Faro: Home to the Best Neighbours!

Last week was probably the worst week I have been through since I had kids. It is no wonder sleep deprivation is a favorite form of torture! I would have been ready to admit to anything as long as I was promised a night of sleep in return.

The kindness and generosity of my neighbours last week made me appreciate our home in Faro even more than I already do. One neighbour took Hunter off my hands for nearly two hours. That same neighbour cooked up supper. Another neighbour took Hunter out for a walk. Then on Friday night, Matt was called to Ross River to work for the weekend. I was pooped and didn't want to cook supper. And I was too lazy to brave the -25C outside to bundle up the kids, start the truck and go and grab a pizza at the restaurant. In steps another neighbour who offers to run down and pick it up for me. Seriously- how nice is that! There was also a lot of verbal support from most everyone I ran into.

What may have seemed like little things to those neighbours, meant the world to me last week. I am thankful for this community and the support I receive. Faro is the best place to call home!

Overheard Today...

As Matt was carrying Hunter up the stairs, I could hear Hunter yelling, "No side up down Dad!" I looked over and there was Matt carrying Hunter upside down. Pretty cute.

Sleeping Update

Wow. Thank you everyone for your responses! There were a number of comments on here, my email and facebook that were filled with great suggestions. Another friend dropped off her favorite book that deals with all these issues for me to read.

I have a huge thank you to give to my neighbour (and new blogger) Heather. Not only does she have two kids at home during the day (two others are in school), she also babysits three others. She offered to come and take Hunter to playgroup for me so I could have a toddler break. Too bad Cavan didn't want to nap during that time! But I did get my living room and kitchen cleaned up. And then to top that off, she made us supper! Thank you so much Heather for helping me yesterday. I truly appreciate your thoughtfulness and abounding energy!

We had so many suggestions from other parents about sleeping. And it was great to hear that most everyone has gone through the same issues at one time or another. Last night we put a few of those suggestions to work.

I made Hunter his favorite meal of pancakes (I added applesauce to them to get some more fruit in him) so he would be good and full of food before he went to sleep. We also set up a baby gate at his door. Not too sure if this was good or not. He woke up at 1am and stood at the gate and screamed his little head off. I am sure all of my neighbours hear him! It took Matt over an hour to get him settled. Part of it was a really wet diaper, and then once Matt gave him a bit of milk he settled down. He woke again at 4:30 and started the whole screaming routine again at the gate and we just threw him in bed with us. He slept in there until 5:30! So that is an improvement. He was also not allowed to watch any of his movies until Matt left for work at 8am.

For Cavan I loaded my ipod with white noise (thank you Soph for the link!) and moved the stereo into his room. We made sure he was really good and full of food other than just breastmilk. He woke up when Hunter went through his first screaming fit and I sat up with him sleeping on me until Matt got Hunter settled. He woke up again just before 4, but after a quick boob he went back to sleep until 5am. I tried to not breastfeed him during the night, but I was so tired I just gave in to the little tank. On the weekend Matt is going to get up with him instead. So definite improvement with Cavan.

And I even got out of the house to go to a weight traing circuit class. My butt was kicked, but I am so glad I attended. I am a bit sore, but I will still be attending aerobics tomorrow night.

Thank you again everyone! It is wonderful to know that I am not alone!

The Kind Of Tired That Makes You Want To Cry....

Or yak. I cannot decide which today. Maybe it will be both.

Since we arrived home from the East Coast three weeks ago, we have not been sleeping. None of us. And actually during our vacation we slept poorly there as well, but at least the grandparents gave us a bit of a break. Hunter and Cavan are waking up numerous times throughout the night. Prior to our trip both were sleeping so well that maybe we just got a little spoiled!

Something is definitely going on with Hunter. He goes to sleep every night just before 8pm. We hear him get out of his bed during the night and he runs to the living room (this happens anywhere between 3 and 5 times a night)! Then when you pick him up, he is usually screaming and asking us to play toys or to watch his dump truck movie (this of course wakes up the baby). Most often we can get him back to sleep in just a few minutes, but sometimes we have to throw him in bed with us to calm him down. I am guessing this is nightmares, but maybe some growing pains as well, or he is just addicted to his dump truck movie? He then gets up for the day anywhere between 4 and 5:30am. There is no getting him back to sleep at that point. He is still napping, but it is just for an hour and a half in the afternoons. I have found him to be more grumpy and acting out more (which could also just be toddler behaviours). We try to get him outside to play and he is down at the rec centre twice a week to burn off energy.

For Hunter we have gotten suggestions of just leave him in his room (well he just screams until he yaks, and of course it is hard to keep a baby asleep when the toddler is crying), and don't let him nap (hard because if we try to keep him up for the day you will look over and there he is curled up on his blanket asleep anyways). Do you have any ideas??

Cavan is also waking up numerous times throughout the night. He is also asleep by 8pm, but is up again a few hours later. After that he wakes up usually once an hour to feed. The worst part is trying to get him back down into his crib. He can be right asleep and then as soon as his head hits the mattress he is wide awake and yelling at you. This of course wakes up Hunter. He is also awake for the day around 5am. He naps for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon (of course he rarely will nap the same time as his brother), and a half hour cat nap around 6pm.

Suggestions so far have been to switch him to formula (trying, mainly because he is now biting, but he won't drink from the bottle) and to just let him cry in his crib (counterproductive because it wakes up Hunter, plus we are not fans of just letting the kids cry themselves out especially when they are this young). Any other ideas?

So Matt and I are exhausted. Seriously, you should see Matt, he looks horrible. I bet he is wishing right now that he could just crawl onto one of the patient beds and take a nap. And me... well I am ready to cry at a moments notice. I am miserable from this lack of sleep. I know, I know... you have 9 kids and you are doing just fine and you are supermom.... good for you. I am not and I have no clue how to get through this. So please send positive ideas or a relief crew. I will gladly accept both!

Toddler Food Tricks

Please let me know what kind of tricks you moms have up your sleeve for getting your toddler to eat!

Lately, if we break up his food into tiny pieces he will gladly eat it! It seems to work really well with bread products which he hadn't eaten in quite a while. The kid is challenging us daily as to what he will eat.

At least he still likes his veggies and fruit, but it varies week to week as to which ones he wants to eat. Last week he was on a strawberry kick, and this week it is watermelon and grapes.

The cute food story of the week was a few days ago when I asked him what he wanted for lunch and he replied with, "macawonies mom!" So freakin cute!

Kitchen Helpers

Trying to be productive in the kitchen with these boys underfoot can be a real hassle! So to get them out from underfoot, I put the baby into one of my favorite baby holding devices- the sink! And Hunter got to hang out on the counter. Amazing how much work I got done in the kitchen with these two entertained!

My kitchen helpers:
Mmmmm... what is this tasty thing?
Oh, this end is much better tasting!

My Son The Super Hero!

Hunter loves his new "big boy" underwear (too bad he doesn't love them enough to start using the potty all the time). One day this week he wanted to wear them on the outside of his pants, and of course I thought it looked hilarious and let him do it. I even took him out of the house and down to playgroup dressed like this. I am such a great mom. He is sure to hate me when he is a teenager!

Underwear worn on the outside of your pants totally turns you into a superhero. Here Hunter is displaying his super speed!

To the SuperVan with his trusty sidekick, Curl!
Now where is the button for the rocket boosters again....
Donning the rest of the superhero outfit!