This comment {below} was in response to my article, Structuring the Day for a Toddler. I wanted to share my response with everyone!

Comment: Wise words, and a helpful schedule. I follow most of this schedule already and can testify that it works!

I just wanted to add to the discussion that I struggle with the idea that it isn’t good to sleep as long as your children sleep in the mornings and that that makes you “that kind of mom”. Personally, I struggle with never getting enough sleep and perpetual fatigue, and if I can get an extra hour in the mornings and sleep as long as my daughter sleeps, I will because it makes me a better Mom and wife that day. For those of us who have husbands with evening responsibilities, going to bed extra early is not always an option without cheating him. Being pregnant and/or having a night-nursing baby, as many moms of toddlers do, compounds the problem and makes skimping yourself of an extra hour of sleep, in some cases, irresponsible.

I hope that when my children are older, sleep through the night consistently, and are less demanding during the day, getting more solid rest at night and waking up earlier before them will be possible – I think it will be. But I think it lays an unnecessary guilt trip on pregnant/nursing/moms-of-little-ones to tell them they should be voluntarily giving up sleep when they are already so exhausted. We all know how cranky and ungodly we can be when we are tired! And for others, it leads to depression and anxiety. Sleep is important, and one of the keys to making us good moms. Let’s not discourage those of us who lay the housework aside and nap when our baby naps, or are excited that we got an extra half hour of sleep when the toddler decided to sleep in a little bit that day.

You can find ways to still fit in time with God and make mornings pleasant. For example, I still make an effort to smile and greet my toddler joyfully when I get her out of her crib, even if I’m jerked out of sleep and still groggy. Also, I love that she actually sees me do my devotions every morning, even if I am more distracted than if I were alone.

- Leah

NOTE: In my response, I am talking in generalities and use the word “your” which is not directed at Leah {above}.

Response: Leah, I totally agree! Sleep is so important and one of the Eight Laws of Health! And in life there are seasons. Some seasons, such as when you have babies, you have to grab sleep whenever you can. I love how you said that you try hard to wake up with a cheerful attitude even if you are exhausted. That’s so important!

I have struggled with sleep deprivation for the last couple of years {and with my health} and I can testify that not getting enough sleep can really affect the rest of your life.

However, {and only each one of us can judge our own motives for ourselves} I have five children and they are pretty well spaced apart. My oldest son was twelve when my youngest child was born and at the time I was homeschooling three of my children. I couldn’t sleep in {otherwise the day would be shot} and I managed. I’m not saying that to suggest that I am in any way better than other moms! It’s just a fact.

The other fact is that over the last two years or so I’ve gone through some serious emotional, physical, and mental burnout – due to a lot of family crisis, stress,’ and just having way too much to do. {My children are ten years older now.} My health has been poor for over 2 decades due to a chronic illness. And I have felt like I could never get enough sleep. I’ve spent the last two years sleeping in to around 7 or 7:30 in the morning. I’m still homeschooling and I can testify that the last two years have been really rough. I don’t accomplish nearly as much when I sleep in even an hour later.

But I desperately need my sleep.

I am not in any way shape or form a perfect mom. Or perfect anything. I struggle with all sorts of things.

We each have to decide what is right for our families. If you are unsure – pray about it! Every family and family situation is unique.

As for being “that kind of mom”… I have personally known quite a few moms who stay up late {selfishly} and then sleep-in in the mornings and their children have to practically beg for breakfast. That is not a God-honoring use of your time. I was not talking about moms who have legitimate reasons for not getting up at the crack of dawn {or earlier}. We each have to search our hearts to know whether the root of our “need for sleep” is derived from selfishness.

I would suggest that for most moms, getting up early is going to serve them and their families the best. If your baby keeps you up in the middle of the night, work toward getting her to sleep through the night. If your child is sick one night, forget the early morning and sleep in if you are able or get a nap when your little one goes to down for her nap!

I know I have said this before in the past, but if you can’t or aren’t able to get up early for morning devotions, have your devotions at the breakfast table or any other time that works best for you! I love Leah’s suggestion {above} about have her devotions with the kids present.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Get the kids involved in your worship time if they want your attention. In fact, I recommend having a morning worship together regardless of when you have your own personal study time. In my house, we try to have family worship while we are all still sitting at the breakfast table.

Here’s the thing. If your baby or toddler wakes up and is hungry, he’s more likely to be cranky and fussy. If he has to wait for 30 minutes after you wake up for you to go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and fix breakfast, low blood sugar can cause a child to feel anxious and fussy. That just gets your day off wrong.

By consistently following a basic routine for your day {on most days} children feel more secure and happy. They are less fussy {as a general rule}. Now maybe your child is completely easy going and doesn’t seem to care when he eats and takes naps haphazardly. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. I’m just saying that’s the exception to the rule.

I would never want a mother who is giving her family her very best to ever feel guilty for getting some much needed extra sleep!

When you put your child {or children} on a basic routine during the day including set bedtimes, often their sleep patterns at night even out and they fall into a good circadian rhythm and will sleep through the night. If you are breastfeeding, I definitely recommend co-sleeping! I was always able to wake up early when I had nursing infants because we co-slept together and waking up for middle of the night feedings went practically unnoticed because all I really did was take two seconds to latch the baby on and I was back to sleep.

Like I said in my previous follow up to Structuring the Day for a Toddler, {Structuring the Day for a Toddler and a School Aged Child} that anything I offer here is just a suggestion! I’m sharing what worked for me.

From my experience, all five of my children rarely cried. They were {and are} well-behaved most of the time. I have never been able to stick to a strict schedule despite trying several times years ago, but routines work well for me and our family. That’s why I suggest creating a gentle flow or rhythm to your day and not trying to do too much {which I have been guilty of in the past, hence my burnout}.

Side Note: I have suffered from frequent insomnia the last couple of years. Anything can keep me awake – stress, joy, excitement, new book ideas, etc. My mind just won’t always shut down. Or, I’ll go to sleep and then wake up a couple of hours later and not be able to sleep until around 6:00 am. So frustrating!

I recently started taking Valerian Root, which is an herb that helps you relax at bedtime so that you can sleep. This has been life changing for me! I feel refreshed when I wake up! No joke, I can’t even tell you how amazing it has been for me to have my energy back. I’m still catching up on sleep, but I’m looking forward to waking up earlier. I’ve already noticed that I’m just waking up by 7:00 am feeling wide awake.

I thought I would share that since some of you may have a hard time sleeping regardless of whether your little ones are waking you up in the middle of the night.

My hope is that moms everywhere will find a good balance to their day, have less stress, and more energy, peace, and joy!

Have you struggled with getting enough sleep? What has helped you?

Mother’s Day is one of those sweet times when I know my girls want to go all out to make me feel special. Of course, I feel pretty special just being their mom everyday, but Mother’s Day is extra special.

Typically, the girls bring me breakfast in bed and make me homemade cards. Today was no exception! It was funny because I woke up before everyone and was wide awake, despite my announcement that I planned to sleep in. {I have a hard time doing that!}

See, the girls all went to bed rather late last night. I’m not sure why. It was just one of those nights. So I knew that they wouldn’t be up extra early. I took the dogs out and climbed back into bed and coaxed my husband into watching a movie with me until the girls woke up. I didn’t want to ruin their “surprise!”

This year, it was Hannah (age 12) and Laura (age 9) who made their way into the kitchen to make me breakfast. They really are good cooks! They brought breakfast to me and even garnished the fresh mango with mint leaves from the garden and a sprinkling of sugar!

Emily (age 16) washed the dishes and Sarah (age 18) mopped the floors. What sweet girls I have!

They are growing up so fast.

As my 18 year old prepares to go away to work at summer camp all summer long, I am constantly reminded that childhood is fleeting. I already have a 22 year old son! Who no longer lives at home. My youngest daughter will be 10 years old in just over a month.

Where has the time gone?

I try not to dwell on the inevitable – the day when my home is no longer busy with children. They are such a blessing to me and it’s been pure joy watching them grow.

We laugh together. Me and the girls. A lot.

They are my best friends. So precious to me. This time we have together. I am so privileged to have had the gift of mothering them. What an honor it is to be their mom.

Each one unique. Each one so amazing. It boggles my mind how I could end up with four beautiful, smart, funny girls. I was not a witty kid. At all. And they are all so funny!

I want to be the best mom possible. And yet, I know there are so many things I fail at. But still, they love me anyway. And I treasure each moment.

Oh and last but certainly not least, I did receive a very touching card in the mail from my college bound son yesterday. All in all it’s been a perfect Mother’s Day.

Here are some articles to help you be the best mom possible:

• The Prayers of a Mother
• Provoke Not Your Children
• Enjoy Your Children

What do your children do for you on Mother’s Day?

Does your husband get involved or does he let the kids have at it on their own like my hubby?

Anything special happen this year?

How do you enjoy your kids?

Today was a “feel good movie” kind of day. The clouds were out and the sky was dark. I woke up with a migraine headache. So, after taking a couple of Excedrin, the girls climbed in bed with me and we watched one of my all time favorite movies Secretariat. Love that movie! So awe inspiring. I love horses and the fact that it’s a true story makes it even better.

Later in the day we watched another wonderful movie, also based on a true story, Fly Away Home. It’s about a girl and her father who hatch 16 Canadian Geese and raise them, then teach them how to fly with their homemade airplanes. Amazing!

Next up was another horse movie, Hildago. Excellent – and based on a true story too!

Anyway, last Sunday I spent the day painting my living room. Finally, after ten years I decided to tackle the living room! I’d dreaded doing it because of the bookcases filled with hundreds of books and all of the large heavy furniture. But, now that it’s done I’m wondering why it took me ten years! Really.

We’ve always loved this room. Guest have always commented on how nice the room was and cozy. It’s one of our favorite places in this old house!

Oh, but now! The girls and I can hardly believe the difference a little bit of paint and some rearranging of the decor changed the room.

The room was painted a cream color – the walls were the same color as the molding. I’ve always struggled with the mantle. Up until a few days ago I had lots of family photos framed on the mantle. I decided we needed a change and I removed most everything. But then I didn’t know what to do with it.

We have lots and lots of books. Only a small portion of our books are in this room. It can be a challenge trying to figure out where to put them all! I have been giving a lot of books away here lately.

I used to think you could never have too many books. I was wrong.

{Excuse the clutter. This was a messy day.}

This room has pretty much looked the same since we moved in. The curtains came with the house and were probably 50 years old. I never liked them.

My sofas are totally awesome, though. Truly the most amazingly comfortable pieces of furniture ever. And so well made. We made a good investment when we bought this set!

My mother-in-law surprised me with this piano after we moved in to the house. Literally. One day there was a knock on the door and a man says, “I need to know where to put the piano.” And I was like… “Uh, I didn’t buy a piano.”

I would have liked to pick out my own, but it’s been such a blessing and has a good sound and keeps it’s tune.

Anyway, so here’s what I did. I painted the walls a beige, taupe color. I bought the paint about 6 months ago and painted my upstairs hallway this color.

I had so much fun redoing the mantle. I only bought 4 new items for this room. The Family Plaque was $11.00 at Big Lots. The pitcher on the left was given to me years ago by my sister-in-law and brother when they were stationed in Italy. It says, Casa di Ringstaff. I removed the photo from the oval picture frame, and kept three pictures on the mantle. One of my son when he was about 7 years old. He’s 22 years old now! There’s also a photo of me and my girls from our 4-day, all girl, 24 mile backpacking trip last October – one of my favorite memories!

The bird garland I had purchased last fall at our annual women’s retreat {end of the retreat yard sale}. I collect birds. You’ll find them all over my house.

Still have lots of books. I re-purposed the baskets on top of the bookcase.

Oh, an notice NO MORE CURTAINS! I can’t even begin to tell you how happy this made me. It was a nightmare taking them down. SO many screws and parts!

We replaced all of the windows in the house two Christmases ago. {All 53 windows.} But with the curtains you could hardly see the windows. I didn’t even realize how the curtains were blocking the sunlight. Such a huge difference!

I got rid of some of the excess stuff on this table {below} and printed out this sweet little print and framed it. The chicken plate came up from the family room downstairs. I’ve had the floral arrangement for several years now.

The quilts on the backs of my sofas were purchased on clearance sale years ago for only $15.00 each by my mom. They are twin bed quilts. So pretty and just a perfect match for this room.

The two sets of double doors you see in the photos lead into my sun room.

I made a slight change above the piano. I added a beautiful clock. There is music in this room off and on all day long {piano, guitar, and violin}. I don’t even have to tell my girls to practice. They just love to play!

You can see I have a flower {$2.00 at Wal-Mart} in a sweet little milk bottle. This one was given to me by one of my church members recently when he found out I collect milk bottles. {They’re really hard to find these days!} Anyway, you can’t see it, but there’s a red rooster and sunshine on the bottle and it says, “You can whip our cream, but you can’t beat our milk!” I just love it. I also collect chickens and roosters. The little terracotta planter {which I use for tea light candles} was picked up in Mexico when I was a little girl. The tole painted chicken was painted years and years ago by my mom when I was just a girl. It’s a kitchen trivet, but I like to display it as art. The rooster tea light holder was given to me by my daughter-in-law years ago.

This bookcase {below} was given to me by my mother-in-law years ago. I never cared for it much. In fact, I tried insisting we didn’t need it. I lost that argument. Now, though, I’m so happy with it… Well, I still don’t care for the 70′s, 80′s vibe, but… I’m making the best of it.

I purchased the “Everyday Counts” plague at Big Lots for $8.00 and the silk peonies at Wal-Mart for $2.00 each.

I purchased the tole painted lunch box at a yard sale twenty years ago. It’s one of my favorite finds ever. The old fan has been sitting in my garage in a pile of junk for ever. It belonged to my husband’s step-father who died in 2001 when he was 87 years old.

The old tool box also belonged to his step-father. I actually went out in the garage and took a bunch of tools out of this box and put my blue Ball Mason jars in it.

I purchased the blue Ball jars last summer from Mr. Cooper who keeps my horses. I bought about 20 jars from him for $2.00 a piece {including the zinc lids} – a super deal considering these jars often go upwards of $20.00 each in antique stores!

This frog picture {below} is one I’ve had for about 20 years. It’s a painting based on the book, The Wind in the Willows. It was hanging in our breakfast nook for the last ten years. I wanted something bolder in this space and a burst of inspiration told me to relocate the picture here. I am so in love with this corner now!

The table {moved up from the family room} replaced our old record player. We have a second record player in the family room, so the one that  was in here is going on craigslist.

The plants under the window are sitting in another antique wooden box that came from my husband’s step-father’s garage years ago.

We have five guitars. So they take up space in every corner.

Here is a collection of framed pictures from my wedding. In the first one, if you look closely you can see my son, James, peeking out the church doors at me. He was such a cute little  boy!

This has nothing to do with the makeover, but if you drop in for a visit, you’ll often find Emily and her artwork in the living room. This is the current piece she’s working on.

And finally, right next to the entrance to the living room is this piece of furniture.

We purchased this years ago at Sam’s Club. It’s a DVD case. I really love it! The picture on the wall was cross stitched for me by my mother almost 20 years ago. The picture of my dad and Laura when she was a baby is sitting on top of an old wooden box that came out of my husband’s tool stuff.

I spent less than $50.00 on this room makeover including paint. Now, it’s like walking into a brand new room!

I’m sharing this with Thrifty Decor Chick’s May Before and After Party.