New Beginnings

Today/Last night has been a day of new beginnings already. I guess that's pretty appropriate considering it is a new year.

Last night we tried Seth sleeping in his crib in his room and he did great! I've been a little apprehensive to do this for a couple of reasons. 1 - He and Katelynn are sharing a room and I really didn't want her sleep to suffer because of him waking up or keeping her awake. 2 - I am pretty lazy/tired in the middle of the night and was afraid I would just ignore him instead of actually get up with him if he was further away.  Neither one of my fears were realized last night.  He slept in his crib for two 4 hour stretches and I was able to get up feed him and put him right back to bed without bothering Katelynn much at all. After his 6am feeding I let him stay in our room since I didn't want the kids to wake him up or he the kids.  I could have put him back in the crib probably looking back at it.  I think I will try that tonight.  The main thing that changed is that I slept so much better and I think he did too.  He's been staying in a pack n play a few feet from our bed and between his grunting (he is not a quiet sleeper usually) and my trying to make sure BJ is getting decent sleep since he has to work in the mornings, I've been getting up to appease Seth more than I really have to.  I learned that last night as I wasn't nearly as prone to walk to the other room at every noise or movement and he seemed to settle quicker after waking himself up. I am so glad this went so well!

Secondly, today I tried Seth in my Beco Butterfly II carrier and he liked it.  I tried it when he was smaller and he just wasn't happy.  Maybe he was too small for it.  But today I was able to do some laundry with two hands instead of one while he slept on me.  And it was so nice!  And so much quicker.

We didn't stay up last night to ring in the new year and the kids were kind of bummed.  My kids pretty much wake up with the sun and I can't trust that staying up later means sleeping in later.  I just didn't want to risk them staying up and then being moody today from the lack of sleep.  I did however let Daniel and Katelynn have their own mock countdown today after which they sprayed each other with silly string. They loved it!  I have a friend who let her younger kids watch the ball drop from a previous year on you tube so the kids could celebrate without staying up so late.  I think that is a great idea and will try to remember that next year.

Haley is working hard on her multiplication facts and knows up to 8s.  We will work on 9s tomorrow and then will keep reviewing daily and she'll be done.  (She already knows her 10s since they are so easy.)  Hopefully this will make her math so much easier for her.  She is so proud of herself.

Daniel is working on addition facts.  He knows them, but then stresses himself out when having to answer them on a timed test or computer game.  This last Sunday he sang a song at the "all church singing" for the first time.  I never realized how nervous and scared that all made him.  He does really well, but was clinging to me so tightly.  I say that all to say, can you pray with me that God will help him to relax and do his best and gain some self confidence along the way? There are so many things I know he can do but the pressure seems to often distract him from doing his best or even trying. And then he is disappointed in himself and says he can't do it. So his grades don't reflect how smart he is, but rather the fact he hates tests and does not test well. I know God can help him do his best and learn to relax and not be so tense in these situations.

Katelynn is still so sweet with Seth. She was so excited when I told her Seth would start sleeping in her room.  She was a little disappointed when she woke up and he wasn't there.  At first she thought I lied to her, until I reminded her that he woke her up in the middle of the night and she came and told me about it.

I went and looked at my last years new year's resolutions and I had printed pictures to scrapbook.  Yeah.  That still isn't done.  Maybe I can at least get Jill's wedding scrapbook done by her anniversary. I think it'll be 5 years in November. I have done the wedding party and just have the actual ceremony pictures left.  I can always hope, right? Jill has done really well making books of photos and getting them printed of Erin.  Maybe I should give up on old school scrap-booking (although I really do love it and have a ton of stuff to use up) and switch to digital or photo books.  Or maybe I should at least think about making books for gifts for grandparents and such. I don't know. Another decision for another day.

Happy 2013! I pray this year is filled with more of God and the realization that he loves you more than you can even imagine and he has plans for you beyond your wildest dreams as you learn to trust him!!