Why Won't My Children Sleep?

I'm really tired today. As a mom, I don't ever feel completely well-rested, but today I am extra tired. Why? Well because my kids haven't been sleeping. Rose is typically up until 10 p.m. most nights. She likes to read in bed and says that she loses track of time. Ok, I can completely understand that - after all, I'm the same way. Only in my case I tend to stay up until 12:30 reading. I'm glad she loves books and enjoys reading. But she needs to be getting to sleep earlier since she goes to school. Plus I need time away from my kids in the evening, which is hard to do if she's popping out of her room every 20 minutes or so. Maybe we could duct tape her door shut? Hmmm. . .

And then there's Matthew. I don't know what's going on with that guy. 2 mornings last week he was up at 4 a.m. He came into my room, stood 3 inches from my face and poked me. "Psssst. Mom. Time get up!" We discussed this for 10 minutes before he said "ok. fine" and left. Now I should've gotten up to make sure he went back to bed, but I didn't I was tired 'cause I'd been up late reading. Oops. Anyway, I listened to my husband snore awhile and eventually fell back alseep. Fast forward to 4:45. Matt comes in again. We repeat our earlier discussion of how it's NIGHTIME and he shouldn't be awake. He says "But I stinky" *sigh* I get up. We head downstairs in search of a diaper. The lights are on, toys are scattered everywhere and the tv is on (did you know that Roseanne is on Nick at night at 5 a.m.??) Apparently he didn't go back to sleep. I change him and he is ready to play. At this point I gave up, put on cartoons and tried to sleep on the couch. He ended up falling asleep around 6 a.m.

Then 3 nights later, he was again up at 4 a.m. ready to play. What's that about? Of course there was one night where he woke up around 5:30 and dragged me downstairs, only to fall asleep on the couch right away. Now if he was just gonna fall asleep, why couldn't he have stayed asleep in his own bed and not gotten me up? I'm just wondering. . .

So back to today. Matt was once again up last night. This time it was 1:30 a.m. and he had an exploding diaper. There was poop everywhere! It took 30 minutes to get him, his outfit and the couch cleaned up. But hey, at least he went back to sleep. I think the older I get, the less I am able to get up in the middle of the night. I have just gotten too used to sleeping through the night; I can't imagine adding a newborn to the mix at this point in my life.

Well I'm off to play trains with Matthew.

Routines, mornings and Matthew's crap

I know I don't blog as often as I used to, but frankly things are settled into a routine. It's not like fun, exciting things are happening around here on a daily basis. But honestly how routine can life with four kids be? Well let's take a brief glimpse into an average morning in the Hahn household. Most days begin around 6:30 a.m. when I am awakened by Matthew poking me. "Get up mom! C'mon mom. GET UP!" He is very insistent. He gets a cup of milk from the fridge (I stock the fridge with a sippy cup of milk the night before) and his "mommy crap" and we head downstairs where I change his diaper and we settle down to watch cartoons. Or rather, he watches and I doze. Then around 8:00 chaos ensues.

8:00 a.m. I am still in my pjs, making breakfast. Gotta head in and wake up David.
8:15. Ok, Rachel is dressed and ready to go. But she still hasn't eaten. Here have some food. Need a drink too?
8:25 David has eaten and is only dressed because he slept in his clothes last night. 8:35 Rachel heads out to the bus stop.
8:40 I yell at Rose to get dressed or she'll miss the bus. Rachel comes back in, complaining that it's cold and she needs a coat and gloves. (If you think it's cold now, just wait a couple months kid.)
8:45 David heads out the door.
8:47 Rose finally gets her backpack together and leaves too.
8:51 The bus comes and I'm free (mostly) for a couple hours.
9:00 Relax a bit. If it's Monday or Friday, 3-year-old Emma is also here. She's the youngest daughter of my best friend and Matthew's partner in mischief-making, who I babysit 2 days a week. If it's Thursday, I pack up Matthew and head off to my weekly bowling league. I don't bowl so well but we always have loads of fun.

Ok, I know what you're thinking after reading all that: What exactly is a "mommy crap?" Each of our kids received a lamb's wool blanket when they were born. And each of them has been very attached to it. Rachel loved hers literally to pieces so we got her another one because she was so upset when it disintegrated. Matthew loved his also and dragged it everywhere with him. Eventually that one also started to fall apart. After losing (and finding) it several times we gave him Rachel's old one in addition to his tiny worn one. So when he lost the little on, he still had a big one to sleep with. So he called the little one "baby crap" and the big one "mommy crap." Baby crap has been lost forever but he still loyally clings to mommy crap. The "crap" part came because Phil tried to teach him to say "scrap." As you can tell, he can't quite manage the "s" yet.

Well that's all for now.

And Don't Call Me Owen!

This blog is dedicated to silly things my children have said or silly things Phil and I have said to the children. The most recent one involves my 3 oldest children. As most children do, they tend to talk a LOT, an mainly to me when they're home. So we'll be talking about something and the conversation will end. I will naturally go back to doing whatever I was doing. Then the child will think of something they forgot and say "Oh, and mom. . . " Only they're usually talking so fast that it comes out more like "Owen mom." So I've started teasing them by replying, "My name is not Owen!"

I also have a file I started awhile ago listing crazy things that I've actually said to the children. The name listed after the phrase is the child I was talking to at the time. When I started this list Rose was 4 (she's 9 now), David was 2 (he's 7 now) and Rachel was a newborn (she's 5 now). Here is just part of the list:

* No books in the toilet (David)
* No stepping on your baby sister (David)
* Don’t dip the videos in the ketchup (David)
* No cars allowed in your diaper (David)
* No eating the videos (Rose)
* Don’t eat rocks (David)
* Don’t put our mortgage payment in the oven (David)
* Water is not a finger food (David)
* Don’t eat your sister’s hair (Rachel)
* Don’t rewind the dinner roll [in the vcr rewinder] (David)
* Don’t color on yourself (Rachel)
* No hiding in the fridge (Rose)
* Don’t eat the screen door (David)
* The phone is not a frisbee (David)
* No food on your head. Turkey is food, not a hat (Rose)
* Don’t beat up your brother (not only was this Rachel, but she was only 10 months old at the time!)
* Don’t eat rocks (Rachel)
* Don’t sit in your sister’s applesauce (Rachel)
* Sit on your bottom, not on your face (Rachel)
* Don’t color on the turkey (lunchmeat) (Rachel)
* Sidewalk chalk is not a snack! (Matthew)
* Don’t eat the Christmas lights (Matthew)
* Don’t smear mashed potatoes on the Christmas ornaments (David)
* Toothpaste doesn’t belong on your bottom! (David)
* Don’t drink from the salt shaker. Salt is not a beverage. (Rachel)
* You have to be naked to take a bath (Matthew, who climbed in the bathtub full of water in his pjs)
* Don't sleep in the oven (Matthew, who opened the oven door and laid down on it and started snoring)
* Don’t eat your applesauce with a crayon. Use a spoon! (Matthew)
* Brush your hair, not your bottom. (Rachel)
* Don't eat the CD (Rachel, who was 4 at the time and should have known better)
* Don't put underpants on your head (Matthew)
* It's a sandwich, not a phone (Matthew, who held up a pb&j sandwich to his ear and pretended to talk)
* Don't wear the trashcan on your head (Matthew)
* Don't pee in the trashcan (David)
* Don't lick the grass (Matthew)
* Don't wear the video boxes (David)
* Don't play inside the trashcan (Matthew, who was sitting in our outside trashcan)


I haven't added anything to it for awhile. Is that because I'm too busy and just don't have time or is it because the kids are growing up and not doing silly stuff like this anymore?

Dedicated to my Rose!

I can't believe my oldest daughter is 9 already!! Good grief how time flies. Yesterday we had a lovely party with 3 of her 4 grandparents here to help celebrate. We had chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (can you tell she likes chocolate?!). And today she took chocolate brownies to school to celebrate with her class. I still remember the day she was born. She wasn't due until October 16. But she's always wanted to do things her own way and decided to arrive Tuesday October 12 instead. Phil was working 3rd shift then so when my water broke early that morning I had to call him at work and tell him to come home. He said he loved the excuse to drive really really fast! So off to the hospital we went for a c-section. You see, Rose was breech and didn't want to arrive by the traditional route - I told you she has her own ideas about things! She was such a fun, easy baby -- she slept through the night by the time she was 3 months old. She started walking at 10 months old and hasn't slowed down since.

Now she is in 3rd grade. She sings in the church kids' choir, takes acting classes and gymnastics lessons. She is smart, polite, creative and helpful. She loves God, her family, reading books, acting and singing, doing craft projects, chocolate and Hannah Montana. She has her faults just like anyone else, but overall, I think she's an exceptional girl and I'm very glad God gave her to us.