Saturday, August 24, 2013

The score has changed

For a long time the scoring has been linear; 1-0-0, then 2-0-0, then 3-0-0 and on until 6-0-0. That is the number of teeth Filip, Elin and Oscar have individually. 

But today we came "out of this regular order" and note the score 6-1-0; that is Elin has gotten her first tooth!

Friday, August 23, 2013

Sleepy day

After having my sleep interrupted twice in the very early morning I got out of bed at 05.30 yesterday morning. To say the least I was quite tired... It has been similar hours for weeks now.

It then felt really nice at 08.45 when two kids were off to school/kindergarten and the rest had fallen asleep in the pram for their morning nap, and Anna said "sleep tight" to me. 

I lay down on the couch, only a few meters away from the pram and fell asleep within minutes.

Sleep doesn't regularly last very long in this house these days, but this time was different. We all slept for two hours and forty minutes! Nice!!! I needed that!

As a reaction I didn't really think the kids would sleep very long for their afternoon nap. But that was wrong, too. They slept for more than two hours, giving Anna some relaxing time while I went grocery shopping!

The energy gained was quickly consumed, though. Anna went of to a crayfish party with some friends and I watched TV until 1 am. For me this was a nice feeling - I usually fall a sleep during the first twenty minutes of a movie... :-/

So we were back on square one this morning at 05.30. 

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Tuesday, no routine

It's Tuesday again. Anna is off horseback riding again. And I had promised myself that I needed a better managed routine to get all kids in bed on time.

But to establish a routine you need one thing - something that repeats itself. You prepare for something that you know is going to happen, hence you manage it better the second time around. And even better the third. 

We did prepare a little bit better today. Anna read the older kids a pre-bedtime story before she took off to the stables. I prepared the milk for the small ones. And I was ready for a good hour's work. 

But. I put all three small kids in their cribs. No protesting. All the lay down immediately. They all accepted a bottle held in place by a blanket, a pillow or a stuffed animal. All drank and fell asleep in less than ten minutes. They were just too tired. 

The older kids got to watch a kids TV show at the computer in the meantime. I even got to read a chapter in my book (waiting for the TV show to end) before I brushed their teeth and both quietly went to bed.

So. Lessons learned? I don't know. I still have no routine on how to get kids in bed on time next Tuesday! Or do I?

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Tuesday nights

It's Tuesday night. I think I will need to work on a routine for these nights.

Anna has now begun taking horse back riding classes again. They are at Tuesday evenings and she needs to leave the house at 6.45 and won't be back until 9 at the earliest. 

The three small kids usually "run out of batteries" at 7.30 and they then need milk to go to sleep and sleep through the night. Siri needs to be in bed by 8 (in order to get up in the morning in time for kindergarten) and Ludvig soon afterwards.

How do I manage to feed three small ones, brush teeth on two other kids and then read two bedtime stories and get five kids in bed, preferably by 8...?

My first attempt (today) was to bring all kids, milk bottles and books to the master bedroom. I feed Oscar some of his milk (he was the most tired kid), while managing the brushing of teeth with my other hand. I then put Oscar to bed (just a few meters away) and begun reading nighttime stories. Filip and Elin crawled around in the floor in the meantime, but they kept getting stuck under the beds or elsewhere, or hit their heads on other furniture. So the reading was interrupted too many times and kids cried a bit too much. And Oscar couldn't go to sleep in all that noise. 

I finally managed to send the two oldest to bed at 8.20. By then Filip was a bit too tired and hardly wanted any of his milk; he just fell asleep. Elin had most of her milk in bed, with me in a very uncomfortable position holding her bottle. 

But all three small kids are asleep at 8.45 and the two older ones are at least resting in their beds.

I'll see what improvements I can come up with for next week!