Update on life in our house...

So I had a  very anxious week last week...anxious -meaning after being out and about in the morning I was anxious about coming home for a long afternoon with the kids.  I was feeling like a yelly mommy.  I felt overwhelmed with the house.  I dreaded the bedtime hour.  I yearned for content children and a quiet hour to myself.  The schedule got tossed due to a few unexpected visitors etc.  Ed worked late a few nights.  It just had me feeling overwhelmed. 
Then the weekend arrived and we had some family time.  No visitors.  It included a family outing for Charley's Destination Imagination competition (Sydney's first big trip away from home ..1 hour drive).  Lunch out.  And a relieved sigh when we returned to the comforts of our home.  We cleaned up as a family.  The boys played with the neighbors.  I got to bake this...

and I got to eat it.  Sydney continued to sleep well, but I kept being proactive and got to bed timely.  Life seemed to settle down. 

And this week - things are SO much better.  Bedtime has returned to a more normal scene. 

How did we fix it? 

Bribes, threats, yelling, nah...well, maybe a little bit of all of that at first.  But then we slowed things down.  When mom or dad wasn't respected they dropped out of the bedtime journey and that bothered the boys.  Charley loves to read with his daddy and Henry needs to read with his mommy.  We also began letting Henry use his head lamp to look at books for a chunk of time after we shut off the lights.  In order to use their book lights they have to go to bed like "superheros" the night before.  And so far this has been working.  So we read to them and then they each get to pick a handful of books to look out with their lights.

 Last night we got so wrapped up with eating cake and watching Glee - we forgot to go tell them that reading time was done.  And when Ed realized, we were surprised by the quiet and the calm boys we found falling asleep.  With the time change we are putting them to bed at the same time as before...so their bodies are thinking it is 6ish but it is technically 7.  And this has me relaxed about the book reading lasting a while.  I don't feel like they are missing out on sleep.  And guess what...they have both been sleeping until 7 or later this week.  LOVE IT!. 

So things have settled.  Life is good.  And it just makes me realize that when I tell my sister or friends that something is a phase or stage - that I sometimes forget that it is just that for us here too.  And that the phrase:

This too shall pass.  

Is something that all parents should have tattooed on their forehead.  Because really, it will pass.  And most likely after a valley of parenting struggles, there is an upswing of bliss.  Or semi bliss...

I must admit that this weekend things also warmed up here a bit.  And the boys have consistently been outside for an hour or more each day.  What a difference fresh air has on children. 

Spring - bring it on!