Good Night

So I read this book.

Not surprising, it's my go-to solution for every and all problem I encounter.

This time, on sleep. Figuring that getting some more sleep will help all members of my family, especially me. Several months ago I read "The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It's a genius book. She was asked in an interview what one thing people (and particularly moms) could do to increase their happiness. Her answer was get more sleep.

So getting my kids to bed is my first step. Kevin and I knew things were out of wack but couldn't really pin it down. While I was skeptical, I picked up "The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers" by Elizabeth Pantley. I just couldn't get over the implied haughtiness of the title. But she had some great tips and steps for improving bedtime, with chapters organized by issue.

We aren't doing too bad. But we need to keep our bedtime schedule consistent and get the kids to bed earlier. This is so hard in the summer! But we've been paying the price.

So the past two days I've stopped myself from doing just one more errand in the evening. I've lowered the stimulation in the evening. Bedtime started earlier.

And it's WORKED! Tonight, both children were in bed asleep before eight. Patrick only got out of bed once but put himself back in it while I nursed Fiona.

Now the challenge is to get my butt off the computer and get myself into bed before ten!