I've got evidence!

Remember how I told you that Tristan climbed that huge ladder at the playground? Well now I've got video evidence.

He's only 18.5 months old.

Our adventurous day

We're loving the location of our new house. We've got a huge library, a really nice Kroger, and two parks within walking distance! I feel like a whole new world has opened up for me and the kids! We've only got one car, so when Thad's at work we're normally stuck at home. There wasn't anything within walking distance of our old house, and we didn't even have a backyard that we could play in. Needless to say, we're pretty thrilled with our new spot!


Today we went to play at the elementary school's playground. It's a big playground for bigger kids. There were two playsets- the smaller one said it was for ages 5-12, and the bigger one didn't have an age listed. My three year old and 18 month old loved it though.


Hayden climbed on a jungle jym for the first time. She was nervous at first, but got the hang of it after the first time.

Tristan climbed up this ladder. By himself. With no help from me. I climbed up behind him of course, with a death grip on his little arm, but I didn't help him at all. I was terrified the whole time, trying to climb myself and stay steady enough that I was sure I could catch him if he slipped. He wasn't scared at all though- just completely focused on climbing up that ladder. 

You can see him there at the bottom for a little scale of just how high the ladder was. 

So after that, we quickly found something else to do. Mommy's blood pressure couldn't handle another climb like that. But I guess nervousness is just something that comes along with mommy-hood, because Tristan decided that he wanted to repeatedly run back and forth across one of those wobbly bridges. He also thought it would be great fun to stand in the middle and jump. And of course, the gap between the hand rails and the bridge was just big enough that he would have been able to fall through if he had slipped. More elevated stress levels for Mommy. 

Who knew the playground could be such a scary place? 

But the scariest thing of all was all the cracks in the super-dry ground. They were everywhere. This is Hayden next to the biggest one.

We really need rain!!!

I'm going crazy.

Well, not really. But kindof.


Our routine has been off for a couple of months now. I gave up on trying to fix it until after the move. We were driving back and forth between our old town and our new town at least once a week, usually two or three times a week. Both kids would fall asleep in the car, which meant that they'd then be up until 11 at night. Which then meant that Tristan would sleep in the next day, take a late nap and then be up late again. Hayden would still wake up early, but then be so tired that she'd take another nap, and then be up late again. It was a vicious, vicious cycle. And there was nothing I could do about it because we had to keep driving back and forth, and I couldn't possibly keep them awake in the car.


See what I mean?

(Yes, Tristan's in a pink car seat. Yes, Hayden's three and has a pacifier. Sue me.)


So, pretty much every day, Tristan sleeps in until 9/9:30, takes a nap around 1, and then doesn't go to bed until 10 or 11. Hayden gets up between 7 and 8, usually doesn't take a nap, and then goes to bed around 8. If she does have a nap, she'll stay up as late as Tristan. Since their schedules overlap like that, it means that from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed, I've got at least one kid awake at all times. I love my kids. I love playing with them, hanging out with them, and doing all that fun stuff. But I'm only human. I need a little time to myself. This blog has been suffering because it's just so hard to try to sit down and write when one of the kids is awake! I've been suffering because I rarely get a chance to truly relax! I need some me time, some down time, some keep my sanity time. Something's gotta change!


I had big plans for after the move. I've got a new routine all written up. It's so picture perfect- waking up times, meal times, playtimes, choretimes- and me time! But yeah- hasn't happened. On Monday we drove all the way back to our old town to spend Labor Day with the family. It was fun, but just reinforced our old sleep habits. I've been lazy and slept in a little myself too. Oops! Yesterday I took the kids out to the new library and the park, and we walked the whole way. I was thinking that for sure I'd be able to get both kids to bed by a decent hour after all that! But no- Tristan fell asleep in the stroller on the walk home. He was up until 10:30 last night.


Now I'm trying to figure out the best plan of attack. Tristan's sleep cycle needs to be pushed back about 2-3 hours. I'm not sure which would be better- to just go cold turkey, and just wake him up early one morning and stick with the new routine? Or would slowly moving waketime and bedtime back, say 15-30 minutes every day, work better?

Something has to change though. It's 10:30 right  now as I'm writing this, and Tristan's still asleep!!! He's never slept in this late before. I'm definitely not giving him a nap today, or he'll be up all night!


So what do you think would work better- cold turkey or gradual shift?