Thousand Dollar Day..

So I was browsing a blog and stumbled across a blog, Where He Leads Me, and she brought up a fun day of daydreaming for me. What would I do with $1000 to be spent only on me? I will tell you first of all, that would never happen to me in a million years. But to play along, I will tell you what I would do. Her blog gave me some ideas on what I would like to do.

First of all, I would drop the boys off at my parents house (I would drop them off at the babysitter if I didn't have to take that money out of my $1000, but if I had to, I might just to spend the day with my mom as well.) Don't get me wrong, I love my boys, but I haven't been shopping without them in who knows how long.

I would then schedule someone to come clean my house. I don't really have time to do it (ok so sometimes I don't make the time because its so overwhelming) and its hard to do with kids underfoot. That would be about $150 I am guessing. (never had it done before, but I will start there)

After that, I would head to the salon and have my fingers, toes and eyebrows done. Who doesn't love a good mani/pedi! With tip, this should cost about $45. I like the place inside the local Walmart, so its not such a bad trip to get them done. Hmm what is next????

A massage!! I haven't had one since I was about 34 weeks pregnant with Joey. It was heaven! I need a good massage to relieve some stress in my life (what's that? I have stress in my life, NO WAY!!) I think that the last time I had one it was about $60 so with a tip, that knocks out about $75.

Man this is hard to do! I am never thinking about what I would spend on myself. I always want things for the boys. I want to get them new cloth diapers, or make sure we are stocked up on baby food, or buy them new car seats, or something that is for them. I can't remember the last thing that I bought for myself (excluding food)

I would then head to lunch. SUSHI! Love that stuff. I would have a shrimp tempura roll and then try a new one that I haven't tried before. Love being adventurous. This will cost me about $25 because I will get one of the expensive ones to try. This would be followed by some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. Coffee lovers to be exact. Love the mix of coffee ice cream, almonds, heath bar, and caramel. $5 because I would leave them a tip to make them sing to me. mmmmm

This is harder than I thought..

I think that I would head to the Mills Mall to find some stuff for me! I would first go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and get some new things for the kitchen. I would love some new mixing bowls, new spoons, and I would spend about $75 on some new kitchen gadgets. I would then go to Old Navy and drop some cash on me some new clothes. Well actually just some new shirts, because none of their pants ever seem to fit me very well. Let's say about $75there. I would then head to the bookstore and then I would buy myself an Ebook reader. I have been drooling over this for a while. I think that I would buy a gift card so that I can get some ebooks when I need them. This would probably be about $175 for the ebook reader and then another $50 for ebooks.

I would probably stop and buy myself a tanning package. I know that this is a controversial thing, but you know what, its my $1000. I feel better and think I look better when I have a little bit of color. Lets do a package for the rest of the year that is only $75.

I would then go to the fabric store and buy about $100 worth of fabric. WHAT I WANT. Not things that I have to get, fabrics where I could make pretty quilts or just other things that would make me feel accomplished!

Well that's it! I guess I could have spent less and taken my husband out to dinner, but its all about me right now huh? LOL I would most likely shave off other things (like the tanning package or the clothes) and do this. Oh well. Its my money and I will spend like I want to!!!

What would you do with $1000 to be spent only on you?

Multiples and More QOTW-Do you believe in CIO

How do you feel about CIO (cry it out)?
Well if you would have asked me 2 years ago what I thought about it, I would have been totally against it. I would never have thought that I would let my baby just cry. Well when I had DS#1, I changed my mind. He was an easy child. I didn't have much problems when it went to getting him to sleep. Until he hit about 7 or so months. When I would put him down, he would just cry because he didn't want to go to bed or that he just wanted to be near us. I had made sure that I had fed him, changed him, and made sure that he was tired before I layed him down. He just would cry. So I would wait about 3-4 min and I would go back in his room and reassure him that everything was ok. If he would cry again, I would wait a little bit longer before I would go back in there, say, 8-9 min. I continued this if he kept fussing. After 3 or 4 days, I didn't have to go back to his room because after about 5 min of him fussing or crying, he was asleep. Since then, we haven't had any problems getting him to sleep. Same thing, we make sure he is fed and dry, we then put him in bed, pull the covers up, turn on the radio and we walk out. Thats it! People are amazed on how well he goes to bed.

Now with the twins, it's a different story. They are still in our room. They share a crib. So these are factors that play into our sleeping in our house. Until the twins were about 3 months old, if one got up to eat, I got the other up to eat. It was better on my sanity. I couldn't be getting up 4 times a night. I would have lost my mind. Anyways, at about 3 months, they started sleeping through the night. Mommy was in heaven (It didn't make that much of a difference to daddy because he didn't get up with the babies at night.) Well a short 4 weeks later, they hit their 4 mnoth growth spurt. They were getting up once, maybe twice a night each! EACH!! I was so exhausted for the next 2 months. Its not easy to used the CIO method with twins who are sleeping in the same room as each other, and also in the same room as another adult who has to get up and go to work the next day (not including mommy who has to work 3 days a week outside of the home.)

Do/Did you use this method for sleep training?
Unintentionally I did with DS#1. I didn't realize it was a form of CIO that I was doing, but it worked. Now with the twins, they are somewhat sleeping through the night. Just this past week (a few days after they turned 6 months) they started sleeping better. I don't know what it was, but it has been a world of difference. I don't think that this method is good for us right now, seeing as that they sleep in the same bed, and in the same room as their dad and I do. I am just afraid that if I let one cry until they go back to sleep, then they will wake the other up and I will just have to start all over again. Oh well. We will find something that will work for us. I have even thought about putting one of them in the dining room and keeping one in our room just to see if they slept better apart. Since they aren't doing bad, I will just keep doing what I am doing now. Nothing. Just changing and feeding them right before they go to bed. We do try to keep the room pretty quiet, either no noise, or just the tv turned down pretty low. I try to keep DH quiet too. He doesn't have the quiet gene. It's either loud or louder. Oh well.

How well do your multiples sleep?
Well as I stated above, they have been doing better, but still not STTN all the time. I just hope for my sanity and for their sleep patterns, that they sleep better forever!

Do you think that you were/are more likely to allow your child to CIO because they are multiples?
No. I think that them being multiples and cosleeping with each other makes it harder to let them CIO. Like I said before, if things aren't great in a few months, I might separate them see if CIO works. (well mommy and daddy might be moving our bed to the basement to let the twins have their own room since we only have a 2 br house.)

What instances do you think it is appropriate/inappropriate to let a child CIO?
Honestly it depends on the child. If your child can be self soothed, then I think it would work. If they are only soothed by parents holding them or nursing, I don't know how it would work. It would be inappropriate when the child is too young. A 2 month old doesn't need to CIO. I think there is an appropriate age for all kids when it comes to this sort of thing. It is up to the parents though. They are the only ones that know for sure if their kids are ready for some sort of sleep training. All of the child's needs need to be met before they should be allowed to CIO. They should be changed, fed, and in a safe environment.

6 Month Checkup!

Mom and I took the boys for their 6 month checkup on Monday. Boy I will tell you that is not a 1 person job! I most likely could have done it by myself up until now, but after this appointment, it wouldn't work if there was just one person there. They would be all over the place and into everything! We made it there and showed them off to a few family members that work at the office then it was time to go back and get it started! Things went well. They had their vitals taken and then they were weighed! Johnathan was 25 1/2 in long and he weighed 17lb 9.5oz! Jonah was 25 1/4 in long and he weighed 18lb 1oz! I can't believe they have pretty much tripled their weight since they were born! They checked out fine and the doctor supressed all of my concerns that I had. They then had to have their shots. 2 shots and a liquid. They didn't like their shots at all! Johnathan cried for a minute after his shots, but Jonah bawled for about 5 minutes! I couldn't believe how upset he was with his shots!

We went home and they calmed down and napped for a bit. The rest of the night was a little rough, but they are doing well considering they are teething and had shots. I continued tylenol while they were awake Monday and Tuesday. I just hope they aren't hurting anymore!

We have been working on their sleeping patterns. I just can't take getting up with each of them two times a night. I am just exhausted come morning time. We have been tweaking little things, like making sure they get solid food about an hour before they normally go to bed and then a bottle right before they do. I am trying to get them on a nap routine too so that they aren't sleeping sporattically throughout the day. Its hard to plan things to do around the house since they aren't consistent with sleeping. When Joey was little, I just let him sleep when and how long and how often he wanted to. With having 3 kids, I need to plan a little more. If anyone has any tips/tricks on sleep with kids (especially with twins) just let me know!

Two happy boys (who don't know what is in store!)

Jonah loves to chew on his brother's hand!

They are telling secrets on how to escape the dr!

Jonah saying, "Who me? I'm not getting shots!"

Johnathan loved looking at the paper on the exam table.

My boys are getting so big!

I can't believe how big the boys are getting. And I don't just mean Johnathan and Jonah. Joey is getting so big. Today marks a milestone. Joey no longer goes into the nursery at church. He has been getting so bored in the nursery and he is getting into trouble too. He likes to take the twins things (paci's and bottles) and when he is in the nursery and bored, it just gets worse. So we decided to send him to a Sunday School class that is meant for 2-3 yr olds. He is almost there. HOLD THE BOAT!!! Did I just say that he is almost 2? Yes I did. He will be 2 in less than 3 months. OH GREAT! I only have less than 3 months to plan his birthday party?!! OK so that is something that I need to get working on! Anyways, his vocabulary is budding so much! He knows pancakes and asks for them as well as eggs. He will take you to what he wants to eat and show you. It is so much better than him fussing because he can't communicate and let us know what he wants. He is so into watching me or mom cook. He likes to just sit there and watch every move we make. I wish my kitchen was big enough so he could do that. He knows that pans are hot and that you shouldn't touch them. He LOVES jello. And peaches. He could eat his weight in both. He also loves yogurt covered raisins. I would gladly give him those over fruit snacks since they have yogurt and a fruit. He isn't afraid of swimming for any reason. He will jump in and swim away from you if you aren't paying attention. He loves the water. He will also point out water if he sees it. When we were on vacation, there was a water feature outside the hotel and he kept saying, "Wawa" which is his word for water. He sat in my lap the other night while I read a book to him. Not a short book either. After I was done, he crawled into his big boy bed. I can't believe how big my little guy is getting. He has 13, almost 14 teeth now! I can't wait until teething is all over! It is hard!


Now onto Johnathan and Jonah. They are developing so well! They are somewhat sitting up now. They started tripoding about a week ago. They will sit there for about a minute then they will either fuss and want to stop sitting like that, or they will fall over. They are learning how to do it! I can't wait for them to sit up by themselves. They are teething horribly. They are fussy most of the day, especially at night. I wish I could take the pain away from them, but I can't. I just give them Tylenol and some oragel and hope that helps. I think that it is messing up their sleeping as well. They don't go through the night without waking up! I am so exhausted and it's hard to function some days. I just have to keep thinking that this will all be over some day! As much as I don't want the boys to get bigger, I do. I want them to be a bit more independent. I love my boys so much, but its hard. Its hard to give 3 small kids all my attention and then try to make sure the house is clean, dinner is cooked, laundry is done, and I give the dogs and my husband as much attention as needed.


Anywho, the twins have a doctor appointment tomorrow. I will find out how much they weigh and how good they are doing. I am not looking forward to the shots though. They are already teething and then they will be in pain from the shots so I think I might go insane! Please pray for all of us during the next few days!

Vacation and Family Reunion!

We had a family reunion to go to a few weeks ago. It took us all the way to Murray Lake in Ardmore, OK. It is a 10 hr drive with no stops. We tried to plan accordingly. We left at 10pm at night in hopes that the boys would sleep the whole trip. We packed snacks, movies, and things to entertain all of us. Well that didn't work. We left and stopped and got gas and food. We figured that Joey would pass out shortly into our trip. We were so wrong! He stayed up until about 1am. I tried to sleep while Marc was driving because I had worked a 12 hr shift that day. Joey then slept for about an hour or so and then woke up, which prompted us to pull over. We stopped at a rest area that had a little playground. I took Joey inside and I changed him and I went to the bathroom. We came outside and I let him play on the playground while Marc went to the bathroom. Of course since the vehicle stopped, the twins woke up and wanted to eat. We fed them and then we were on our way!

I drove for a while until I couldn't do it any more. I pulled over at the last rest area for 63 miles and it wasn't quite a rest area. It was a gas station/small truck stop. We were both going to run into the bathroom before we layed down. No go. It was closed! So we tried to put up a blanket so the light wasn't as bright and tried to sleep. Again, a no go. Joey woke up and didn't want to sleep so that shot that idea out of the water. We decided to drive a little bit and get something to eat. We stopped at a McDonalds and got some food and a potty break. I got the twins out and fed/chagned them and let Joey run around for a little bit.

We got back on the road and called the hotel and they said we could check in early. We were less than 3 hrs from the hotel so we just kept pushing on! We ended up at the hotel at 845am! I think we made good time! We got everything/everyone inside the AMAZING hotel room and got things a bit settled. We then took a shower and tried to catch a nap. Marc immediately passed out because he was so tired (he hadn't slept much in the car while we were driving.) I was up with Joey trying to get him to sleep. Even though he hadn't slept much the night before, he wanted no part in a nap.

After our nap, we got up and got something to eat. Uncle Louis and his whole clan was just arriving into Ardmore and we decided to follow them to the campsite so we knew where we were going the next few days. We went out there for a while until we were tired and the boys needed to go to bed. We went back to the hotel and started to get the boys ready for bed. I went out and picked up dinner so that we didn't have to haul the boys back out. We ate and tried to get some rest. Joey again, didn't want to go to bed. I was up with him and then the boys woke up in the middle of the night.

Friday morning, Mom, Dad, and Jesse got to the hotel and checked in by 8am. They napped for a bit and then we all went to Walmart and got stuff for lunch. We headed out to the campground and spent some time with our extended family. Uncle Louis and Aunt Karen were there and so were their two kids, Katy and Freddie. Katy's husband, James, and their two girls, Emily and Kayleigh were there. Felecia, Freddie's wife, was there with their 5 kids. Their names are Logan, Justin, Dallas, Michael (and for the life of me I can't remember the other name.) Mom, Dad Jesse, Marc, the boys, and I were all there too. We just hung out and talked for a while. It was nice to just see everyone. We headed back to the hotel and got cleaned up and went to dinner. We went to a steak restaraunt and celelbrated Marc's birthday. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and went in for the night. Joey didn't want to sleep. He wouldn't fall asleep in his pack and play so we sent him next door to see his nana and papa. He layed with dad for a while and then he decided he wasn't tired, so he got out of bed and went and played on the floor. No one realized that he had gotten my dad's Iphone and he turned on the Ipod and was listening to music. Then he got up and was telling Jesse his body parts ie eye, nose, mouth, ear, etc.

Saturday was a busy day. We headed to Walmart and got things for the reunion. We headed out to the campground and met up with the whole family. Now mind you, out of the 60-75 people there, I knew about 20 of them. It was funny. After lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel to go swimming because the lake wasn't looking good enough to swim in. Marc, the boys, myself, mom, dad, Jesse, Uncle Jon, Aunt Jo, Jon, Mari, Israel, and Rhys went swimming. We had a blast just relaxing there too. We went back to the reunion to pick up a few things that we had left there and to tell everyone goodbye. We went back to the hotel and got things ready for the night and tried to pack to leave.

We got up Sunday morning and headed out. I think we left before 730 in the morning. It was a long trip back with Joey. He wanted down, his papa, and Elmo. I was so tired of Elmo by the end of that trip that we haven't put it in the DVD player for a while. We made it back in one piece and got ready to go back to work the next day!