Or not so screenless?

Okay, so if the kids are in front of some sort of screen for hours on end each weekend, does that cancel out all the other screenless days of the week??

We're going screenless!

. . . at least most of the time. At the beginning of the year, I decided to propose to the kids that we don't have any screen time on school days. I had been reading a couple of books that suggest getting rid of (or seriously cutting down on) screen time in order to give your kids more free time to use their imagination, their creativity, and to just PLAY.

Initially I was a little nervous for a few reasons:
1 - I thought my proposal may cause a rebellion of sorts.
2 - I was afraid of my kids being bored, because I witnessed how the boys would use their imagination when they were out of screen time for the day; they used it to come up with creative ways to torment each other.
3 - I had come to depend on it a lot in order to get some time to myself during the day

But at the same time I had grown increasingly frustrated with how much time was spent in front of the screen. We had plenty of options for everyone: TV, desktop, laptop, and 2 ipods. Even though I had tried to limit the kids to an hour a day, I couldn't monitor it for everyone. And with Annie and Noah in school 6 hours a day, plus homework and other activities during the week, any free time they had was usually in front of the screen, even if it was for only an hour a day.

We are into our 3rd week of this, and I have been pleasantly surprised! When I mentioned my idea, Annie and Noah were totally fine with it, Hudson didn't really get it, and Brigham was the only one who was a little unhappy about it. I did tell them that I may let them in front of the screen in desperate times, like if I'm sick, or Sylvie has a bad night, and I need some serious rest. But otherwise, on days there are school, the screens are not on. Yes, there are definite drawbacks. I've had to tolerate more messiness (screen time is very un-messy!), and it's a little more tricky to rest in the afternoon (I'm still getting up at night with Sylvie), but most of the time I still can if I need it. But, on the other hand, the kids have played with toys that had not seen the light of day for months, they've made up games, we're doing more art projects and reading more books together. They're helping me more in the kitchen (is that a pro or a con??). And, on those days that they are on the computer a lot, I don't feel guilty anymore.

Moonlighting

So I haven't posted anything about the moonlighting that Chris is able to do. He set it up with a small group of Urologists in La Crosse, WI, which is just over an hour away from Rochester. One weekend a month he takes back up call from Friday evening to Sunday evening. We all get to come with him, and they put us up in the Grand Stay Suites. We stay in a two bedroom/living room suite with a kitchenette. We bring food up for some of our meals, but they have a continental breakfast at the hotel, and we usually go out to eat one of the nights. There's a church a few miles away, so we go there Sunday mornings. We go swimming, walk along the river (the hotel is right next to the Mississippi), play outside, watch movies, play games, and we just got a membership at the Children's museum. We have a great time! Most weekends so far Chris has just had to take a few calls, and once in awhile he's had to go into the hospital for an hour or two.

In December there was a big snowstorm starting as we were driving out to La Crosse. The next day Chris and the kids played out in the snow (I stayed in with Sylvie).





They had a huge Christmas light display right on the river by our hotel, so we walked around there and also got to visit Santa and his reindeer.

Sylvie at 1 month

It's definitely been the easiest adjustment after Sylvie. Not because she never cries, but because Annie and Noah are so helpful. I feel okay with leaving her alone in a room with either one of them. They are also able to make meals which we can actually eat!

The hardest part of our family's adjustment has been Brigham and Hudson. They both love Sylvie, and have been very sweet with her, but it's everything else in life that they have not been able to handle. I know it's just a phase, but I sure hope this phase ends quickly!

Like I said earlier, Sylvie has been our best sleeper. She's also a champion burper. At first she didn't spit up very much, and I was hopeful. But after a few weeks, she started spitting up quite a bit . . . and it comes out her nose as well as her mouth. Poor girl, that can't feel good.

Sylvie hates tummy time, but she's content as long as someone is holding her. She doesn't last a terribly long time laying down on her own, so we're usually holding her when she's awake.

Thanksgiving

Since Sylvie was due in November, I wasn't sure what was going to happen for Thanksgiving. All I knew was that I was not going to cook a turkey! I was hoping that someone would take pity on us with a new baby, and invite us over. Either that, or we'd be eating turkey sandwiches from the local deli. We talked about it a couple of weeks before Sylvie was born, and I mentioned again that I was not planning on cooking. Chris and Annie then decided that they could do Thanksgiving dinner. Annie got so excited about doing Thanksgiving with just our family (we've always been with extended family or with friends), and she said, "So if anyone invites us over, you'll say no, right Mom?"
I was surprised with how good I was feeling by Thanksgiving. Annie and Chris made the pies (apple, pumpkin, and banana cream), and on Thanksgiving morning Chris and I were busy little bees in the kitchen (I even helped with the turkey). With just a few mishaps (way-too-salty gravy, and rolls that ended up as biscuits, sort of, because they didn't get enough yeast), we had a feast!

I had to add that last picture; it's Brigham's plate before he started eating. He really went overboard and we had to reign him in :)

After we ate and cleaned up, we played some games, then watched My Fair Lady. It was a great day!

We love Sylvie!

So, Sylvie is definitely the most popular one in the family right now. She doesn't get much peace with Brigham and Hudson in her face all the time. But she's pretty patient, and she has quickly learned to sleep through everything!

I think I have a picture of Chris asleep like this with all our kids. I love it.

Sylvie has definitely been our best sleeper right from the get-go. A good chunk of the time when I can tell that she's getting tired, I lay her down with her binky, and she goes to sleep on her own. Also, right from the beginning, she was going three or four hours at night, then going right back to sleep after she ate. There have only been a handful of bad nights. Before you get all envious, I have to say, I think we deserve it. None of our other kids slept this well for months.

Sylvie's first bath

I gave Sylvie her first bath a few days after she came home. I remember giving Annie a bath on her first night home from the hospital, and pretty much every night after that. But the more kids we have, the more days they go in between baths. After bathing a toddler covered in dirt, spaghettios, and sticky sucker, I realized that a newborn really doesn't get all that dirty.

All clean with fuzzy hair! Oh, I love a baby just out of the bath!

Sylvie's Here!

Oh boy, where does the time go?? Oh, right . . . it's gone away in a blur of bleary-eyed nighttime feedings, in 3,000 diaper changes (for the newborn and the 2 year old), and in just trying to keep afloat running a family of seven. I've decided that I love 9:00 a.m. church (we just switched) because now there are wide open Sunday afternoons, during which I really really hope to catch up on blogging. Yeah, right, you're thinking, I've heard that story before. Oh well, better late than never, right???

So, my due date was Nov. 15th, and I was really nervous because Mayo does not believe in inducing labor early unless there is a medical reason. I've been induced with my last two labors because I dilated to a 6 with Brigham (with no contractions) a week early, and to a 4 with Hudson a week early. Both doctors induced me so that I didn't go into labor on my own and have the baby on the living room floor. I figured that should be medical enough reason for Mayo, but not so.
Three weeks before I was due, I was dilated to a 1, then the next week I was dilated to almost a 5. My mom got here on Nov. 6th, our fridge and freezer were stocked, baby clothes were washed, bags were packed. We were ready. On Monday night, Nov. 8th, I felt completely trashed. I remember crying to Chris, telling him I was so tired of being pregnant, and I was so nervous about going into labor on my own and not having time to get an epidural (I know, I know, I really like those drugs!). We went to bed, and I had a dream about trying to do my math homework but I couldn't because my stomach hurt. It woke me up at 1:00 a.m. and I had three more contractions in 20 minutes, so I woke up Chris. We got things together and left for the hospital at around 2:00 a.m. Luckily it only takes about 5 minutes to get downtown. Chris stopped at a stoplight, and that was the closest I got to yelling when I told him to "Go!"
I so wanted an epidural, and that was the first thing I asked about when I got in my hospital bed. I got the worst of both worlds, because as everyone knows, it's no fun to get a giant needle in your spine. Having to stay still while feeling contractions in the front and a needle jabbing me in the back was not so easy! They gave me a spinal/epidural combo, because a spinal kicks in faster. But in this case, it was not fast enough. My worst fears were coming true! The spinal did take the edge off a few contractions, but I felt everything when I was pushing. I'm not going to lie - it was awful!
But then she was here, and although all that pain was not forgotten, it was definitely worth it. Sylvie Saundra was born on Tuesday, November 9th at 3:41 a.m.