Thursday, July 16, 2009

RC Cola and Candy

If there is ever a time that my brain is not functioning well, it is now.
Rachel Claire is killing my energy. Her and the half gallon of Vanilla Bean ice cream and the almost entire bag of chocolate dipped caramels that I ate this week. And the several handfuls of chocolate chips. Oh, I forgot to mention the bag of chewy Starburst candy that I finished off last night.

Did I say that my jeans didn't fit well this morning? Or yesterday morning for that matter.

I have been binging so badly the past few weeks. I usually do not keep candy in the house except for a bag of Jolly Rancher hard candy that has been in the pantry for about 6 months and every 2-3 months one of us will be desperate for sugar and will remember that it is there and go get a piece. Why do I get in these slumps? I still have the rest of the caramels and a bag of Recee's Pieces and last night Jason wanted me to make a Chocolate Pudding cake and I did so now there is that temptation sitting on top of the stove.

So you probably can't tell because I have rambled about both topics and not in a good order but there are two topics that I am going to address in this post.

Rachel Claire
Healthiness

To begin, we will discuss this awful habit that Rachel Claire is developing. She goes to sleep at 8pm (respectively) and she doesn't take a nap so she usually falls asleep rather quickly. It used to be WWIII every night but now she just listens to the music until she falls asleep. Then eventually Jason and I go to bed. Crickets chirp. On occasion, a snake will wander into our house. You know, the usual nighttime activity.

Then the fun begins. Around 2am Rachel Claire wakes up and I go get in her bed. I only lie there for about 5 minutes because she goes right back to sleep and then I get up and go into my bed. And we do this routine every ten minutes until I get sick of getting up and down and I just stay in her bed. Last night I asked Jason to go because I never get to sleep in my own bed. So he did and he said that she yelled out in her sleep all night and kept waking up to see if he was still there and then around 5:15 he went to the couch (Because Elaina had gotten in bed with me. I asked her this morning why and she said that she thought there was a snake in the crack between her bed and the wall. I lied and told her that snakes don't come in people's houses. Does that make me a bad person?)
So at 5:30 this morning when Rachel Claire was once again awake, Jason lost it and I told him to go to bed and I would take a turn. This time she was very upset because she wanted to get in our bed because we had two fans in our room. Apparently I have passed on the love of the nighttime fan blowing. I finally got her to calm down and understand that we were not going to my room we were going to stay in her room. I have no idea what time she actually fell asleep but it was so bright outside that Claire said, "Hey! Somebody turned the light on out there!"

Why, I repeat why does she wake up so much in the night? Why doesn't she get/need a good night of solid sleep? Did any of you out there have children that did this? What did you do about it?
Our pediatrician told us to make waking up in the night not a pleasant experience but that girl is the loudest person I have ever known and it doesn't ever seem worth waking up the other two girls. Also, she cries because she doesn't want to be alone and that is the type of thing that really tugs at my heart and I have a hard time arguing that she should be all alone.
*sigh*

Ok. On to the next topic.
SUGAR!!!
What has gotten in to me? I am back to drinking Dr. Pepper whenever it is available and I have been keeping candy in the house.
It's time for a change. Today two of my nieces are coming over and we are going to make Rice Krispie Treats so after that... NO MORE JUNK FOOD!!!!!

These are my New Resolutions for the rest of the year and you must keep me accountable. I think I will take it a month at a time. I will post what I want to accomplish and then post what actually took place.
Ready?

  1. No more junk food/candy in the house.
  2. Water. Only Water
  3. Try to cook at least 5 meals a week for my family. Good meals with lots of veggie and fruit variety.
  4. Exercise at least twice a week. This may not seems like a lot but we will start with baby steps. It makes it more likely to be accomplished and that will encourage me to accomplish more next month.

That's all I'm going to start with this month. If it goes well I might start being more specific with things like how many inches I want to loose around the middle, etc... Aren't you so excited??

14 comments:

nanny said...

Y'all spent many many nights in my bed just so we could all get enough sleep. You grew out of it though. I don't think your Dad liked sharing his bed, but being mom, I would give him a don't argue with me look and put you in bed with us. No, really, I don't think he minded cause he wanted his sleep too. (He will probably have a different view point on this)

nanny said...

I guess I shouldn't have brought you and the girls ice cream and Dp yesterday!!!

Rebekah Sacran said...

That DP is what was right about my world yesterday.

Debbi said...

Our boys did this and we never got nervous about it. We understood that life is hard, no matter what age yu are and little people need to feel secure.
We just made it plain they were welcome to come into our bed.(the 2 bigger boys didn't come as much)
I think knowing they could...made them relax and they chose their own beds?
I think anxiety of feeling you need to feel safe/but you will get in trouble...makes for waking up and fretting? I might be wrong?
Enjoy it, it doesn't last.
just let them pile in with you. If the bed gets too full, ya'll go get into their bed:)
We played musical beds always.
Later, they'd bring a pillow and just lay on our floor and we'd find them the next morning.
Tommy slept with us FOREVER and it is now some of our sweetest memories.
Claire is a middle child of 3 who are stairstep in age. Let her feel a special place with ya'll.
She'll quit before she turns 30!ha.
Love you. When you and Jason stop getting nervous with it...it will fix itself:)

Rebekah Sacran said...

Well, our bed is a full so it makes the whole sleeping together thing not so workable.

Debbi said...

ours was too back then. We'd just get up and go to their bed.ha. Lay on top of her and she'll get up and go back to her bed!ha. We did that alot. We'd just squish them!ha.

How'd Eily do last night?

Melanie said...

Do you want me to say what I think and what I do? If you don't want to hear this, erase now!!! :-)

I wanted to tell you a couple of things...sounds like Rachel Claire is using a #1 excuse on you...she doesn't want to be alone. Well, she is not alone and maybe she is old enough to understand that God is always watching over her and that because of that, she is never alone.

As far as the kids sleeping in your bed and you sleeping in hers, the best way for this not to happen is to never let it start. I know, I know, a lot of good that does right now, right? Maybe this will help with Eily???

My friend has a little girl who is almost three and she was having the same problem of waking up on and off through the night and being hysterical almost all of those times. She talked to her Dr about it and he told her that she sounds "OVERtired". Not knowing what he meant, she inquired further and he said that she still needs a nap during the day for an hour or two, then when she winds down at night, her body clock would reset and help her sleep through the night. All I know is that if Josiah doesn't get his 2 1/2-3 1/2 hour nap EVERY afternoon, he is bouincing off the walls when it is time to go to bed and a lot of crying and disciplining goes on.

Sorry, you may not have wanted to hear all of this...hope things get better...maybe she needs Eily's passy??? :-) J/K!!!

Rebekah Sacran said...

I want everyone's opinion. Melanie, I have had those thought rolling around in my head so it was nice to have someone else "say" them out loud to me.

I have heard other people say the same thing about being over tired but if we let her take even a 10 minute nap, she is up in her room, talking to herself and reading books (without permission) until 10or 11 at night. I don't know what to think about naps with her. Elaina quit napping early too but she has always slept through the night with no problems.
I'll keep everyone updated on the Claire saga.


Bring on the help!!!

nanny said...

I wonder, don't have a clue though, since Claire goes to sleep listening to music, if there was some way to keep it on all night. That way if she wakes up, she hears the sounds she is use to hearing when she goes to sleep and maybe that would relax her. Like I said, I don't know!!!

Chad & Bonny Day said...

Wow, That would be so hard. I thought about u last night Owen kept waking up every five minutes, crying, andsaying, "I'm Sceered!" I'm Sceered!" He does that all the time now, and I was just thinking how I don't think I'd be able to handle what u and Jason are going through!! I have no advice to give, b/c i've never dealed with this, but my Mom probably has and I will ask her for u!!

Debbi said...

Moma never let us in her bed and I'm 52yrs old and I still remember waking up and feeling scared from bad dream or whatever and sneaking and sitting at their floor and staring at them wishing they would wake up.

I didn't want my kids to feel that way. So, I didnt care.
They turned out very secure???

i guess it's just your call???
I like the talk about reminding Claire God is with her.
Also, read a bible story and let them each sing a church song and then go to sleep with "peace" and calm???? I did that too.
Do you think the music or stories might be over stimulating her mind as she goes to sleep?
God Bless. I'm praying for you. I know you are frustrated and tired.

Rebekah Sacran said...

I know that as a general rule as a kid I didn't just crawl in with mom and dad just because it was cosy, which it was! But I also knew that if I was scared I could go to them. I do remember sleeping with mom when daddy was away on trips a lot. I felt like she might need the company (she probably didn't) and I liked that Dad's pillow smelled like him.
But I remeber that my bed was my bed and their bed was their bed and on a normal night we stayed in them. Plus, I could read utnil midnight without them knowing in my bed. :)

Last night I told Claire that I was not going to get in her bed and that she needed to go back to sleep. She hollered for a few minutes but then went right back to sleep and didn't call out the rest of the night.

Rebekah Sacran said...

cozy

Melanie Hodges said...

Oh, yeah, I also meant to say...it is real easy to give advice to others on issues they have not had. Praise the Lord Josiah and Bethany have NEVER given me issues at night about going to sleep. UJsually once about 7:30 rolls around, Josiah is begging for some milk so he can go to bed! Bethany has slept through the night since day one. So, it is real easy to say to someone else, try this or that, when you also are not the one going through it. I did have about three nights a month or so ago, after Josiah learned the word "scary" and he would cry and cry and tell me: "It's not scary"... every time it was bed time. Finally I gave him a little seahorse that lights up on the belly and plays classical music when you squeeze it. It has become his night light...maybe Rachel Claire would like something like that! I have been thinking about you and praying for your little family today!!!