6. One of the parents of the girls in my class made a comment a couple months back that I just can’t get out of my head, and I feel like it’s exactly the way I want to think as I look towards the new year & my word, embrace. She has two girls, they are the same distance apart that Waverly and Avalon are, and both of them are in high school now. She said if she could go back, she would let go of everything and just “play kitchen” with her girls. I love this, it really can be so hard to forget about never ending to-do lists and just focus on every little part of our kids, but it’s ALWAYS worth it. Last night Waverly made me three ice cream cones and tea for two, it was way past her bedtime (she napped yesterday!), but it was perfect. Those are the moments I know I will desperately want back when I have high schoolers running out of the house all too soon.
7. In less sentimental news, these fringe booties. They would be adorable with jeans, tights or leggings for all of winter and into spring. I will take every single color. Please.
8. Have you seen this Conan video? So funny, so perfect for the midweek laugh! Hope you all are having a great one! XO
We stayed up WAAY too late on Monday, too. Ugh, so tired still. I love college football, we watch every Saturday, not sure what we will do now ;)!
So glad school is going well for Waverly and the attitude is much more cheerful, she looks so cute in her outfit. What wonderful advice you received, glad you had a fun ice cream and TEA party with lil Miss. xoxo
I was a nanny for a 3 year old, and her parents went through a very similar phase with her. She was in that awkward stage where she was sometimes tired enough that she could nap in the afternoon, but she would fight it and it affected her night time routine when she did sleep. I had always done their house work and meal prep during nap time, so we concluded that we would dub the hour or so after lunch "quiet time". She would do quiet activities at the table, or in her room, while I did some chores. That way she got some down time, and I had a chance to get things done. Having activities that we only brought out at this time (i.e. special crafts, that she was able to do on her own)really helped keep her occupied during this time. It took a little while to settle into that routine (we had some grumpy afternoons!) but, ultimately, it worked out for the best in the end. I also found that, once nap time wasn't expected anymore, sometimes (if she was tired enough) she would put herself down for a nap. I hope this helps! Good luck, mama!
My friend who has 3 kids told me that when hers started to resist naps she told them that they had to be in their room for X amount of time–quiet time basically. Whether they napped, or played quietly, read or whatever…that was their time (and hers too). It seems to have worked out really well for them and they are on their 3rd!
We are in the same boat with the naps. For now, we just take it day by day. Sometimes he will nap without much of a fight and others, I just have him lay down for about an hour (or just have quiet time in his bed reading or something!) so I can keep my sanity. It kind of amazes me that a 3 year old can go without a nap when I am practically fighting to keep my eyes open during that time day! 🙂
Oh the nap battle…. Liam for the most part dropped his a few months ago. I try to get him to fall asleep on the car sometimes, but if he doesn't nap he goes to bed pretty early and I love that! On the weekends, I push more for a nap because we are busier and conor is home. I don't mind the late bedtime then. But I really love the freedom of not having to race home for a nap everyday. Finn just sleeps whenever he can; it's so much easier.
my son gave up naps THE DAY he turned three (i swear he read in a book that kids often drop their nap at age 3…) and so i instituted a "quiet time".
honestly, it was more like a "fight with mommy and beg to come out" time, and so i gave up. in my defense, i was pregnant and also had a 18-month old at the time!
but i really regret it because there are still days when he needs a nap (at age 4.5) and i think that if i kept the "quiet time" routine he might take one. but now it's just impossible, and our new routine is that he watches tv when he should be napping.
on the positives, he totally goes to bed easily now!
We're going through the EXACT same thing with Sadie right now! She's always so tired because she's like a freaking rooster and wakes up at 6:30-7 every morning, no matter what time she goes to sleep. Bedtime has been a battle for a long time because she will. not. go. to. sleep. We'll have her in bed by 8-8:30pm and girlfriend will keep herself awake until 10:00 most nights. Then she's a zombie the next day and needs a nap, except her body wants to sleep for 3+ hours. If I let her go, she can't go to sleep at night and if I wake her up, Lord help me because she's a bear. I was going to wait until we were settled with the new baby in a few months before attempting her dropping the naps but I bit the bullet and we started this week. It's been so exhausting and frustrating trying to get her to sleep at night and, by the time she's finally out, we're waving our white flag and just want to go tout bed ourselves. She's not adjusted yet so there's been a lot of bawling and crisis-moments later in the day because she's not getting that nap she's used to. BUT we had her in bed at 7:30 last night and she was asleep by 7:45. Hallelujah! She also slept a solid 12 hours, instead of her usual 9(ish). We're going to keep it up for the rest of this week and see how it goes!
oh, the napping. its the same way around our house. refuses a nap at 1, then is fighting to stay awake at 3 (especially if we are in the car on shes in the stroller for a walk), then she sleeps til supper, is moody and threenager-like for awhile, then doesn't sleep. So frustrating!
Number six is definitely something I'm trying to do! Embracing all the little moments with Odette instead of worrying about all the things that don't actually matter. So far, so good with my New Years resolution and I'm loving the extra quality time we've had! XO
I can relate to so much of this!! Whenever Cam asks me if he can cook for me, I always try to say yes. I know that taking those few minutes to sit and "wait" for him to cook mean so much to him, and I always die inside watching him. It's SO Hard to let go of lists and everything running through my mind, but I try so, so hard. And naps…the never ending battle in my head! On days when I NEED him to sleep (we're having people over, going somewhere, etc) and I can't have him being a crank, I give him a paci, and he's out instantly. However, on the days he doesn't nap, I know that when 7:00 rolls around, there's not much of a battle to go to bed. So, I try to choose my days wisely. And, when he has to go to school the next day, I rarely have him nap and wake him by 2, even if he's only been asleep for 30 minutes! Otherwise, he's up until 9:30 and I have to battle with him in the morning. So many decisions. 😉
PS I am so jealous that A is a sound sleeper. I could go into Cam's room, turn on the light and take a perfect picture. Louise wakes up as soon as I open the door, I feel like!!
Yes, love creepin' on my sleeping kids. 🙂 Hope we get to see your new headboard..!! Oh, 'just play kitchen' – such a great reminder. I've been working so hard to let the to-do list go, and just be. 🙂 Happy half-way-through-the-week!!
I am right there with you about Monday night! I have not recovered from that Alabama game! The onside kick with 10 minutes left in the 4th definitely gave me a second wind! ROLL TIDE!
She looks so precious sleeping! XOXO I'm totally a creeper and watch my kids sleep.
That transition to no naps is tough. Lily is finally reaching the age where she can make it through the day without a nap. But some days she still falls asleep and it pushes back bedtime!
Can't wait to see the headboard!
My son, Brody, is just 2.5 years old and we are already having the same issues with him trying to nap. We will put him in his room for nap time at 1 or 130pm and he may not fall asleep until 3. Then I'm waking him up about 530 which is so late and he's usually really cranky and moody. And then bedtime is now so late because he slept so late. It's killing me. As I'm typing this, its 3pm and he's been in his room playing for 2 hours already and no nap. I hope we're not losing naps forever 🙁
We are in the exact same boat in terms of naps. Usually he doesn't nap anymore (that started right around his 3rd birthday) and goes to bed around 7:30. But some days if we are in the car or watching a movie, he will fall asleep. We never actually "go up for nap" anymore. Cause when he has a nap he's up til 10 pm no problem. It's so hard!!! I just try to make him do something in the afternoon that is on his own. That way I can get some time to myself as well 🙂
I am a nanny for a three year old & she still takes naps. She naps at around 1pm then goes down for bed around 8-8:30pm & does just fine!
I tried to stay up tot watch the game but then waved my white flag just before the 4th quarter and went to bed. My hubby stayed up to watch though and said it was a good game! Congrats!
First off, we have the exact same sleep issue with Grey right now. I have her go to her room and "rest" for about an hour each day so we all get a break and time to recharge. Sometimes she will quickly fall asleep, other times she stays awake the whole time. Some days it's too much of a stretch to go without the nap, and some days we go without. Ugh, sleep transitions are so hard!
Second, we also just got new bedding! Yippee! Love yours and can't wait to see the new headboard!
Oh, Avalon. What a little sleeping beauty!
We ditched the nap right around the 3-year mark. Waverly sounds *just* like Marcus. He would fight naps, give in, fall asleep quite late in the afternoons, and we'd have to wake him. And, waking him was like waking a bear. Ugh. It was ugly. Finally, we said screw it. And, some evenings are tricky, because it's obvious the little man is tired, but wouldn't you know it, bedtime is SO much easier. The kid basically is asleep the minute we close up the last bed time story. 🙂 With all that said, we do try to have a little quiet time in the afternoons, for 30-60 minutes (depending on how quiet I can actually keep Marcus, and how long Julia will nap). Good luck!!
I'm obsessed with watching my babies sleep but am never brave enough to go into their rooms. Heck no, not risking it lol. And now that we're in the new house our doors and floors creak and squeak badddd, so yea. no sleeping baby pictures from me anymore.
Dude, yes! We are experiencing the same thing with naps (and it's pissing me off, ha!) I've figured out that we can't call it nap time anymore… She needs to "take a rest" ha ha! And if she can't sleep then she can pick out books and read them in her bed. I still desperately need a nap most days so that quiet time is NEEDED! Mia plays by the rules much better since we've let her do this. She naps like every third day and reads her books the other times