Night Light, good idea or not?

Some days you get worse sleep than others. One would hardly believe that my lack of sleep is all due to a little train shaped night light, but that is the cause for my sleepless night. The purchase of the night light and the return of daddy coincided, making mom and dad think that Matthew was waking up because he was excited to have daddy home. It took me over a week to determine that the waking up had to do with the night light.

Matthew doesn't sleep soundly by any means. He tosses and turns, moves, and wiggles all night long. When I first shared a bed with him I was surprised he got any sleep at all. It didn't take me long to learn the trick many parents have learned... DARK curtains. I put up a blanket over the window and all of a sudden the 45 minute naps became 2 hours. And waking up in the middle of the night crying and screaming stopped.

My theory for this is that Matthew wakes up during the night or nap. If it is dark he just rolls over and falls back to sleep. If it is light out, he thinks it's time to get up.

So... what about the night light? It's cute, it's shaped like a train, you'd think it would give him comfort during the night. Over the past few weeks, I wake up multiple times during the night. (my room is next to his) Sometimes I get him water, give him a hug, assure him that there are no monsters, but then there was a streak that I put him to bed a few nights in a row. Amazingly he slept through the night without waking up. Granted my story reading and song singing is amazing ;) but it wasn't until one night of waking up every hour and finally out of frustration I unplugged the night light, and he slept the rest of the night that I figured this out. After that I would try to remember to go into his room and unplug the nightlight before I went to bed. But there are nights, like last night when I forget. Waking up hour after hour I was too asleep to remember the night light. Finally around 4am I went into a screaming Matthew and unplugged the nightlight.

For whatever reason his crying that usually only wakes up me, woke up mommy this time. She came in, and when I followed and told her that he was crying because he wanted the night light back.... SHE PLUGGED IT BACK IN! Even after explaining that he would wake up and scream again until I went in later and unplugged it. BUT mommy went off to sleep, and I woke up 20 minutes later to Matthew screaming again. The nightlight is now unplugged and hidden, at least until Matthew's mommy reads the blog or asks about it and I give it back. But I hope I get a few good nights of sleep in between now and then. I personally, am now AGAINST night lights!

Introducing the Nanny Kids

Talk to any nanny you know, and there are bound to be stories. Not just stories reminiscent of the "Nanny Diaries" dealing with nightmare parents, children, and situations, but daily trials, tribulations and overall humor from the encounters with the children they watch. After working for 3 different families I have many stories, and many more come everyday.

I've never kept up with a blog, but sometimes the things that happen on a normal day are just too fun to keep to myself. So we'll see how this goes, maybe my day will bring a smile to yours.

First meet the kids I take care of:
Matthew - Two years old, turning three in a few days. He loves trains, running, cars, screaming, trucks, running, jumping, screaming, books, running, machines, screaming, Thomas, running, Polar Express, screaming, Lightning McQueen, oh and did I mention running and screaming? ;)
He is a bundle of energy, of which could wear you out in a matter of minutes. We are in the middle of "potty training" and the transition between screaming and asking for what you want.





Ian - 4 months old
Opposite his brother Ian is a calm, happy, relaxed baby. He is just starting to play with more toys, roll over, eat cereal, and have stinkier diapers. His personality is starting to emerge, and while crying used to indicate sleepy or hungry, it now means all kinds of things like "play with me!", "i want to move!", and other less obvious things.









Today:
I may have waited a little too long to start writing about our day, it is the time of day when I am tired, should probably be going to bed, but this is my quiet time. When everyone is in bed, I have full control of the tv remote, and there are no screaming children. Unfortunately it is also the time of day when I look around the room and sigh... dirty dishes and bottles, toys scattered around the room, Kleenex's from my recent cold, Christmas presents that still need put away... and I debate between cleaning, and just leaving it for tomorrow. Usually I find some happy medium, or get tired enough to not care.

Every Monday the goal is to return to the "schedule." The weekends are usually a mess, from naps in the car, to toys left about, to sugar highs, or other unusual activities. As many people, not only nannies will tell you... the "schedule" is sometimes what keeps you alive. If the kids get fed when they are supposed to, and played with enough, you can attain the scheduled naps! For me this means, if Ian gets up and fed at the right time, he will take a guaranteed 1.5 hour morning nap. For Matthew it means 1.5 hours of my undivided attention, without a baby to entertain, feed, etc. He usually has a better day with this because he isn't getting pushed into second place by his more demanding little brother. Without this time though... Matthew is crankier, Ian is crankier... I am CRANKIER. If the schedule continues as planned, the afternoon nap is the best! Matthew will sleep over 2 hours, and Ian just about 2 hours. Imagine! TWO full hours of quiet, this means time to catch up on things like cleaning, laundry, reading, bills, or even better... a NAP! You can see why not having the schedule causes more stress for all of us.

Now because of the late hour, I will end this post for now.

BUT! Stay tuned for adventures with Matthew and Ian, as tomorrow we are heading to the library!