Mommy Thoughts (Part 1)

I need to vent a little....  I have been so frustrated because lately I feel like all I have been doing with Everett is policing his actions.  Either with Nolan (please don't lean on him, please don't hit him, please be gentle) or with our dog Jedi (please stop pulling on him, please don't hit him) or around the house (please don't stand up on the chair/couch, please put that down) or with his toys (it's time to clean up, please don't throw that, please don't hit with that).  I have been trying to turn the "no" into "yes" by showing him something that he can do, for example: "If you want to yell and scream that is perfectly fine if you are outside.  Would you like to go outside and we can scream and yell?" This works out okay some of the time, but there aren't always alternatives to things that he is not allowed to do.   When I ask him to stop it's pretty much a useless gesture. I try to explain to Everett why he shouldn't be doing whatever it is that he is doing (usually because he can get hurt) but I am not really sure that he understands.  Sometimes when I ask him to do/not do something he just breaks down into crying and/or screaming and I just feel like I am playing "mean mommy" all the time. To be honest, he really does not have that many "boundaries" and can pretty much do whatever his little toddler heart desires (as long as he is not hurting himself/others or destroying property.)  Since I have some serious OCD going on I have to consciously remind myself several times a day that Everett is a toddler who likes to have fun and explore the world around him and that everything can be cleaned up later.   Another reason that I have been frustrated is that Everett is ridiculously cranky all of the time.  I think that this boils down to him not getting enough sleep and also probably a little of having to share mommy with his brother.  Since Tyler gets up for work so early, we all go to bed together anywhere from 9- 10 pm and Everett usually wakes up by 7 am at the latest.  He used to sleep until almost 9 am every morning but not any more.  On average I'd say he gets around 9 hours of sleep a night sometimes more, sometimes less.  This would be a fine amount of sleep if he were to be taking a nap during the day but he has given that up. Yes, you read that right- my two year old refuses to nap.  I had him napping really well before Nolan arrived but once he got here that went right out the window.  I know that I need to work with him again on taking naps but I am still adjusting to life with two babies and haven't gotten around to it.   Since we figured out that Everett wasn't getting enough sleep, Tyler and I have started getting into bed with around 8 pm (or earlier if possible) and "pretending" to go to sleep so that he will fall asleep by 8:30 pm.  If we have things that we still need to get done we can do them after he has fallen asleep (for example: blogging, unloading the dishwasher, picking up the house, etc.)  So far this seems to work out well and his mood is actually starting to improve.  We are working on napping again as well.  I am so desperately hoping that this funk that he and I have been in for the past six months or so goes away soon because I want to enjoy this time and not rush through it.  I want to be able to look back and smile not shudder at the memories.  Have you ever felt like this?  I would love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions that you might have.  :)

Around the Nest: Pantry Organization

$1 each at the dollar store! Score!

I have mentioned before that I have OCD and you know since I am pregnant and all nesting has definitely set in so the other day when I walked into my pantry and saw how terribly unorganized, cluttered, junky, and messy it was I decided it was time to get to work!  I went to the dollar store and got a few bins to organize some of the loose items and headed in.  Tyler was nice enough to entertain Everett so I was able to knock it out in one evening! 

I had a few "goals" in mind: 

• Items that we use frequently needed to be easily accessible  
• Items that we do not use frequently need to be put up higher
• Items that were similar should be grouped together (laundry items, games, canned goods, breakfast items, etc.) 
• Items in front of the shelves should be put away, relocated, or thrown away. 

Before

After (Notice my little helper!)

Before: Above the washer/dryer

After: Above the washer/dryer

Before: Pantry area

After: Pantry area

So... what do you think? Does it seem like I made any improvements?  Have you been organizing anything around your house? 

Around the Nest: Clean Up Clean Up Everybody Everywhere

Now that I have that song stuck in your head hopefully it will get out of mine! :)  We have been doing some serious spring winter cleaning around our house this past week and it makes me all warm and fuzzy!  I love to organize things and get them all nice and neat. Blame it on the pregnancy, my OCD, or my type A personality, whatever you want!  

This all started because I could not figure out how I wanted to organize the kids clothes. Silly right?  Most people would say, "put them in their closet."  Well it's not that simple because we room share.  Everett has been sharing the large closet in our room with me and while that has been working for just him, it wouldn't be big enough for two kids. As things were, his dresser (which was only three drawers) was in his closet and his shirts were hanging on the bar above the dresser.  I figured that if I moved him to one of the other closets in our room I could fit his clothes and the baby's clothes in together.  I had my mom look for a larger dresser that could house two children's clothes.  She luckily found a very nice one which fit (like a glove) into a different closet in our room.  

So once I got all of Everett's clothes into the new dresser and the new closet I needed something to do with the old dresser.  I decided that three drawers in a dresser are better than two shelves on a changing table so I took out the changing table and am now using the dresser as a changing table.  The pad fits almost perfectly on top of the dresser and the drawers provide plenty of space for his cloth diapers and other diapering accessories. Winning! 

Are you following? Here's a breakdown... 

So after all was said and done I ended up with a bigger closet, the boys have more space, the changing table has more space, and everything was organized! Winning! 

I also moved all of my jackets, dresses, and sweatshirts into the "new" section of my closet so that everything was more spread out and this freed up more space in the closet in the foyer (aka coat closet.)  I did leave my heavy "outter" coats in the coat closet but brought all of the ones that could be used in an outfit into my new closet.  Additionally, I went through all of the junk that had been piling up in the coat closet and organized that as well. 

So that was the beginning of our winter cleaning... I still have plans for my "office" area (which is located in our kitchen) as well as the laundry room/pantry.  Have any of you been up to winter cleanning?