BIG Girl Bed!

Oh how I have been waiting for this!  Just a few weeks before her 2nd birthday, Emma started hating sleeping in her crib.  Our absolute perfect sleeper (8:00 pm-7:00 am), started waking up multiple times a night only to end up in our bed every morning before 5:00 am.  I never liked the terms "sleep training" or "crying it out".  I never even researched it because I just didn't think we would need it.  Thankfully Emma was 'sleeping through the night' at 3 weeks old.  She was sleeping in her crib at 6 weeks old.  And the only time we had problems with her sleeping was when she was teething.  Who could blame her, I'd have problems too.  Now that she was older I wondered if it was bad dreams or night terrors, she was cold, wanted

a pillow or blanket, or was hungry.  We tried multiple things before bed, but she was still crying out at night and in our bed really early in the morning.  She had gotten used to napping in our bed and she slept like a champ when she was there.

Before we knew it, not only was she in our bed early every morning, but she was falling asleep in our bed.  And it was so convenient just to leave her asleep there and we would all get a good night's sleep.  I loved cuddle time with this sweet girl.  But as the belly kept growing and growing, it seems like she was snuggling more and more...and ALL night long.  I was her cuddle buddy of choice 95% of the time and I would find myself scooting closer and closer to the edge of our king size bed.  This went on for almost 2 months before I had had enough.  The plan for Emma's big girl bed had been in place for those 2 months.  It was due to make an appearance on her 2nd birthday, but in order for that to happen, the hubby had to kick it in gear.  Emma is sleeping in the bed I had as a child. I slept in that bed from the time I was 6 years old until I got married.  It was still in great shape and a solid piece of furniture, just not quite the color I wanted.  It was also stored in my MIL's garage, along with half of our other furniture that won't fit in this house.  So it took a few sunny days, that were sparse around here for a while, to get these things done.  I would like to say that the hubs finally got it done because he was tired of me getting up at 2 am to go sleep on the couch.  But that wasn't the case.  It was more of a threat that he would be the one sleeping all night on the couch if it wasn't done.  He had gotten too comfortable having her in our room.  He loved sleeping all night and waking up to her adorable face and sweet little whispers every morning.  I admit.  I enjoyed that too.  But again, I was her cuddle partner 95% of the time so she didn't wake him up in the middle of the night wanting to snuggle.

Anyway, enough griping. It's finally done and miss Emma is well on her way to sleeping all night in her room again.  It has taken some adjustments for her to stay comfortable all night, but for the most part it's been a success.  One of us, usually me, lays down with her for a little while (this is a big reason we skipped the toddler bed and went straight to queen size).  Depending on how tired she is, we may read a book or she may just roll over and go to sleep.  Every now and then she will call out for mama or daddy to come snuggle a few hours after she goes down.  This is usually due to the small size of our house and the noise we make before bed, so we gladly oblige a little more snuggle time with our girl.  For the first few days one of us would end up in her bed at 2 am and stay the rest of the night.  It gradually got later and later and now Jonathan goes and gets her between 5:30 and 6:00 to get in our bed while he heads out to the gym.  He is usually back around 7:15 just in time for her to wake up to go eat breakfast with daddy while mama steals away a few more minutes of rest.

It's our new routine and it's what works for us.  I know it will drastically change in 2 short months, but at least we won't have a newborn AND a toddler in our room all night.


BTW...don't judge the dark instagram photo and the odd placement of furniture.  We still have some rearranging to do and moving of furniture.  The chair and small dresser will soon be in the nursery to make room for another dresser to go in her room (which is currently being stored in our living room...nice).  I also haven't changed any of the wall decor yet until the furniture is set.  But for now this works the best so she still has room to play.

34 Weeks

Wow!... Only 6 weeks to go (hopefully a little less, but not likely).  According to my weekly emails this kiddo is 18 inches long and almost 5 pounds.  It feels a little more like he's 15, but hopefully that's just all that extra weight I'm carrying around.  This pregnancy has been almost identical to my first.  Sick in the beginning, anti-sweets until almost the 3rd trimester, uneventful doctor visits, zero contractions, no swollen fingers or feet yet, unending baby hiccups, and wishing I was taller so that this baby had more room to move around under the ribs.  I also feel like I'm having flashbacks of the first pregnancy when we moved into our house about a month before Emma's due date.  Thankfully, we aren't moving, but baby boys room is just now being converted from Jonathan's office to a nursery.  I have just now picked out fabric for the bedding and curtains and will hopefully get a jump on that this weekend. 

These are a few of the things I've bought and a little inspiration for his room.

I think the only difference this go round, other than a baby boy in the tummy, is that little toddler running around.  She definitely keeps us busy and sometimes I have to remind myself to stop and enjoy being pregnant.  At 27 months, people are always questioning her ability to understand having a new baby.  Since my belly has been noticeably growing, we have talked about having a baby brother.  For a while, it was questionable when she kept telling us that baby brother was in Mama's pocket, but she finally figured out he's really in my tummy.  She talks about him all the time, helps pick out new clothes for him, sings to him, and since the other night, her hands are constantly glued to my belly to feel him moving. 

She has gotten so big!

 Always busy doing something...

 

I guess constantly carrying her and running after her is part of the reason that I haven't gained quite as much weight this time around.  Well that...and the hubby has been cooking some seriously healthy food lately (and he's lost 20 lbs!).  Despite his best efforts to keep the junk food out of the house, I bought some good 'ole girl scout cookies.  I guess you could say I haven't really had any true cravings, but when it comes to Thin Mints, who can resist.

I had another uneventful check up this morning.  Baby Ben's heartbeat has been consistently in the 140's lately and measuring right on target...34 cm.  I haven't had many pictures of the preggo belly so I thought I should snap one before it's too late.  Please excuse this dress that is a little too tight and a tiny bit short for a pregnant belly, but at 85 degrees in MS.  I had to put on something cool after work.  I didn't buy any maternity clothes this go round until well into the fall months and with Emma I was just barely pregnant in late spring and summer.  We've had oddly warm temps this week so I'm thinking I may have to go buy a dress or 2 that will take me through the next few weeks.  Honestly, I look at maternity dresses and cringe at the styles, but maybe I'll get lucky.  After all, I can't wear my scrubs my baby shower next weekend!

34 weeks

Ready to be a Big Sister

This is a horribly dark iPhone photo I took last night of Emma. She has been so interested in baby brother and mama's tummy lately. I had not even thought about letting her feel him move. I feel like he is so big and you can feel and see every tiny movement he makes that I knew it would help her understand. She put her hand on my tummy and kept saying "he's going 'boom boom boom'", "he's kicking mama" and "I feel him moving". She fell asleep last night with her hand on my tummy and asked to feel him as soon as she woke up this morning. When she got home this afternoon, I let out a sigh and put my hand on my stomach. It was an immediate reminder to her and she was glued to my tummy the rest of the night. Tonight when she felt him she said "he's awake! I want to get him out and play". I told her it would be just a few more weeks before he could come out. If only toddlers had a concept of time. She will be an amazing big sister. I am so ready for her to meet the little baby brother that has been growing in mommy's belly.

Things for Baby Ben

I did a whole lot of sewing this past weekend for baby boy.  My nesting for his room has been put on hold until we get the office converted, painted, and furniture moved around in this house.  Plus, I had about a kazillion scraps leftover from previous projects so I put them to good use.  Before I knew it, I had almost 20 things cut out and ready to sew on Saturday.  Here are just a few of the things I made.

Bibs backed with super soft and absorbent chenille

A few burp cloths made with plain premade burps

Burp cloth backed with chenille

Applique Bibs

These little lovelies were made with premade bibs that I found at Hobby Lobby for just a few bucks each.  So perfect for adding these adorable appliques.  I found the template for the elephant on Daffodil Design and the tie template from Crap I've Made.  Both of these sites have great tutorials.

And just a little "lil bro" applique gown.

Finding a font and printing them out 100 times to get the right size drives me insane!  I found this awesome letter applique template that has every letter in upper and lower case on Skip to my Lou.



Linking up to:

Mady by you Mondays


Made with Love

 andGet Your Craft On

Potty Training 101

I feel like we should have gone to school for this one.  Or at least taken a class...

I did very little research on potty training.  I would have people tell me, "you should definitely read this book", "rewards are the way to go", "she's too young, the younger you start, the longer it takes", or "we've tried potty training 3 different times and are still in pull ups".  I'd heard of the 3 day method, the keep them naked and stay at home method, the Dr. Phil one-day method, the they'll do it when they're ready method, the infant method, etc. etc..  All of that info led me to believe that there is not one method that works for every child.  You hear that consistently throughout the years about child development.  There are no 2 children just alike.  They all develop at their own speed in their own way.  The she's too young statement had held me back long enough and I decided to go with my gut.

We started 2012 out with a bang.  We went cold turkey.  No diapers except night time and most nap times. We started it with the new year because we had a 3 day weekend and I knew we would have that extra day to work on it.  Well, I say we started potty training then, but honestly, Emma's been preparing for this for months.  Nana had her using a potty when she was 12 months old.  It was more just for fun, but she did it.  We would often let her go to the bathroom with us and if she wanted/agreed, we would plop her little booty on the potty.  She was about 18 months old before we actually got her own potty, but we never pushed it.  We got a little ducky potty for Nana's house for Emma to use "just for fun".  A few months later, we decided we would give it a go at our house and bought a potty seat for our house.  I pondered it for what seemed like months.  I wanted to be sure it would work before we started.  I didn't want to get discouraged and give up.  I looked for signs:  Emma was already using the potty sporadically, she would go hours without wetting her diaper and wake up dry, she was a pro at communicating what she wants, we could always tell when she was going, she would try dressing herself (though this task was difficult with her baby ghetto booty), and the biggie, she would tell us as she was going.  Finally, I knew this would be possible.  So we started our journey...


Disclaimer: Jonathan continually makes fun of /criticizes people on facebook that make embarrassing posts/post pictures of their child(ren) in questionable situations.  Hence, you won't see this picture on facebook :)

First, we prepared the house.  Brought all of her toys into the living room and closed the doors to the carpeted room.  We had our potty seat and the little duck potty from Nana's.  We had 10 pair of training panties on hand.  We got ready to watch her like a hawk.  Despite our best efforts, the first day we went through 7 pairs of panties.  Talk about discouraging.  Continually cleaning up big puddles on the floor.  It seemed like she would go every time we turned our backs.  We pumped her full of fluids so that, hopefully, the more often she had to go the better she would learn to control it.  We kept telling her "tell us when you need to go potty" and I kept waiting to hear those few little words.  Didn't happen.  That night I went out and bought 2 more packs of panties.  She now has like 20 pair!  It had me questioning, "is she really ready?"  The next 2 days went so much better.  Only 1 or 2 panty changes each day.  We even went somewhere with her New Year's night and had no accidents. By the end of the weekend, we had no more puddles.  She learned to control it.  She would have small accidents, but would be able to stop herself and say "I gotta go!" before creating those huge puddles.  I didn't expect her to be accident free in those few days, but she was well on her way.

It is a continual work in progress, but she goes days without accidents.  For a while, she had her moments when she just completely disagreed that she needed to go, only to turn around moments later crying, running down the hallway, and saying "I need to go potty" as she was wetting her panties.  We also had a phase when she would use going to the potty as an excuse not to go night night.  She would ask to go 3-4 times when she got in the bed and she would make herself go every time she sat on the potty!  Thankfully, those days are over.  She is a pro at holding it and has gotten so much better at telling us she needs to go without us asking.  It has become more of a hobby than a chore.  We didn't really have a method that worked best.  We tried everything:  rewards, treats, bribing, praise, and sometimes even shame and discipline.  It really just depended on her mood.  To be honest, I think the praise and treats worked out best considering her 2 most common phrases now are "I go pee pee and I get a treat" and "I'm so proud of you" as she squeezes our cheeks.  Another thing that I've found works well with her is that we try to go potty when we have a change of events... Examples:  prior to eating, leaving/arriving somewhere, when she goes to play with a different toy, when we finish a task or when Mickey or Dora goes off :)  It's easier this way than making her stop halfway through what she is doing.

We still have a few hurdles to hop.  She is still in pull ups at night and most naps.  I'm giving her a few months on this one, though many nights she will wake up in the middle of night to go potty.  Multiple caretakers is another hurdle.  My mom does an excellent job considering that she is also keeping 4 month old Jonah.  Emma has MAYBE 1-2 teeny tiny accidents a week there.  And when I say accident, this usually means starting in her panties, but stopping herself so that she can finish on the potty.  This past week the only accident she had was with the MIL.  I should have expected it considering her children are 30 and 38 and she rarely keeps Emma.  Jonathan does a great job with her except when it comes to taking her places alone.  He has gotten so much better at taking her potty in public places, but for a while he was way too attached to pull-ups when he left the house with her.  She would never wet the pull-ups, but we were wasting money on them.  I'd much rather wash a pair of panties than throw away a dry pull-up!  Besides, we are much more aware of her needs when she has on panties because we don't want to change wet clothes.

Let me just say that, despite the hurdles we've come to, Emma has done an excellent job and I couldn't be more proud!  I'm so glad we started the process well before baby boy gets here.  Even if she does relapse with that huge change of events, it will be easier to retrain than to start from scratch.

Adding a linky link to sister's {mom}ents of the week!

Things I Love Thursday

1.  UNIQUE handmade children's clothing, from Lieschen Mueller.

I am loving on that little romper!! and the shorts.  I wish I was that creative.

2.  Toddlers and their tender spirits.

This picture says it all.  Miss Emma is such a little ham. During our Mommy and Me pictures, Steph was trying to get Em to slow down and told her to stop and smell the flowers.  She took it so seriously.

3.  Summer!!  And vintage style swimsuits on little girls.  Babiekins Magazine

Thinking I will have to draft a pattern for one of these little beauties because i'm sure I can't afford it!

Things for Baby Ben

We only have about 2 months to go before baby boy gets here.  Since Jonathan's office is going to be overhauled to be the nursery, we're waiting until last minute to get his room ready. I had to begin nesting somehow, so I started creating.  At one of my weekly trips to hobby lobby, I bought some transfer paper for creating your own iron ons.  Steph gave me some plain white onesies that Jonah grew out of so these were perfect for trying out this new craft. 

Do it yourself Iron-on Transfers

Hobby Lobby also has a great selection of premade iron ons 

 And for the sports fanatic in our house...

Then I started with the fabric appliques...

And a matching paci clip

  

 A pawprint romper for the Bulldog in the house.

Seersucker Alligator

I also did a little jon jon sewing...

Reversible Romper - This one will probably be too big for Benjamin and will end up on Jonah 

Seersucker Jon Jon

I originally made this little cutie for Connor last summer.  It was supposed to be a size 2, but somehow when I connected my pattern it was the length of a 3 month and the width of the 2!  Can you say disaster?! When I found out I was having a boy I recreated it so that it is now an actual 3 month size, hopefully.

I have about a million more of these little projects that are unfinished.  Including newborn gowns, bibs, burps, more onesies, baby boy bubbles, and shorts and swim trunks.  Now if I can find time to finish them!