Sleepless nights

So my wonderful children had an extremely had night last night. So what does that mean for this temporary single mom??? You got it no sleep for me. I could be angry about it or I could figure out ways to avoid this for when we get down to Mesa. First I am pretty sure my two year old is cutting his molars, as all he wanted was to be held all night he had no fever or anything and he kept clawing at his face so yeah that is what I am thinking. I don't use teething tablets because most of them have way to much caffeine in them for my liking so what can I do??? *****Thinking***** I used to use Baby Orajel but it is not recommended especially if you are not going to be able to stay up and monitor the child. As there is a drug in it called benzocaine that can cause a condition called methemoglobinemia, a disorder in which the amount of oxygen carried through the blood stream is greatly reduced.  For moms who want to look up the facts and see if this opt out is right for you here is the website I found this information on http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm306062.htm   Yeah I was a little scared to hear about this. Chilling, right how many times have moms and dads used Baby Orajel to help a baby get a little sleep.
     I will be looking into safe alternatives so Sammy and I can both get a good nights sleep. As Johnny is just getting to this "memorable" stage in development I will definitely need something...
    I have found many daytime remedies but my boy doesn't seem to have a problem during the day as we stay so busy playing games and running around he doesn't usually notice it. I will have to look into this and I will get back to you on what my findings are.

My Second issue was every time Sammy screamed or cried a little too loud Johnny would wake up and want to be held and need to "eat" even if he wasn't really hungry he need the comfort of mommy so I do not have very long arms and as the fact my boys are not twins I never worked on the football hold breast feeding position and both mine prefer being sprawled out across in a cradle hold. I really wished I had at least gone over that with a lactation expert.... So I had my 35+ pound "baby" leaning on one shoulder sniffling little sobs with his 4 month old baby brother trying to eat in my other arm and he had is cradle hold around Sam. I am sure if my husband had seen it he would have laughed and then taken my oldest but alas he is a thousand miles away so no such luck. I finally got both boys to sleep and was able to put down my 4 month old and snuggle with my 2 year old until he was able to push off me and want his own space. (He loves to snuggle but he really loves to go to sleep snuggling and be put down shortly there after because he is a wiggler and needs his space.) This joyous moment happened about 6 AM I laid back down in my bed about 6:10 about 6:15 my 4 month old decided he wanted breakfast and then he wanted to play.
   This has been one of those moments where you wonder. How do people do this?? Why am I not cut out for this??? I try what am I doing wrong??
    So to the first question people do it about the same way I did or the same way you might do it there is rarely a right way to do anything with parenting just remember there are WRONG ways shaking your baby is not the answer if you fill this urge either get your spouse have them take the child for a little bit or put your baby back in their crib shut the door and put some head phones on just for a little bit to escape the screaming after reflection and a decent night sleep you will see clearly going without sleep for too long is extremely dangerous not just for you but for your children also. Don't worry you can get through it the fact that you are read things, trying to find answers means you are an amazing parent.
      The second question Why am I not cut out for this???   Remember that you are usually seeing everyone else at there best. You are seeing the story book version not all the hard work, the out takes and rough cuts that people had to go through to get those few minutes or hours of peace. You are cut out for this.. Your child loves you very much and you are helping them become a better person. This is what everything else in life has prepared you for.
       If you are actually trying you aren't doing anything wrong keep going you can make it!!! Being a parent is the hardest job there are no vacations no paid holidays you are on the clock 24/7 everyday of the year you don't even get lunch breaks at times : D I can't tell you how many times I have gotten up to make myself food and 2 hours later still haven't eaten because of diapers needing changing baby needing to be fed. It can drive you crazy but here is a song that helps me get through moments like that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_lUnFjXg8 the song is called It Won't Be Like This For Long by Darius Rucker.

        We can all get through this together and when they are older we can tell their boyfriends/ girlfriends, husband/wife what terrors they were as children my mom has so many stories about me and my siblings they are funny and really help me know getting through moments like this. I wish you luck and don't forget we have friends to help us as well as family you are not in it alone. It does take a village to raise a child so good luck.

        I am all over the place with this but I am sleep deprived right now and its taken like4 hours to write this : D the joys of parenting are calling..

So I made some homemade, from scratch, Spaghetti sauce. And what did I learn???? Never, ever forget your garlic because the garlic powder stuff is not the same : ( !!!! Everything else turned out ok with it but the flavor was not as rich as it could be.... So fail number 1. Fail number two happened when I got ambitious and decided to make home made pasta also after I had started I realized I was making the wrong type of pasta OOPS!!! Oh well when life gives you lemons make lemonade... so I made some awesome chicken noodle soup... and put in my homemade noodles...

So project 1- Spaghetti Sauce
 
     Ingredients~
             12 pounds of Roma tomatoes (from my amazing mother-in-laws garden)
              fresh basil and parsley (from the local store, as my plants have seen better days)
              1 big onion (I like sweet onions, this I also got from the local market)
               Italian herb mix ( this stuff is awesome when my herb garden gets better I hope to make and store my own of this I use it in all my sauces and stuff)
               Garlic ( I had to use garlic powder as I forgot to buy some garlic while I was at the store I prefer the container of garlic from Costco its way sweeter)
                 Whole Bay Leaves (dried, found in your herb section of your grocery store)
                 Italian Sausages 16-19 ounces ( I go for mild because I cant do spicy)


    So I blanched all 12 pounds of tomatoes this is when you put them in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds then you put them in cold water or an ice bath and then peel them I then proceeded to make up the base of the sauce. Many people will cut open the tomatoes and take all the seeds and a lot of the extra water out I find this a waste of time. This time I let my two year old help me I know scary thought but actually times like this will really be fun memories to share later so I taught him how to squeeze the tomatoes ( after I washed his hands really good) so we squeezed about 8 pounds of tomatoes separating them in to smaller pieces as we went we and putting them into a 7 quart Crock Pot then took the other 4 pounds and squeezed the juice into another container and then smashed up the "meat" of the tomato and put in the Crock Pot with the other 8 pounds this made it a thicker sauce. You could have used a potato masher if you wanted a finer sauce but I like thick sauce and it was funner for me and my son : D !!! So I then cooked up my Italian sausage in a frying pan with my onion (minced) and my garlic powder : ( and cooked those tell the onions were tender and my meat was all the way browned I then added it to my Crock Pot. I snip in my basil and parsley and put a good amount of the garlic powder in the sauce too as well as the Italian herb mix and some full Bay Leaves (you can remove these later) and then blend them all together turn the heat on high until the sauce gets hot and then turn it down to warm to help the flavors blend and the water will evaporate a little giving you a little thicker sauce. Let cook over night. So its had time to blend the flavors so make up your noodles and take out your bay leaves (if you want). And serve your family and friends will love it at least mine did or they were just being nice I will take what I can get : D

Have fun i will put the chicken noodle soup up later Ok!!!

Happenings that are happening

So its been a while since I posted sorry it has been quite hectic for us. My husband got a job in another state and we moved him and all of our stuff to our new town, while I am living with my in laws in our old town trying to get a transfer with my company. It has been very hard on my boys especially since my older one is such a daddy's boy he misses him so much. Nights, let me tell you have been totally insane!!! I don't know how single mothers do it especially the ones who do it well they are amazing and when I am able to from now on I will try my best to help them. There was a few day where I went with absolutely no sleep at all. Finally on a Saturday when my mother-in-law wasn't at work I asked if she could watch the boys and I took a two hour nap. Man I never thought being a single parent would be so hard and I have help.
    My husband is an amazing man and I now appreciate him a million times more than i did before this experience. Don't get me wrong  I appreciated him before but now I feel so much more of what he did for me not just with the kids but the hugs and affection he showed me throughout the week.
    So here is a list of things I never thought about before this experience.
             Taking a long shower
              Going to the Bathroom alone
             Reading a book for 5 minutes
             Savoring my food
             Sewing
             Alone time
             Hugs and kisses from my love
             Sleeping (a  million times over this one is the one I miss the most)


So yeah that has been whats going on with us. Oh and tomorrow I will be making spaghetti sauce from scratch I will let you know how it goes and post my recipe up on here if i manage to make it taste good.