I’m not sure if the kids are getting better at staying over night somewhere or if I just lucked out!  Last week the kids & I took a trip north to Edmonton to visit my Grandmother, dadr and his wife.  Originally it was going to be a day trip because the kids just do not sleep at night unless we are at home.  But I decided to stay overnight as it would have made for an extremely long day and a very difficult drive home.

We stayed in the same hotel as my dad & his wife – actually just one door down from them.  The hotel had a pool so the kids & I got a swim in before supper and they had a good play with their grandpa after supper.  It only took me about 45 minutes to get them both settled down and asleep!  That includes getting them into pj’s, snack, story and song.  I was amazed!  And they slept all night!  It was awesome!

We stayed at our inlaws about a month ago and my son would not sleep.  He was just so upset with not sleeping in his own bed.  I think he maybe slept for two hours.  So based on that I was really not looking forward to staying over with them by myself.  But it worked out really well.  I won’t be so hesitant to do it again.

Mothers & Daughters

I really hope and wish that I will have a better relationship with my daughter than what I had with my mother.  I know most mothers & daughters have issues and rough rocky roads but I never had a good relationship with my mom.

I think that right from the start my mom had a hard time relating to me and understanding my personality.  I have always been very quiet, reserved, self conscious and shy.  I remember as a child most people thought that I was arrogant or snobbish because I was too shy to look people in the eye when talking to them.  I don’t think my mom & I knew how to communicate with each other.  Our relationship probably would have improved in my adulthood but as a child we definitely didn’t understand each other.

My daughter has a very different personality than me, in fact I think we are quite opposite.  She is quite stubborn, she knows what she wants and tries everything to make sure she gets it.  She has very strong, somtimes turbulant emotions.  (Probably why I felt so bipolar during my pregnancy with her!)

I hope and pray that I will have a strong bond with her.  We seem to be off to a good start so far but we have a long ways to go!  I want the kind of relationship where she will feel like she can confide in me, tell me all of her hopes, dreams and anxieties.  I pray that I am a good role model for her, that she will have the confidence and strength to be what ever she wants to be.

A few weeks ago, I took the kids to town for a play date with a friend of mine who has a dayhome.  We played in the park for a little while, then walked back to her house to play in the back yard.

After an hour & half of play time I gave my son the warnings that in 5 minutes it was time to leave, in 2 minutes & then time to leave.

Well he had a complete meltdown when it was time to go.  I picked him up to try to sit with him on the bench and talk to him about leaving and he practically threw himself out of my arms.  There was no trying to talk to him.  So I asked if it was ok to leave my daughter so I could take my son to the van.

I walked back to the van carrying a screaming, wiggling 2 year old.  I’m not sure if that was the best way to handle the situation but I felt that if I left him there while I walked back to pick up the van and drive it back, he would be getting his way.  And I felt that it would be too dangerous to try to carry the one year old and drag the two year old back to the van.  I guess I could have waited until the meltdown was over but I know that my friend really had to get lunch ready for all of her children and I didn’t want to throw off her schedule too much.

So anyway, by the time I actually got to the van, my pants had slid down and half my butt was hanging out!  It is nearly impossible to hold on to a screaming & kicking 2 year old and pull up your pants at the same time.  My pants are always falling down – I have a huge problem with pants staying on my non-existent hips – even when I’m not pregnant, but especially when I’m pregnant!

So there I was mooning the park (thankfully there was no one in the park) and trying unsuccessfully to deal with this meltdown.  Which had gotten worse because my poor son thought that we were leaving his sister behind.  He kept screaming for her, poor guy.

After I had finally gotten both children in carseats, my son had settled down enough to talk about the situation.  I think it was equally exhausting for both of us.

Thankfully, these meltdowns are very few & far between – it is very out of character for him to behave that way.

This summer we went on a mini family vacation. By the last day every one of us had had enough!

The children don’t sleep or eat properly and are extremely cranky. The youngest was so uptight that she vomited every time she ate or breast fed. And she wanted to breast feed almost non stop.

The oldest was just as miserable. He was completely out of character, he whinned, was irritable and cranky and had a very short fuse.

I know the best way to help the situation is to try to keep them on schedule as much as possible, which I tried but when you traveling with other families and visiting other families you have to try to work in their schedules as well.

I just hope that traveling gets easier as they get older.