Sleeping In Got The Best Of Me

Sleeping in got the best of me.

Let’s rewind a bit.  Benjamin used to sleep until 7am – and before that, he slept until 9.  He’s recently been waking up at the ungodly hours between 4 and 5am. 

To be fair, our morning routine has been the same, regardless of how late he slept, but with the recent early wakenings, our morning routine is even more important.  For my sanity, that is.

When Benjamin wakes up, I stagger over to his crib, silently pick him up, hug him, and stagger back to bed.  He then nurses for awhile, probably 30 minutes to an hour, while I drift in and out of sleep.  On a rare occasion, he falls asleep in bed, at which point I move him to his own space in the middle of the bed, roll over, and get some zzzs myself.  Usually though, he slowly becomes alert while nursing, and when he’s done, he’s babbling and climbing all over the place.

And then?  I pick him up, bring him back to his crib (a few feet away from my bed), put the TV on the Sprout channel, and I go back to sleep.  For as long as he allows.  On a good day, I can score an hour and a half of extra sleep.

Stop judging.  I know you’re judging.  Believe me, I even judge myself on this one. She lets her kid watch TV in the crib for an hour and a half while her lazy ass sleeps?

Yes.  Yes, I do. 

I justify it with a million things, one being the fact that Benjamin still doesn’t reliably sleep through the night, so it’s not like I’m a normal toddler mom who gets a solid night’s sleep every night. 

This scenario bit me in the butt yesterday morning.  I happily dozed away while Benjamin chatted to himself in the background, from his crib.  Eventually, he was ready for me to get up, so I sat up, rubbed my eyes, put on my glasses, and made my way to the crib. 

I couldn’t believe what I saw.

Bare legs.  Pajama pants on the floor.  Diaper on the floor.  This has never happened before. 

I immediately started looking for poop and thought, “Dear God, please oh please, let there be no poop!”  My eyes frantically scoured the pile of blankets for remnants of poop.  I shook out all the blankets, and no poop fell out.  But I could smell it. 

Win of the day?  Benjamin took off his poopy diaper and threw it on the floor, where it landed face up, and contained everything.  SCORE!  I mean, it hardly gets luckier than that.  This could have been an epic disaster.  Save for a little pee on the blankets, we were saved from a sh**tastrophe.  Hallelujah!

In short, sleeping in got the best of me.  Had I been actually awake and playing with my child, we wouldn’t have had this near miss.  Will I continue our morning routine?  Absolutely.  Unless this becomes a recurring problem (knocks on wood), we’ll keep rolling with it.  Let’s all collectively cross our fingers that this was a one-time issue.

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Review: Playful Planet Storyland Yoga DVD

I’m a huge fan of yoga and it’s something that I don’t get to do enough.  I practiced yoga until almost the very end of my pregnancy with Benjamin to relieve stress, and I cannot even tell you how well it worked – it was amazing!  That kind of stress relief is SO important to teach children when they’re young, so that they have good coping strategies for the stresses of childhood (no, that’s not an oxymoron!) and as adults.

My mother is a retired 3rd grade teacher, and she swore by practicing yoga with her students throughout the day.  It helped them focus, center, behave, and perform better in their schoolwork. 

So, when I had the chance to review a children’s yoga DVD from Playful Planet, I did a tree pose with excitement!  Get it?  Tree pose?  Any yogis out there?

If you want to introduce yoga to your children, this is the DVD for you.  Playful Planet’s Storyland Yoga is amazing and pure perfection for a children’s yoga program. 

The yoga is taught to children by an incredible and entertaining instructor, Ahmed Fahmy, who exudes peacefulness AND is very fun for kids to watch.  He gets so into the storytelling that it is enchanting to children.  (I’ll admit, I found him just as entertaining as any child would!  I’ll also admit, he’s pretty easy on the eyes too.  Winning!) 

Throughout the two separate yoga tracks on the DVD, Ahmed tells children engaging adventures about bringing lost eggs back to a mama Condor, and rescuing a beached whale.  As part of the story, the children stretch and move into various age-appropriate yoga positions, as well as get an understanding and deep appreciation of nature.  The DVD was filmed IN nature, so your children can appreciate the beauty of the on-site locations and truly feel like they are a part of the story being told. 

{Photo courtesy Playful Planet}

The segments encourage children to imitate animals and be silly, all while learning yoga and developing a love for our planet.  Many children’s yoga DVDs can be boring and cause children to easily lose attention, but Storyland Yoga’s exciting stories about animals and nature will entertain even the most skeptical/easily distracted child (like my own!)!

Storyland Yoga is appropriate for children ages 3 to 8, but of course, Benjamin – being the active little boy that he is –absolutely loved trying to imitate the “big kids” on TV and making animal noises.  I am beyond excited to continue using this DVD with Benjamin and watching his skills grow with practice and as he gets older. 

Unlike any generation before them, it is of incredible importance that our children learn to preserve the planet we live on, and reverse many of the environmentally detrimental practices that have become a part of our lives (pollution, ozone deterioration, endangered species, to name a few). The way that Playful Planet entwines children’s yoga and a love of the natural world around us – is truly remarkable.  I’ve been working on making our family as green, eco-friendly, and non-toxic as possible, and the Storyland Yoga DVD is a fabulous way to teach children how to love our planet and all the creatures that live beside us. 

Seriously, if you’ve ever wondered about yoga for children, thought about trying it, or are curious about the benefits, please try Storyland Yoga.  You will not be disappointed!

Follow Playful Planet’s Social Media here:
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I received a copy of Storyland Yoga to review for this post, in exchange for my honest opinion.

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My Many Confessions

This week, there’s no big, great, grand, and wonderful mommy confession.  I’ve got a lovely bunch (of coconuts… tee hee) of confessions, keepin’ it real today.  And a totally unrelated, but cute, photo of my Benny above.  What would a Cookies For Breakfast post be without that sweet mug, right?

I confess:

--That by the time Benjamin and I make it downstairs for breakfast, it’s 9 am (on a good day), and I still count down the minutes til his naptime which is anywhere between 10 and 11.  Lately, he’s been getting up for the day anywhere between 4 and 5:30, which is a good enough excuse as any for a 9am start time.  And going back to bed while he watches Sprout from his crib.

--We are playgroup dropouts.  We went for two weeks and it was so much of a headache dealing with a 1.5 year old amongst a group of 3-5 year olds – during Benjamin’s naptime, that I couldn’t take it.  I cried all the way home from the last one we attended (long story!).  We are trying out some new groups at a local children’s museum next week.  Hopefully ones with younger, more rambunctious children.

--I’d love another boy someday, but I’m also terrified at having another child this active – which I assume all boys will be like.  I can barely keep up with one.  Seriously.  Where’s my IV drip of caffeine?

--I won’t feed Benjamin food that’s especially messy.  I actually don’t hate giving him pasta with sauce, but things that stick to the floor?  Tiny things?  FORGET IT.  We had a lovely couscous salad for dinner last night – complete with corn, finely chopped onions, and scallions (among other things), and I didn’t give it to Benjamin because I couldn’t stand the thought of picking up those teeny tiny beads of couscous, one by one, off the floor.  Gag.  Where’s our dog when we need him?

--Speaking of our dog, I have really, really, really been missing Cooper lately.  I made the mistake of trolling the #brittanyspaniel tag on Instagram a few times, and it made me miss him even more.  We’re hoping to plan a trip out to see him soon.  Lordy, I can’t wait for our family to all be together again!

--All I want to do is launch my vlog series and I’ve been struggling to come up with content here in the meantime.  #bloggerproblems.  The finishing touches should be ready in a few weeks!

--I’m beyond excited for upcoming summer TV shows – like legit, counting the days until Real Housewives of New Jersey and Dance Moms, among others.  How is this a mommy confession?  Because on any particularly challenging day, I can encourage myself to push through, because my shows await me.  Then all is good with the world. 

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