Bedtime help, PLEASE!?

So I need some help with bedtime. From about the time Gabe was born we have had the following routine: Gabe goes down in his crib. If we have time to let him fall asleep then Jonas goes in and goes to sleep in his bed. If it's late or I don't want to wait to put Jonas down, I put him down in our bed and move him to his own bed later. It's worked for all this time, but recently Jonas is having sleep walking episodes on some of the nights that he gets moved. So I'm wanting to get my kids to go to sleep in the same room at the same time. Is this possible?

Please leave me a comment here or send me an email with ANY hints you have!!

Back to bloggin'

Well, it's been a while, and I do plan on filling in a few of the blanks left by my months with no posts, but for now.....
Here are a few recent pictures.

The boys painted a few days ago. Gabe got really into the body art (more pictures of that later) but Jonas got a few things on paper, including this...
No I didn't flip the image, he hasn't quite got the direction of writing, but I was proud that he got all the letters in there, and most of them in (backwards) order. The figure on the left was a second attempt at a self portrait, but if you look closely at the main figure, you'll see that he's gaining new "Self-Awareness."


Thanks to some friends who found us an "in" Jonas has started playing soccer. It's adorable, and he LOVES it!! This was taken at his first game after he scored a goal. If you look at his coach (the lady) you can tell she noticed, but Jonas did not. He kicked the ball and it very slow-ly rolled into the goal, but by the time it made it in, he was distracted. When I told him later that he did make a goal, he got pretty irritated with me, because he was sure he didn't.

That's a quick update on the last week. I'll try to fill in some of summer another time. (No promises.)

Kris's Graduation

Last Friday, March 20th, 2009 Kris Graduated with an Associate RN from Ameritech College. It has been a long, sometimes bumpy road, but HE DID IT!! I'm so proud of him.

It was a fun day. My mom and dad drove down from Idaho and Kris's mom and sister-in-law and her kids came. After the ceremony we went to dinner at the Outback. The kids were so well-behaved and we all had a great time! Way to go, Kris!!!

The Night Shift

*Warning: This is a "Journal-type" post and may be very boring.*

As most of you know Kris works nights- 6 pm to 6 (or 7) am. (He calls it "Graveyards" not "Night Shifts", but thinking of him working "Graveyards" in a dark building with a lot of old sick people is, I think, quite depressing. "Night Shifts" sounds much happier.) He alternates between two schedules. One week he works Monday, Wednesday, & Friday nights. The next he works, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I was feeling sorry for myself the other day and thinking how hard it makes some things, and then I tried to think of some good things about it. So here are my lists.

My 5 Favorite things about Kris working nights:
-He's home during the day. Sometimes he's even awake ;) Really though, it is nice to have him home, and because he's a guy that can't stand to stay home long, he takes Jonas on lots of little outings. It keeps them both busy (and usually full of some kind of food Mom doesn't approve of.)
-On nights he works I usually get the kids down early and have a quiet house for a few hours.
-That also gives me a chance to blog.
-Night shift pay is great.
-If he gets home in the morning and the kids are waking up and I'm not, he sometimes feeds them breakfast and lets me sleep in a little longer.

My 5 Least Favorite things about Kris working nights:
-He's not always home when I go to sleep.
-He's not always home to help put the kids to bed.
-He's tired a lot.
-Our time together w/out kids is limited.
-On weeks that he works Sat. nights, he's exhausted on Sunday mornings. He's a trooper and usually makes it to Sacrament meeting, but we try to let him sleep until just before time to go. I miss his help in the mornings and I don't enjoy going to Sunday School by myself.

I'm really glad that he's willing to do this for a while, but I hope it's not forever.

Help for the Vertically Challenged

I've had a lot of practice hemming jeans- and other assorted items. I should be good at it by now, but I'm not. So as I got ready to start hemming this pair of pants I decided to consult the internet. (I do this a lot when I'm faced with a chore that I don't enjoy or don't really know how to start. Usually it just wastes a lot of time, but this time it paid off.)

I found this link:
http://www.daciaray.com/?p=38
AMAZING!! Here are the results:
Basically, you are keeping the original hem and taking out the excess just above it. You can see here that the hem's been messed with, but I still think it looks WAY better than just cutting them off and hemming.

I won't elaborate on how to do it because the link explains it so well. I did do one thing differently. I was concerned about how the seam would lay after washing so after I sewed, I didn't cut at all. I pressed the excess fabric up (toward the waist) and sewed up the two side seams to keep it in place.

I think they look pretty great. I got so excited!! Later in the day Kris even said, "Those jeans look like they were made for you." I got even more excited, then realized that he was mocking me. That's okay. My jeans look fantastic! He did ask why I hadn't done his jeans this way (I do a lot of hemming) so I know he was impressed.

What We're Reading

I'm reading "The No-Cry Disipline Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. I was not impressed by the title. (Any kind of discipline system that has even half a chance of working is going to involve consistency and firmness, and that is going to occasionally lead to crying- at least at my house.) But the book has been suprisingly great. One of my favorite points is that most of what we call misbehavior is just immaturity. Not that we want to allow certain things just because they're little, but it helps to understand that they're not being bad, they just don't have the self-control of an adult. Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend it. It doesn't have all the answers, but it's one I want on my shelf. Kris has been reading "My Grandfather's Son" and loving it.

Jonas's latest favorite is "Curious George: Snowy Day." I must admit it's not in my top ten, but he likes it.

Gabe got "What's Wrong Little Pookie" from some good friends for his birthday. It's adorable! I'm a big Sandra Boynton fan, and it's quickly becoming a favorite. It's about a little pig that's sad and his mom tries to figure out why. Very cute.