Fitness Eff-Up

The boys in their pj's playing inside Buddha's new dresser

I'm not the type to complain a lot, and I'm not really even complaining now. This week has been a mixed bag, and I fell short of some of my typical goals. I have been eating really well, despite a few pieces of See's candy from that darling heart-shaped box I got on Monday. A lot of vegetables of all different colors, hardly any meat, and no processed food. It's my blogging and exercise that sucked. I was good about running Saturday and  Sunday, but Monday my running buddy "called in sick". We already were not scheduled to run Tuesday, so I planned to get up early anyway and do Body by Bethenny. And I did, sort of.

Pottery Barn pattern for Buddha's "surf" themed room

Let me rewind a bit. I am starting to rethink putting Buddha in a bed so soon, at 28 months. He did so well in his crib, he absolutely loved it. I don't know why I was in such a hurry to get him in a big boy bed. He doesn't want to stay in it at bed time unless I lay with him until he falls asleep. Which isn't so bad, except Mama needs "me time" and wants to put him down and walk out so I can blog and watch TV. I sound horrible, but its true. Sometimes it takes him about 45 minutes for him to go out. Before, he'd just amuse himself in his crib on his own until he fell asleep and I was so proud of his independence and ability to self-soothe. Now, I sort of feel like a prisoner who's night is pretty much over when its time for the kids to go to bed.

Even my morning work outs for me now are at risk. The Buddha is waking up sometimes a little before 6 a.m, which is when I leave for running. So far, and its been a miracle, he hasn't woken up that early on my running days. If he's telepathic and he gets it, then I'm going to encourage that. But on my other days when I am not running but working out at home, he is waking up before I even have a chance to make any noise or even start my DVD. That kind of telepathy I do not support. For whatever reason, this darling, sweet, cherubic love of mine does NOT like me to do yoga. He looks downstairs and sees me on that mat and he starts to scream.

"WAIT MOMMY!!" he wails.

I don't know what I am supposed to wait for. He lays down on the ground and writhes around like he is in pain. Yesterday, I was 20 minutes into a 40 minute work out and I was totally irritated. Since Chip works nights I have to keep the kids quiet. Monkey was awake too, but he is a total Mommy Yoga Supporter. He even goes to the closet where I get my mat, takes it out and unrolls it for me. I love it.

This work out is excellent for my hamstrings and counterbalances my running

I made do, pausing the DVD to put the TV on in their playroom which mostly worked. I managed to finish the work out although I think I might have missed part of a sequence on one side of my body but oh well. I planned to do the same thing this morning but was a complete YOGA FAIL. I had even tried asking the Bude if he wanted to sleep in his crib last night.

"NO! Sleep."

He promptly hugged his bear and fell over onto his pillow pet with a huge smile on his face. Did he fall asleep right away? No. Did I? Of  course. At some point I made it out to watch TV with my hubby who had actually stayed home sick. Naturally, both kids got up early this morning. It was a school day and before I started it was too late for me to work out and still be ready in time.

I'm not going to give up, I am planning to try the DVD again tomorrow. I think Buddha likes his bed and it might be too late to go back to the crib. I just have to be patient, and know that eventually he will get the hang of this. I also need to give a shout out to my man, who I know will still encourage me to run in the morning, even if it means dealing with Buddha if he wakes up before I get back.  And, there's always velcro. Just kidding.

Hope you all are having a fabulous week so far...we are on the downside...2 days until the weekend!

Crib To Bed - Selfish Thoughts

So today we went to IKEA as a family to pick up our Buddha's new bedroom set. I know a lot of kids go from crib to toddler bed, but our family skips that step. Maybe its because we're too cheap, we don't have much free time to spend shopping, or that the toddler bed phase is SO incredibly short (probably some combo of all of the above) but we go straight from crib to the whole shebang. My boys are tall for their age, and are going to grow rapidly taller so we don't even bother with a twin bed. Straight to full size we go. It wouldn't surprise me if by the time they are 15 they are going to need queen size. So might as well start getting our money's worth now....

I will definitely post pictures when its all done, but you know IKEA, I've got to wait for Chip to finish assembling everything. But the reason for my post is not to talk about the cute stuff we bought today but about my concerns regarding the transition from crib to bed.

During Monkey's Short Stint in his Crib

Both of my kids have always been pretty good sleepers - Monkey did a lot of co-sleeping but not the Buddha. From the get-go, he made his crib his own special little place and slept through the night, and napping religiously at the designated times of the day. He never woke up screaming or crying for us to retrieve him in the morning or any time for that matter. When he wakes up, he happily plays in his crib sometimes even up to an hour on days that I need some extra shut eye. I used to feel bad about doing this, but when I see how happy he is when I go into his room, I realize he hasn't been suffering at all. He plays with his cars or stuffed animals and pulls the covers over his head.

From Day 1, Buddha Was All Good Sleeping Solo

He has always been a consistent riser - 7 a.m., sometimes 7:30. Occasionally he will wake up before 7. So, I am wondering what I am going to do with my fabulous fitness plan?

I have been getting up pretty early to meet my running partner 3x per week. There are some days that I can hear Buddha stirring right before I leave, and I know that soon after I leave he is awake. Because he is contained in his crib and has never tried to get out, I have no concerns about leaving him. Remember, Chip works nights so I always let him sleep in and its my job to manage the boys and try to keep them quiet. Monkey is old enough to understand when I tell him Mommy is going running and he may not see me when he wakes up. I will occasionally find evidence that he has gone to look for me, usually my bedroom door and his bedroom door are open when I get back. But he just goes back to his room to sleep. But what is the Buddha going to do when he is in a bed?

There are a few disastrous scenarios I imagine. 1) He gets up, wanders around downstairs, or possibly goes out the front door; 2) I put a baby gate up in the hallway, so that he can leave his room and go visit his brother...possibly falling back to sleep with him OR waking up Monkey; 3) I put a baby gate up in his door way, and he wakes up, tries to get out - screams his head off when he realizes he is stuck and wakes up Monkey and Chip. Our front door is weird. The door handle is one that will open from the inside even if its locked. So, we have a latch we installed up at adult height that we close so that the kids can't get out. But if I go out that door in the morning the latch won't be closed. I could leave out the garage/side door to avoid this issue. I am definitely going to have him try to sleep in his new bed on non-running days. That way I can be there to figure out what might happen.

The other thing I wonder about is how he's going to adjust- right now we put him down in his crib and he goes down happily and without a fight. Will he be freaked out not want to stay in his room? Are we going to have to go all "Supernanny" on him and keep putting him back in his room and walking out? I wonder if my own sleep and already minimal personal time will suffer...and how long it will last. Ugh, I don't look forward to this.

Any suggestions on what I should do on my running mornings as a precaution? Of course, my husband is home but understandably dead to the world at the time we wake up. What issues did you have transitioning your kids from crib to bed? Part of me also wonders if I shouldn't fix what ain't broken. If he is happy in his crib, still has enough room and doesn't try to get out, should we just leave well enough alone.

I don't want to be Sleepless in Northern CA.