Mar 16 - 22: SeaWorld & Sleepliness

We started our week with a trip to SeaWorld on Sunday!  We have annual passes to the park this year, which is great timing since Erik recently got a new book about whales that he absolutely loves!  Since both our kids are still so young, we only went down for the morning and got there not too long after it opened.  We headed straight to the new Antarctica exhibit to see the penguins.  I have to say that the new penguin "house" is fabulous!  There were no walls or windows between us and the penguins like in the previous building, just a nearly waist high partition made partially of glass so that you could see the penguins swimming by you.  Since there was no real barricade, the air was COLD!  It would be the perfect place to be during the hot Florida summers!!  Erik liked seeing the penguins, but then decided it was too cold and he wanted to leave.  We didn't go to see any shows this visit, but we did see the seals, the sharks, the dolphins and the children's Happy Harbor where Erik can go on all the rides except one.  Both kids did great while we were there; Erik even agreed to ride in the double stroller for a fair amount of the morning.  He did insist, however, on helping to push it on occasion.

Penguin Habitat

Kent & Elin

Kelli & Erik

Elin could only sit on the bench on the SeaWorld Carousel

Kent & Elin selfie

The Johnson Family selfie

Kelli & Erik selfie - in the caboose on the train ride in Happy Harbor

Elin chewing on my hair - one of her favorite things lately!

We were going selfie crazy at SeaWorld!

Kent left on a business trip early Monday morning and didn't return until Wednesday afternoon.  I hate being a single parent and felt like I was just surviving until Kent got home.  I feel that everything seemingly falls apart during bath & bed time; I'm sure that Erik & Elin were communicating telepathically with each other on how to best thwart my efforts!

While Kent was gone, I started sleep training with Elin on Monday night.  Since I was a single parent, I had to put her down while she was still awake (something I don't normally do) and she had cried herself to sleep by the time I had put Erik to bed and left his room.  She slept nearly 7 hours and then woke up around 3:30AM.  I tried to hold out, but eventually had to go in and try to help her get back to sleep.  From there, Elin totally won the night.  On Tuesday night, I again had to put her down awake, but she was still screaming when I came out of Erik's room. I sat down with her and nursed her some more (she had only had a short session since Erik kept distracting her).  She only slept 2 1/2 hours and then cried off & on until nearly 1AM.  She would drift off for a few minutes but then wake up and scream.  I went in once to soothe her since when she gets ramped up, she can't calm down.  I got her calm and then put her back down.  She started the cry, drift off, cry sequence again.  The rest of the week was pretty much the same.  She will sleep until about 3:30AM and then is awake for 1 to 2 1/2 hours.  She will often drift off while sitting up & leaning against the railing of the crib.  I'm tempted to go in and help her get more comfortable, but am scared that I would just wake her up and start the cycle all over again (I've only had to go in & move her once)!  I remember sleep training being so easy with Erik!

1. Bible - After nearly 3 months on the daily Bible reading plan, I'm running into an unexpected problem this week.  I'm forgetting to read my daily selections and am getting behind on the plan.  I have had to have several marathon reading sessions this week to catch up.

2. Health - I was finally able to meet one of my health goals and exercise this week!  Sadly, it was only one time, but hey, it was progress!  My plan is to wake up early a few days each week and use our elliptical machine before Elin wakes up.  However, since we are still deeply in the throes of sleep training, there has been no getting up early lately. :)

3. Projects - This was a week for working on several different projects, making progress, but not getting any of them completely done!  I found an idea on Pinterest for storing & displaying Christmas cards & letters; I was able to get three years done this week - only about 10 years to go!!

4. Fun - I am going to say that our trip to SeaWorld qualifies as fun!