Toddler Bed!

Here's how we have the bed situation in Mary's room. Now she's been having sleeping problems forever

. (As most everyone knows.) And she still doesn't sleep through the night. We've done everything, but this might work. We switched her to the toddler bed that the crib can turn into. But, it's a little high for her to get in and out of so we put the mattress on the ground. We're going to take out the springs so the mattress can actually go into the bed frame.

Then when she cries in the middle of the night I go in and lay down on the floor next to her bed and she goes to sleep. It's actually amazing because she gives me a hug and then lays down in bed on her own and lays quietly until she falls asleep. So I'm hoping that I can lay further and further from the bed until she doesn't need me in the room anymore. I think it's working.

And soon we'll have another one so we are going to need to buy Mary a bed. We have a few months before we have to make the switch but we still have to decide between a bunk bed and a little toddler bed. And we're definitely going to IKEA though. :)

Sonogram

Last Thursday we went for a sonogram to confirm the pregnancy. It went well and we could hear the babies heartbeat. That was pretty exciting. I'm not very far along but so far so good.

I asked Mary if she wanted a baby brother or sister and she said, "Nooo." We'll give her some time to warm up to the idea. 

I haven't been feeling 100%. But so far I haven't been as sick as I was with Mary. And I haven't been as tired either. I think this pregnancy will be a lot better than the last one. Now we just have to figure out how to fit two kids in Mary's tiny bedroom.

Time for another one!

So we're expecting another little one on August 29th, 2009. I guess we'll have to change the website to say Our Kids or something instead of Mary Pie. We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet but we'll keep you all posted. We just had our first sonogram and we heard the heartbeat! So that's a good sign. The kids will be a little over 2 years apart, which is pretty good. It wasn't very long ago when we welcomed Mary home. It'll be good to have another one. But being an only child myself, I'm not sure how to make it so Mary always feels included, even when I have to spend time with the baby. I'll post pictures too as soon as I'm showing.

The Cat

So this is the cat that always causes us trouble. Her name's Grace and at one point, she actually cost me my favorite camera. $1200 and she peed on it.

But a week ago she was missing for 2 days. Last time that happened I found her on the porch of some other house around the block. She was lost and I had to go pick er up and take her home.

This time a fellow apartment resident found her in a tree. I put up a flier saying she was missing and within a few hours the apartment manager called and said that I think we found your cat.

So I got our ladder and climbed the tree and got her down. She was thankful but a little freaked out and of course hungry. I'm just glad we found her. I did miss her even though she's a pain.

I named her well though because she teaches me to live with Grace even if every thing's going to he**.

Our Thanksgiving

So Grandma Kay came out for Thanksgiving. IT was fun. She arrived on wednesday and we went to IKEA to get stuff for Mary's room. Then we got home and I started baking pies and getting stuff ready for thursday. Then of course Mary got sick. All over the kitchen.

I was like Oh no! But then she seemed to be doing better and I was thinking maybe she just ate something she didn't like or something. But then she threw up a few more times. And she ended up going to bed really late, at like 11.

The next day was Thanksgiving and we all had a great meal. Mary didn't eat with us. She was sick til noonish time and she took 2 naps. We were all wasted that evening but we thought, oh what a big meal. But then...

We all got sick. Rich started not feeling well that night. And then threw up the next morning. Mom felt ok til the afternoon and then whammo! I was feeling good til about 5pm and then

 Bingo! By then Mary was feeling right as rain and was being a good girl. While all the grownups were sprawled out on the couch Mary played quietly in her room.

Did I mention the fever too. And the aching and the headache.

By the next day on saturday we were all

 recovering. We were still a little weak but feeling much better. Mom was doing good and we started puting together all the stuff we got at IKEA. Here's basically what we got. You can check out more pics on the photos page. There's a dresser, storage system, tv stand, flower light, picture frames and (not pictured) side table, floor rugs, small chair. Did I mention that I love IKEA?

Then on Sunday we cleaned her room and mom left at about noon. It took her 11 hours to get home. Can you believe that!? Holiday traffic, what a bummer! But now Mary's room looks great. I can actually clean it and I actually love spending time in there. Mary also likes her room a lot. She was running around in circles squealing the first day we put it together.

The Screaming

Mary has reverted to screaming all night again. I'm going to buy another sleep book and see what happens.

We were doing good for a little while. But everytime she starts to sleep well she gets teeth or gets sick. I think I'm going to have to wean her soon too. She always wants to be nursed! She gets to be such a cranky pants.

I nurse her a lot when she gets sick because usually it's stomach problems and nursing keeps her hydrated n stuff. But then even when she gets well she expects it all the time and won't really eat food. Except if she sees other children eating. Then she'll eat. Of course.

I check on her like the sleep books say but then they say to not pick them up but she always has a dirty diaper. I can't leave her in a dirty diaper all night. So I have to pick her up and change her and then more screaming.

Anyway, she screams last night at bedtime, and this morning and right now at naptime. It's killin' me smalls.

I'm going to Barnes n Noble after her nap and we're buying some more sleep books.

HI again

Photos taken in November