Manic Mondays night wakings

Mommy!!!!! as she screams at the top of her lungs for the 5th time of going up there and tucking her in. "do you have pee pee...why are you waking up" It's not really waking up, it's staying up. Put her in bed and she wakes up every 10 minutes asking to get tucked in. An hour and a half after first attempting to put her in bed and she is screaming for us. Ok...I try the calm method and put he back in bed, but this is ridiculous. She keeps getting up and waking Darya with her yells for us. Darya wakes up anyway twice a night now. She use to be my good sleeper and I was happy with having one good sleeper. Everyone says they sleep well once they turn two or three. Oh really??? Leyli will be 4 at the end of January. What's worse is she doesn't tell us why she is waking up. She had a calm fulfilling fun day. She went to school, went to the park and had a relaxing bath. We tell her not to get up, but of course she does anyway. So....so we let her scream and yell for us a little longer the last time since nothing else is working. After crying and asking us to go up while we are telling her to go back to bed and we told her we wouldn't come up any more, for a few minutes while Darya is frightened from all the racket in her bed trying to sleep through the constant noise, we go up and tell her this IS IS IS the last time and no tv for tomorrow. We'll see, does it have to get to tha point in order for her to take us seriously. You might think it's cruel, you might think it's lenient...think what you want but until you have been here in our shoes you won't know how it is. Each kid is different and have their own little quirks. She has to be tucked in a certain way...what's the big deal you ask. Her blanket and sheet have to be at a certain level that only she knows were that is above her ear, tucked in to the rails as tight and straight as they can possibly go, so it takes a good 5 real minutes to get it right. Now imagine doing that 5 or more times a night while she is telling you...it;s too floppy, tighter, higher...lower and on and on. If we get her use to not getting tucked in which will be an all out battle, believe me she will get OCD about something else. Anything we do once she will turn around and make it a routine that has to be done in that way at that time...no exceptions. ok...I did warn you some blogs will be negative Now I always need to end on a positive note for my own sanity. This time will pass. She is only 3!!! She will outgrow this phase. She will go off to bed without wanting to get tucked in soon and without the long winded good nights and we will miss it and remember these nights. Now do we want to remember the struggles and her crying or remember us being loving and patient and going to her when she wants us. I think there is a fine line there. There is a middle ground. We will go as much as we can until we are about to loose our cool. It's better for her to be upset about us not going to her when she doesn't really need us for anything and we had told her we wouldn't go anymore than for us to go and loose our cool. It;s all about keeping our sanity. Thank goodness for our lovely girls that make our days full of joy and challenge us like we have never been challenged before.

Tired Tuesday

Soooo tired! Why? what have I done? Nothing out of the ordinary. Leyli was up at 4, Darya up by 5 and Leyli up again at 6. Maybe that's got something to do with it...hhmmm. Hopefully I will get some much needed rest tonight. I love my girls and need to remember that when they wake up at odd hours of the night and I could barely open my eyes and have just jumped out of bed and sleep dreaming sweet dreams to the sound of Mommy!!!!!!! or Crying. Thank god for Arash who jumped up for Leyli when she called out before I can even open my eyes he was there. But of course that doesn't do it and I have to go in as well. I am thankful for everything and realize all the positives in my life and these things are really nothing. They are blessings. These shouldn't even be considered as complaints to some. What some might give to have this as their trouble of the day. Thank you thank you thank you. Life is good and I wouldn't change it and I won't complain for my little annoyances and what I think of as problems. Til next time....

Not so Manic Monday

All Mondays should be not so manic. Leyli picked her outfit today and there were no challenges. It went very smooth. I guess she didn't match too well, but it looked cute, I didn't get a headache, and it set a calm tone for the day. No rush through breakfast even though she takes forever and only eats two bites which takes an hour. No struggles or actually I should say minimum struggles the rest of the day. aaahhhh. I have to remind myself that she is only 3. That's so little but I treat her like she's 5. Halloween will be here soon and the rest of the year will fly by. I feel like time goes by too quickly around this time of year since we are all busy with the Holidays. We are looking forward and preparing for Halloween, then right after that, we are preparing and ready for Thanksgiving, then again without taking a breather, we are getting ready for Xmas then the New year. All the busywork will make time even fly by faster. I want to buy decorations, go costume shopping, get ready maybe have a little kids party, not this year. I am trying something different. If I happen to be shopping and see a little cute decoration, great if not I am not specifically going out to buy it for one month and spend that time shopping for it. Leyli and Darya will have fun whether the house is decorated or not. I will have more time to do other things and spend time with them. We will go Trick Or Treating but I am not obsessed with what Leyli will wear. We will have a fun but relaxing Halloween. Leyli can be whatever she wants to be and as of now she wants to be a friendly ghost wich makes it easy on us. Darya has Leyli's old baby costume. It is a fun and exciting beginning to the Holiday season, but I am going to try not to get caught up in all the hype, we'll see how that works out for us, hee hee. I guess my message is I am always ready to go out and need something, I need to do something, I need to keep busy, I am always rushing (don't ask me why), always stressed. Today I didn't do that and it was a much nicer day. I will try to remember this on other challenging days. Until next time....

Sunday Sunday

Life is good. The only real productive thing we got done today was get my exercise equipment put together which is WONDERFUL. Thank you Arash! In between Sam's Club, Dish installation and all th other daily stuff, Arash managed to put it together. Thank Goodness, I guess it's a good start to get one major thing done a weekend. You know what it is, would I rather spend time with Arash, the girls and sometimes friends having fun and enjoying their company or do work that is always there. Work is always there and there is always something you can find that you NEED to do. I choose to do them mostly on the weekdays/nights or one weekend day. I refuse to give up both of my weekend days. Weekend nights are reserved for either friends or relaxing. Lets face it, I don't know about you, but how much work do you really get done in the evening. So what if you have a couple dirty plates, or some bills laying around. I feel like we are constantly picking up and cleaning. I would rather chill and spend some time with the people I love. Here is to a semi productive weekend! We'll see what we can get done next weekend. Thank heaven I don't get graded on my life like grades given in school.

By the way, I am bummed that Dish Network doesn't have nightime Noggin and Sprout. What am I going to do?!!!

Was it still worth going out last night? Yes, even though, Leyli finally went to bed at 11:30 after a few wakings and woke up at 8 sharp, even though Darya woke up at 12 and again at 5 and then at 8, even though I am exhausted, even though Leyli skipped her nap today and was really wired, yes it is still worth it. It's only once or twice a month at the most, I think as parents we deserve that time to ourselves.

Now I am off to watch The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters. Busy night, hee hee. All this of course after Leyli goes to bed and while I am having my second meal of the day. Somehow we totally skipped lunch! and I can't stop thinking about the danishes at FRESH MARKET. If you have a Fresh Market, I suggest you try them. They are soooo good!!! Gotta go, until next time:)

kidless Saturday NIght

Yay! We found a babysitter. Ok..do you realize we haven't had time without the kids in atleast a year and a half. Finally there is a babysitter we feel comfortable enouph to leave our most valuable and most precious possesion with, our girls. She comes over for a test run and Leyli loves her and Darya doesn't know the difference. People...you NEED to get out without your kids and with your husbands. I almost didn't go through with it and sabotaged myself with these thoughts....

We get time alone when the kids are asleep, what's the difference
We don't need the time to get out since we get out with th ekids and have fun
Where are we going to go
What are we going to do
What do we talk about

Let me tell you, I felt like I was in my early twenties again. It was strange not having kids with us but after an hour or so we got use to it and let go and enjoyed ourselves. Ofcourse some wine helped a bit. We talked mostly about the girls. It was nice to talk without getting interrupted and made me realize why and how we fell in love in the first place. All this in a couple hours. So if you ask was it worth leaving your kids, was it worth the extra money you spent on a babysitter and going out, was it worth Leyli refusing to go to sleep until we got home and even then...YES it is worth it and we will do it again!!! and I hope you all get out and do it too, if we can, you all can too.

Fashion Friday

Ok...so here is how my morning started. I'm waking up leyli to get her ready for school and pick out a couple cute outfits with an undershirt since it's in the upper 40s outside.
" I don't want to wear that, it's black, I don't like it, find something else" as she whines in a loud voice.
"honey, it's cold and all the other stuff you have already worn this week, these are your only choices. Look it's a red sweater with pink hearts on it". She is finally convinced.
"I don't want that shirt under, I want a pretty shirt" We get through that hurdle.

Now with the shoes. To make it easy, she has two pairs that fit her. One cute black sketchers with hearts and ribbons of girly color on there and one brown with pink flower. The first one we got her were the Sketchers and she absolutely loved them, then came the brown ones and now the brown ones are her favorite and she wants to wear them everyday.
"Honey, you wore those every day this week and the black ones match perfectly. It's goo dto try and wear different things and not everything g you wear has to be your favorite"

How did I create this? I am not like that? Is it a trait that is learned or she was born with it? How did I create such a girly girl that is so concerned about what she wears and makes sure she has her bracelet and necklace and a head band that she wears so low that it's pretty much on her forehead.

Do I need to change this? Do I need to show her the importance of not making what you wear so important? The clothes don't make you pretty. You make the clothes pretty with your face, kind heart and warm and loving personality. Did I make clothes too much of a big deal when she was younger?
"Oh look at how cute you are. Those clothes are sooo cute. You look so cute today. I love that shirt." What have I done?!!! and what has her environment already done at the age of 3. I might be reading too much into this but I would hate for her to be a child who cares only about looks and think that defines her as a person.

Now that I went that route. Here is the other side.

She is such a loving and sensitive child. She loves dressing up and is so girly. I need to let her choose what she wants to wear. It's not that bad. She wants to feel good, is that so wrong? She likes it when she wears what she considers pretty. It's good to take care of yourself and feel and look your best. I don't want to change her. I don't want to break her spirit.

Conclusion:
I will let her choose and at the same time make sure she knows she is the one making the clothes pretty with her kind gentle ways and her loving personality. I will only put together what she likes ans what are her favorites and she will pick from those. So what if she gets cold one morning, she will learn on her own. I will merely suggest and guide her and leave it up to her to choose. So, I will go through her clothes with her and pick out the ones she likes and leave that in her closet. I will let her be who she wants to be. So you might see her in a black and red outfit with Brown and pink shoes, you might see her in the same two outfits the whole week, you might see her with no jacket on a cold day, but you will see her happy and content that she chose what she wore and has some say in her 3 year old daily life.

Love

I love the cooler weather which makes me think I am getting old. I'm sure if you ask any person younger than early twenties, they will say they love the heat! It feels so fresh and clean. I can actually go for walks now. Love IT! Did I say that enough.

I love taking walks. We (Leyli, Darya and I) visit with the neighbors (the friendly ones) pet some cats and dogs and of course get some much much much NEEDED exercise. It started out with Leyliand actually all of us out of breath by the time we would be headed back to making it the whole way with a few bursts of jogging in between. OK, seriously, my most of my pants that actually have buttons and zippers barely If I squeeze them and suck in my gut will zip up with that so flattering bulge hanging over the pants covering the button. What happened? I fit in them a few weeks after giving birth to Darya! I guess I stopped nursing and kept up my sweet tooth. Gym membership? Yes have one! I am not taking Darya to the FREE child care there where she can get all the childhood sicknesses in a week. I am not going at night since by the time Arash gets home the kids need to get ready for bed and now that there are two it's quite a juggling act. After they go to sleep? well, I was going to say it's hubby time but in addition to that honestly I am toooo exhausted! So all I need now is to watch what I eat and get Arash to put together that exercise equipment ASAP. My goal is that it will be up this weekend since I am not NOT NOT buying bigger size pants!!! So if you see me with the same few pairs of pants all the time, now you know why. Ok I think I went off on a different note, hee hee

I love my family. Close and far. I love my two girls more than I ever thought I could love anybody. I love my friends who accept me for me and don't judge. I love them for listening and sharing and for the laugh and the positive influence and so on & on & on. I love hearing laughter, the smell of flowers and the rain (another sign that I am getting old)

Ok..now I am off to watch Survivor which I LOve Reality TV!!! Especially when there are freaks on there causing Drama, makes the hsow interesting:)

ok so here it goes...Warning, there will be lots of rambling

Thank you to Brianne for giving me the motivation to write a blog. I love her posts and it I can relate in so many ways. She is so positive and greatful for everything she has etc...This makes me happy and when I am not in the best of moods, I can read her blog and it reminds me of what is important. On the days it's nice to read the not so positive ones and laugh my _ _ _ off:) So I will attempt to write as I feel the need to vent. Until next time!!! I'm off to dreamland.