Baby Whisperer #2

Day #2: Get Isabella to stay in her bed

Suggestion: Take Isabella by the hand, and without any emotion, no eye contact, no words etc., and put her back to bed.

Isabella slept fine in her bed last night... now tonight was a different story :) She came down out of her room and came into the hall. I took her by the hand, led her up the stairs, and put her on her pillow, all the while ignoring her as she cried, "Mama, mama, talk to me mama, I want you to lay by me mama." Ya about broke my stinking heart! She then began to cry that her blankies weren't on her. OOPS! and Owell!

She came down a second time and on her way down she slipped maybe a centimeter. Fake tears ensued. "I fell off the stairs, I fell off my bed, I want my blankies" I took her by the hand, led her up the stairs and put her on her pillow, (and this time) I put her blankets on her... in order (yes they have to be in a certain order... we don't call her Princess Isabella for nothin), and walked out, ignoring her as she cried, "Mama, Mama, I have a question, lay by me mama, Mama, why you not talking to me?" (she smart girl, pick up quick).

She came down a third time saying she had to go potty. I know this is a ruse/excuse, and she has a diaper on for such occasions, so I ignore her until she cries that she needs to go poop!!! Seriously?!?! I am not about to change a poopy diaper, so I take her to the potty (A BIG MISTAKE!!!), but I ignore her, I leave off the light, put her on the pot, and wait. She begins to whine, "Mama, Mama, turn the light on. Mommy, why you not turning the light on? Mommy, why you not talking to me?" At this point I don't know whether to laugh or cry. So I continue to ignore. We finish and I take her by the hand, we walk up the stairs and put her on her pillow, apply blankets in order, and walk out.

It's 9:21, and she is asleep. Mercy Mercy, she is going to be the death of me.

The Baby Whisperer #1

I have a child, ok let's be honest, I have 3 children, who DON'T sleep. Maybe you have met one of them. She's the princess. Princess Isabella. She is such a love. Love. Her. And for the most part, she is a dream. But her dreams have been shorter and shorter in that she has NOT been sleeping. It didn't really bother me before baby sister was born, but now that I have a new baby, I need her to SLEEP!!!

Apparently she hasn't had a schedule for a while (like her whole life), and she has been suffering from it. So I did what any good mother would do, I called the "baby whisperer". Now, let me tell you, if you have ANY children in need of a schedule and you don't have time for a bazillion books, then SHE IS YOUR ANSWER! I am serious.

Here is a recap:

Day #1

Suggestion: get Isabella her OWN bed, with her OWN bedding.

Background: about 7 months ago, I put Isabella's bed in the garbage. Don't judge, it was falling apart, I had #10 cans in each corner with basically just a mattress. It was destitute. So. I pitched it and put her on Sannah's bed. Every day for 3 months, she would cry herself to sleep, "I don't hab a bed, mommy phrew it in da garbage." (Mother of the year #1) Not only did I phrow her bed in da garbage, I displaced her from her room to Sannah's room so that Mikenna could have her OWN room. So poor Isabella has been homeless.

So this suggestion was huge for me (and Isabella). We had our work cut out for us. We put the twins back together as bunk beds (one was in Mikenna's room and one was in Savannah's room) and moved the full into Mikenna's room, made a trip to Big Lots and purchased her OWN bedding. Much to my dismay, she chose Dora, but hey, this was her trip, so I bit my tongue and obliged.

Side Note: I dragged the 3 older girls to the store and we all had to pick out own bedding because I was displacing Mikenna's "new room" and Isabella was getting new stuff, and I couldn't leave Savannah out, so lets just say it was an expensive, yet very productive trip.... UNTIL Isabella found a "shooting gun." It was a marshmellow shooting gun and she couldn't wait to get it home so that she could shoot marshmellows. I told her that she would have to put back her Dora blanket and her sparkly pillow if she wanted the "shooting gun." She was more than happy to make that deal (OOOOOPPSS!!!!) I had to recant (Mother of the year, remember?) and as you can imagine DRAMA ensued.

Luckily the store was really big, so you could hear her screaming throughout the entire store, and the Luckily the cute little couple who moved into our ward, married 8 weeks, and blissfully in love were there to witness my 3 year tyrant tyrading (I made that one up) her opinions at the top of her lungs. I had to practically DRAG her out of the store. Luckily the people behind me were TOTALLY patient (NOT) and didn't even crack a smile. I bet they thought that I was a bad mother because I was letting her act like this in PUBLIC!! Oh they hadn't seen anything yet! Besides what did they want me to do? Spank her in front of them? Yell at her? What good would it have done. 3 year olds are NOT to be reasoned with. They just don't get it. I digress.

I came home to my husband taking the beds apart and putting them in their respective rooms. Awesome. Now Isabella had her OWN bed with her OWN bedding and her OWN pillow. (Luckily on the back of the Dora bedding is a cute floral print... THANK GOODNESS!)

OH and here is a cute pic of Scarlett :)

The Little Princess

Maybe you have heard... maybe you haven't. That this is our Little Princess. She gets just about whatever she wants when she wants and she usually wants it now. Fortunately for her I happily oblige, I can only imagine what repercussions this will have on me when she's a teenager (I would rather not thing about it thank you very much).

You see, being the baby after your big brother dies, has its perks. You ARE the Little Princess. You USUALLY get what you want. Everything YOU do is adorable. And I suppose it helps that you truly are the most adorable little girl in the history of adorable.

Isabella is probably the happiest person that I know, which makes it really easy to keep her spoiled rotten. When she wakes up from bedtime or naptime, she always comes to me with blanket in hand with strict instructions to place it over my shoulder light blue side up and a "hode chu mama." And I have happy to oblige, even if I have a babe in my other arms or on my other lap as Isabella says.

Why all the posts about the Little Princess? Well, I am glad you asked! The Little Princess had a birthday!!!! Her 3rd one actually. Equipped with balloons, princess Happy Birthday Banners, pink table cloths with matching cups, plates, and napkins, all picked out by her btw, oh and let's not forget the princess tiaras we all wore :). (too bad I don't have a pic). She received many items of jewelry, barbies, and clothes. When i asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said presents. Smart Girl. When I asked her what she wanted AS presents, she matter of factly stated that she wanted the presents that were blue with the snowflakes (you see for Christmas she had blue wrapping paper with snowflakes on it and that turned out perty good for her then, so she thought it would be alright now) so for less than $25 she had everything she could ever want!

I have the best video EVER of her dancing around here.