When Jeremiah and I were oh so young we went out shopping for furniture for our first apartment right before our wedding.

Of course being the naive (and frugal) people that we were (still are?) when it came to choosing a bed we looked at the options...full, queen, and king...and thought oh, we won't mind being close and a full is so much cheaper.

So that's the route we went.

Ahem. Just a few months into this whole marriage thing we realized we might have made a mistake. Sure, we like cuddling. But not when we were trying to sleep.

And especially with a man who likes to sleep with his arms crossed behind his head. Which means I have elbows in my eyeballs at random times throughout the night.

1 year. 2 years. 3 years. 4 years. 5 years. 6 years. 7 years go by.
1 child. 2 children. 3 children later.

Why did we buy a full sized bed again?

Then last weekend my parents gifted us with a king size bed.


















King sized, people. That's like 17 times bigger than a full.

We slept the whole first night without bumping butts, pulling elbows out of eyeballs, or smelling stinky middle of the night breath. Amazing.

Fast forward a whole week and we are still in amazement. And adjusting. Can I admit I sort of miss those elbows? And if you have to bump butts with someone...

Just saying.

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How bout you?
I'd love to hear about any newlywed naivety you quickly learned the truth about?
Or any frugal decisions that you regretted later?

Eli has slept through the night for the last four days.

Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord.

Shout it from the roof tops.

Excuse my excitedness...but this is big in our house. Big, I tell you.

Oh, and this is a little bit different...but a breakthrough none the less: Eli is now instigating hugs and "wrestles" with Ezra. Instead of melting to the floor in a pile of whine anytime Ezra comes within a two foot radius of him.
















Big, I tell you.

We made it home last night...

Only to turn right around this morning to leave for Maryland for my Grandad's funeral.

We decided to call in a babysitter to stay with the kids instead of taking them with us. I don't think adding a 6 hour car drive on top of the two 9 hour ones we had this week would have made for a happy anybody!

We also think that Ezra is the latest to fall prey to strep throat.

Thankfully my pediatrician called in an antibiotic for us that we picked up on the way home so he is quickly on his way to the mend! (The fact that she didn't make us go to the office is nothing short of a miracle!)

We don't keep certain "bigger" toys out all the time because...

1) The newness factor wears off
2) I really hate to clutter up the whole house with toys

The tent was up for it's rotation this week and it has put in some overtime!

It has transformed from a simple tent into a doctors office, the new sleeping quarters for princess Ella, a train station, a space ship en route to the moon, and numerous other venues.

We have reached our one year anniversary of living here at the farm.

While we have gotten to know a few of our neighbors...we realized that there are still so many we had never met.

So last Saturday we prepared Easter goodie bags and set off to meet and greet the neighborhood. We got to meet several new faces...and the kids had a blast!










Ezra was so tuckered out by the last house that he couldn't even keep his head up on the walk home...

An hour into Ezra's nap this afternoon he woke up just wailing.

I went to check on him and could tell he was still soooo sleepy.

I picked him up... green blankie, pink blankie, paci and all...and he nestled into me...

We moved to the rocking chair and he stayed all snuggled up with me.

I could feel his heart beating. I could see his eyes closing.

I could smell his sweet baby boy sleepy smell.

Bliss.

There are few moments in this momma's life that I have enjoyed more. My energetic and full of life little big boy was still and quiet and content to let me hold him.

I would have stayed there forever.

We have always worked hard at maintaining a consistent bedtime routine and a fairly strict bedtime (right around 8pm) with the kids.

Jeremiah and I have always felt that having uninterrupted couple time in the evening is very important for us....and them. We know that having a strong and healthy marriage is one of the most important gifts we can give our kids.

We started early with both children and by 3 months old they both were on a bedtime schedule. We have maintained the same routine over the last 3 years...with a few exceptions made for travel, company, teething or sickness.

That said, we have been noticing a downward spiral of non-adherence to that routine from Ella over the past few months. I know she is three and this is her time to test the boundaries and see if we are really going to be consistent. I also know that sleep is very important for her development and her maintaining a "happy heart" attitude throughout the day.

And come on, it should not take over an hour for the girl to go to bed! That is just ridiculous! =)

Therefore, after getting back from being out of town last week...we enrolled Ella into our bedtime bootcamp =)

The new enforced rules are as follows:

1) No getting out of bed for any reason other than the below listed exceptions:

- Potty (this is done by herself...negating any attention-seeking potty trips!)
- Picking up Ezra's paci or blanket

2) No callbacks for anything other than blood or bodily fluid emergencies

Of course this means that Jeremiah and I have to be consistent with our consequences for breaking these rules. That blasted responsibility thing again =)

The 1st night was a little rough as she wanted to test if we meant business.

We did.

In contrast the last 4 nights have been incredibly smooth.

No callbacks, no getting out of bed, no "my tummy hurts", no "I need a tissue", no "the ladybugs are getting me", no "you forgot to do the monkey dance and twirl on your head while juggling 18 oranges"...

Ahh...sweet quiet blissful uninterrupted time to ourselves.

Yesterday was a fun whirlwind of a day!

First we all headed out to Ezra's 18month check-up. He did great! Both nurse and doctor mentioned how "compliant" he was. I was just smiling inside and thinking of how "compliant" he can be when I try to change his diaper =) He had a big growth spurt from his 15month check-up till now...jumping from the 45% in height to the 75%. His weight is holding steady in the 50%. His right ear is still infected, so we are back on an oral antibiotic. Other than that...he is as perfect as they come!

Then we met up with Kelly, Jonathan, and kids. The men took off to do some men-talk and us ladies had a great playdate at Durant Nature Park in Raleigh.

Here are some pictures of the day:





































Then we headed back home for some rest time for Ella and a nap for Ezra while I headed out to do our 2 week grocery shopping trip. I stayed within budget and broke a new coupon saving record...over $100.00 in savings!

Needless to say I slept like a log last night =)

Happy Friday everyone!

This morning was absolutely perfect.

Not perfect in a non-real way...like winning the lottery or taking a trip to Ireland.

Rather, it was perfect within the parameters of my mommy life, my reality.

Here's the how and why of my perfect morning:

*Woke up on my own at 6:45am after 8 blissful uninterrupted hours of sleep with nary a wet the bed incident or can't-find-my-paci-cry.

*An entire hour of, again, blissful uninterrupted quiet time and coffee.

* Both kids slept late and woke up in great moods. I actually had to wake Ezra up at 9:30am!

* Perfectly cooked scrambled egg burritos for breakfast...with strawberries and blueberries...eaten by all with relatively few battles or thrown food =)

* Getting in a work-out while room-time with both kids went an entire 45 minutes without a scream or cry or call for me. (You'll see the reason why in a soon-to-come post)

* Despite the cold...bundling up and playing outside...sandbox, trampoline, and hide and seek were the games of choice. There is nothing cuter than their bright pink cheeks and sparkling eyes after playing outside!

* Ezra's "help" while I folded laundry and Ella watched Max & Ruby

* Soup and sandwiches for lunch...eaten by all with no battles!

* Telling Ezra it was time for night-night...and he went running to get his blankie and paci...and practically dove into his crib...3 hours later and not a single peep has been heard.

* One on one time with Ella to read books, color, and treasure hunt (aka:play with my old jewelry) together before her nap...which she went down for with no struggles.

* Getting my to-do list all checked off in the 1st hour of naptime...and now...time for reading or maybe a nap or maybe I'll finish those pillows I've been working on...


What about you? What is your idea of a perfect...real...day?

We decided that nobody in the church nursery would appreciate my kids "sharing" their bronchitis and ear infections...so the kids and I are staying home this morning and doing our own version of "church". All three of us slept till 9am this morning too...so there is no way we even could have made it to church on time anyway =)

Ella received a great cd of scripture memorization songs for Christmas...and we have been listening to them all morning. Her favorite is the "taken your word in my heart" song based on Psalm 119:11. We must have hit repeat about 300 times =)








Then I made up a simple craft so we could do our own lesson on what it means to "take God's word in your heart".

And finally, heart shaped grilled cheese is on the menu for lunch.





Ezra is taking his morning nap now, and Ella just went to roomtime....so, I am planning on spending some time in the word myself...

Here's to making the most of a Sunday morning at home.

I felt brave again last night and put them both back in together...

And they both made it to 8am!

Ezra played for a few minutes around 6:30, but then was quiet until just now. Not sure if he was sleeping or not...but I don't care as long as he is quiet and not waking up his sister =)

Ella had a MUCH better day yesterday. Thank Goodness!

Based on the "difficult" temperament of my normally sweet and agreeable Ella over the last few days, I decided that these early morning risings were definitely taking a toll on her.

So, I woosed out. I split them up last night.

And, wouldn't you know...it's after 8am and they both are still asleep.

Here's hoping for a happy Ella today!

Ezra woke up at 5:23 this morning =(

I just left him in there and he did fall back asleep (after 45min!) until 7:15. Not sure if that is regression or progress?

In our old house Ella and Ezra had separate rooms. In the new house we have four bedrooms, but two are on the main level and two are downstairs. Call me overprotective, but I just didn't feel comfortable with them being so far away at night. At least while they both are so young.

Therefore, we made the decision to have the kids share a room once we moved.

It's now been 3 nights since they've been sharing and it's been interesting =)

Warning: this is probably way too much information for this subject.

Ella loves going "to sweep wif Ezra". They've had no issues going to sleep at night. Even the first night when we put Ezra down earlier than her (some days it's all I can do to get him to the 7:30 mark) she did really good at staying quiet while we tucked her in later. Now the past two nights they have gone to bed at the same time and done really well. Ella actually insisted on going to bed tonight an hour early just so she could "go sweep wif Ezra". It's now 8:30 and I haven't heard any more renditions of "this little light of mine" in a while now. Looks like she finally fell asleep =)

No issues waking each other up through the night either. Whew.

Getting up in the morning...we are going to have to work on that.

Ella has always been a pretty late sleeper. It's not uncommon for me to have to wake her up at 9 or even 9:30. Ezra takes after me and is my early riser. He is usually awake at 7, but plays pretty happy until I get him around 7:30-8. However,the last 3 mornings we ALL have been up BEFORE 7.

That makes for some cranky kids. And parents.

Not sure what to do to get them to sleep later? Maybe it'll just work itself out once all the newness of the house and room arrangement have worn off?

Or maybe I am just destined to be up at 6 from now on. Yikes.