Good Intentions...

With everyone starting school this week (except my kids), I felt like we needed to have a more scheduled day so that things might go smoother and the kids could have more things to keep them busy.

I must say, I have been so guilty of allowing Disney Videos and PBS entertain my kids for the past several months because I have been too physically and emotionally exhausted to take them outside and play more like they should.

So the kids and I sat down to write down all the things they like to do and then we scheduled them into our day (such as Craft time, outside time, story time, school time where we work on ABCs and 123s and quiet time). We said no more TV until after 4pm while I make dinner. I told the kids they had to earn it by sticking to our schedule. They didn't seem to have a problem with that.

The day started out great. I got in the shower before 8am (this RARELY happens)...in fact getting up before 8am rarely happens. (If your kids slept until 8:30am every day, would you be getting up? Not me.) Anyway, we had family prayer, breakfast, got dressed and made our beds...all before 9am (THIS NEVER happens this early) and then we sat down for some School time.

I have also been trying to get Amelia on a schedule too. I am a HUGE fan of BabyWise sleep and feeding techniques where you teach your baby to be on a predictable schedule and they learn to self-sooth themselves to sleep. No rocking baby here. Ben and Bella were such happy babies and of course, happy predictable babies makes for a happy mama.

Even though the day started great, Amelia is already off again and decides she wants to be extra sleepy today and "snack feed" whenever she feels like it and then falls back to sleep. Ugh! I don't feel like I can go anywhere until she is on a set schedule. Isn't she too young, you ask? No sireee...any baby can be trained as early as 5 weeks....which both Ben and Bella were. Amelia is about 7 weeks now and I know I just need to keep with it.

We also decided to aggressively potty train Bella, which we have been very casual about, but I know she can do it but I just need to stay on top of it with her. She also started out today great too...but then it all began to fall apart. Amelia's not eating on time and sleeping longer than scheduled....Bella started having accidents all over the place, then we got side-tracked with other activities that started to mess with our plans....the kids got whinny, I began to feel tired....and before you know it....the kids are sitting and watching a video while I steal a small cat-nap to keep me sane.

Oh well, there is always tomorrow to try again!