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fromkristin.com

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Our Experience With a Sleep Consultant

Sleep is important. We can all agree on that right? We feel better when we get enough sleep. From the beginning days of being a parent, sleep is something you think about, worry about, dream about. How can I get my child to fall asleep? Stay asleep? Let me sleep? Is my child getting enough sleep? The questions are endless.

We have always been those parents who valued sleep, implemented routines, strictly adhered to bedtimes, etc. One of our daughters has never particularly wanted to go to bed early. She has had trouble for much of her life to quiet her brain and fall asleep. In the fall we decided to start giving her melatonin and it felt like we’d been given a new lease on life. She was falling asleep within 30 minutes, we had our evenings back and all felt right in the world.

Fast forward a few months and things started to go downhill. She was still falling asleep well but she was waking up so scared. And when she woke up scared, she was awake for hours. It was like she had lost the ability and confidence to put herself to sleep. One night, my husband was at work and I was home and she woke up at 9pm and was awake until 3 am! Much of this time she was screaming and hyperventilating if I wasn’t sitting up beside her. Even if I was sitting with her she was calm but not going to sleep. This was the proverbial “straw that broke the camels back” and I knew we had to get to the root of the issue and off the melatonin. Helping her conquer these fears and learn to quiet her soul was too important to just glaze over. That night, I remembered a lady I follow in instagram mentioning her Christian sleep consultant and so I reached out that night.

We used the Sleep Wise Consulting (you’ll see my girl’s sweet face there on their homepage) and our consultant’s name was Monica Maldonado. You can click here to go to her instagram profile. Monica was just the sweetest lady who became the biggest blessing in our lives. There is no denying God’s hand in this matter. That I would remember Monica specifically being mentioned and reach out to her directly in the middle of the night. If I had gone through the website I’m sure I’d have been assigned someone different but Monica was the exact person that both Hailey and I needed. She was gentle and soft spoken and loving. She made the effort to connect with Hailey and she spoke soothing and encouraging words to me. I honestly feel like she is a kindred spirit. Having a fellow believer to help in all this was amazing as I knew this was a work God was going to have to do in Hailey’s heart to help her sleep peacefully and without fear. Monica sent videos of herself reading scripture she chose to Hailey, spoke to her of God’s faithfulness and protection, and prayed for her. What an absolute blessing this was. Hailey and Monica formed a special connection where Hailey would want to call her, wrote her a poem, and still asks about her and occasionally keep in touch. Special, Godly adults in your kids lives are a huge blessing!

As for the process, I reached out to Monica and she scheduled me a 15 minute free consult to see if we were a fit and to explain the process. Once we decided to proceed, I filled out a questionnaire about Hailey, what was going on, and what we wanted from the process. Monica then created a 12 page sleep plan for Hailey and went over it with all of us on a video chat. She helped us implement the plan and we chatted every couple of days for the 3 weeks until we had reached the desired outcome. She gave me understanding and encouragement as I struggled with some of the changes (a later bedtime) and she spoke life and encouragement into Hailey when I was feeling too tired to do so. I won’t share all the changes she made in Hailey’s nighttime routine as that’s her job to do specifically for your child. I will say that peace has been restored to our home. We get some alone time with Hailey in the evening where we read together and when it’s time for her to go to bed she walks to her room, tucks herself in, and goes to sleep. We don’t see or hear from her again until morning and she wakes up well rested. It seemed impossible a few months ago that we would be at this place again, but here we are!

I want to encourage you whether you are the parent of an infant or an elementary school child, don’t settle for inadequate sleep for any of you. Good sleep is so imporant to their moods, develpment, health, learning, etc and good sleep is also important for us parents. You dont have to dread bedtime and you don’t have to be fearful of how many times you will be woken up at night. You don’t have to be exhausted and neither does your child. Reach out to a sleep consultant, commit to following through on the process, and reap the rewards.

(And might I add that my girls share, not only a room, but a bed! Monica was able to work with us to allow them to keep bedsharing as that is their desire.)

Our family loves, and is so thankful for, Monica and Sleep Wise!

(this is not an ad! Just the joyful review of a well rested mom!)

This is a very old photo (Sophie doesn’t have a lulu anymore) but I still love seeing them snuggled up together!
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About Me

Hi I am Kristin Stewart. I consider myself so lucky to be a homeschool mommy! Before I was a mother, I was a teacher in both public and Christian boards and I loved teaching so much. However, once my first daughter was born I knew God was calling me to be at home with her. So when it was time for her to start school, homeschooling was a natural fit for us. Read More…

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Kristin Stewart
Talking about the books I got for my girls (8 and Talking about the books I got for my girls (8 and 6) for our upcoming 10 day road trip in my stories today if you need ideas.
We love using our big 100 floor chart for math. Us We love using our big 100 floor chart for math. Used it for adding 10 for grade 1 math and now skip counting review visual for grade 3 math.
Thank you so much for joining me here in the is li Thank you so much for joining me here in the is little space and joining me in the conversation about homeschool, faith and intentionally raising our kids.  I am so thankful for the friendships and the love you’ve shown me and my family this year.  See you in 2021! Happy new year!
Walking and seeing the hoarfrost never gets old. D Walking and seeing the hoarfrost never gets old.
Due to lots of upheaval over the next few months, I’m starting a slow launch with math tomorrow. We can’t get behind in math as I don’t want to school through the summer!! 

(I know..behind isn’t a thing in homeschool but I have certain goals for math I like to reach!)
Read this for the first time tonight and it might Read this for the first time tonight and it might be my fave ever
Sophie and I loved this book but be warned, it’s Sophie and I loved this book but be warned, it’s like 30 pages and the pages are covered in text. We started for bedtime last night without knowing how long it was so had to finish it this morning. 
A heart warming story about an orphan girl, a doll no one wants and a kind police man and his wife. Beautiful photos and endearing story.
Such a heart warming story about a boy who gives a Such a heart warming story about a boy who gives a sweater to a man who needs it and then at the end all his family comes through for him as well. I don’t want to give the story away but we love this one! It’s a longer one, but such a beautiful story! 

I know I’m slacking! I never wrote my blog post on these. (Sorry Mandy!) Lots has been going on here that I had no control over. I’ll get to it soon!
This is a very silly little interactive book. If y This is a very silly little interactive book. If you’re familiar with the other crayons book you’ll know the humour. This one comes with little paper dolls and built in envelopes and lots of fun extras. A very silly little Christmas story about a box of crayons.
A sweet little book about how Santa got his reinde A sweet little book about how Santa got his reindeer. We really enjoyed it.
One of our favourites! This is a sweet little stor One of our favourites! This is a sweet little story about a mouse who can’t find a house his size so he drags the people out of the nativity to use the manger. But the humans keep setting it back up!  Then he hears the Christmas story and realizes there had been no room for Jesus in the inn so he drags all the statues back into the stable and gives Jesus the manger. Then the mouse ends up finding a gingerbread house to live in. Very cute little story that also reminds us of the reason for the season.
This is the bookshelf in my 8 year olds room. Thes This is the bookshelf in my 8 year olds room. These are all chapter books she’s read on her own. She also frequently goes and grabs books we have used for read aloud from our family shelf (Roald Dahl, Mrs piggle wiggle, etc). She’s going to go on in my stories later today to talk about her faves but this gives you an overview of what’s on her shelves.  She has typical 8 year old interests but reads far above grade level.  I would think most of these would be able to be read by any grade 3 student.  She will show inside some in stories a little later.
Such an adorable book! Perfect kids missing their Such an adorable book! Perfect kids missing their grandparents. A little girl is missing her grandpa and a reindeer flies her to deliver the card and then brings her back. Beautiful illustrations and flaps to open. I flipped through it in my stories.
Such an awesome and unique story from the perspect Such an awesome and unique story from the perspective of a boy who’s father made and sold myrrh and how they ended up selling it to the wise men to bring to Jesus.  I think it shows beautifully how even working diligently at your work behind the scenes brings honour to God
This is just a cute little story about reindeer bu This is just a cute little story about reindeer but it also has cut out, peep through parts on some pages that the kids think are fun. It’s mostly in grey and white but a quick, short, cute read
❤️ ❤️
This is a sweet book written about a little Inuit This is a sweet book written about a little Inuit girl and based in Iqaluit, Nunavut. It’s a version of the 3 bears but with polar bears. It’s a cute story with beautiful illustrations that the girls loved so much.
I decided to share a book * daily * (when I get to I decided to share a book * daily * (when I get to it) and will put together a blog post as well. 
This is a cute little book about a man who gets tree that is too big so he cuts the top off and puts it outside and someone else grabs it, does the same, and so on and so forth until it ends up coming full circle with a little mouse family in the old mans house.  Just a cute little story the girls really enjoyed.
Sometimes I wonder if my teacher friends feel like Sometimes I wonder if my teacher friends feel like I’ve lost my mind, or sold out or something. Not that what people think would ever sway what I do, but I do wonder. And I always wish they’d have a conversation with me about it. Because I was extremely anti-homeschool as a teacher, so I guess in that way I’ve changed. But really, I just became educated about homeschooling. My love for, and thoughts about, education never changed. In the classroom I saw each child as an individual and I worked myself to the ground trying to reach each one; trying to figure out the best way for that individual to learn, trying to fill gaps that I hadn’t made, trying to install a love for learning. Trying to be a support for my students. And I know so many other teachers doing that every day. And I still am too. Just at home with my own kids. My ability or desire to educate hasn’t changed. So when you see me saying we made cards instead of math, you don’t have to think I’m tossing aside their learning. They’ll still do all they need to do this year for their grade level, and most likely more.  It takes far less time in a day to properly teach 2 children then to teach 25+. I don’t lose even a single moment sleep wondering about the quality of their education. 
But I also get the beauty of not handing off their character training. I get to mold them and shape them. I get to walk them through their arguments and attitudes and help build their character. I get to teach them daily that you can be kind to someone (your sister) even when they aren’t kind back. I get to teach them to think for themselves and to follow their interests. I can remind them to work diligently at all they do, as working for the Lord not men. And I get to remind them that I care way more about the character they have than they grades they have. 
I’m still pro education! I still feel like I’m working hard along side teachers with the same goal. I’m just obeying Gods calling on how to use my skill, as I trust you are. 
So if you have questions or assumptions about homeschool, ask me! I am not offended, I’m an open book, and I’m extremely confident in what we’re doing here.  Tired yes, but also confident. ❤️
My husband attended a death on his job recently th My husband attended a death on his job recently that left a man in his 80s living alone with no family in town. We decided to bring him a meal tonight. The girls asked who I was cooking for and when I told them, they wanted to make him drawings to “lift his spirits” they said. So instead of math, they made pictures. Some things are just bigger than us and more important than practicing our mental math facts. This afternoon I’m a little teary and just so dang proud to be their mama.  Needed this reminder of the goodness of their hearts amidst all the character training moments lately. ❤️❤️ Dont forget the good inside your kiddos. ❤️
The most recent post on my blog is a review of the The most recent post on my blog is a review of the company CrossTimber gifts who makes these name plaques and these worksheets based around a name
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