In The Trenches of Motherhood

Can I just say I love the blog "In the trenches of motherhood". You can link to her from my sight. This is a lady who I think has 6 kids, homeschools, and has a heart to share her struggles and things she has learned and is learning with other moms.

She is pretty, organized (or should I say obsessively organized), young, and really makes me look bad... but she is funny, and very real, doesn't have perfect kids, and I laugh usually because she is saying what I want to say.

I have copied a blog she wrote, because I couldn't figure out how to link it (go figure) :-) So read and enjoy.

Time for bed!Tuesday, November 7th, 2006
I frequently get emails asking me about bedtime and to share my routine. I have resisted mostly because it is chaotic and not very worthy of holding up as some sort of shining example of having it all together.

I am all about bedtime, as in the time my children go to bed, not the time they go to sleep. To me there is a difference. I can’t control their sleep habits, nor do I try. All my children, aside from the youngest two. have reading lights next to their beds. They are allowed to stay up and read quietly on in their beds, play with their Leapsters, or even play a quiet card game with their room mate. Quiet is the keyword for all of these activities.

If they are not quiet I will come upstairs and remind them, or yell at the ceiling downstairs.
As I tell my children, bedtime is not about them, it is about me. At night I need to be off duty and relax without having to attend to the needs of other people. End of the story. Whether or not they are tired doesn’t factor into the equation at all.

My 3 and almost 2 yr olds had been staying up pretty late, past the time that the others went to bed. But I took advantage of the time change to push both of their bedtimes back. My 3 yr old is now going to bed between 7:00 and 7:30, and she is falling asleep almost immediately. She used to spend the 7:00 hour completely would up, running around like lunatic and making her siblings who were trying to relax angry.

I have found that children, generally speaking, act wild and hyper when they are tired. It almost seems counter-intuitive, but sleep seems to beget sleep.

Bedtime is my least favorite time of the day. It is usually chaotic feeling. People are tired and cranky and I don’t have a much left in the way of patience. I really just want everyone to get with the program and shower, brush their teeth and put on their pajamas like they do EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. But yet, every night they act as if they have never brushed their teeth, showered, or worn pajamas. And inevitably I end up yelling at someone for something and then I feel bad, because who wants to end their day on a bad note?

Last night I tried to jot down everything as it happened so that I could “live” blog it. It is pretty much the same every night, just switch the kids and the scenarios around.

Isn't it nice to know you're not alone! (and I thought I was the only one who yelled at the ceiling)