i found a time machine...

so, that may be a little misleading for a title but it really is a time machine. nye when everyone spent the night here my children were introduced to the magic of a sound machine. there was one in every room with children sleeping peacefully. annie slept through the night without her usual 4am wake up call. the very next week i stopped by brookstone and purchased my own baby sound machine. it has been in the girls room ever since....working mini (or really maxi) miracles. izzy started last week putting herself to bed in her room, actually wanting to go in there and go to sleep alone. she now naps in there (unless i make her go in our room because her and annie's nap are totally not in sync). the amazing part, is for the first time in her just over two years of age she lays down and does not cry for someone to go nite nite with her, she does not cry while tossing and turning, actually she may not even toss and turn anymore. but most importantly she stays in her bed all night long without even a whimper. i still put the gate up in the hall way in case she were to try and walk around in the night (i mainly do this because jeff and cade forget it is there and face plant every once in a while, kinda like i do over their shoes in the living room). as for annie, like i said if she wakes in the night she finds her own binki and goes back to sleep. the machine has also given me the confidence to put her down awake and let her go to sleep on her own too. i started last thursday at bed time and she cried for off and on for about twenty minutes, then the next night it was only five minutes and since it is only as i walk out of the room. as my courage builds daily, i put her down for her nap today like this and it was 15 minutes of crying off and on but she did it!
so, why do i call it a time machine of sorts...because i am not rocking annie for thirty minutes per nap and again at bedtime. the way i figure it i now have 1 1/2 extra hours of precious time a day which adds up to 10.5 hours a week and approx. 42 hours a month. catch my drift, i can use that time to read a book, blog, veg out in front of biggest loser or actually work, fold laundry and clean up after dinner.
on another note, we left the girls home with cade and his friend last friday night to go to dinner. annie was asleep before we left and izzy had just laid down....i had no guilt over asking a babci or momo to come over and sit for hours in the quiet house and we totally did not panic. cade's friend watches his almost 3 year old sister all the time so i felt he could assist cade if a problem were to arise. i also notified the neighbor that we would be gone just in case a purple golf cart full of girls were to show up looking to "hang out". it worked so well, that i plan to do it again sometime this weekend while jeff is gone for dinner and a movie with any of my girlfriends that do not have plans with their hubbies.
so, other than my work continuing to pile up next to the mountains of laundry that never seem complete, i am finally feeling good! i went to my dr appt yesterday and i am up to 7lb for this pregnancy and starting to panic. (damn that trip to the grocery store) so, i will be trying to get up early a few days a week to work out on my fancy collecting dust elliptical in my bedroom plus walk the loop and hit yoga or weights a few times a week. as motivation i asked jeff today if we could go to clearwater, florida for my birthday weekend in april. while i don't mind being preggos in a swimsuit (no, i am not one with the guts to wear a bikini) i do mind if my legs look the surface of mars.