Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2016 February

Mon Feb 15 2016 21:10 Valentine's Day : Our Valentine's Day was extremely low key this year. John had the kids pick out a magnet for me at Knott's berry farm, and bought me a chocolate bar. I made him sugar cookies. We made lunch together, as is becoming our habit on Sundays. He grilled steak and I made sautéed spinach. We've gone out to eat at a sit down restaurant as a family the past couple years. This year went went to Johnny Rockets, in Knott's. It was perfect.

Tue Feb 16 2016 18:46 Susie's Helper: From my Instagram post on the subject: Four kids, not so hard. Newborn, however, hard. Arthur wants to be held all day, which is fine and dandy for taking naps and getting baby snuggles in, but not so much for cleaning house or making dinner that involves knives. So I started having a babysitter after school once a week and sometimes she does nothing but hold Arthur, while I do newborn-unfriendly things like shoe shopping. And baking. And cleaning the kitchen floor. It's amazing.

Today I made a double batch of chocolate chip muffins (which didn't rise...), a double batch of pretzels, which we had for dinner, picked up seeds for preschool at the hardware store, dropped off goodwill donations, put away three loads of laundry and made my bed, including putting the duvet back together. I also wanted to do my budget, and I REALLY wanted to lock myself in the bathroom and paint my toenails, but I can only do so much in 2 hours.

Tue Feb 23 2016 21:38 Parenting 801: Maggie has become queen of sass lately. I was reading some helpful articles on dealing with backtalk. Then this article showed up in my feedly.

I won't blame myself completely, because sometimes kids are naughty or completely don't listen the first three times so you have to raise your voice BUT I have found that if I'm on the ball, there's no need for me to be yelling "hurry up!" It's something to think about.

Since I'm up in the night with a baby, and tired, and he likes to be held while he naps, I like to lie down with Arthur in the afternoon. I can usually sneak away after a bit, but I get a little nap first. Sometimes this makes me grumpy. Particularly if the kids are noisy while I'm trying to sleep. But even more concerning is that it falls during a transition time, when the kids are getting home from school, and they need attention and things need to get done. Today I was feeding Arthur so I could run to Target and leave him with the babysitter, and when I went downstairs half an hour after the kids got home, Maggie hadn't even started homework. So it's an important time for me to be up and doing, but also a convenient time to nap.

Patience with Maggie, and less "bossing" seems to be helping. Getting up when Arthur wakes in the morning, and exercising if I have time, makes the mornings smoother. If only I were less tired in the afternoon. Just some observations.

Wed Feb 24 2016 17:30 Serenity Now: In the last two hours

Dalton woke me up to complain about the my little pony coloring page I printed for him. He then proceeded to bother Maggie to the point where she closed the door to keep him out of her room, prompting Sienna to open and close the door multiple times. Dalton used the closed door to drive his remote control car against over and over, thoroughly waking me, and subsequently Arthur, up.

Sienna followed me from room to room talking loudly as I tried to get Arthur back to sleep (no success)

Maggie refused to practice piano properly, despite her pre-iPad Time promises. Her back talk and arguing earned her no iPad at all tomorrow.

All three kids played chalk nicely outside together.

Tantrums and back talking from the older two (mostly Maggie) at dinner almost lost them the privilege of going to a hockey game with dad tonight.

Sienna showed off that sometimes she can not nap and still be well behaved. And then she went upstairs with her shoes on tracking black smears the entire way.

On the bright side, two are going to a hockey game, and two didn't get enough slee during the day and will go to bed early.

Thu Feb 25 2016 21:23 So There's That: I've realized the irony of my last two posts together. In my defense, I recognized I was grumpy because my nap was interrupted, but there was only so much I could do about everything else that was going on.

Today started off with Arthur throwing up in my hair, but overall it was a better day than yesterday. I even went out for half an hour this evening and got a bunch of errands run really quick (easy to do without kids!)

Sun Feb 28 2016 21:55 Arthur at 3 Months: Baby boy is 3 months old today! Last night he started dragging his knees up under his tummy, because he's ready to learn to crawl, and because he is crazy. He really likes to be on his tummy, be bounced or swung around, and is very strong. He is finally becoming more social, smiling and even giggling if he gets kisses or is tickled. He is making more eye contact and cooing and babbling. Baby coos are the best.

He still likes to be swaddled, though he also likes to suck on his hands and can't have the best of both worlds yet. He still likes to be held really a lot during the day. We're still working on naps. He usually naps with me on my bed until I can sneak away, but he did actually nap in his crib for several hours today. And he continues to sleep pretty well most nights, waking up twice or even just once sometimes.

He was really sick this week, coughing until he threw up, running nose, poor thing, up all night one night, appears to have a sore throat, and had a hard time eating for a couple days. He's on the mend now, and is sleeping tons to make up for it.

Mon Feb 29 2016 09:53 Sienna Takes Off Her Socks: There's spider web in my toes. Who do that? That's so funny, Mom!

Mon Feb 29 2016 19:59 Things That Happened at Target Today:

Breastfeeding in the toy aisle.
Cookie eating in the toy aisle.
Arthur spitting up in multiple aisles.
A loud and very long rendition of For the First Time in Forever by Sienna.
Preschool pole dancing (see above singing).
Arthur spitting up on Sienna's hair.
Sienna not noticing.
Arthur crying himself to sleep in the sling minutes before we left

Susie's Leaning Tower of Chocolate for 2016 February
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