After reading an article in one of the many parenting magazines I get, I decided to try adding something new to our bedtime routine. The article was a short one that basically said if your kid is having a hard time falling asleep during the summer because it's still light out, to try rubbing their back or head for a few minutes to put them in a relaxed state.
As you all know from my post earlier this week, we are no strangers here to bed time issues. Even now that we make the boys fall asleep in separate rooms, they still can take 30-45 minutes to fall asleep and I suspect a lot of this is because it's still so light outside. This past week I decided to give this back rub idea a shot.
Every night I spend about 5 minutes sitting or laying next to each kiddo rubbing their back, belly or head and it is wonderful. Sometimes I'm not sure how much it's actually helping with the bed time routine, but I love that quiet, one on one time with my boys. See, I never got to rock my babies to sleep (which is probably best) so I feel like I missed out on that whole quiet, magical time of just staring at your relaxed, almost-asleep baby.
During this new ritual the boys just stare at me with their big, blue eyes (except for Jackson, who sometimes will squeeze his eyes shut so hard that his eyebrows wrinkle). Sometimes we whisper about the day, but usually we just sit in silence. It's so peaceful and I love it. I love the quiet time with my rapidly growing and increasingly rowdy boys.
I think the boys love it too because the first thing Jackson said last night when I came in to kiss him good-night was "Rub my belly, Mommy". Made my heart melt.
Don't forget to add your question(s) to my Burning Questions post from yesterday! I'll answer them all tomorrow and be sure to throw in some pictures - I know I've been light on pictures here this week.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
"Rub My Belly, Mommy"
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Therapy
What is it about holding a baby or having a child snuggle up to you that is so therapeutic? Sunday afternoon the boys and I visited some friends who had their second child a couple of months ago. Holding that sweet little baby girl was such a stress reliever!
Yesterday, a couple of times, Tyler came up to me, crawled into my lap and just snuggled in. That very act made me sigh with relief and it was like all the moments of stress, annoyance and anger just disappeared. How does that work? I'm not entirely sure, but I hope my kids continue to want to climb into my lap and just sit and snuggle because it's an amazing thing.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Must Be A Mom Thing
The other day as I grabbed a water bottle I had been neglecting for much of the morning and took a drink of the now room temperature water, something dawned on me. I used to think it was so gross that my mom could drink room temperature water! IF I was going to drink water, it had to be ice cold. Apparently I've now adapted fully into motherhood. It's like I've come to terms with the fact that my eating and drinking comes second, so if I don't have time to constantly be refilling my cup or water bottle, then I better take what I can get! Funny thing is, I realized that morning when I drank my room temperature water that the "taste" didn't bother me anymore.
Know what else is a mom thing? Crying at the silliest little things. My brother, sister and I used to tease our mom all the time for crying over commercials (both Hallmark and non-Hallmark commercials), movies and books. We thought it was so silly that she would cry over these things! Know what this mom did the other day? I teared up three times while watching The Tigger Movie. Yup. I cried over the story of Tigger wanting to find his family. As I sat there, realizing I was tearing up for the 3rd time I thought "good grief, what is wrong with me?!"
After doing some thinking I've discovered I'm much more of a crier now than I was pre-kids. I tear up when other people are crying, extremely happy, watching TV, reading a book, looking at my boys, etc. It's like my hormones have never rebalanced after pregnancy. Oh well, I'll just chalk it up to it being a mom thing. When my boys make fun of me for crying (I'm sure they will at some point) I'll just tell them it's their fault!
And now, for your general amusement, here are some random pictures. Some of these can be found on my 365 Blog as well.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Heart Melting Moment
There are quite a few heart melting moments I experience as a mom. Watching my little "angels" sleep, watching them share a book or a toy, watching them share food and watching them with any extended family that happens to visit are just a few.
Few moments are more heart melting than this though...
Toddlers in PJs are just adorable anyway, but add in the fact that they're all crowded around Daddy for a story is just that much sweeter. Few things bring me more joy than watching my wonderful husband interact with our kids. He truly is Super Dad!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Video Clip of the Week - A Look Back
I don't have a brand new video to share with you today, but I'm willing to bet the video I have picked is one that will be new to most of you. Before I moved to Blogspot in October I had a family website that I shared photos, videos and stories on. This video was put together by Nick in honor of the boys' first birthday and posted on that site. I just cried again when I watched it. How quickly time flies!
I also picked this video for another specific reason. At the beginning of the video you'll see some footage from when the boys were in the NICU. When you look at my very large, very healthy toddlers it's easy to forget the start to life they had. It's easy to forget just why the March for Babies is so important to us. Please donate using the button over to the left or by clicking here. I'm still a long way from my goal and the march is now about 3 weeks away. Babies all over the country need your help! Even if you can only give $5, it will help.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Playing Together
I've long awaited this day; the day the boys start to play together. There have been glimpses of this happening since the boys were 6 or 7 months old really. That's when the famous "Wild Playtime" video was shot which shows Jackson and Tyler rolling around on the floor together. Since then there have been a handful of other moments where two or all three of the boys were doing something together. Usually though they're like ships passing in the night - which is amazing considering the size of the house!
In the last couple of weeks though they've really started to play more! Here are a few of the moments I was lucky enough to catch on camera.
Huh. I just realized all these pictures are of Tyler and Chase... I promise you Jackson plays too! I'll have to work harder at getting pictures of him in the action...
As of the writing of this post we're up to 30 comments! Wow! Today and tomorrow are your last days to comment in Cans for Comments week.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Video Clip of the Week - Sweet Boy!
My Tyler is such a sweet boy! Actually, all three boys are very sweet but Tyler did something sweet this morning....
This is not the video I was hoping to get this week, but when Tyler blew me the kiss I knew it had to be posted. It's moments like that, that make all the whining and crying worth it.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Brotherly Love
There are few things more special than witnessing sweet moments between your children.
Yesterday afternoon Chase fell and bumped his head, resulting in a lovely little goose egg on his forehead. I sat on the floor to hold and comfort him while he cried and while we were sitting there something sweet happened....
First Jackson came over to us. He looked very concerned when he saw Chase was crying. Then I heard Tyler coming towards us from the other room. He walked right over to us, put his hand on Chase's back and just looked at him. My heart about melted then!
Then Jackson started doing silly things. I swear the kid was trying to make Chase laugh! Unfortunately it was then that the sweetness ended... Jackson bumped his head while being silly for Chase and started to cry. I held out my other arm to him and he came to me. As he was crying and burying his face in my neck he started to try to push Chase out of my arms. The little bugger wanted me all to himself! Ahh brotherly love.
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