Sick Kids + Rainy Weather + No TV = Tough Week!

Listening to a book on tape :)

Here is a little journal from our Screen Free week :)  As I told my sister, I often felt like a woman in labor who had been given pitocin but was trying to hold off on an epidural.  As my sister (a labor and delivery nurse) always says,"They do not give you an award for going natural".  I probably should have taken this advice this week but we stayed strong and I am proud to say we made it through.  Here are the gory and beautiful details....

Sunday--Daddy was home so there were lots of distractions.  I did have a bit of whining from Master Z but overall it was a peaceful day.  Z and C both had fevers by the nightfall and went to bed early.  S and I played the board game "LIFE" ;)  He cheated and won!

Monday--WOW!  DETOX IS ROUGH......Z was up at 4:40 with a fever of 101.8...he never went back to sleep.  He and I were downstairs at 5AM and he was begging me to watch TV.  I stayed strong and we played board games and did puzzles.  We were housebound and he cried on and off all morning due to being sick, over tired and the fact he couldn't watch TV (we rarely watch TV in the morning anyway).  At nap time he and I laid down in my bedhe promised to be quiet) but he ended up waking both Lil' C and I up (after only 20 minutes of snoozing) and then after I ordered him downstairs, he passed out on the couch.  He is the only one who got a good nap that day (ironic, don't you think??)

Tuesday--I used books on tape during the dinner Prep when they usually watch George.  I was most nervous for Tuesday though because of our "Breakfast at Night" tradition where they watch George while they eat dinner.  I set them up in front of the tape player with their pancakes and as I flipped more pancakes from the kitchen I could hear, "IIIIIIII  WWWWWAAAAAANNNNNTTTTT AAAAAAAAA..."  yes the tape player bit the dust!  Can you believe it??  I had the worst day with whiny sick kids, finally got them quiet in front of the tape player and it stopped working!  At this point I HATED Screen Free week.

Wednesday--Day three of being housebound went pretty well but once 4pm hit, life went down hill fast.  Both kids were feeling a little better but both were still very clingy and whiny.  My mom convinced me to give in for a 30 minute George Treat while I made dinner.  After a lot of debate (oh the mom guilt), I agreed and approached Z with this notion.  He said, "No mommy, we have to finish the week.  No TV until Easter".  Shocked at this, I agreed, smiled and so appreciated his will power to stick this through! I am soooo proud of him!!!!

Thursday--We had a great morning at the local science museum and a fun afternoon. Then Lil' C woke up on the wrong side of the crib and cried on and off all afternoon.  About 5:30 I was longing for George but we held strong and made it through.  We did invest in a new tape player so books on tape were back in action.  I am really proud of S...NO TV this week and he has been going to bed before 9:30! 

Friday--Today was finally a nice day so we got outside to play :)  After a hectic morning at the doctor, it was nice to have some quiet downtime.  I did have one weak moment where I considered letting them watch 30 minutes of George so I could get a break but I am proud to say I stayed strong!


Saturday--Today is Saturday but with S home all day, my mom coming to visit and S's parents coming for the night....I am hopeful that we will make it through the day without TV.  There are eggs to dye, my MIL"s birthday to celebrate and lots of people to play with :)

Overview--It was a tough week with the kids being sick and the weather being lousy but I am soooo proud of us for making it through.  I learned that I do use TV as a crutch but more importantly I am on the computer WAY too much.  This week of having the computer tucked away in my bedroom made a huge difference.  I limited my time throughout the day (would check email if I had to run upstairs for something) and had an hour at night.  This really was enough and I plan to keep this the norm from now on.  I also plan to limit Z's computer time to 30 minutes every other day :)  S has fallen into a great habit of reading before bed and going to bed about 3 hours earlier than normal and he hopes to keep that up too :)  Other than that, we will be back to watching George from 5:00-5:30 and hope to limit TV to only that and then the occasional movie night :)