Thursday, May 24, 2007

Is it summer yet?

I am so ready for summer. Things are so busy I can't keep up. I am working 5 nights a week which is going really well but not leaving much time for anything else. I am feeling a little embarrassed about the condition of my house right now but what can I do? Carl is working as much overtime as possible and still waiting to hear back about the job in the North West Territories. The kids are doing great. It is so nice to be able to spend so much time outside now, but again not great for the house work issue. I have got to say of I didn't have Christine I wouldn't know what I was doing. Not only does she take the kids whenever I ask her to, she also knows my schedule better than I do. I get confused and she straightens me out! Thanks Christine, I know I write that a lot but I really mean it, you save my sanity!
I left my camera at school the other day so I have no pictures to post. When I get it back I will definitely post some cute pics I have of Carl volunteering in Xavier's class yesterday. What a guy. He took the day off work to help out in the kindergarten class. I said I would go in with him but he didn't want me to, he wanted to do it on his own. And now like me he has a much greater appreciation for our kids!
I get a lot of questions these days about how I "Do It" with all these kids. Everyone wants to know the secret to having well behaved kids and a baby that rarely cries and sleeps through the night now at 6 weeks. I find I never have anything really wise or profound to say leaving me looking a little bit retarded or maybe just snotty. I have been thinking a lot about why Calleigh is so good and here is what I have come up with. I guess these are my 'secrets'...
Swaddling is my number one secret. I have swaddled Calleigh since she was born and I tell you it works like a charm. A lot of people say their babies don't like to be swaddled but if you do it from day one they love it. Swaddling is not loosely wrapping them in a blanket and laying them down. It has to be almost too tight so their little arms can not escape. On that same note I have found babies like to be warmer than people think so I swaddle Calleigh in a pretty warm blanket and she sleeps at least 7 hours at night before waking up for a little snack and sleeping for another 3 hours. I am also a big believer in soothers. Some babies like Calleigh love to suck. She would eat all day and all night if she could but she gets really full and I end up wearing half of what she has eaten. The soother is great for when she is full and swaddled and ready for bed. I put her in bed when she is still awake and she falls asleep on her own. This is for when she is older it will be a lot easier to get her to sleep every night on her own. Last but not least, I put Calleigh down a lot. Calleigh spends a lot of time laying on the couch or bed or in a basket of clean laundry. Things are so busy around here there is not much time to hold her. As nice as it is to cuddle with babies I think mine are so easy going because I made an effort to not hold them all the time. Well as lame as that was, there are my secrets. As for the well behaved older kids, I haven't really figured that one out yet...

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