Shakin’ things up a bit

On top of that bed time some how got turned upside down and our “normal routine” now included getting out of bed every 20 minutes from 8pm till 10pm to tell me about their tummy ache… headache… hang-nail… whatever they could think of; it seemed like a good excuse to get out of bed and bug Mom. And this Mom was CAPOOT! When lights go out at 8pm I would like to have my two hours of peace to do MY thing before getting on-line with Hun at 10pm.

No matter how I tried I couldn’t shake this new ‘routine’ the boys had made, the fighting & sleepy-time procrastination & stress it was causing me. Then I had a revelation last night: Change the routine!

The boys have shared a room for two years; since *C* came out of his crib and we bought bunk-beds for the boys. I was then blessed with a guest-room for out of town guests. Since my family has to travel considerably to see me they always stay over-night. So a guest room is perfect. It has my husband’s old full-bed in it (from his bachelor days) and a hodge-podge of other furniture from our ‘single-days’. Well that guest-room is now *C*s. I gave them the option of having their own room after dinner & *E* jumped at the idea! Since *C* was a little more reluctant he got the option of which room he wanted.

I took out the hodge-podge of end-tables, dressers & even a chair (probably headed straight to the garbage at this point). We split up the books from the shared room and divided the mountain of hot-wheels. I brought *C*’s dresser into his new room and you couldn’t cut the excitement in the air with a knife!

The best part?! We read books as usual last night. I tucked them into bed in their own rooms and kissed them each goodnight. And then I didn’t hear from them again until morning-light. AHHHHhhhh… It was definitely time to shake up our routine!

If you find yourself in a rut I’d suggest doing the same. I’m all for routine – it is full of blessings. However, that routine can go hay-wire. Don’t let that ‘hay-wire’ become your norm. Find a new healthy routine that the whole family will benefit from!