No more pity parties

Yesterday was not my best day. I can't really complain, cause it definitely got better as it went along...

For Mother's Day I got a "coupon" for $100 of spa services. Of course, I told Jason I would have been more than happy with a clean kitchen and a back rub. He said that I could have all of those things, so last night he set to doing the dishes. I am thrilled. I was thrilled when I went to bed and was thrilled all over again when I woke up. As if that wasn't enough, Jason got on a cleaning/doing kick and cut the grass, cleaned the bathroom and hung up a good bit of his clothes. While he was hanging up his clothes he asked, "Do I do any housework?" That in itself told me that he was acknowledging all that I do (all by myself). All of these combined made for a terrific belated Mother's Day present!

We are working on routines this week in my family. The budget, the bedtime, and the housework routines. It's alot to tackle, so this may flow into next week as well. Bedtime routine went really well. M had really gotten off here (as had we). She was going to bed too late. She was waking in the middle of the night just to be rocked. She was waking up super early ready to get up. I was getting worried.

I began by waking her yesterday at 7:45 am (today at 7:30). My goal was to get her to sleep for naptime around 12:30 or 1pm. She was down around 12:45 yesterday and 1:30 today (since we had a big play date). Then I didn't want her to sleep much more than 2 hours. I woke her after 2 and a half. It's been 2 hours today and she's still asleep. We bathed her sooner after dinner because we noticed that the bath seemed to hype her up. Then we watched a sleepytime video and colored in the dimly lit living room. When the video was over we put on her pj's and read some books (everything was so out of whack from our old "routine" that I forgot to give her medicine or brush her teeth, so we'll try that tonight). We've instated a night light because M is now scared of the dark. It's an angel watching over some children. Her Nani let her borrow it, but last night she seemed to be a little afraid of the angel, so we'll see how long it lasts. We've also introduced a little lullaby music in there which she seems to really like.

Between all of these things, M was so tired she didn't even bother to play with her toys after I put her in the bed. She only whimpered for 10 seconds after I left as opposed to 5-7 minutes of screaming! I did leave the music playing, which I later read I shouldn't do, but she didn't wake up during the night at all and this morn I woke her at 7:30am. I'm hoping this new routine thing helps.

Now, Jason and I are going to take a night this week to plan out and type up a household routine. I'm hoping to find an example over at copper's wife because she is extremely organized and remembers to do and clean things that I completely forget. Any suggestions or good websites would help this greatly.

We are going to work on our budget (again) since summer is here. There will be no Mother's Day Out, and his company is finally picking up the insurance bill, so we won't have to pay for that out of our own pockets anymore. That's not just saving us our monthly hundred and whatever, but all the out of pocket meds and such that we have been stuck with since January! Hallelujah! But now to SAVE!

I'll post some pics and such from our fun play date later today or maybe tomorrow!