Mavis is now up to 8 teeth and walking around the house like a champ. Her personality is really coming out now to. It is amazing to see the way she interacts with her siblings. But all these developmental milestones don’t come without the price of sleepless nights.

I have been meaning to make an effort to get to bed early. I have read in several sources that a good morning starts with a good night the night before and that you really need to go to bed early enough to wake up when you want to to accomplish you tasks. I wasn’t doing that. I was blaming staying up late on the children not sleeping early and Proeun geting home late and anything but me.

Yesterday at nap time I was exhausted. I had had another late night, slept in in the morning and scrambled to get my morning tasks down. Lunch was late we were rushing and yelling at the children to get ready trying to take Proeun to work on time and then it was nap time, finally some relief. Only the children weren’t ready and I lost it. Yes an adult sized temper tantrum complete with yelling and stomping around the house and pouting.

Then I decided this couldn’t go on. Proeun’s schedule is what it is. He may be a night person but I am not and I cannot be the mom I want to be without sleep. So I decided we needed to be proactive. Here and the steps I decided on.

1. Turn off the TV no later then 7:00. Have dinner with the children. Then bath and story BEFORE picking up Proeun around 9:00.
2. When Proeun gets home have some concentrated family time for 15-30 minutes.
3. Children to bed by 9:30.
4. An hour of wind down time with Proeun and bed for me no later then 11:00.

Last night we tried it. I explained to the children why we were changing things up and asked for their help. They did wonderfully and were very cooperative. Proeun was supportive and agreed to no TV while we were having our wind down time. And I was in bed by 11:00. I was still up a lot last night but I actually felt rested this morning when we woke up. We had family worship and went over the schedule for the day before the TV came on. I hope this success continues but for now I am encouraged.