Another revolution has begun!

Well, dear readers, you've been with me through the Potty War. You've been with me through Operation No More Milk (Aug. 9 and forward). Now we shall embark on a brave new journey: Operation Sleep In Your Own Bed For Cryin' Out Loud!

Yes, the time has come. I have gotten to the point of desperation (which, for me, is exactly what it takes to exact such changes in my life). My sweet 4 year old darling son Doodles is doing very well at going to bed in his own room. The problem has been that he is in the habit of waking up in the night and coming into my bed. I love to snuggle and all of that. It's just that he's getting so big, and I am getting crowded to the point where I cannot sleep comfortably when he does this.

Some of the things that have disuaded me from taking action on this issue before include:
-my husband is not always here at night and I did not want to have to get out of bed and risk having the 4 year old start screaming and crying and wake other people up, thus creating an unpleasant middle-of-the-night scene
-my back hurts at night (which my mother says is because I am dreading being crowded to death) and so I don't feel like getting up (or turning over, or doing anything at all....)

However, when the chimes of desperation start to ring in my head, I feel the strength building up inside me. I decided yesterday that we had seen the last of dear Doodles crowding me out of my rest. And when he came into my bed last night I promptly jump up to nicely escort him back to his own room. Happily, hubby was home and ended up doing it for me. So, hey--one night down!

Doodles didn't even cry or make a peep, so I can be hopeful that this is going to be an easier process than I created it into in my imagination.

Another new adventure that I am being forced into via desperation is helping my 13 year old to learn to write well. I had planned to enroll him in an online writing course but got thwarted when our money supply did not equal being able to pay for the class. (I LOVE it when that happens!) So now, after not having to worry about this subject since he started school in July, I am thrown into having to come up with a way to teach the kid to write--on the cheap! I went back to Brave Writer and have decided this is probably going to be the best solution to my needs. Julie at BW is a homeschooling mother and a writer who sees her mission as helping homeschool parents learn how to teach writing. Like me, I guess lots of other homeschool parents think they know how to write well enough, but have little or no confidence that they can teach their children the same. There are a lot of free resources at the site, and then she has subscription e-newsletters with language arts activities for each month. (only $6 each or less if you sub for a year) So, onward and upward! I shall be a Brave Writer, even if I don't feel like it. :) Yesterday my son actually wrote a 422-word essay about who he is and what he cares about. It was a good start!

From the archives, one year ago today I discovered the Blogging for Books Contests and submitted my entry, which is the story of my high-risk pregnancy, birth, and NICU experience with our 4th child. It's complete with some NICU photos, in case you want to check it out. I also have another rough night with my breathing-challenged baby (seems my rough nights are not a new phenomenon). I also wrote a commentary/rant/educational post about diet and how ridiculous it was for the government to try to pretend like sugar isn't involved in making people fat. Go. Read. Be enlightened. (snicker)