Month: November 2015

Everything is Covered in Glitter

~ Kaitlyn @ Doing Dishes Making Wishes ~ 1 Comment

Everything I own is covered in glitter.

No matter how much I vacuum. No matter how much I dust, sweep and mop.

GLITTER. Freaking everywhere.

This might make you question where I live….Is it a night club? Some kind of Christmas twilight zone? A preschool classroom gone wrong? A land of never-ending fairy tales?

Yes. Yes. Yes. And YES. I live in some kind of curious amalgam of these places.

I live with two little girls. They are 5 and 3 years old. If you also live with little girls, please nod your head in understanding as you give me a pat on the back through your computer. I know you get it. For those of you that don’t have this particular honor, I will elaborate.

These little girls are constantly changing their outfits and playing dress up. Their dress up clothes are covered in glitter and rhinestones. The gaudier the better! They wear these princess outfits all over my house. They sit on the furniture to drink tea and hold court. They dance and twirl down the hallways. They whip through this place in a tornado of shimmering tutus, royal jewels and giggles. So my furniture is permanently covered in glitter. In fact, the glitter has worked its way into the fibers of all the upholstery. It doesn’t even vacuum up anymore. All I need to do is dim the lights and the couch looks like a booth in a low-class nightclub.

The Christmas decorations came out this weekend. I love Christmas, and I love that my girls love Christmas. The more Christmas stuff, the better! Except that I spent time working the decorations strategically into my home’s decor, and my daughters have zero regard for visual balance in a room. My careful consideration of where to place my Christmas things is fruitless. Every Christmas decoration looks like a toy to them. Their tiny fingers just can’t resist picking things up to look at them and move them around. Some of the Christmas things are sparkly. Some of the sparkles fall off because they are not meant to be played with by little hands. These sparkles and glitter sprinkle the floors, shelves and end tables that these items were placed on. Curious little girls have no concept of when their mom last dusted those exact surfaces. (AHEM….Yesterday.) So I basically am living in a never-ending sparkle dust nightmare, and it would take a Christmas miracle to wake me up.

I love crafts and art projects, and I love doing them with my kids. I actually talked Cody into converting a large closet into an art space for the kids. We do crafts and art projects daily. Clearly, art with these fairy princesses means:

“It’s not finished unless it sparkles.”

We have a plethora of gems, rhinestones, sparkle paint, sparkle glue, sparkle beads and – you guessed it – glitter. In every shade of the rainbow. No matter how much I supervise and try to control the art chaos, I end up sweeping up a glitter shitstorm every afternoon. What is it about glitter that just makes it migrate everywhere?! As I sweep the floors, my eyes catch tiny glints in the grooves of the wood. Just taunting me. Asking why I don’t care enough to get down on my hands and knees to obliterate every last flake of glitter from my floors once and for all? The answer is simple: Because it will be back tomorrow….And the next day…And the day after that. For every flake of glitter I clean up, two more will allude me until the sun reaches the right angle in the sky. Then I will see another glint….And another….And then even more glints come evening once the lights get turned on. Just thinking about it is enough to make me go bat-shit crazy! So I’ll just continue to sweep what I can, and pretend like I did a good job. For my sanity. Screw those out-of-reach flakes in the floor grooves! They add character to the house.

The imaginations of a preschooler and toddler know no bounds. I love that they play pretend. I love that they really believe pixie dust will make them fly. I even love the fact that glitter looks a lot like pixie dust. Our glitter stash from the aforementioned daily craft party is kept on the high shelf in their art space. Turns out, Avery can reach this shelf with the help of a chair to stand on. I know this for a fact. Because today I came around the corner and found the girls chanting,

“Faith, trust and PIXIE DUST!”

Avery began tossing handfuls of glitter on Emmy’s head. She then instructed her little sister,

“Keep your eyes closed and think your happy thoughts, Em! After you start to fly you have to give me some pixie dust so I can fly too, OK?”

Poor Emmy. She really thought she was going to fly. Her face was pinched up with the effort of thinking all those happy thoughts, and her chubby little 3-year-old arms were flapping like she was about to take off. Flecks of glitter were falling over her cheeks and working their way into her clothes. There was an actual PILE of glitter on the top of that kid’s head.

I immediately flared with pure, red anger. How dare those little stinkers drag a chair over to the high art shelf and take down some of its forbidden contents! What on earth went through their heads when they thought that tossing HANDFULS of glitter over the freshly vacuumed carpet would ever be acceptable? And more importantly…..WHO THE HELL DID THEY THINK WAS GOING TO CLEAN THIS MESS UP?!

Then the anger faded and I just smiled. Because I remember what it was like to be an imaginative little girl. I remember what it was like to get so wrapped up in your playtime fairy tale story, that you forget about the everyday rules. I remember trying to explain to adults that I didn’t mean to make a mess, it just happened. In Neverland pixie dust makes you fly, and definitely doesn’t need to be cleaned up. These two little girls were in Neverland, not my living room. They were sprinkling pixie dust, not glitter. And they were going to fly! How exciting is that?

In my moment of reflection, Avery looked up at me and said, “MOM! We found Tinkerbell’s pixie dust! We are going to figure out how to use it to fly! Do you want to fly with us?!”

I told her I couldn’t fly. Pixie dust is only for kids, so they can get to Neverland. Grown-ups are not allowed there, because it is the place where kids never grow up. Then I picked Emmy up and spun her around, because after all that hard work thinking happy thoughts, a little girl covered in pixie dust should definitely get to fly! We spent the afternoon playing “pixie dust”. The girls sprinkled each other with glitter and thought happy thoughts. I picked them up and flew them around. We ran out of glitter and our tummies hurt from giggling. Once we came back home from Neverland, the girls helped me sweep and vacuum what could be picked up. The rest of the glitter flecks worked their way into the carpet fibers and grooves of the wood floor, joining the ones that were already there. To taunt me until the end of time. Oh well.

So yes. Everything I own is covered in glitter. I just needed a little faith, trust and pixie dust to realize that I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you liked reading about my silly kids in this post, you can read more about their antics here!

Found on Google Images
Found on Google Images

Get Your Kids to Sleep…So You Can Sleep!

~ Kaitlyn @ Doing Dishes Making Wishes ~ 2 Comments

Since starting this blog, I have been talking to other moms so much more. I find it interesting to hear how other women manage their households. It gives me insight and other perspectives. One huge thing that always comes up is how bedtime and sleep are managed. I started to become super curious after hearing so many different opinions! Every household has a different routine at bedtime and different sleep habits for their family. I guess I was under the assumption that night comes and people sleep. Seems like that would make sense, right?

Except for one shocking little detail….

So many families are getting no sleep at all.

Sure, everybody goes through what I like to call “The Months of Newborn Hell”. It is a time of feeding, burping, spit up, changing and rocking to sleep. This process is repeated every 3 hours. Unless of course your baby decides it needs to cluster feed one day. Then you can go ahead and repeat all of that on the hour for 4 hours straight. Maybe you got lucky and popped out a kid with reflux or colic??? Your only hope for sleep anytime in the near future is prayer. Sorry. Truth hurts.

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If you can navigate your way out of the months of newborn hell, you are already halfway to success! A good night’s sleep is so close you can taste it! So why are so many parents playing a nightly game of musical beds with their 2-year-olds? Why do I have friends who cannot sleep in the same bed as their husband because their 4-year-old “won’t let them”? Why am I listening to someone complain that they are getting up to give their 18-month-old a bottle at 3:00 AM?

My mind is boggled.

My kids are currently 5 and 3 years old. Since they were about 6 months old, they both have slept through the night for at least 10 hours, in their own beds, in their own rooms and in the dark. Now the next part of this post is a bit touchy because I am going to tell you how I was able to achieve this. It involves sleep training. I know there are people out there who feel very strongly against it – for whatever their reasons. I can assure you my children are perfectly fine and not even close to emotionally damaged after going through a few nights of sleep training. If you want to stop reading now – please do! I promise I won’t lose any sleep over it! (<—See what I just did there? Hehe!)

If you want to hold your kids until they fall asleep every night – Go for it!

If you want to hang out for an hour in your toddler’s room while you wait for them to fall asleep – More power to you!

If you actually like sleeping next to your kids more than your husband – Keep on keepin’ on, girl!

Some moms genuinely love falling asleep under a loving pile of their own kids. I am not here to tell you what will work for your family. I could care less what goes on under your roof at midnight. Buuuut if you are someone like me…Someone who really wants to end their day unwinding with an hour or two of adult time plus a good night’s sleep, then you need to consider sleep training those rugrats!

This plan is pretty simple. Ready???

I am only half-joking. I really did use that book as my infant sleep bible. I figured I would share this post because so many parents have openly admitted that they do not know where they went wrong at bedtime. There is a way out, and I know this because I did it! My Auntie Christy gave me a copy of this book after a night of babysitting my super-fussy-at-bedtime baby. I read it immediately, and it turns out I had no clue what I was doing at bedtime. I put the recommended sleep plan into action and never EVER looked back.

Before you begin:

  • Read the book, or at least the parts that apply to you and your household.
  • Establish a comfort object early on. These are instrumental in helping kids self-soothe. My girls each have one of these “blankies” by Angel Dear.
  • Develop a schedule in your household that works best for everyone. Set mealtimes, playtime, nap time for babies and toddlers, quiet time for kids who no longer nap, bathtime and bedtime. Be prepared to strictly enforce the schedule for a few weeks until the routine is well-established.
  • Develop a bedtime routine that you can manage to maintain EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. The bedtime routine is important, because it is what relaxes your child and prepares them for sleep. It can be as easy as a quick bath and a 5 minute bedtime story, but it needs to stay the same every night in order to establish sleep. You will want to start the bedtime routine with enough time to complete it before your scheduled bedtime.
  •  If you want to know how it works in our house, I am happy to share our bedtime routine with you all. If you don’t care, then skip it. Our routine might not be what works for you!
    • Our Bedtime Routine:
      • Around 7:00 PM I give Emmy her bath. As soon as she is done, Avery gets in the shower.
      • The girls pick out their pajamas and get dressed. They brush their hair and teeth.
      • Usually it is around 7:30 now. They each are required to do a “potty check” right before climbing into bed. (I don’t like changing wet sheets in the middle of the night. Can you blame me?)
      • Avery heads into her room to pick out a book and waits for me while I put Emmy to bed.
      • In Emmy’s room I read her one book, tuck her in with a kiss, turn off her light, and close her door.
      • I head to Avery’s room where I read her one book, tuck her in with a kiss, turn on her nightlight, turn off her light, and close her door.  (A couple months ago Avery started to be afraid of the dark. This is normal at preschool age because their imaginations are very active. We allow her to have a nightlight now. Neither of our kids used nightlights up until that point because babies are not afraid of the dark.)
      • Bedtime is over and done with by 8:00, so I usually pour a glass of wine and rejoice in my hours of adult time!
    • Notes:
      •  Both girls bring their comfort objects to bed with them.
      • They are NEVER allowed out of bed after bedtime unless there is illness or a bathroom emergency.
      • I ABSOLUTELY NEVER allow them to sleep in my bed. If there is a problem in the night such as a bad dream or potty accident – I go to them, fix the problem and tuck them back into their own bed once they are comforted. Then I head back to my own spacious bed where I stretch out and enjoy some more quality sleep.

Sooooo, you have your schedule and bedtime routine down pat? Start teaching your children to self-soothe and fall asleep independently! Follow Dr. Weissbluth’s advice based on your household type. The book is very specific, and gives suggestions according to the needs of your own individual family. He covers children of various ages, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, bottle feeding, infant temperament, reflux, colic, and many other common topics that would have an effect on your entire family’s quality of sleep at night. I promise, no matter what your current sleep situation is, this book covers it.

 

Don’t trust my advice on all of this? I DON’T BLAME YOU!

……(I feel a rant coming on)…..

I shouldn’t have to remind you that this is a blog. Anybody can start a blog, and anybody can publish whatever crap information they would like on that blog! I absolutely refuse to follow the advice of someone who cannot support their parenting decisions with research from accredited sources. (I’m looking at you, natural mommy blogs. Cite something. For the love of God, just prove to me ANYTHING your wrote about is true! And speaking of God…No, the Bible is not a valid source of SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. I am so glad you love Jesus, but he doesn’t know how your infant’s brain waves look during a REM sleep cycle. A pediatric sleep expert does. Amen.)

I will always do my best to provide you links to the research I did while making the parenting decisions I discuss on this blog. I will never cite another blog as a source – BECAUSE THAT IS NOT AN ACCREDITED, VALID PLACE TO OBTAIN ACCURATE INFORMATION. Unless the author of that blog can share where they obtained the information, and unless that information came from a university study, a medical journal, a book or paper published by a recognized expert in their field, or another ACCREDITED SOURCE – Do you see where I am going with this yet?! – I can only assume they made all that stuff up.

(End Rant.)

OK. I feel better now. Here’s some information:

The information I used to establish my family’s sleep habits came from Northwestern Children’s Practice and Children’s Hospital Colorado, as well as Dr. Weissbluth’s “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child” book.

Who is Dr. Marc Weissbluth?

“Dr. Weissbluth graduated from Stanford University and Washington University Medical School. He completed his pediatric training at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and is a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Northwestern University School of Medicine. His interests include infant and child development, colic / crying, and childhood sleep problems. He is also the author of numerous publications, including books for parents such as Crybabies, Sweet Baby: How to Soothe Your Newborn, Your Fussy Baby, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins. “

Here is a link to some great info about night feeding by Barton D. Schmitte, M.D., pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Still struggling with your child’s sleep? You can find infant sleep consultants at Northwestern Children’s Practice, right here in the good old Windy City. Here is their link to some handy handouts about infant sleep.

Did you enjoy this post? You might also like this one!

Confessions of a Fantasy Football Housewife

~ Kaitlyn @ Doing Dishes Making Wishes ~ Leave a comment

Fantasy football.

The mortal enemy to wives everywhere. It makes our husbands essentially useless for 1 full day and 3 full evenings per week. It encourages gambling, smack talk, beer drinking and sports bar frequenting. If your husband is nice enough to avoid those shameful activities, then he is most likely zoned out on the couch at home with (at least) 2 tablets or laptop computers monitoring fantasycast and the TV tuned in to the most important game of the hour. Hey, at least he is home to help if you need it, right?

HA! Such bullshit. It annoyed me to no end.

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There I was, in the throws of new motherhood, just trying my best to keep the infant and toddler alive. The house was looking acceptable at best, I was exhausted from getting up four times the previous night and my nipples were throbbing from this morning’s cluster-feeding. My toddler spilled her juice (for the second time) while simultaneously pooping her diaper mid-lunch. The infant was screaming to be fed yet again, (Are you kidding me?! How can she possibly be hungry?!) and it turns out I DON’T CARE IF IT’S NOON ON A SUNDAY IN SEPTEMBER! If he so much as checks his phone for football scores, I will file for divorce so fast the papers will be served by 1:00.

I didn’t used to be this way. We used to enjoy football together. We attended games and sports bars on Sundays. We celebrated big fantasy wins as a united front (His win was my win!) and watched games live instead of from the DVR. I even wore cute Bears apparel instead of spit-up-stained yoga pants.

I was a different girl before I became a mommy. Parenthood roared her sometimes ugly head, and turned me into a “momster.” How dare my husband care about something other than our children?! Those kids consumed every waking (and sleeping) minute of my life – so they damn well better consume his too. Nothing should be allowed to take away from someone’s shared responsibilities as a parent. It is definitely not fair to expect your wife to spend half her weekend working just as hard as she does during the week while you loaf around checking scores and ripping on your friends. Man up, husbands of America!

With that being said, I am going to let my fellow momsters in on a little secret:

Those years of Sunday Hell are limited! There is light at the end of the tunnel, and eventually your Sundays will be fun again. So turn your tired faces up to the autumn sky and let that cool sunshine fall upon them!

In a few short years your kids will be able to eat real food without assistance. They will be fully potty trained and sleeping through the night. They will even be capable of entertaining themselves for an hour or two. You will have time to get some laundry done and straighten the house before the games start at noon.

It will get better, and when it does, join a fantasy league.

I know what you are thinking, “Say what?! Start playing fantasy football? But I loathe fantasy football!” Girlfriend, you are wrong. You hate your husband playing fantasy football. YOU playing fantasy football, however, is amazing. Now you can care just as much about the games as your husband. You are going to have to take turns tending to the kids.

“Babe, don’t you hear Emmy screaming for a snack? I have Foster and Lacy both playing right now, so you better go take care of that.”

Magic.

You get a little secret thrill when your team wins, because you did that. You researched your players and pulled an amazing second-stringer off the waiver wire as soon as his first-string counterpart was declared out for the season. You get to sit back and watch with pride when your quarterback throws touchdown receptions. Suddenly, all the games are important – not just the Chicago game. You have to keep an eye on your whole team. Thursday night? Bring on the hot wings and beer! Sunday? There will be chili in the crock pot all day! Monday night? Can I get a repeat on the hot wings and beer?! There are football games to watch, babe! Fantasy football brings marriages together – Unless it is the week you play each other, in which case I recommend declaring the kitchen as neutral territory, because the living room is a battlefield where shame is left at the door – Other than that week, your husband and you can cheer each other on during wins and support each other through some tough losses.

For example: There I was on a Sunday morning, projected to win 120 to 88. I swaggered into the living room at 11:55 AM, sat back and put up my feet, feeling confident and ready to soak in my impending, glorious victory. Suddenly, to my horror, I was watching in hopeless despair as both my best running back and quarterback went out in the first quarter with injuries. Then, choking back tears of frustration when I saw the final score for my defense was NEGATIVE FREAKING FIVE. That sealed the deal on this unforeseen loss. My quarterback, running back and defense combined scored me a whopping -1 points that day. My total score that week was 37 damn points. I am shuddering with embarrassment thinking about it: The worst loss ever recorded in fantasy football history. That was a bad time for me, but you know what? It just brought Cody and I closer. He was there to pat my back while gently murmuring, “It’s OK, babe. You can’t win ’em all. You can hit the waivers Tuesday morning and pick up some good replacements. Don’t worry. You can still make the playoffs with a couple losses under your belt. Here you go, have a glass of red. I’ll order pizza for dinner.”

I felt so much better after that. He really knows what to do to cheer me up. I just love him.

Sooooo, momsters…..Are you still hating on fantasy football??? Didn’t think so. Go ahead. Join a league. Fulfill your competitive needs. High five your husband as you bask in your hard-earned victories and come together as a couple in your losses. You never know, you might even win some cash in the end.

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(Photo: found on pinterest.com via fantasysportsicon.com)

Cash you can use to buy a new football Sunday outfit that doesn’t have spit-up stains on it. Ahhhh. Sweet victory.