First of all, THANK YOU for giving me some content!
There were some great questions from this post! I’ll answer some now, some later, and a few might even get their own blog post over the next few weeks. (Maybe by then my writer’s block/boring life will make a turn for the better?)
If you had a “you day”, where would you go and what would you do?
For me, a “Jeannett Day” would consist of being completely and totally alone. I love my friends, I love my husband, but ultimately I like alone time too. So I would probably get in the car and drive to Santa Barbara or somewhere similar that has fun outdoor shopping and casually stroll and window shop. I’d eat a sandwich on a croissant (probably turkey, bacon, and avocado) and read a book in the sunshine. I’d get an ice cream cone (butter pecan please) and people watch. I’d sit on the beach with my toes in the sand and listen to the waves. And if budget constraints allowed, I’d get a luxurious massage at a fancy spa place. And then I’d miss my family terribly and buy my kids a little trinket and drive home too fast because I couldn’t wait to kiss those little cheeks again.
What do you do for yourself in the midst of life’s craziness?
I’ve said it before, but I believe that the most important thing I do for my sanity and for my family is to get up really early in the morning and have “Mommy Time”. Sure, it sounds miserable to get up at 5 a.m. (and sometimes the clock still even says 4!) but the trade off is priceless: absolute silence. Uninterrupted time to think. Time when I don’t have little hands (cute as they may be) pawing at me and ask, ask, asking me for something. The rare days I sleep longer, I’m a disaster and feel really frazzled. That being said, I get PLENTY of sleep. Which I also think is super important. I get up early, but I go to bed early too. I still get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. I cannot fathom the women who will tell me that they only get a handful of hours every night…I’d be the meanest, most impatient mom in the universe.
What’s your secret guilty pleasure?
A celebrity gossip magazine, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, milk in a (white) mug, and locking myself up in my bedroom after my kids are in bed. As you can see from my last three answers, some form of alone time is critical to me. Not everyday, but after a while I start to just feel kind of anxious and I know it’s time to not speak to another human being…adult, child, or otherwise. I love my loud crazy house of chaos, I really do…but I need to decompress too. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive…just some time to clear my brain.
How do you get your babies to sleep?
(That’s a bitty Jill in my all time favorite polka dot dress. Could you just DIE?)
I included this question in this post because I firmly believe that being well rested is the absolute best thing you can do for your family. Now, the whole “getting babies to sleep” thing is controversial and there are people firmly entrenched in their own camps. I will tell you what worked for US. If you hate it or didn’t use it, I totally get it. But the question was how do I get MY babies to sleep, so I’ll answer from my experience. We used the cry it out method and and my kids are FABULOUS sleepers. Incredible. Sure, I thought my heart was going to break into a million pieces on those first few nights but I cannot tell you how amazing it is to kiss and play and cuddle your baby, get a big gummy smile, lay them down in their crib and walk out of the room to nothing but the sound of sucking fingers…and not have to go back in for 12 hours. The same holds true for naps. When it’s nap time, they all lay down and pass out. (Actually, Lucy’s been playing with her kitchen for about half an hour before that, but she lays herself back down after her cookie making is done…or I go in and tell her enough is enough and she has to sleep now.) Keep in mind that you have to be sure that they are physiologically ready for CIO…both Henry and Jill were teeny, itty bitty babies and ranked below the 3% for size…my pediatrician (who is an advocate of CIO) advised that they actually NEEDED to eat in the middle of the night much longer than the average baby. (Particularly Jill who burned so many calories because coordinated movement was such an arduous task and she had been getting Physical Therapy since she was three weeks old. It was like going to the gym for her!) I think Lucy was sleeping through around 3 months but I had to wait until about 8 months for the other two. That being said, I still sleep trained them to go to bed and self soothe (which I think is an incredibly important life skill) at bedtime…I just had to get up with them about halfway through the night for a quick nursing session…but right back to bed they went. They’re little sleeping rockstars. (Now watch, I just jinxed myself and this next baby is going to be a sleeping disaster.)
I used Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
Alright, I think that’s it for today! Happy Thursday!!!
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Such a sweet picture of Jill! We have a little girl due in a few months, and I can’t wait to have dresses and pink in our house!
We require a lot of sleep around here too! I go to bed when my 2 year old falls asleep, and he wakes me up in the morning. …but the 12-3 nap time is sacred around here!! Nap time is MY time! :)
Kelly´s last blog post ..29 Weeks…2 Days
I love these kinds of posts! I’m nosy and I also feel like I get to know the writer better :-).
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Good stuff Jeannett! I’m totally with you on the needing decompression and “me” time. I, too, LOVE my loud crazy family time, but I SO get anxious when there is so much go go go. I have friends that can just keep going all.the.time. I am just not that way. Yoga though…it’s my happy place to just chill and focus. :)
PS Seriously cute baby pic of your Jill!
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LOVE the picture of Jilly! That dress is so so adorable!
I also get up early to have alone time. Even on the weekends. Saturdays are my favorite because I don’t have to go to work, and that is my time to relax and watch tv or do whatever. Alone time is definately essential!
Thank you for sharing! I love your blog.
Thanks so much for the answers! A self-soothing baby who sleeps that long sounds glorious! I just need to bite the bullet and get some earplugs for those first few nights!
I think it’s great to always get different perspectives on mommyhood and everything that comes with it! Thanks for sharing!
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Jeanette, Way to be brave and talk about how you get your kids to sleep! :) I’ve used the CIO method too (well, we used Ferber’s method if that is the same thing) with my daughter. It was transformative. Then my two boys were totally different so they barely ever ended up crying. Each kid is so different, huh? But teaching that self-soothing is soo important!
And I’m with you on the alone time. I’ve recently started getting up around 5 and have been amazed at how much it’s helping my frame of mind. I’m working on a little series of blog posts about being a crabby mom and how I can fix that, and getting alone time early in the day is definitely part of it!
Janice´s last blog post ..Letter to my daughter after watching The Bachelor
best book on sleep ever. really talks about how we NEED sleep and we need to watch for signs of sleepiness giving opportunity to sleep. still great stuff. i recommend this book to everyone and all my kids are great sleepers.
Ah! You nailed it with the decompression time! Those are my faves too, and all too rarely taken. I have been interested in the morning time too. I tried it and loved it, but it wasn’t long-lived. Don’t know why, so it’s time I got back into it!
That book is my favourite. Best book ever. I recommend to all my friends and have been know to buy people copies. I have friends who refused to read it and their kids struggled with sleep for a long time. Sleep begets more sleep. It cannot be about the parents and their lifestyle, it has to be about protecting your children’s sleep. It is about ensuring a well rested family. I missed many outings on my 1 year maternity leave so that my little one could nap and while I was sometimes lonely, I don’t regret it one bit because my daughter sleeps really well. I am kind of almost too passionate about this subject.
I like the idea about morning me time but it is so hard to drag my butt out of bed. However, I do notice that the later I get up, the worse everything is – even if I got enough sleep – because I am forced to run around, I get frazzled and everything deteriorates from there. I really need to try it.
I am really interested to look into this book. I am pregnant with our first child and due in May. I want to start out with our baby girl in her crib from the day we get home from the hospital. Obviously I know I will be getting up for night feedings but at what age is CIO appropriate? Once they no longer need the night feeding? Need to get reading asap!
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I love your plan for your alone day. Sounds like a dream, particularly the beach (since we have freezing rain here today).
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what a sweet photo of jill. we used the book Baby Wise with our babies. same concepts as Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby… eat, play, sleep. once the three days of sleep training (really teaching parents to be disciplined) was complete our babies slept wonderfully, and they were always such a delight when they woke (well, almost always). i really think that the discipline it took to give our babies healthy sleep habits trickled into other areas of our parenting life.
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I hope you didn’t jinx yourself! CIO never worked and my daughter didn’t sleep through the night until 16 months. She sleeps well now, and I don’t miss those days!
Spa day, me time and no one needing anything from me ‘right this second’ are the best ways to decompress (IMO)…
Cheers,
Caryl