Sleep in heavenly peace?

I. Love. Sleep. Plain & simple. I've always loved to sleep. My mom can function (and be friendly and content) on just 5 hours sleep a night! I actually used to be afraid I would inherit this trait from her. Doesn't look like it though. However, having small children and getting a good night's rest aren't two phrases that are used in the same sentence too often. So, like 99.9% of moms out there, I have learned to function on quite a bit less sleep than I was used to.....I haven't quite gotten down the "being friendly and content" part yet.

Last night, I just had to laugh at our sleep drama. There have been plenty of times that I will start off sleeping in our bed, but will end up waking up in another bed in the house. Last night I do believe we set a Hollaway Family record in the game of "Musical Beds". Here's how it played out:

Tate and Drue were peacefully asleep in their beds by 8:30ish.

(Reese and Drue share a room right now because our 4th bedroom is in the basement, and none of the kids are old enough to stay down there yet. Of course, when we decided to put the girls together I imagined them being cozily tucked into their beds, whispering about their days, and getting along as well as the girls on the Brady Bunch who all three had to share a room. Quite the opposite. We usually wait until we are sure Drue is good and asleep before we sneak Reese in for bedtime. Otherwise, they squeal, carry on, and sneak out into the hallway until after 10pm some nights. Another problem with their room sharing is that Drue is an early riser and Reese likes to sleep in little bit. So, Drue wakes Reese up in the morning and they both come find me to start the day. Drue can't open the door by herself yet, so when she is in her room alone, she is content just to stay in her bed until someone opens the door to get her.)

We put Reese down about 9:15 and David and I settled into our bed to watch an episode of The Office on DVD. We turned the TV off at 10pm. I had just settled into my cozy spot when we heard the door across the hall creak open and Reese appeared in our doorway with her pillow. Her night light had gone off and she was too scared to go back into her room. So, she crawled into our bed and played with my hair. This arrangement lasted about 5 minutes. David falls asleep faster than any person I know and had already started snoring. I kept shushing him and Reese would echo me and shush him also. All to no avail. I couldn't reach him to beat him awake the way I usually do because Reese was in the way. So, when she fell asleep I slid out of our bed and went to sleep in hers.

12:35am- Tate woke up to eat. His cries woke Drue up also and I tried to creep quietly out of her room to get him but she saw me. Just as I sat down with him in the rocking chair, Drue went ballistic and started crying and somehow navigated her way through the dark hallway into Tate's room. David got up by this time, so he came in and got her and laid down with her in her bed.

After I fed Tate, I crept back into our room and crawled into David's side of the bed. But, after Drue went back to sleep, I heard David coming back to our room. I shot up quickly for fear he would plop down on top of me and accusingly asked, "Are you coming back in here to sleep?!". "Ummm....I thought I was. I don't have to. What time is it?", he asked. "1:00am. I am going back to Reese's bed to sleep," and off I stomped. I'm sure I confused him when I said back because he probably never even noticed that I had left the bed the first time.

After this last move, I think we all finally got a few hours' sleep. Drue has a naturally loud voice and I discovered that she doesn't just talk in her sleep....she screams out. It scared the bejeebies out of me a few times. Tate woke up again around 4:30am and thankfully, this time, I didn't have a crying little follower.

I was still not quite ready to face the day at 7:20 when Drue sat up in bed, looked over at Reese's bed, and happily (& restfully) said, "Hi Mommy".

Maybe I could take the bedroom in the basement......

"Reese"onings

- A few weeks ago the girls and I were searching the pantry for an afternoon snack. Reese pulled out a huge can of honey roasted peanuts left over from my Bunco night. "Mommy, how about these?", she asked. So I said, "Sure, honey. I had no idea you liked those." To which she responded, "Sure I do. I like them because they have peanut butter in them."

- A friend David knew from work invited us to her wedding last weekend. Reese loves playing "wedding". David has given her away a countless number of times in our living room. So, we thought it would be fun to take her along to see her first real wedding. I starting talking to Reese about the wedding weeks beforehand to get her excited about going and give her something to look forward to. One day, about a week before the anticipated date, I said, "And remember Reese, Daddy and I are taking to you a wedding next weekend." "I remember", she said. Then she got a confused look on her face as she asked, "But....just who exactly am I going to be marrying?".

- I've written before about Reese's love of princesses. Add fairies to that mix as well. We picked up some fairy wings at a garage sale awhile back and every now and then she'll drag them out and instantly transform herself into a fairy princess. The other day, all the kids were with me in the girls' room and out came the wings. "Look at me Mommy,". "Very pretty", I appropriately responded as I tried to balance Tate on one hip while plopping down to read Drue a story. She got my full attention, however, with her next statement. She took off her wings and held them against Tates' back. "And look Mommy, Buddy (Tate's nickname) is a fairy!". Of course I started laughing and sent her into our room to spread the good news to her father. I laughed some more as I heard her innocent little voice excitedly telling David, "Daddy! Daddy! Buddy is a fairy!".....and his response...."WHAT!?!? Ummm.....let's play a different game.....one where Buddy is a manly warrior."

Lights.....Camera....Action

Exersauser: Take I


Exersauser: Take II

Celebration Time

Here are some pictures of Drue's birthday celebrations. Weeks ago I started asking her what kind of birthday party she wanted. Each time I asked, she would enthusiastically say, "MELMO POTTY!!" which translated to.....ELMO PARTY!! So, that's exactly what she got.



I couldn't wait to get home from work last night so I could wish her a Happy Birthday since she was still sawing logs when I left that morning. I came up the stairs and excitedly said, "Happy Birthday Drue!!". And she just as excitedly replied, "Happy Birthday Mommy!!".

We went to Chuck-E-Cheese for supper. It is the perfect combination of her two favorite pasttimes....eating....and playing. Reese sat down for 2 seconds to eat some sausage of her pizza and was off again. Drue kept hollering, "Reesie....come eat!". When she realized her sister probably wasn't coming back to the table, she scooted over, grabbed the plate, and said, "I eat Reesie's". That's our girl......

Time Flies...

2 years ago today we were blessed with our second precious little baby girl. Two days overdue, I was scheduled to be induced at 7am on Sept. 28th. (I was growing more and more uncomfortable with each passing day. I dropped Reese off at daycare on the 27th and the director smiled at my large frame and inquired "When are you due?". "YESTERDAY!!" I growled back through clenched teeth.) Drue decided to trick us all, and instead, arrive at 6:06am that morning all on her own! When most mothers finally get to see the face of the sweet bundles of joy they have been carrying around for 9 months, they usually have an endearing exclamation such as, "What a sweetie" or "Hi (insert loving nickname)". My first words upon seeing Drue were......"SHE'S BIG!!" which was followed by gasps from the other hospital personnel in my room and my doctor agreeing, saying "Yeah, she is!".

Weighing in at 9 lbs 5 1/2 oz, she was a whopping 3 pounds larger than Reese was at birth. Nobody could figure out where I had been hiding her during my entire pregnancy. It's always fun calling family and friends to tell them the joyous news of the arrival of the long awaited little one. But it was even more fun making everyone guess her weight. We got guesses from 7-8 pounds and everyone was so shocked when we'd blurt out her actual weight.

I thought I was being so smart by buying a preemie outfit to bring her home in. Reese was way too tiny to come in the 0-3 month outfit we brought to the hospital so I had to send David home to get a smaller one. This time, I bought one that only went up to 8 pounds. Once again, David was sent home to get a different outfit, only this time, a bigger outfit.

We were so much more relaxed the second time around during the newborn/baby stage. It has been so neat to watch Drue's little personality evolve and see the differences and similarities to that of her big sister. Drue (affectionately nicknamed "Druebie") is a spunky little spitfire who keeps us on our toes. David jokes that he didn't really get to interact, or get to know her, for the entire first year of her life since I nursed her and I was the only one who could settle her down if she got fussy. It was so nice to have a "mommy's girl" since Reese was, and still is, such a daddy's girl. However, as soon as Drue became mobile and was able to rough house and play, she was won over to the dark side.....the Daddy side. (I fear for poor Tate, since I now have 2 daddy's girls, I am determined to make him a "momma's boy".)

Happy Birthday Drue! We love you. You are such a joy and light in our lives. We will do our best to raise this special young lady God has entrusted to our care.

Gender Roles

I was starting my second load of laundry this morning when Reese asked, "Mommy, what are you doing?".

Me: "Laundry."

Reese: "Why?".

Me: "Because it's part of a Mommy's job.".

Reese: "Oh".

Me: "What else do mommy's do?".

Reese: "Clean the house."

Me: "What else?".

Reese: "Cook supper and play with their little ones.".

Me: "And what do daddy's do?".

Reese: "Take care of their little ones and they can also play dress up with them I think."

Me: "What else do daddy's do?'.

Reese: "They can cook meat."

Me: "Anything else?".

Reese: "Put the trash out.".

And that about sums up our household......(although I will add that David was the primary cook in our family for the first 7 years of our marriage).

Give That Girl Some Claritin

It's been a trying morning.....errands to run + 3 kids who aren't particularly that interested in errands to be run + minor sleep deprived mother = NOT MUCH FUN!!

We had planned to only run 2 errands: the grocery store and Hobby Lobby. However, when I checked my e-mail this morning, there was one from my dear, sweet husband asking if I could pick up a baby gift for one of his co-workers. After a failed attempt to try and figure out how I could fit this into my already planned errands, I reluctantly decided to add a trip to Old Navy in the mix. (I didn't think the new parents-to-be would get as excited over, say, a cantaloupe from the grocery store, as they would a cute little cuddly outfit from my favorite kids' clothes store),

Errand running wasn't a complete fiasco, just mildly so. A complete fiasco might have been holding a screaming Tate in my arms as I one handedly tried to finagle the cart Drue is so desperately trying to scramble out of, all the while keeping an eye on Reese who likes to run ahead of us an aisle or two or just giving up altogether and leaving the store in mid-shop and leaving all desired items I came for there (BOTH scenarios of which have been survived by me previously).

Evidently, the listening fairy must have come in during the night to render Reese incapable of listening to ANYTHING her mother said to her the first time. That darn fairy. She seems to visit our house often. We actually have quite a few fairies of such who visit our house on a regular basis. (That didn't come out sounding right). For instance, from the time David and I were dating, if one of us wanted a refill on our drink and were too lazy to get it ourselves we would say, "I wish the Kool-aid fairy would come in here." Somehow, this always made the other person laugh and instead of berating each other for our laziness, we would get up and get a refill on the kool-aid for the other person.

The crazy hair fairy is VERY popular at our house. She also comes during the night and twists mine and the girls' hair into such crazy contortions, we get a kick out of seeing how crazy our hair looks in the morning. She turns the girls' angelic curls into a matted mass of puffiness, the likes of which I've never seen before.

So what does any of this have to do with Claritin I'm sure you're wondering....

After telling Reese time and time again in the stores to keep her hands to herself, quit pulling clothes off the wracks, don't come to a dead stop right in front of the stroller I'm pushing, stay where I can see you, no we're not getting our Halloween costumes today....AAAAHHHHH I'd had enough. I kept my cool though throughout the whole ordeal. My kids may push me closer and closer to the edge sometimes, but I'm no fool, I don't want to end up on the 6:00 news as the woman who swatted her innocent child's hand in the middle of Hobby Lobby because it kept coming dangerously close to knocking over the entire display of glass teacups. No sir. I quietly took away privelege after privelege until there was almost nothing fun left to take away from Reese.

By the time we headed home, she had lost the following privileges for the day: NO cookies, NO doing Sesame Street stories on the computer, NO wearing a dress or shorts, and she was teetering on the edge of having to take an actual nap, instead of her regular "rest time" on our bed while watching a movie in the afternoon.

We made it back to our house (I was just thankful it wasn't the Big House) and the girls sat down to eat their lunch. Part of their lunch was strawberry applesauce. Whomever came up with the brilliant idea of strawberry applesauce, never sat down with an almost 2 and 4 year old to eat it. Because, let me tell you, they would have quickly rethought their invention. I was half listening to the girls' conversation in the next room, while I was tending to Tate. My ears perked up, however, when I heard Reese's voice turn to a whisper and she instructed her sister, "Like this Drue....just wipe it on your shirt".

Well, I flew in there like a bat outta somewhere to find Reese's WHITE shirt covered in red applesauce, the kitchen table covered in red applesauce, and Reese's spoon covered in....nothing. It was completely clean...it hadn't once been dipped into her applesauce. She decided her fingers hadn't had enough of a workout touching everything in the stores, and they now needed to expend some energy feeding her!!!

I corrected them, in a rather loud voice, that a few of our close neighbors may have heard, that applesauce was not a finger food, nor were the shirts their father and I bought with our hard earned money napkins!!!! The last straw was when Reese smeared the rest of her pizza all over the table as well, then spilled her milk onto the floor. (My mother's intuition makes me 99.9% sure the milk spilling wasn't an accident because, after it happened, Reese's voice didn't have that element of true complete surprise that I've come to recognize when she really does accidentally knock something over).

Of course, it was because of that .1% that I didn't give her a spanking, I decided to take away her last privilege of the day. She was sentenced to take a good old fashioned nap without getting to watch a movie. I was almost at the end of my rope and explained to Reese how I was sad about the way she had been acting today and I really didn't want her to act this way when Grandma Judy came to stay with her tomorrow.

This was her explanation for her actions this morning....."Mommy...I think I know what the problem is. Maybe, I am just allergic to you. So, when you are here I act naughty, but when Grandma Judy comes tomorrow, I'll act sweet."

AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I do love that ornery little towhead.......