angel island

I think it is great when my kids are able to go on field trips and such. Paige has been to Stanford, the Google headquarters and just recently she went on her big trip to Olympic Park in Washington.
DJ, being younger, hasn't had as many opportunities as Paige yet.
He did remind me that he went to Napa last year for five days.

He reminded me of this when he was saying goodnight to me Thursday night and (I guess) I was looking pathetic since I wouldn't see him until Saturday night.

He is camping on Angel Island with the rest of the 6th graders from Breakthrough. I know he is having a blast. They rode the ferry over and they are sleeping in tents -- Can a kid have more fun than that?

I will tell you though -- I am tweaking hard. I always do, especially when (like this time) they can't even call to say good night. I know he is fine. I know he is having a wonderful time.
I just miss him.

I like to have my kids with me --
(I don't even like it when they go to school)

I know.
It's not even like we are doing anything. The rest of them are watching Wipeout...

I am thrilled that he is getting to do this. I am. I have never been camping there. And since I have decided that I will never go camping again,
unless I can have my Tempur Pedic Bed, HD TV with tivo and a full sized bathroom,
I will never get to do it with him.

How do parents cope when their kids actually leave home? I seriously can't even imagine.

We tease Paige that we are going to move to wherever she ends up going to college -- and we probably will!

But right now, I am missing my little nerd that packed a book to go camping.

kindergarten

I know I have mentioned that Miss Kell will be starting Kindergarten shortly. What is crazy about it is, she starts in a month!
For one thing, I find it insane that school even starts in August. Yes, you heard me right. It starts here in August now. The day after my birthday even -- just when I have always felt that summer is just really kicking in.

Well, SHE is sooooo excited!
She can't wait!

This weekend we are doing one last cleaning out of her room/toy chest and and getting her room in order. After that we will be doing our "practice" for school bedtime.

A month before school starts, I have the kids start their bedtime routine as if they were going to school. Bath at 7:00, stories, in bed by 7:45 - 8:00.
And then we set the alarm as if we were getting up for school.
I did this with all of them until 4th grade.
Now that the older two are in their Summer Programs and getting up for that all summer, I give them a break and only start a week before.

It was not that long ago (in my mind) that Paige started Kindergarten. She was smaller than all the kids (Kelly will be bigger than them all) and they sort of treated her like a baby. Bigger kids would carry her around -- it really bothered me. She seemed to enjoy being at school, but she also seemed a bit overwhelmed.
When I would drop her off, DJ used to cry and do that full body drop (you know the one where they go completely limp)  because he wanted to stay with her and go to school too. I had to keep him in a stroller all the time -- he was 35 lbs!
and so was Paige.

On DJ's first day of Kindergarten, as he was writing his name to sign in and I was taking his picture, he looked up at Mike and asked,
"Why are you guys still here?"

Now it's Kelly's turn.
I am not sure that I am ready.

When did my scrunchy faced baby

become such a confident big kid?

Spring Break

We made no plans for Spring Break. Well, no fun plans. My plan was to do a bit of spring cleaning, but that hasn't happened yet and it is already Tuesday.

I wish we could still go up to the Lake.
{sigh}

I am a huge believer on kids getting the right amount of sleep. I think so many kids are sleep deprived and their parents don't even realize it. Here is a chart from Babycenter: sleep chart Kids need a crazy amount of sleep, right? Yes, I know my kids are older, but I can't find that chart...
DJ has always been an early riser (in a house full of 'let's sleep in' people) and even now needs 10 hours of sleep. He was the one who taught me to have a set bedtime. When he was a baby, if I didn't get him in his crib between 8:00 and 8:10 he would scream for two solid hours straight! If I had him in bed by 8:00, he'd roll over and fall fast asleep!
(yes, it took me a while to figure it out)
Oh, and no matter what time he went to bed, he woke at the same time every morning -- he still does that and so does Kelly.
As he grew into a toddler, when I went to bed I would leave one of those split cleaning buckets on his crib rail filled with books and toys, so he would wake up and play instead wanting to get out of bed at 6AM!
The point I am trying to make, is that it is not a normal thing for me to let my kids stay up past their bedtime.
Until this week.
These kids have been staying up and hanging out with us until at least 10:30 every night. They are dancing in the living room, playing video games and having ice cream!

I also have a rule about homework, even when there is a break at school. They are not allowed to go anywhere or watch TV or play games until all their homework is finished. Always.
Until this week.
I haven't made them do any of it yet... AND we went to the park yesterday.

It has become a mad house!

I love having all my kids home together.

crib

So, yeah, uhhh, Mikey doesn't sleep in a crib yet.
I still have the co-sleeper next to the bed (not that he ever slept in that either) to give us more room. I intended to have him in a crib before our family vacation last December, but yeah, that didn't happen. I don't even have a crib set up for him.
I do enjoy having him with us, but really -- he needs to be in in own space. I get out of bed to pee and half the time he screams at me! I am really worried that he is going to start following me in there in the middle of the night and fall on the stairs or something....

When Paige was born, the whole Co-Sleeping vs Ferberizing was very popular. I read all about both while I was pregnant, and I set up her nursery and her crib as if she would actually sleep in there. Well, Paige was my first c-section, and for various reasons, she ended up sleeping on my chest for her first three months. Not my initial plan, but I was good with it. Then she fell off the bed! So I tried to Ferberize her... I couldn't take it. She was crying, I was crying. I just put the bed on the floor. Girl never slept in her crib. Not once.

I didn't really have much of a plan when DJ was born. Not saying I didn't stress it, I did, I just had no real plan -- crib was still in the nursery, Paige still with me. Well, it ended up that DJ couldn't really fall asleep if I was holding him. If I swaddled him and placed him in his bassinet he would fall asleep instantly. Wow. Moved him to the crib when he out grew the bassinet. DJ loooooved his crib! I used to joke that he'd be in it until he was 10 ~ And bonus! Paige would sleep in the room with him!
Ahhh.
Then eventually he climbed out. Bye Bye crib.

Pregnant with Kelly. This time I want the Arms Reach co-sleeper instead of a bassinet. So awesome! Nursed her, put her in it -- she is right there. We even moved home to the city and she was fine with it all. Put the crib up in our room and moved her to it when she tried to climb out of the co-sleeper. She was great. Got one of those dome nets to put over it because she was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes -- totally works too BTW -- and she stayed in it longer because she couldn't climb out. We even moved her to her own room! My "Destructo Baby" did eventually end up pulling the whole dome down and breaking it, but she was ready for a Big Girl bed by then anyway.

Alright. So here we are. Mikey never slept IN the co-sleeper... I know, but he didn't like it. Also, unless he falls asleep in the car, I hold him while he naps. I know...
(I know!)
I am also aware of the fact that I brought this on myself, but I seriously have no idea how I am going to get him into the crib now! So yep, he is sleeping with us still. I am open to any and all suggestions, but I will not let him cry it out.