We had my 14-year old sister, Kimmy, with us on Sunday as we drove from Las Vegas to St. George. I don't know what brought it on, but at some point during the drive, Allie announced, "Kimmy's not being fun!"
We all had a good laugh at that one, because shouldn't every 14-year old aunt be nothing but fun? It got me thinking though. As the oldest child, I never had nieces or nephews who thought I was nothing but fun, but I like to think there was a time when I was like that.
Not so anymore. We like to put our kids to bed early (Kyla at 7:00, Allie at 7:30, Damon at 8:00). Nothing crazy like Dr. Weissbluth, but we like to have quiet time with no kids every night. The ideal night for me would be dinner between 5:30 and 6:00, giving us enough time to get cleaned up, have baths, scriptures and stories before 7:00 when Kyla goes to bed (or at least by 7:30 when it's Allie's turn). When we get started later, everything gets rushed (and scripture reading goes out the window), and I am not a fan of that.
I would like to say that we do it for the well-being of our children, because getting to bed earlier ensures they get more sleep. That is true, and they do seem to be happier when they go to be early (they still get up between 7 and 8, so it's not like they're getting us up at the crack of dawn or anything), but the real reason we do it is for our own sanity. During Thanksgiving vacation, the kids rarely went to bed before 10:00, and still got up early. Jeff and I thought we would go crazy. We were with the kids ALL THE TIME and never seemed to get any kind of break. I know it was vacation and they were having fun with cousins, but it was getting really old by the time we left. It's been so nice (and quiet) to get back to our schedule.
Which has led me to realize that I'm not fun anymore. How could I be? I look forward to early bedtimes just to be rid of my kids. If we have a family activity that doesn't start until 6:30, it gets on my nerves, as I know my night is going to be upset. I try to remind myself that I am justified; I spend all day reasoning with an unreasonable 3-year old, and answering questions like, "who is Jessica Simps" (four times yesterday), feeding and cleaning up after three messy, apparently helpless children and changing some of the smelliest diapers imaginable. Who wouldn't be ready to take a break from all that by 7:00-8:00 each night?
So, it is without much hesitation that I announce, "MOM'S NOT BEING FUN!" Dang right. Mom is trying to stay sane.
13 comments:
Sure you are fun... you are just taking care of yourself, your sanity and your kids well being!
Amen, I'm not fun anymore either. I'll leave it to the younger aunts and uncles.
Ohhh Im soooo fun.
:)
I think these same things. And I've come to the conclusion that....I just don't care to be "fun". By 7:30 if the kids aren't bathed and ready for bed, I too get ornery!!! By that time, I'm ready to spend some alone time with Dan. And I think it's perfectly ok!!
I'm not fun either and I think I don't care.
I am with you on the early bedtime. I have a couple friend and my SIL who keep their kids up late, so they will sleep in. I would MUCH rather have my son go down early and get up early. Nathan goes down between 7 and 8 PM and gets up between 6 and 7 in the morning. I LOVE IT! I will for continue this and I will just start to accept that "I'm not fun!" haha :)
Well I think you're tons of fun! Especially at Time Out For Women when you were doing your nacho libre impressions! And you're always the life of our book clubs and Girls Night Out! I can't wait for you guys to come and visit in July!
And LOL about Ally asking who Jessica Simp was! She loves those pop songs!
I know EXACTLY what you mean (and I only have 2 kids)! Now that we have a newborn again and I don't have my evenings totally free starting at 8 I am not quite as "fun" as I used to be. I am definitely enjoying our new little one but it will be nice when she is a little more scheduled and bed time is a little earlier for her.
Do you want me to babysit again sometime?...because I totally will. Take a whole day for yourself. I'll come down. I don't get to play with my nieces anymore, because I live far away now :(
I hear you on that one! I think it is just the way things go! :) What darling kids though and I love your blog!
Um, I'm ready for a break! Too bad it's only 1:30.
Hey! Im so glad thst you guys are boggers! Your kiddos are SO adorable! I had forgotten that you were from St George...we love it here! We actually live out by Sand Hallow Reservoir so we are kind of in the sticks. Pam Dana lives by us though so it was funny to see that you guys know her too.
I can REALLY relate to your Pregnancy issues post. We have had all sorts of things we didnt plan on and our family size had shrunk from wanting 6 to knowing this probably will have to be out last at 3. Your journal style entry could have come straight from my journal a little over a year ago when I had an ectopic pregnancy. It was not fun!
We will send you an invite to our blog but I only have Jeffs e-mail address and you look like you are the blogger in the family. If there is a better e-mail address for me to send an invite to just let me know.
Did I tell you how cute your kids are yet...because they are!
Love the declaration :) I'm sure you're still fun, just not in the stay-up-till-the-wee-hours-of-the-night kind of fun. I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and totally was going to put beck down early. I've never actually done it though because if we put him down at 9:30, he sleeps till 10:30. If we put him down at 10, he'll sleep till 11. He just sleeps 12 hours or more from when we put him down. So, for now, when Kane and I are still night owls, we'll leave it how it is.
That's how drex and laura are though (kids TO BED by 6:15-7:30pm). I'm pretty sure our schedule stresses them out, and it makes it hard to plan things together- we're always too late for them, and they're always too early for us.
Maybe when we don't have a kid that sleeps in so late we'll get on a more normal schedule. . .
Thanks for letting us have Jeff this weekend. The guys sounded great tonight!
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