Ya know every time I am going through a “I’m so tired” spell - I have to stop and take a look. Hmmm - I am not eating enough, drinking enough water and am going to bed way too late. Hmmm - Tyler isn’t eating enough, drinking enough and on some days I get him to nap way to late because I leave playgroup late.

Today - well, I still left playgroup late, but I have been offering Tyler food all day. We skipped lunch because I had to get him on his walk ASAP to get him down for the nap, but I have a piece of lasagna that i know he’ll chow waiting for him when he gets up. I am taking the lead from my friend and feeding him less carbs and more protein.

Our big issue right now is that it takes Tyler an hour to go to bed at night AFTER all the routine stuff. While Chris and I haggle over what time he should be in bed and keep hitting a wall - I can at least focus on other things that might help the overall situation - better nutrition, hydration and an earlier nap.

I am starting to document is sleepy times and all that to see if a window appears. Today - up at 6:40am, rubbed eyes 12:23pm on way home fromoplaygroup, nap at 1:05pm.

As for me, my butt needs to be in bed by 10pm. I mean how it is that Tyler has slept through the night two nights in a row and Quinn is only waking up twice at night (granted she is up at 6am sometimes) and I feel totally sleep deprived?? Becasue I am going to bed at 11pm. I think the extra hour will help.

Anyway - it is so funny how when things seem really out of whack - that I have let go of the fundamentals that keep us happy. Anyway, off to drink some water and give Baby Quinn some TLC. She is playing with a toy in the swing right now..

I don’t remember Tyler playing with toys like she does. She is so into them - especially this cat…. I like when she attacks them and tries to get them in her mouth as if to say “he toy, you get in my mouth”….

Ya know - up until after naptime - the day was shaping up to be a good one - even with being shut in due to the rain. Then I thought I should do some activity with Tyler like have him play at the table with cornstarch goop. I put the shower curtain down expecting the mess, but didn’t think he would pour most of it on the floor. Then put him in a shallow bath (two inches of water with the faucet on low) for a few minutes while I clean up the good that “missed” the shower curtain. I then head into the bathroom where he was dumping water outside of the tub and on the nearby toilet. I had a nice little surprise when I sat on the toilet next to the tub not yet realizing teh toilet had been attacked. What I love the most is that when he is caught red handed his response is to hurredly dump some more water and some toys overboard. I got a bit PO’d with that one as one of our rules is water stays in the tub.

Later I am trying to have some time with my daughter who has been chilling out through all of this. When he is sticking his hands down the back of his pants saying “poo poo”. So now he has poo on his hands and his butt. Then on the table I try to tell him to not touch anything, but he is then touching his leg and his face. Thankfully I had already cleaned the poo off his hands, but still wanted to wash them.. Did I mention he found his Daddy’s glasses by opening the top bathroom drawer, fishing out the glass case and opening it? Thankfully, I don’t think he hurt them - he just came to the top of the stairs saying “Daddy” to which I gasped when I saw what he had.

When Daddy got home all hell broke loose. While we talked in the office, he climbed up a stool in the kitchen and dumped a box of cornstarh all over the counter on the floor. He then went back upstairs with Daddy and grabed a small glass container (very small) of some eye cream sample out of his ‘Tyler’ drawer. Now this has been in there a while, but today it got throw on the floor and broke. Then he was really whiny - wanting bread “bread, bready, bready”. If he really wants something - the letter “y” gets added at the end. “truck, trucky, need trucky”. I guess after all of his handiwork, he was pretty tired. He was in rare form folks….

Thankfully that was the end of “destructo’s” work for the most part. My floor now has a cornstarch coating and is super slippery. That is reason #100 why Tyler and I can’t be in the house all day long. Granted had I been proactive and planned more activities - it might have gone better - but I was tired. I kept my cool actually and reacted more in disbelief of what he is capable of. It was pretty funny - even Chris was amused that every time we turned around it was like what now?

Anyway, I have to go to bed. I will not break my tired cycle by going to bed at 11pm. Missy Girl is now waking up at 6am, so I do need to be mindful of when I go to sleep. She is starting to get so fussy about not being able to sit and at her toys. She was a fussy budget this evening…she has started teething too - so who knows?

To bed, to bed I go now….well..after I check email one more time….

I was nursing Quinn and Tyler walked out of the room and said the following:

“Goodbye, Mama. Love you.” and blew me a kiss.

He has been starting to do that. I guess since Daddy leaves for work and I leave sometimes, he wants to “go” sometimes too. Too, too Cute. He also likes to grab this box with a handle that has books in it - kind of like a purse or backpack that we usually take with us…

It is raining today. Quinn is alseep and I have armed Tyler with a spray bottle and a rag so he could “clean” the kitchen door (big glass window) - trying some Montessori stuff. He got the concept pretty quickly, but last time I checked was enjoyng spraying himself.. And I am just sitting here because that is all I feel like doing. I am in a mood to sit (which rarely happens) and NOT be productive every second. I actually bought ..

Tyler has now come into the living room to spray the coffee table. See - he takes an idea and runs with it. Yeah, Tyler..and no, I don’t care what gets wet today. I have redirectired him to the windows and he is spraying the screens (I have some of the windows open). Hmmm..I am thinking he may lean a little more towards Waldorf….

What was I saying? Oh, I bought a magazine….crap, heard him fall..yup bonk..gotta go

The weather was amazing today and I loved being in it. I really do have fun, enjoyable days with my kiddos..you just tend to catch me at the end of my day when I am pooped. Maybe I will start blogging during naps (when they are both down) and I will delivery a more upbeat vibe??

These two… The other day we had them both in the toddler swing back to back…it was hilarious. Poor Piper - squished against Tyler - she didn’t seem to mind though. Here they are at the pumpkin patch. Tyler loves to play chase and she wanted to hold hands. he used this to try and bait her to chase him….already toying with the girls…

Do ya remember when I blogged about being overwhelmed by responsibility? Enter preschool. Tyler is two and if we want him to go to some Motessori or other type program he has to be on a waiting list now. Ug. Honestly, I don’t think that my kids even need to go to preschool - I will have two grandmas living in town, so if I need a break, I can get one - especially when they are older. Yeah, there is the issue about a transition from a day with Mommy to all-day school, but I will cross that bridge when I get there.

I think some of those schools sound really cool and offer some neat learning opportunities, but just how much is gained? I don’t think my children are going to miss out per se. I already have a fanstastic social network for my kids. Tyler has 7 other friends he see multiple times a week - and that isn’t common for kids who aren’t in daycare or some other type of program. And I can create interesting learning opportunies on my own.

I didn’t do any of that stuff - and I turned out fine. In fact the best thing that ever happened to me as far as my early education was leaving Catholic school. Now I was in a magnet program through middle and high school and I will say that was good. My parents had me in piano and dance lessons outside of school. I would rather take that money and invest it for later - like college, camps when they are older, travelling/learning opportunities, lessons. I want to take these kids to travel the world when they are older. I just don’t feel like dropping $10K a year is going to take my child to a whole new level in life, ya know??

I really don’t want to think about it. Cost isn’t an issue. I am going to go back to work, so I want to spend most of my time with them. As I near preparations to return to work, a preschool might be helpful for interviews, etc..but we will see. I have a friend who has toured a couple of places and I think it has made her decision harder. I feel like I should stay away unless I am seriously considering it. I don’t want to open pandora’s box by seeing these places and feel like my kids HAVE to go here. And then there is the fear of whether or not they will get in and yada, yada….

I am just too tired to think about this crap. I guess I should sit down and have a conversation with Chris and see what he thinks. I gathered over dinner he isn’t into the whole private school thing. I tell ya. There is a great co-op in town (two day a week Mother’s Day Out basically), but you pretty much have to put your kid on the waiting list the moment you decide to try adn conceive him/her. It never ends does it. Wow - I just figured that out…..