Shhhh... be quiet... Anni is sleeping.

I have been trying to teach the girls the art of being quiet with a sleeping baby. It hasn't been easy. Either I hear, "Mommy guess what I saw...." or "Ali" followed by crying, or someone is telling on someone else. All of these screams do not make it easy for Annika to stay sleeping. I don't know how I managed to get a light sleeper for my third child but she is a light sleeper.

Each and every morning I wake up and feed Annika and she plays in her big crib while I shower. She is content and happy until about the time the older girls wake up. Then she is ready to go back to sleep. The problem is that I don't have time to rock her to sleep while getting the girls ready and so I wrap her up already buckled into her car seat. And then she screams.... and screams.... and screams... for what seems like forever but is really only 5-10 minutes. I still don't have time to take care of her as I am doing hair, making breakfast and making lunches. So Ali loves to play the mommy and puts the pacifier back in her mouth and whispers soothing words to her. She is my very persistant child and eventually she succeeds in putting Anni to sleep.

This morning was especially difficult. Anni cried, fell asleep, and then dropped the pacifier and woke up screaming... Ali kept fixing everything and getting her back to sleep. Finally Anni seemed to be sleeping well and Ali tip-toed away from her car seat. "Shhhh... be quiet everyone" she whispered. She kept reminding us. . . .