Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber Review

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know how much trouble we went through to get Joseph to sleep through the night. He had stomach issues, so for the first 7 months of his life he woke every two hours. He's finally sleeping through the night, but often takes time to settle down, which is why I was excited to hear about Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber products.

Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber is a line of natural bedtime products for infants, designed to help enhance quality sleep for little ones. The line includes a 3-in-1 Body Wash, Massage Cream, and Calming bedroom mist. Each of the three products contain natural botanical ingredients such as English Lavender Oil, German Chamomile Extract and Yylang Yylang Flower Oil. The best part for me is that they are hypo-allergenic and contain no artificial fragrances, gluten, soy, alcohol, sulfates, phthalates or parabens. My kids inherited my sensitive skin and eczema, so I need products with gentle ingredients and these fit the bill. 

When I received  the products, I set aside a night to give all three a try. First I spritzed the bedroom with the calming mist. The smell was subtle and not overwhelming, which I love. And now that I've used it every night for a few weeks, it's a calming and familiar scent for my kids. The Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber Mist retails for $5.99 for a 3.25 fl oz bottle and is available at Walgreens.

Next I gave the kids a bath and washed them both with the Baby Wash. I was only going to use it for Joseph, since Stephanie isn't really a baby anymore, but she insisted on using it too. Again, the scent was light and not overbearing, and it's tear-free which is great for Joseph who refuses to keep his head back when I rinse his shampoo out. It worked very effectively as a shampoo, body wash and bubble bath, and didn't irritate their sensitive skin. I love the ease of having all three in one bottle too! The Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber baby wash retails for $7.99 for an 11.75 fl oz bottle and is available at Walgreens.

Lastly, I used the massage cream when bath time was over. (Again, Stephanie insisted on using it too, and now "Massage time!" is part of our nightly routine.) The massage cream was gentle and nourishing and left my kids' skin soft and moisturized  It also made my hands feel soft and not at all greasy, which meant I didn't feel the urge to wash it off my hands like I do for many lotions. The Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber massage cream retails for $6.99 for an 8.25 fl oz bottle and is available at Walgreens.

I highly recommend each of  these products! They have been a great addition to our bedtime routine, and I love that they don't contain any icky stuff. We all have sensitive skin but haven't suffered any irritation from the Mommy's Bliss Sweet Slumber products. The calm, soothing scent is an indicator to all of us that it's bedtime, and using it as part of our nightly routine helps us all settle down at the end of the day. 

*I received products for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Wordless-ish Wednesday

My sister watched my kids today while we had our house inspection (more news on the house soon!) It turns out that Stephanie and my niece wore Joseph ragged. When I arrived at my sister's house to pick the kids up, I was met with this:

(Thanks to my sister for capturing this picture!)

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I Finally Feel Like a Functioning Human Again!

Now that Joseph is finally sleeping at night, I feel like a new person. It's as if I came out of a 7-month-long fog, and can finally start living life again. (There were days, sometimes weeks during the past few months when I felt as if I were merely existing. Going through the motions of the day, but so exhausted that I wasn't really experiencing it fully.)

Now that i'm caught up on sleep and no longer feel like a zombie, I'm excited to focus on being a good wife, mother, and homemaker again. I'm looking forward to planning fun activities for us as a family to do on the weekends like berry picking (we already picked strawberries!), farmers market visits, local festivals and concerts, and trips to the beach.

During the week I'm making it my goal to plan fun, stimulating activities for the kids on most days, but also leaving some days for lazy summer fun. (Scheduled things will include the Children's museum, the playground, the zoo, playdates, etc.) Storytime at our local library started up again this week, so we will be there every Wednesday morning.

I also want to get back to my cleaning routine. When you live in a small apartment, it doesn't take much for the entire place to look like it was hit by a toy tornado. I'm eager to reorganize everything, create a weekly cleaning schedule for myself, and stay on top of daily chores. (Dishes, laundry, toy pick-up, etc.)

While it's great to be excited about finally taking control of my life again, I also know that I need to, you know, do it. So to start, i'm going to get up at 6am during the week. Instead of lying in bed waiting for the kids to wake up, i'm going to get up and get my day started. Even if I only manage a cup of coffee before the rest of the house wakes, i'll be more alert and ready to dive in to our plans. And if it happens to be a day when everyone sleeps late, I can get things done around the house.

Once waking up early becomes habit, I will work on creating my cleaning, activity, and meal plan schedules using google calendar. I also want to make a loose daily routine that I can post on our wall. It won't be something that I have to stick to, but it will be a guideline. It will serve to prevent that awful "it's 10am and the kids are still in their jammies so now we'll never get the day started" feeling I frequently got when I was running on 2 hours of sleep a night.

I know myself, and doing all these things will make me a happier, more organized and more productive wife and mommy. And who doesn't want that? (I know my dear husband prefers that to zombie woman...)

I can't wait to get back on a routine, and spend the summer fully attuned to my life.

YAY for sleep! :)

Strawberry picking was a success!

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Surviving the Exhaustion

Sleep?

I don't get much of it. At all. I know I talk about it a lot (probably too much for many of you) but truly, when you don't get sleep it's all you can think about. Instead of lamenting my tiredness and circling around the reasons for Joseph's night waking and possible solutions for it, i'm giving you my tips for dealing with the lack of sleep. Because lets face it, after 6.5 months where the longest stretch I've gotten is 4 hours, i'm pretty much an expert.

Drink 

1. Coffee. Obviously i'm touting the benefits of this one. The caffeine wakes me up of course, but so does simply smelling it. While the first pot of the morning brews, the scent triggers parts of my brain which tell me "hey, it's time to look alive!" I also love the taste, so on those mornings where I could potentially be pretty miserable, it perks me up and makes me happy. I am also back to my daily Dunkin Donuts habit, which I refuse to apologize for. I deserve it!



2. Water, water, water. When i'm tired, the last thing I want to do is add dehydration to the mix. I drink one glass of water for every cup of coffee, and then continue to drink water throughout the day. Even though recent research has suggested that 8 glasses aren't necessary, I do my best to get and exceed that amount. It helps my body feel more alert and less sluggish.

3. Wine. When I finally get Joseph settled for the night (wait, let me rephrase. If I can finally get Joseph settled for the night) I like to relax with one glass of wine. I keep it to 2 or 3 nights a week, which makes it a relaxing treat. I enjoy the taste of red wine, and it's something I can look forward to and enjoy before heading into a night where I may possibly be pacing the floors for hours on end.

Food


1. Less sugar. I've noticed that when I consume large amounts of refined sugar I feel awful. I have a stomachache, I'm cranky, I get headaches and i'm beyond the point of sluggishness. That's not good when you're already running on little to no sleep. But I've often found that when i'm overtired my first reaction is to reach for a piece of chocolate or a cookie. I've forced myself to stop doing that, which has made a huge difference in the way my body feels.

2. More fruits and veggies. These foods naturally contain a lot of water, which aids in the prevention of dehydration. They also make me feel fuller longer so i'm less apt to binge on the sugary, processed foods that make me more tired. I've made it a point to include a serving of either fruit or veggies during breakfast, lunch and snacks and two servings at dinner.

Exercise


1. When i'm tired, the last thing I want to do is work out. But it does give me energy, and an afternoon walk outside is just the thing to get me through the rest of the evening. The fresh air is an added bonus, but even on bad weather days I will get up and do some jumping jacks or dancing with Stephanie in the afternoon. Anything to get the blood flowing through my body.

2. Yoga. I've never taken a structured class, and for all I know i'm doing all the moves wrong and have terrible form. But boy do I love yoga. I've started incorporating it into my daily life and I feel happier, more relaxed, more energized, and more peaceful. I've also noticed my body becoming more toned, which is an added bonus. I use the yoga moves from our Wii fit, but even if I don't want to take the time to boot up the system I will do a move or two anytime I find myself sliding into exhaustion and crankiness. The mats we put down to prevent Joseph from slamming his head on the concrete floor have the added benefit of being an always-there yoga mat as well.

Clearly none of these things is a perfect substitute for a full night's sleep. But as any mom knows, there really isn't such a thing as a full night's sleep once you have kids. Even if your child has slept great since he/she was tiny, most moms deal with night waking at least a few times a week. Sometimes it's a nightmare, sometimes it's needing to use the potty (or wetting the bed), sometimes it's teething pain, sometimes it's just lonely kids who want to cuddle with mommy in the middle of the night. Whatever it is that's causing your  tiredness, I hope you find some of these tips useful. They have definitely been a lifesaver for me lately.

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Sleep?

I have not slept for more than a 3 hour block of time since Joseph was born. That's four weeks worth of no sleep, for those of you who aren't keeping close track of how old my newborn is.

After Stephanie was born, the lack of sleep drove me nuts. I was desperate for more zzz's, and frustrated every time I heard the cry of that little one in the middle of the night. I distinctly remember several times when I had to change her diaper in the middle of the night, which turned into changing her jammies, my jammies, and the changing pad cover, and I just broke down and started crying. I remember burying my head under the pillow in the mornings and begging Dan to please get up with her so that I could stay in bed. I couldn't seem to function with such little sleep. But oh, how things are different this time around.

When I hear Joseph cry out in the night, I wake right up and pick him up for his feeding. I don't feel my eyes start to close as i'm feeding him. I don't care about having to do a complete outfit change in the middle of the night, and when he doesn't fall right back to sleep after his bottle, I just rock him, cuddle him, and watch another episode of Friends on TV. When Stephanie starts to cough just as I've finally put Joseph in his bassinet and crawled into bed, I get right back up and go in to soothe her. When 6:00 rolls around (thank you time change), I get up with Stephanie, start up my Keurig, poor her a cup of milk and relish our quiet time together, just the two of us. I take her to story time and to the grocery store, I do laundry, clean the bathroom, make dinner, etc, etc.

I'm not bragging, or waiting to be patted on the back. I know this is not some huge feat that I've managed to accomplish, and there are mother's everywhere dealing with lack of sleep, and doing it with more than two children and less help than I have. But I had to write about it, because honestly, i'm proud of the fact that I've changed so much from how I felt after my last newborn experience.

I've thought about why things are so different this time, and I think it's because of a few different things. For one, my physical recovery with Stephanie was really, really difficult. My delivery had complications that I didn't have this time, and so my body needed sleep in order to heal. I also had never experienced anything like that kind of sleep deprivation before. It was a new experience, and I couldn't seem to adjust to it while also getting the rest my body needed. I was a new mom, struggling with all that that entails, and it was a lot for me to deal with. Now, I've been there, done that. I have adapted my life to having nights of little to no sleep, because that's what happens when you have children. They get sick, and you need to be up with them. They have nights when their teething pain keeps them up, and so you're up as well. Then there are the nights when they decide, hey, I just want to get up and play in my crib. And then you lie in bed and listen to them for hours at a time. I've experienced all of that.

I'm used to getting up early and taking care of Stephanie, so now I get up early and take care of both children. I just...do it. And it doesn't seem that bad. In fact, sometimes I really enjoy middle of the night feedings. It's my one-on-one time with Joseph, it's quiet and peaceful, and I'm soaking up every minute of his newborn-ness. Of course, there are times when I complain about how tired I am, and I have to say I am looking forward to when this little boy sleeps for longer than 3 or 4 hours at a stretch. But in the meantime, I'm sucking it up and dealing with it, with minimal whining and complaining. I do it because i'm a mom, and that's what moms do, and when I see how much Joseph has grown and changed already, I just can't bring myself to dread our middle of the night bonding moments. So here's to a night of little sleep, but plenty of mommy-son time! (And if he decides to sleep longer...I'll welcome that too!)

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Life With Two Children...so far

I'd love to say that life with two children is just as easy as life with one, and that Joseph's arrival has fit seamlessly into our life. However, that's not entirely true. It also isn't true that life with two is more difficult. The truth is, we really don't KNOW what life is like with two children because we haven't had the chance to truly experience it.

We brought Joseph home from the hospital on Saturday. Stephanie didn't get home until 6, and went to bed at 7. On Sunday, we had friends visiting, which kept us all distracted. On Monday, my Dad ("Grumpy" to Stephanie) spent the morning with her while Dan and I took Joseph to the Dr. That night, Stephanie came down with a cold and fever, so on Tuesday we sent her to stay with my parents in order to keep the germs from Joseph. She stayed there until Thursday afternoon.

As much as I hated to send her away, I knew it was the best thing to do for little Joseph, who really shouldn't get sick at such a young age. My emotions were all over the place, and making the decision to send her to my mom's caused a lot of hysterical crying. But she was THRILLED to be going back to her Nana and Grumpy's house, and was actually able to get a lot of rest and TLC. At our house, things were really peaceful. Taking care of one newborn was a piece of cake, since we have a lot of "been there, done that" feelings. Dan and I each even took one morning to sleep late! Unheard of when you have two children at home.

Last night Stephanie came home. Major tantrums occurred, but I really couldn't blame her. She has had no time to adjust to her new lifestyle, and is confused about why she's sometimes home and sometimes at Nana's. Plus, there's this new little person living in her house. (She loves Baby Joseph though...she asks for him when he's not in the room, and gets concerned when he cries.) She slept awful last night, and therefore so did we. Joseph slept like a champ for the first half of the night. Then when Stephanie finally settled down, Joseph was awake. Needless to say, exhaustion has set in for this family.

Today we took both children to the Dr. It turns out that Stephanie has an ear infection, which explains the not sleeping thing. She still has her cold, too, so we need to continually keep her away from her precious baby, and we're washing our hands constantly. With the withered, dried skin to prove it. Yet, despite the fact that she's sick, and we're all exhausted...today was a good day. We all went to the Dr, then Dan and Stephanie took a nap. Joseph and I cuddled and bonded during that time, and when Stephanie woke up she and I ran some errands. The evening was semi smooth, with only a few meltdowns on Stephanie's part. (Due mostly to exhaustion, since she was up all night.) Right now both kids are sleeping soundly, and although Joseph will be woken up soon to eat, i'm hopeful that the night will be peaceful and we can all catch some zzz's. And once Stephanie is better, we can really work on life as a family of four!

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