OK, I have a confession to make. I’m addicted to Romantic Mysteries. Yes, I know, this is sadly pathetic but I can’t help myself. I found them from a blind recommendation and I’m horribly horribly addicted. I’m desperately blogging right now to keep myself off of Powell’s or Amazon where I’m sure I’d order the whole series in a flash. In the last few days I’ve read three in a row and I don’t have another and I’m going crazy. These darn kids keep falling asleep on me so I can’t get to a bookstore to buy more and if I order them online that will take, like, days to get here and that’s too long ’cause I need more….more I tell you!

Deep breath.

My house is a mess, Leina’s watched like 100 hours of tv in a row and poor Kulia. I have no idea what Kulia has been up to. Every time she fusses up I throw another candy wrapper at her. I think she’s injested a dozen or so but it keeps her quiet which mean I can read!

No, won’t tell you who the author is ’cause then you might go and read the back cover and email me taunting comments about my taste in literature. But they are such fun! The main characters are flawed women who are divorced or chubby or wear glasses and have frizzy hair. And yet, these ladies manage to land the hottest guys because who they are on the inside makes them irresistable on the outside. Yeah, I know. True fiction. I have yet to met a man who can find a woman beautiful based solely on who she is. Except for my wonderful husband! Err, yeah, of course, Kev isn’t lumped in with the rest! No! Never!

Ahem. Anyway, I think I’m ok. I’ve wasted enough time and Leina is now up so I can’t order anything online. However, it is only 3:45 so I could throw both McNuggets into the car and head for the mall and get back before Kevin gets home and then I’d have another book to read tonight. Hmmmm. Possibilites.

Oh, someone, please help me. I’ve fallen into a new author and can’t get up!

I agree with Dan and Suzy. It

Halloween has come and gone at the McLaughlin household and I still think any holiday where you get to dress your children in crazy clothes and give them candy is the best holiday of all

I knew I never should have blogged about their great sleep habits. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. In fact, after reading the last entry Kevin burst into our room screaming “what have you done you fool of a Took!” See, even he knew that I was tempting fate. And boy, She wasn’t so happy with the taunting. You see, I had forgotten one minor detail.

The time change.

Oh, the evil, evil people who decided to randomly play with Father Time. They have cursed this household. If I hear one more person blather on about how nice it is to have an extra hour of sleep in the morning I will commit a tort upon their morning sleeping body.

There is no sleep in this house now. None.

I had made such progress with Kulia. She was waking regularly once between 3-5am and then sleeping through to 7am. Leina didn’t peep up until after 6:30am like a champ. And now?

Well, lets see. Kulia woke up at 2am & 4:30am. Every time I put her in the crib she’d look at me like, “um, mom, rise and shine ’cause I ain’t going back down!” She wasn’t kidding and her crying woke Leina so we had both kids wide eyed and bushy tailed by 5am. 5am! Ack. This morning was the same. 2am booby call with a rise and shine at 5am. Repeat, 5am. I actually started crying in the Safeway parking lot this morning at 9am when both kids decided they were tired and started wailing together. Thankfully, it was raining buckets and no one could see into the car so I just cut loose. I then proceeded home where I raided Leina’s Halloween candy for a sugar rush and keep feeding it until Kevin arrived home for lunch. Thank goodness for Halloween.

Leina and Kulia are sharing very nicely. Leina eats the candy and Kulia eats the wrapper. I think I”m going to have to list Tootsie Roll wrapper as Kulia’s first solid food in her baby book ’cause I think she chomped one up this afternoon. Sigh.

My only hope is that the candy will last until I get them adjusted to this new time. Because right now, I”m running on sugar baby. Pure sugar!

I’m almost afraid to write this for fear of jinxing myself but lately, Kevin and I have been in an idyllic stage with the girls. You see, they both have figured out how to go to sleep at night. A little thing, I know, but oh so important.

We have an established bedtime routine. Bath at 6:30 for both girls. Kulia is nursed and put to sleep around 7pm. She’s such a trooper now that I can lay her down awake or asleep and know she will settle herself in her own crib. Halleluya!

Leina, meanwhile, heads downstairs with Kevin where she is allowed one TV show while Kevin tackles the kitchen. This keeps her quiet during Kulia’s nursing which works very well. After her show, Kevin plays quietly or reads to her until 8pm. At 8pm, I come downstairs to read the last two books then it’s upstairs for tucking in no later than 8:15pm. Leina may talk quietly for a while but she always settles quickly into a nice long slumber.

And so, by 8:30, Kevin and I both are done for the day. With the kids anyway. We still have household duties and the dog to take care of but no longer do we hold our breath and watch the baby monitor. We don’t tiptoe around the house or watch the TV on mute for fear of waking a child. No, our girls are night time sleep champs and it’s so heavenly to be able to unwind knowing that our sweet babies are slumbering happily upstairs.

Of course, tonight they will probably wail for hours just to make me eat my words! But man, I sure love my great night sleepers.

Kulia is trying to crawl.

I watched her in her crib today as she pulled her legs up under her and then tried pushing up on her arms. I was flabbergasted and kept telling her “you’re only four months old! You don’t need to crawl yet!” But she doesn’t listen to me and insists on practicing this new trick.

While we were in San Diego she mastered sitting, Yes, that’s right. In four days she went from floppy baby to able to sit on her own. I thought that was amazing until she busted out with this whole crawling bit. I mean, come on kid. Give me a break! Can’t you stay a baby for a little longer?!?!

I guess not. I’m sure that by this afternoon she’s be fully mobile. With my luck I’ll probably find her standing in her crib after her afternoon nap. Trying to crawl at four months. That’s crazy I tell you! Crazy!