mommy optimistic

Prior to our move, my kids had a steady bedtime routine and was nearly always asleep by 8:00. I loved it, it was so relaxing knowing that I didn't have to stress about bedtime.

These days, they're up for what feels like forever. The past few days my 3 year old has decided to sneak in some naps from 5pm till about 8pm. I do my best to wake him up, but there's no waking up a Gaerlan male when he doesn't want to be. With these late night naps, he's bouncing around on my bed until about 11pm.

My daughter is always up for a late night. She doesn't need a late nap to keep her up till 11pm. She'll use every excuse in the book, her favorite being that she's scared or that she misses us. When she says she misses me, it works nearly every time for some extra cuddle time.

So beyond the stress of the move and lack of unpacking, I've started finding the joy in getting the kids out again. As much as I need to be home, I love being able to hit up the parks, zoos, and dog parks. My kids love getting out of the house and starting a normal life again. I just wish they'd get to sleep earlier than 11pm!

It's a Sunday night and against my better wishes, there is a slumber party going on in my bed. My baby has had a slight fever all day and suddenly has a slight burst of energy.

My daughter has informed me that she can't possibly sleep without me because she misses me too much when she sleeps.

My son took one of those dreaded mommy naps. You know the ones, when it starts at about 4pm and lasts until about 7:30pm? Yikes. He's got energy to spare and I'm just dragging around like I'm 29 going on 80.

So between my baby slapping me in my face, my daughter complaining that the lights aren't all off, JD announces "Mommy, you're not good, Ms. Rocio is good."

For those of you that don't know, Ms. Rocio is our new babysitter. She's awesome and the kids love her. However, I had to ask, why is it that Ms. Rociois suddenly so much better than Mommy?

Rocio gives him ice cream. When I know that I'm going to be working outside the home, I do my best to stock up on a few treats, bring out some easy craft projects, you know, to make it more fun for everyone involved. I should have known that it would back fire!

I guess it isn't all so bad, if I really was "not good" I don't think he'd be snuggling up and trying to talk me into some late night cartoons.

"Good night, mother."

My 4 year old daughter has started calling me "mother" and my husband by his first name, John.

I'm not quite sure what to think about it, especially because she's only 4. If she's already sick of calling us mommy and daddy before she turns 5, what on earth is she going to call us at 15?

Lately she's taken to coming into my bedroom at around 9pm. She knows that by then the baby is asleep and I am attempting my 'me' time. It's always with the facad 'Good night, mother', and her giving me a quick hug and kiss. Off she goes with her bunny rabbit, and then, within minutes she comes in to 'check on me.'

Right now, she's laying beside me telling me about how girls are too cute for boys, and then listing off all the articles of clothing that girls can wear. That it's 'crazy' that she has such a huge option of clothing to wear, but she chooses to wear dresses every day.

Then silence hits, and she says something random, like "Kids get time outs, instead of getting to jail, right?"

"Right Alessandra."

Then, as she babbles about the random noises outside our house, asking questions about what I did when I was her age, and talking about how all elephants should fly like Dumbo I can't help but wonder...what did she do to make her ask about time outs vs jail time. I'm afraid to know.

"What can we put under our feet"

"I don't know?"

"What can we step on? Right? Like we canbe stepping on ice ski's and like we can step on, um, we can step on snow shoes, like tennis rackets, they are just funny snow shoes, right? In't that so silly, don't you wish we could do that?"

A short burst of laughter, and now she's rambling about how we better wear socks to keep our feet warm from snow, then giggling some more. I have no idea how we got to this subject, but you know what, I don't care. It's been a rough day, and listening to my daughter giggle about her silly cold feet is a pretty great way to end it.`

It's been no secret the past few months have been rough for me. I'm sure they'll continue to be rough, at least financially for a bit however I'm starting to feel like maybe there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Tonight, while looking into the freezer, I wondered what on earth I could make that would make the kids happy. It's that time of the month where I'm waiting for my husbands paycheck before grocery shopping so the possibilities seemed bleak. Then I remembered I had frozen strawberries, and a new food processor.

Needless to say, strawberry sorbet made my kids night. We had just enough angel food cake to make the treat complete - though I'm quite sure that they would have been happy without it.

Summertime and childhood should always be such effortless pleasure. I love watching how much joy something as simple as strawberry sorbet can bring. If only everything in life could be that easy...and taste that good!

Once upon a time, I had a joyfully quiet, serious little baby. Though he was a happy baby, he hardly smiled - until one day, he got a tooth.

I kid you not, the moment this child got a tooth he transformed before my eyes. The smiles are nonstop, the delightful baby belly laughs echo through the house, and a surprising pushy side emerged.

My 9 month old baby started doing random acts of violence. Pushing my 4 and 3 year old off the bed, slapping me in the face, realizing that biting hurts. Now that he is a year, he's on a rampage! For months I told my 3 year old not to fight back, but days like today make me wonder when I should let him.

Today I watched as not once, but three times my one year old (my 23lb one year old) slammed my three year olds head into my headboard. My three year old is in the 10th percent in nearly everything on those silly little doctor charts. I could care less, he's in proportion and happy and healthy. Grayson has slowed down, he's in the 50th percent (he was in the 90th).

Why am I telling you this? Because both boys can wear size 2t depending on the style of it, so it's not surprising my little guy that doesn't know his own strength can hurt his older brother. Sometimes I get onto him, telling him NO. You know what this little guy does? He turns, looks me in the eye, and laughs. There's no stopping him! He's so adorable, that even my kids can't stay mad at him too long. That or he gave them brain damage...

For the few of you that check in on this, here's some updates.

Once upon a time I was talked into moving in with my mom in law. It went as well as I had expected and due to having thre kiddo's and a great big doggie, not many places wanted to rent to us. The search for a home took way longer than expected, but we've finally found a fairly nice duplex in Oakland, Ca.

We've been here a month now, and to give you an idea of how settled we are, my computer is literally on my nightstand by my bed. This might be ideal for some people, but it's not for me. If it was a notebook, sure, but not a great big desktop computer!

Money is tight, so I'm trying to find ways to bring in some money. I have partnered up with a couple of women to hopefully start a small organizing company and make it work out. That way I can still stay with my kiddo's most of the time. I'm also hoping to get this site successfully going again. Everyone always treated it like a blog, it has never been my intention - but you know what, for now, that's all it's going to be. I still want a multitude of parenting authors, but for now, it is what it is.

Hopefully, I'll update tomorrow and start making the slow tweaks around the site needed to move forward and not back!

Things have been CRAZY in the life of Amy. We are finally moved, still unpacking, but life is moving forward! I really want to get this site going full steam again. If you feel you have somthing to offer, please contact me! Soon there will be weekly/daily updates again :)

Facebook is one of those addicting little tools that allows a mom to be as unproductive as possible. However, every now and then, something pops up that I adore! Not too long ago, I joined a group that links to preschool crafts and activities.

I couldn't resist this one, and can't wait till I have some empty kleenex boxes around the house!

These dinosaur feet shoes are adorable, fun, and SO easy to make! Basically let your kiddo go wild painting the tissue box, glue some sponge (cut into triangles) for the toenails, and once everything is dry, dance like a dinosaur!

Visit House of Baby Piranha for more directions!