Silence is Golden

After two (plus) weeks with the Parental Unit, I was relieved to finally be home. I love the parents and I know the girls love being with them and visiting the rest of the family, but it just wears me out.

At home both girls sleep relatively well. They certainly don’t scream all night long or cry when they are put to bed. Yet at grandma and grandpa’s house these are regular occurrences. Of course, my mom doesn’t believe that they don’t act like that at home.

In addition to not sleeping well on their couch, I also struggle with the fear that the screaming and fussing will disturb my parent’s sleep. As a result I am hesitant to let the Little One “work it out” on her own. The problem is if you go in to try and calm her down, she become hysterical when you leave her.

My other challenge being at their house is that as soon as the Big One or Little One makes the slightest peep or indication that they may not be in a deep sleep, my mom or my niece are quick to “rescue” them. I, on the other hand, am more content waiting to see if they are actually ready to wake up or not. Quite often, they are not ready, yet when Grandma or Niki opens the door they get up anyway.

One of my biggest “rules” is if they wake up crying, I try to leave them alone for a bit to see if they go back to sleep or work out whatever they are crying about. I know that if I get a crying kid out of bed, chances are it will be a very, very, very long day.

So as I lie in bed listening to both girls fuss yesterday I began to think about the wonderful tools that I have at home to get me through it. {that is, the tricks I use to drown out the noise so I can rest a bit more!}

White noise machine ~ Oh how I love to listen to the waves crash gently on the shore. I am adjusting to the seagulls squawking {I must have gotten the cheap version of the waves track. Yes the seagulls have woken both the Husband and I up from a deep sleep with the feeling of being under attack by birds.}

Air conditioner ~ Our A/C unit is in the attic and is located in the portion of the attic at the end of the hall closer to the girls’ rooms. So when that sucker kicks on, it does wonders to cut down on whiney children noise.

Shower~ When they are really loud and fussy, I can retreat to my shower. In addition to loving being in the shower and getting clean to feel refreshed and ready for the day, the noise from the water and especially washing my hair can make me sometimes even forget that I have children. Ahhhhhhh, bliss.

Downstairs ~ Going downstairs is a wonderful trick to escape the noise without really escaping. I merely go downstairs, turn the baby monitor off and enjoy the silence.

I know there are others. What tricks do you use to drown out your kids’ noise?