Operation Franny is under Way

OK, so you may or may not know, Franny sucks at sleeping in her own crib all through the night.  She also sucks at any kind of normal sleep schedule for a 20 mos. old.  That being said, we are all tired and cranky over here b/c no one can seem to get a good night's sleep EVER!!

Look at all the places she will sleep though:

 

 

And so, we started the Mission: Operation Franny.   And at this point we are in major Operation Failure Mode!!

My job was to keep her awake all day yesterday.  Of course, I had to pay a sitter to stay home with her while we were all in the car doing what we do best, drive to various activities.  But, Mission accomplished:)

Hubby's job, while I was out, was to put her to bed and if need be, let her cry it out.  ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... this is maniacal laughing at it's best here people... Got home at 10pm last night and guess who was still awake and NOT in her crib??  Yup, the lovable little Franny Girl.  Mission FAIL

So, she fell asleep on the couch and was hustled upstairs to her crib for some sleep.  Probably fell asleep around 10:30pm...and woke up at 2:28AM (she usually makes it to 2 or 3 in the morning and than we bring her into bed with us so we can all go back to sleep).  This time, however, we did not go get her.  Instead, we proceeded with the 'Cry it Out' method.  The rest of our kids were in the other bedroom (Kyra on the floor) so as not to bother them.  ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (here's that pesky maniacal laughter again... hey, I'm tired)

She cried on and off (mostly on...with maybe a few couple minute breaks) until 8:00am this morning when I had to get up.  I'm not sure this whole cry it out thing is gonna work for Franny...what do you think??  I know it's only been 1 night, but shouldn't they pass out sooner than 6 hours of crying??  And I know, some of you are thinking, why let her go that long...but I guess we are trying here people.  Franny has always been the one that will cry and cry and cry (she is relentless) when she's in that crib.  I've tried several times for naptime and gotten the same results.

She fell asleep on the couch this morning and slept for 4 hours (probably would've slept longer, but I needed to wake her up).  So, now, did I just ruin what little sanity we all had and is she now going into a different direction of sleep???  Who the hell knows!!

Where is that pesky Super Nanny when you need her??  And why does it always look so easy when they do it on TV??  Have they never had a Franny before??

I just don't know what to do with her...  I know, persistence is the key here... and I could be throwing in the towel to easily...but, really, it's never been this hard before.  I'm seriously considering moving our couch into her bedroom so she'll sleep... think that will work??  Yeah, probably not.

So, to my dear beloved readers- I would love to hear your Sleep War Stories and how you fixed them.

Hoping you all slept better than me!!

And just so you know, I am on my way up to put her in her crib with the hopes that she will cry herself out before midnight:)

The Franny Chronicles

OK...so it's finally here... an update on all the WONDERFUL things Franny can do these days.  Some, I wish they wouldn't ever learn to do and some are a bit more endearing:)  To make it interesting, I've got some pics (couldn't get everything b/c some things are a bit more dangerous for her to be doing so I actually have to run to her instead of the camera..lol)

1. She can open the front door... hence, we must lock it at ALL times!!

2. She climbs up and stands on anything and everything in her path:

 

3. While I am in the shower, she does this (knowing that I have wet hands and can't do anything about it)

4. If you are foolish enough to take her into the other bathroom, she will bring you all the cleaning supplies while you are stuck on the bowl:

5. She is constantly trying to feed me things:

6. She makes a mess EVERYWHERE in my house (food, books, toys, etc)

 

7. She is constantly trying new hiding places:

 

8. She likes to put Baby C's bib on and put his binky in her mouth even though she's never used one:

9. She likes to dress herself (as well as take things off...including her diaper)

 

10. She is constantly climbing into the Pack n'Play and can't get herself out (and sometimes, she still climbs into the exersaucer and can't get out..)

Sleeping, now that's a whole other entry...coming up next if I can stay awake long enough to write it...

Here are a few things she does that I must run to her instead of the camera:

1. She opens MY drawer and grabs the scissors b/c she wants something cut open (love having the older role models around)

2. She has figured out how to get my 'kid' lock off of my baking supply cabinet and helps herself to chocolate chips, sugar and flour

3. She opens the back cabinets and always manages to grab the powdered drink mix...which she will now open and play with

4. She can open my rice bin and loves to play with that

5. She goes down steps like she's running a race making my heart beat faster and faster b/c I keep seeing her tumble down them (think concrete steps here... and she's really fast)

So, that's about all for now... hope you enjoy reading and seeing what Franny's been up to lately!!

My Army Party

So, as most of you may or may not know, my little man Max turned 4 yesterday.  Wow... where did the time go???  When I asked him what type of party he wanted, I totally thought he would want something to do with cars, trucks, etc.  He loves his matchbox cars and trucks... but, low and behold, an Army Man party is what came out of his mouth.  Hmmmm, ok... I can work with that.

Now, with Max being 3 going on 4, and it is the middle of the summer, there were only a few friends to invite.  It was a great little party for his friends... at least I think so:)  Here's what we did:

As his friends arrived, they had to check in and get camo'd out for our Training Course:

Once their faces were painted, each 'soldier' received a dog tag and was instructed to await orders for Training!!

We had about 6 'stations' all over the yard that included:  driving around cones, jumping through hula hoops (aka tires), dash across the sand to go through the 'monkey' bars, go down some slides, go under some rope and save a soldier... here are pics:

 
 

yes, there are soldiers frozen in ice that they had to rescue.. fun

Once they were finished rescuing soldiers, a small snack was served while their grub was finished:

 

And of course, no birthday party would be complete without an Army Man Cake and some Camo Cookies:)

Each 'soldier' left the party with a customized 'camo' bag (brown paper bags that were colored in by my daughter) containing: camo sunglasses, a green 'support our troops' bracelet, camo bubbles, some army men, glow in the dark patriotic tattoos, and they each received a water bottle:)

This was probably the most 'budget' savvy party I've had in awhile.  I didn't go crazy with food and I didn't wind up with too many left-overs:)  Max loved his party and as you can see, passed out cold:

his room was completely dark except for flashlight and glow sword... flash on camera made it look light..

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend from one Honest Mommy to the Next:)

Special thanks to my Hubby for staying up late with me while I finished my cake and cookies, helping to clean the house, go to the store for food, and cleaning up afterwards!!  Love ya:)

Also, thanks to my brother for snapping away today when I handed him my camera:)

Random things my children EAT!!

Ok, so I don't know if they really eat this stuff, but I am constantly wondering where it can disappear to... so, here is a list of things that I think they enjoy nibbling on... lol

1. My slippers... yes, they are constantly missing.  Right now, I can only find 1.  We have cleaned this house upside down and inside out this past week and it still hasn't turned up.

2. Socks - you know, the other one is always missing??  Guess they like sweaty, dirty socks... YUck  (this also applies to gloves too... you know, anything that  comes in pairs..lol)

3. Money - they are ALWAYS missing their money and can never find it.  Perhaps if they put it in a 'safe' place they might find it??  Guess that's too easy, right??

4. Library books - yeah, I have no idea what happens to their books from school... again, we have turned this house inside out and upside down looking for them.. alas, had to pay for them (school library books) and am thinking they had a snack on the bus of their books..

5. Remote Controls - these things are ALWAYS missing... but, if they do eat them, they eventually spit them back out b/c we eventually do find them..

6. Flip Flops... but only the Left ones.  For some reason, I can only ever find one flip flop of each pair..

7. Army Men and Match Box Cars - these seem to dwindle on a daily basis.. I can't fathom where they all go to... oh, wait, i don't think they eat them...they squirrel them away under Max's bed along with several books that aren't library books!!  lol

8. Spoons - yeah, these seem to be gone all the time.  where have all the spoons gone???

9. Rubberbands, bobby pins and hair clips - these seem to be missing ALL the time... and I am constantly having to buy more... what in the world do they do with them I have no idea...

10. Crayons - yes, Franny really does put these in her mouth... but I don't think she eats enough of them to be running out of them as much as we do... so the other 3 must be helping her out... lol

11. Barbie clothes (and doll clothing) - yup... I have no idea where they all disappear to..

Sock..

book..

remote... down it goes..

shoe.. yum

Do your children eat random things??  I hope not... Have a GREAT day!!

Missed Deadlines and Lots more to do..

Even though it's summer vacation and school's out for us...there are still a lot of things you  need to do and/or think about before September.  Things seem to get lost in this house as do deadlines:(

2 Major things I missed 'early' bird deadlines for: Soccer and Girl Scouts.  Now, in my defense, the deadline was June 30 for both and that was the same day as my brother's wedding.  If you'll remember how busy I was that week, perhaps I could be forgiven for forgetting???  But now that's on my 'to do' list.

Other things I need to do:
1. Register the kids for religion
2. Register the kids for dance/gymnastics for school year
3. Find a clarinet for DJ... think we're going used via ebay b/c my kid is not the gentlest with things...
4. Keep teaching the kids crap so their brains don't turn to mush:)
and we'll add the above
5. Register Max/DJ for soccer
6. Decide if Kyra will continue with girlscouts and register her for that
7. Shit...I think we still need to pay for school pics...

And than there's the day to day crap and the extra cleaning up and the extra food my kids consume when they are home and the loss of my Thursday night's at the library (this is a big thing...about $60 every other week is a lot to lose for us) and the wrong front door and a brand new minivan that breaks down in less than a week and the extra kid in my house every day 'til 1:30 and trying to keep DJ from making Max scream bloody murder every second of every day and partial trees falling down... the list goes on... kinda overwhelming some days...

This week I am trying to throw together Max's bday party on Sunday... will be my usual lame attempt at a theme but hopefully the cake will Rock it:)  lol

So, while there's only 7 major things to do, it's hard to remember them and get to them:(  at least for me anyway...And I'm sure I've forgotten some things...

Here are the things I wish I had more time and/or knowledge to get accomplished this summer:
1. Get a website up and running for my baking business
2. Get licensed for my kitchen in order to sell to businesses and do street fairs (according to NY, I can see to consumers w/o a license but not do the Farmer's market, street fairs, etc or sell my stuff in small businesses)
3. Hook up the stove in our apartment attached to the house and organize that kitchen as my 'baking' kitchen so I can actually remove myself from my children at night and get things accomplished that much faster...
4. Tear apart the bathroom in the apartment next door so we can hook up a washer/dryer there (thus eliminating the walk into the basement from the bathroom to switch out laundry)
5. Tear up the rug next door and start 'designing' the kids new playroom
6. Get all the bags of baby girl and big girl clothes out of my hallway... really wanted to see if I could consign some stuff but again, the time thing bogs me down
7. Power wash the entire inside of my house... wouldn't that be cool if we could do that??  There needs to be some kind of drain and a big 'ol nozzle to hose everything down...

This list could go on and on as well... but those are the major things:)

What are you up to this summer??

The Power of Threes...

So, they say that all bad things come in 3's, right??  Well...looks like we've got 2 out of 3 taken care of in this household and I'm wondering what the 3rd will be????  Any guesses???

Ok, so 1st scenario:  a NEW front door.  You know, something we've been meaning to do for 8 years now. A door that won't have cold air streaming in all winter long and one that isn't covering in bugs??  Yup, we finally had the extra $$ this year and forged ahead with creating our New Front Door.  Everything was ordered, door was in the garage and out came the old one..

bye bye old door

My BIL came up and used his personal time to help us with this project (we love when he comes...).  And in went the 'New' door:

He even brought his kids with him... so really it took quite a few of us to 'help' with the door... lol

they are all on break.. lol   Franny was running around so mewhere

Low and behold, this door is completely wrong and not what we ordered.  The outside panels should've been stained to match the door and the windows are actually completely wrong from what we ordered (we noticed this bit after our shock at the staining not being done).  Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do at this point other than put it in and call to see what they were going to do.

And so... a new door has been ordered and now we wait.  Once it's in, we will wait again for my BIL to have another day where he can give us his personal time and expertise to re-install the correct door.

Now, let's move onto to our 2nd major purchase recently... a NEW minivan.  Yup...we knew we needed a minivan with our pretty big family and the truck just wan't doing it for us anymore.  With 4 more payments left, we thought we'd start looking to see if we could find a good deal.  Well, we found a good one and we chose to take it... payments were less than the truck ones and so we are actually saving a little each month.  Not much, but it's very doable, you know??

Mommy's new Toy

I fell in love with this car on first test drive!!  The sales guy put me in it, gave me the keys, and sent me on my merry way.  It had 2 miles on it and  I knew I wanted it.  So, I let hubby do the #'s with our guy and we came to an acceptable agreement...and it was MINE!!  It's such a great Mommy Mobile with lots of amenities that I'm totally not used to.  No more climbing over seats to get kids buckled... no more lack of storage in the back... no more listening to their movies while driving (yes, it has a screen and movie playing capability with 2 wireless headsets...oh thank goodness)... no more driving without being able to put my window down and I can finally play a CD (yes, a CD was stuck in our truck for about 2 years now).  It is a Mom's Wet Dream Vehicle...trust me!!

Oh, and the back of the vehicle has these great seats that fold backwards for seating while tailgating...which we were doing last night..

BUT... it decided that we needed some more things thrown our way, and it completely died on us last night.  WHILE DRIVING it!!!  Yes, it died as we were driving out of a parking lot!!  And yes, it was very late and we were 40 minutes away from home:(   Ummmm, seriously???  This car has less than 200 miles driven on it now, is only 6 days old to us, and has only been driven a total of 9 hours (yes, there is a spot you can see how many hours you've driven the car...how cool is that???)

Here is our Brand New car surrounded by our friends last night...thankfully, they were still there...

We were able to divide and conquer to get this family home and together for the night!!  Here is the note my friend left on the dash board...kinda funny the misspelled word..lol

And here is the vehicle with the 'babies' in it... note 2 out of 3 of their children were passed out as well:

Car update: went to the dealership this morning... guess what??  Our sales guy was ON VACATION!!  ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha..... sorry.... just a little mad laughter going on these days... had them tow the car to their location and am now driving around in a Dodge Journey which they are paying for.  We will most likely not have an answer until Monday about what is wrong with it.  So, we will drive packed like sardines in this vehicle that is smaller than our truck was:(  Oh, yeah, and BTW- these jerks left a little under 1/4 tank of gas in the rental and the p/u location was in the middle of nowhere and not any where near a gas station...thanks!!

Things I am thankful for:

• We will be getting the correct door eventually
• Our wonderful neighbors and friends who shoved their own families aside so that we could shove our own selves inside their cars  (we were spread among 3 other vehicles).. can you imagine if this happened when we weren't with friends who had room in their cars??
• We weren't on our way to Myrtle Beach when it died
• A rental that will fit all of us in it so I am not housebound 24/7
• And definitely thankful for the wine I was able to drink tonight!!!

Next up- as voted upon, a blog about all the things Franny can do that drive me crazy these days.  Finalizing my pics b/c we all know pictures are worth a thousand words, right??

Have a great day!!