When naps go away...

I'm currently in a huge transition. My almost-3-year-old is giving up his nap and my 15-month-old is going down to one nap all at the same time. Wow!

My older son has never been a great sleeper and fighting him to take a nap hasn't been much fun. I'm hoping this change of schedule will help him fall asleep more easily at night and give him a longer period of rest. It worked last night. He slept for 11 hours which is amazing! Of course he fell asleep in the car on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house. It may need to be one of those 'hop in the car to go to sleep' kind of things until this schedule is firmly on the books. I don't feel like the best mother when I plunk him down in front of the TV for an hour and a half in the afternoon to give him something quiet and still to do when the other kids are sleeping. He's not one to sit and do anything for an extended time and for now this is his rest time.

As for the baby, yesterday he was able to stay up until my other day care kids took their nap at 1pm and he slept for 2 and 1/2 hours. Very good. He has been sleeping about 1 and 1/2 hours in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. This will be better. He still sleeps 12 hours at night! What a life saver!

My First Pie

I have been doing an apple unit with my day care kids and we read "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall which goes through the yearly changes of an apple tree and how the family makes apple pie after the harvest. My 2 and 1/2 year olds don't have enough prior knowledge to know what making a pie is like so I decided to make one with them. So became my first pie. I made the crust in the food processor last night and refrigerated it for today. I rolled the bottom crust out while the kids were arriving and let them watch. When my one year old went down for his nap the bigger kids sat at the island while I cut apples and gave them some to try.
Here's the inside!

They helped dump the ingredients in and tried the dough. The crusts were the hardest parts as I thought they might be. I'm sure it takes practice. I may not have put enough ice water in since they kept cracking when I tried to roll them out. I had to pinch and push the bottom crust a little to get it to cover and the top ended up with some patches. Oh well. You need vents right? Once it was cooked you couldn't tell as much. It tasted good though, nice flaky crust and sweet, not too mushy apples.
My first pie cooling on the window sill, how old fashioned.

Between the kids all having some and my parents coming over for dinner and dessert there was only one slice left. Thank goodness there wasn't extra for me to eat and eat and eat. I'll definitely do a pie again. Hopefully I'll get my own deep dish for Christmas and won't have to run over to my mom's at 6:45 in the morning to borrow hers.

Stay At Home Mom becomes Work At Home Mom

I'm living my dream. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a mom. I always knew I would stay at home with my kids if at all possible. I guess I actually became a work at home mom before my first son was even born. While working with a friend of mine, who also turned out to be pregnant and due a month after me, I suggested that she keep me in mind if she didn't already know who would be caring for her child after the birth. She said she would talk it over with her husband, but she was pretty much in. We ended up both having boys and they are only 10 days apart. So in August of 2006 when they were 5 months old I became a work at home mom. I felt like our little family could use a little extra in the finance area. At least I could make the car payment. I also get to stay with my kids and I think my friend feels like she has someone she can trust to leave her son with.

I guess my services are wanted because another friend asked if I could watch her daughter too. In the state of California you have to be licensed to watch kids from more than one family so I set off to figure this all out. In my home day care I currently watch 5 children including 2 of my own, four of them are 2 and 1/2 and my other son is 1. Hands full? You bet! And I wouldn't have it any other way.