The Breaking Point is near...

Tonight, I was done with Franny.  How awful does that sound coming from a Mom??  But, boy, is she a mess..  and boy, does she make a mess.  She is so completely attached to me sometimes too... and this whole trying to get her to go to sleep is painful.  I'm exhausted and tonight I wanted nothing to do with her.  I just wanted to walk away and have a moment or two w/o her.  She is draining me lately and she is tearing the place apart!!  The girl doesn't sleep longer than an hour in her crib and at night she doesn't sleep until after 10.  So, here I am... after 10 and have my ME time.  I know...go to bed, right??  But, you see, she's gonna be up soon.  And I know, from past experiences, that if I fall asleep now it will be worse.  You know...when you get 15 minutes of shut-eye during the day and wake up and feel worse??  Yup...that's what it's like.

Aside from her pulling magazines out and tearing them apart, crawling up on the table to attack every bowl, spoon, cup, homework, etc on top, emptying out every bin by our front door, moving piles of dirty laundry so that they are scattered across my house, retrieving all of my baking supplies and randomly dropping them where she walks...you get the picture... her latest escapade is pulling on the lights from the Christmas tree.  And, I've been kicking myself in the ass all day for not taking it down over the weekend.  She wasn't that bad with the tree all last week...

In other news... I went to the gym tonight for the first time in like 6 months!!  And, I was able to walk for a total of 45 minutes.  Of course, I had to take a break and change a poopy diaper, but at least I did it.  I'm thinking tuesday nights are going to be a good starting off point.  From there, I will have to find the time to squeeze it in. I need to be healthier.  And, I had a semi-nutritious meal afterwards: salad and chili...YUM.  My new favorite thing in my salad is Craisins.

Hope you are all getting the sleep I need... and please hope that she sleeps better tonight.  I wound up giving up around 1:30 last night b/c it was one of those nights where she barely lasted 15 minutes in the crib before crying.  I almost went back to the couch with her...I slept better there.  I don't know what's worse: sleeping on the couch with her or throwing her in the bed with both of us...  I'm sure the Super Nanny would have a field day with us... especially since Max has started with the 'I need a drink in bed with me in a sippy cup and hubby decided to cave on this one' has started.  Gotta break that habit!!  We did better with the first 2 when all this crap happened.  What the hell is wrong with us when it comes to Max and Franny??

Later!!

Cribs and Crying oh MY...

This is painful... yes, she is definitely a tough cookie to crack.  I broke this morning at 6:30am when she woke up for about the 10th time last night and put her in bed with us.  And when she did wake up, and we put her back in the crib, she lasted about 15 minutes before she woke up again and again and again and again... Yes, I know.. let her CRY... so hard to do when you are concerned about the other kids.  I think hubby and the 3 bigger kids need to go away for a LONG weekend so my guilt doesn't eat at me for waking them.  Though, I think hubby may have realized the tiredness I have and why...because he's feeling it this week too.

I'm hoping tonight is better... the night before, after only waking once, she slept in her crib for 8 straight hours... can we have more of those nights please??  and thanks!!

Hope you're having a great day:)  I need a nap!!

New Year's Eve...

New Year's Eve...what does it mean to you??  What do you do on that night??  Aside from a 'new year' beginning, why do we all make such a big deal out of it??  Isn't it just another day/night??

OK, so we hung out, ate lots of junk, let the kids stay up to watch the ball fall and all that stuff.  We even had lobster...YUM.  We played Wii and some board games too.  And it was a nice family night.  Wouldn't it be great if we did this more than (I know...this is probably the wrong than/then...I can never get this right) once a year??  I'm sure most of you do this stuff on a regular basis...but we don't.  Thinking we should...right??  It was nice once the littles fell asleep and we could actually 'hang out' with the big kids too.  We didn't make any resolutions though.  I don't believe in them.  They don't work...nope... I need some 'lifestyle' changes in my future.  Ha...you think that would work??  Calling them something different??

Let's reflect on the year, shall we??
- DJ turned 8, Kyra turned 7, Max turned 3 and Franny turned 1
- There were sports games, dance recitals, Polish dancing, and gymnastics
- DJ made his 1st Holy Communion and Franny was baptized
- Cousin Sandy and crew made it out to NY this year for a visit
- Franny went international and traveled to Ireland with me
- Max started pre-school
- Franny stopped sleeping through the night and in her crib:(
- Mommy and Daddy realized they have some work to do ... on THEM ...
- My Mom is back at college and has been inducted into their Nat'l Honor Society (Go Mom)

Things to look forward to this year:
- DJ will turn 9 (holy crap...in like 12 days), Kyra will turn 8, Max will turn 4 and Franny will turn 2
- More sports and dancing and gymnastics... I love that they love to dance:)
- Kyra will make her 1st Holy Communion
- My brother-in-law is getting married in St Thomas (and we are going...yeah...)
- My brother is getting married
- Preschool for Max ... maybe ... we will have to see how the year and babysitting goes
- Really looking forward to Franny sleeping through the night and in her crib... Please??  Oh, and I know she will stop nursing this year... trust me
- My new blog adventure (yes, because I have all the time in the world I'm going to start a new one... about baking.. look for it soon)
- More family nights together... games and stuff..
- Our yearly trip to Myrtle Beach... love it there

I'm also going to try and actually EAT this year.  Yes, I know, we all have our 'diet' plans for the year.  But, seriously, I just need to start eating...especially in the first half of the day.  Gotta stop the whole starving and finally eating at 3pm crap.  gonna work on that one.  I'd like to say I'm gonna make it to the gym, too.  But, with no time to actually get there, I'm not sure how that would work.

Hoping you all had a great New Year's Eve and wishing you all health and wealth in the New Year.

Some pics of our night below: