Take back your Turf Thursday- 5 ways to have a smoother bedtime

Let the battle begin!I don't know if it is the weather, the new baby or several things combined, but come an hour before bedtime my kids have been jumping off the walls.It usually ends in tears where someone gets hurt.I even eliminated TV and video games several hours before bed.We tried charts but they only work for a short while. I also used to do bath time before bed but they would splash and pretend to underwater sea dive so that my bathroom was a mess and they were wound up.No relaxing here!
What is a Mom to do?I can't lift or drag them to bed.
I don't want to be up till midnight,one or two!
Here are 5 weapons I use to train my troops. I am still in the process of perfecting them!
 What can I do with things1,2,3,and 4?

1-Make sure the kids get enough exercise during the day and no rough housing at night.
2-Stagger bedtime just 5 min or so
3-Quiet time an hour before bed.Let them choose activities.In our family they can color,do puzzles,write in journal or read.We do a lot of reading.Sometimes I can even get them to do yoga.
4-Have the kids say good night to their stuffed animal or dolls.Rowen likes to put his cars or big yellow truck to bed.
5-Lights out mean bed! No drinks,extra this or that.We are still working on this one!!My daughter is a master mind out of not going to bed.
That is not all.Don't give up there is much much more........
How did you like my tribute to Dr Suess?.Did you catch it? We have been doing a lot of fun activities to celebrate his birthday Saturday.Check out tomorrows post.

Letter J

Day 1
 J for jobs.We read Maybe you should fly a jet,maybe you should be a Vet by Dr Suess

After we read it we had some pretend play where they looked at the pictures and picked what they want to be when they grow up.
Lex was a Ballet teacher

Rowen chose to be a Vet and a Doctor.We used toilet paper to wrap their legs.

Nursery Rhyme:Jack and Jill
They were taking care of Jack and Jill who fell down the hill.


We have included the baby in our school adventure.Here he is enjoying tummy time.I try to do this at least 3 times a day.We were listening to classical music.Games:These first 2 weeks we have been playing copycat and making faces to see if he would copy it.When we brought him home we gave him a tour of the house and introduce the family.Mom,Dad,Brother,Sister and Baby.New born babies can't see very far,but they memorize your face.
 

Day 2
Number:8
Shape:Heart
Color:Pink

Fine motor-I gathered 8 jars and took off the lids and then the kids had to match them. 
 
Gross motor-The kids stacked them on top of each other and then they knocked it down.I Love when they use their imaginations! 

Take back your Turf

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks!This post is a little random.We are all still adjusting.I am a walking Zombie.My older kids are doing OK ,off and on.There is definitely some regressing happening.My 2 year old won't let anyone change his diapers.It has been great to have my parents here to help, though.The dishes and laundry are the biggest things to stay on top of.I still can't lift things or do housework.I never know how big of a mess my house will get really.It is is hard to be dependent on other people.

My little guy has decided to eat every hour from 6-10pm.I  looked it up and it  is called cluster feeding and this is new for me.I am on the couch for hours.I have snacks and drinks because I get so hungry!!!

It is important to do one on one time with the kids.What is 5 minutes?To them it can make all the difference! You can read to them,play cars,Legos or Barbies.There is no limit on the things you can do with your kids.Let them choose what they want to do..It reminds me of a story I am not sure where I heard it.It is about a little boy who asks his Dad how much he makes an hour.The Dad is a little puzzled but tells him how much he makes an hour.Then the son asks for half of that.The dad gets irritated and refuses.Later the Dad feels bad and gives his son what he asked for.The son excited pulls out a wad of cash of his own.The Dad starts to get mad wondering why he needed more money when he had some already.It added up to the amount his Dad made an hour.The boy then says "Dad can I buy an hour of your time?" It is kind of an eye opener for me what is really important.

I wanted to do something special for the kids before I went into the hospital.A few posts ago I mentioned about uses for socks .I made these cute little Angry birds by bundling socks inside one another and then cutting of the top and sealing it off with the felt.I got my patterns from makinglearningfun.com
Just go to themes and then to Angry birds. http://makinglearningfun.com/themepages/AngryBirds-FeltBoard.htm

I just cut out the patterns and traced them on the felt.Cut the felt and hot glued it to the sock.Pretty easy peasy!

Take back your Turf-10 ways to recover from a c-section and juggle kids,house work etc.

So our new little one has come to our Family.
Meet Declan.
We have been getting to know him this week and letting him get to know us.There has been a lot of adjusting to do. He was done by c-section so needless to say I have not been up to much but there are a few little tips I want to share for preparing for a baby and for after the surgery.You are going to have to let the house go!Hopefully you have a good support system to stay on top of laundry, and dishes I did as much cleaning before the baby.

Tip 1:I had mentioned that I did freezer meals ahead of time and they have been working out great! Even my husband was not keen on the idea until we were both tired and frazzled that we didn't want to cook.
Tip 2:I made several busy bags for the kids to do while I am nursing,so they don't feel left out.Things like play doh,paper with crayons and stickers.There were strings and straws for them to bead.For my youngest I had cars and for my oldest boy legos.My youngest ones also like to play with the mail so I grabbed a whole bunch of junk mail.You can find lots of ideas online.
Tip3Enlist in help.My parents flew in before the surgery and then more family will be here a few weeks after.It is important when recovering not to push yourself and you are only aloud to lift the baby.
Tip4:Stay on top of the pain.My Nurse was really good at that.I don"t like meds but they help so you don't hurt when you get around.
Tip 5:They called me super woman at the hospital because I kept wanting to get up.I just wanted to go home!The more you do the better you feel.I made sure I took something a half an hour before I would stand up.
Tip 6:Give as much one on one time with the kids and involve them with the baby as much as you can!Jealousy has its way of creeping in so this one is super important.Sometimes all I have to do is ask if they want to read and they get a book which I have near by us.Do a busy bag.Or I will have them give me a diaper or help burp the baby.
Tip 7:Sleep when your baby sleeps! This is true for vaginal deliver too!
Tip 8:Have all the stuff you need near by like food,drink,entertainment,diapers,wipes,change of clothes for you and the baby.
Tip 9:I like to exercise but since I can't I l like to do Kegel exercise to strengthen my pelvic muscles 5-10 times for a few minutes.This is squeezing the muscles tat stop you from urinating.  I also stretch and wiggle my legs and flex my feet.There is also gentle ab contractions you can do.When I do get up I don't go fa.But as the weeks pass I get up more frequently.
Tip 10: After a week I try to go outside so I don't get the blues.I walk to the neighbors house and back.The next time I may walk to the neighbors house on the left and then back to the neighbor on the right and home.I continue to increase my distance but I am never too far from home.

Letter I

Come with us and we will show you what there is in a peoples house.....

I love Dr Seuss books.This week we have been studying the letter I,the number 8 and the shape for the month is the heart.We read In a peoples house.


I am trying to introduce my toddler to more words and thought that this would be a good book to start with.He can start identifying words with pictures.I asked the kids what was in the living  room.We started writing things down and then we labeled things in the room.I would tell them the word and they would put it there.For example chair


Next we practiced writing the letter I.Ro used his salt tray which I added sprinkles to for color.
 
It looks like ice.


Then we did a little experiment to see if Epson salt and the sprinkles would dissolve in water.They made their guess and my little guy stirred it up to move the process along.It did dissolve and the water turned pink.I don't know if these pictures are the best to portray our little experiment.
BEFORE


AFTER

So you see there are people too,
 in a peoples house making experiments and growing too!

Fairy tale week Cont.F,G and H

We are still going with our Fairy Tale week.We worked on the letter G for Gingerbread man.I printed out a cute little story sequencing.It was perfect for Rowen and Lexi could fill in the blanks with the correct word. Here is the link for the sequencing activity @ first-school.ws
 
Go to fairy tales and then Gingerbread story.We also read the story of the little red Hen.H is for Hen.We talked about being helpful and how it isn't always easy to stop playing to help Mommy or to clean up.What child doesn't need that lesson repeated over and over right?
Lexi practiced her letters F,G and H.
 
We did some play d'oh fun with stamps.Lexi has a princess themed collection so it was perfect!I saw this idea @ http://playinghouseinmaryland.blogspot.com/
 



Lexi liked using the scissors

The kids made them into cookies


I love his pretend full mouth!

They each got there own Princess and Prince crown.We talked about the shapes and then they decorated their crown.Their play d'oh is a little mixed up and looking pretty gross.I need to get more colors. These pictures are courtesy of makinglearningfun.com


Here is a little print out I did with clip art to practice their numbers.# 5-7 are what we have been working on this month.


And they all lived happily educated ever after...