Stuff to Do

We put Charlie in the room with Pip last night, and it seemed to be working out just fine. Until Pip woke up with an almight yell, that is. So it would appear that the first hurdle is to get her to sleep all night. I've had a suggestion from Heather, which I will try tonight. Basically, I'm going to try and fill her little tummy all day long, and hopefully, she will sleep a bit longer. We'll see...   On another front, does anyone want a two and a half year old for the afternoon? I've got one, and you can have her for a while...   Let's just say that I am SO ready to get the heck out of Dodge for a couple of days.   XOXO, Sarah

Today is the sort of day so far that makes me wish for an in-home barista service. I've discussed on here several times that I'm not a morning person. As a side note, it's interesting that I joined the military - a profession that sometimes requires you to get up at what can only be described as obscenely early hours. But that's not what I'm talking about today. 5:55 am this morning, my baby (who I think is teething, at least that's the excuse I've chosen) woke up. For some reason, the perception of 5:55, as opposed to 6:00, made it that much harder. We've fallen out of a good sleeping pattern, and I don't know how to get back to it. I know, I know - this won't last forever, etc. and so on. But it bothers me that we had good sleepers, and now we've not got good sleepers. That will teach me to be an overconfident so-and-so, I suppose. These are the two major sleep things that I want to get sorted out, so I'd appreciate any input. Charlie:

Although what I'm supposed to be learning is, as of yet, a complete and total mystery. I think I would rather repeatedly bash my head into a wall than spend another minute trying to figure out the mood swings of my toddler. One minute she's squealing and laughing with absolute glee, the next she is doing that shrieky-crying-whining thing that makes my brain hurt. The 'crazy mommy eyes' inducing thing that she does. I know, I know - she's two. and a half. I get it. I'm the adult, and I need to be understanding. At the moment though, I just want to run. RUN, and not look back. But then she laughs again, reeling me right back to her little temperamental side. Oh, how I love my children. Perhaps that's what I'm supposed to learn from today?   XOXO, Sarah

I'm turning myself into a human paper doll, with a plea for help.   I'm 4' 11", on the curvy side, with a very short torso, thick arms, and a very flat backside. I've also got a fairly generous top half, which is as far as I'll go. There are some boys who read this, after all!   Now I'm not wishing for a different body. I'm simply being realistic. This is, for the moment, what I'm working with. So I'm not speaking in this way because I've got a negative body image - it is what it is, and I just want you to have a clear picture in your mind.   Shoes: Running shoes, thongs (flip flops), two pairs of fake crocs (one pink, one blue), one pair of leather boot-like shoes (great for jeans), and one pair of sandals.   Bottoms: Two pairs of jeans, both baggy.                     Four denim skirts Tops: 3 long sleeve shirts, one pink, one purple, and one cream.              I also have a lot of t-shirts, but I don't like to

and I can't describe it any better than that. I don't know what else to say, really.   Pippa seems to have recovered from being stepped on, and is no longer limping. Even her face has cleared up from eating the cracker at church a couple of weeks ago. Charlie's speech continues to expand, with new and unusual things coming out every day. At the moment, she loves singing along to Colin Buchanan,  which is extremely encouraging for me. I feeeeeel good (na na na na na na na). Tacos for dinner tonight, and that's always a party. I just thought it would be nice to share some good news for once, instead of talking about how hard this all is. (And it is, oh yes - it is hard)   XOXO, Sarah

I'm a night owl. I've tried to reform, for the sake of my family. To impress others, with my "up and at 'em" approach to life. But the cold, hard, truth is that I am not a morning person. I am not an "up and at 'em" person. My brain doesn't warm up until about 4pm. And instead of fighting that, I'm going to go with it. I want to celebrate the way God made me - not change it. That's not to say that I'm going to sleep until 4pm, leaving my children to their own amusements (can you imagine the mess???). No, just that I'm not going to spend the entire day running after them, picking up every crumb, wiping every smear, and freaking out about every single little mess they make. Toys dumped on the floor? As long as no one gets hurt, it doesn't matter. Sure, there are some things I can't let slide  - food messes, bodily fluids, dangerous (medicines) or breakable (my sunglasses, electronics) things. But otherwise? I'

My house looks like a cyclone hit it. Of course I'm exaggerating, but it just seems like every single room is touched by the 'mess monster'. Bathroom? Wet, no make that saturated bathmat, thanks to a midday bath which was necessary to clean off my little adorable snowgirls. Again. When will I learn to keep the stinkin' door latched? Apparently not today. So where were we - ah yes, the hallway has wet footprints alternating with floured ones.The lounge room? toys and clothes, random assorted clutter on every single horizontal and stationary surface. Kitchen? Don't even go there. I know that some of it is just normal, everyday stuff - and I can usually cope with that. But today, for some reason, I can't. We've finally slowed down, after 2 very busy months, and I'm trying to re-establish some sort of routine around here, and I'm finding it difficult to know where to start. I feel paralysed. I need some sort of cleaning/organisational genius,

We're staying home today. No specific plans, no timelines, no deadlines. Except that The Fairies are on today at 3:30, and we certainly can't miss that! We'll bake some biscuits for morning tea at church on Sunday, maybe do some colouring, and perhaps even organise some things to send overseas.   Dinner tonight is low-key - just a pasta bake, with some roasted veggies and garlic bread. Hopefully, I'll be able to get things under control here today, so I can have an early night. Early would be good.   Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go eat breakfast so I can start the day. And I should probably change out of my pajamas while I'm at it. Just in case someone stops by.   XOXO, Sarah

It's been a while since my last post, I know. We've been rather busy here as of late, so I just haven't had the time. But I thought you'd like to know what we've been doing, so here goes: Philippa is nearly 14 months old. She is much more physical than Charlie was at her age, but not nearly as verbal. She only says Mama, Dada, and Bye-Bye, but she walks all over the place, and actually managed to escape out into the garage. Twice. Needless to say, we keep the door latched firmly when she's awake now. She's also entered an interesting stage of development - the tantrum. And when I say tantrum, I mean throwing herself on the ground, thrashing about, and screaming her face off. It's kind of funny, actually. I remember being mortified when Charlie started tantrum-ing, but now I'm all "Whatevah, just do your thing". So, progress for me. :-) The thing of it is that until now, we haven't had to tell her no. Or take things away. So now, she has