Valentines Day 2013

Ok, so I've fallen prey to the blogs that go out of sight for a bit -- let's face it, life with a three year old when you are 47 years old is tiring :)  -- but full and fun too!  But today, while kiddos are still sleeping since there is no school today, I thought I'd quickly catch you up :)

Joshua was sick on Valentines day.... so didn't get to go to school and have his party - but his wonderful teacher sent home some of his homework and his bag of valentines and candy... she's so sweet ... she also sent him a message, "Joshua, when I was in First grade, I missed my valentines day party too - and I remember my brother bringing home my cards and I sat at home and opened them one by one".... she is so awesome.... he LOVES her, so of course this made him feel so much better.  We are blessed to have her at our school.

Now little miss had a different experience.... she was all set for her party at school! First we put our lunch box away, this isn't my teacher....but EVERYONE knows me at school and helps out.

Hey - you brought the camera to school! Now you know I will want to take a turn and get a picture of YOU, momma.

 But wait, it's still early and I need to do my morning stretch :)

Now back to that camera thing, I'm only gonna smile if you promise to let me have a turn.  (Am I sassy or what?)

My turn, my turn, my turn.....so of course I agreed and she got a lovely picture of my black pants, which I decided wasn't worth posting here :)

You can't catch me if I run into my classroom real quick......do-da-loo-da-do

In my classroom, at circle, we each passed out Valentines cards.  This is all so very new to me...but I love little cardboard pictures. 

"Chank-chew" (thank you in her adorable little accent)

Now it's my turn..... I love this party.

And that's life with Lauren..... we are blessed. 

The cycle is broken.... little miss sleeps in her own bed!!

Well, since we last posted ALOT has been going on. We continued to work with Lauren on sleeping in her bed and for two nights she slept in her bed with Joshua on the floor by her.... then my mom ended up needing to go to the ER one afternoon after her followup visit to her doctor. Long story short - she had very high blood pressure and the doctor would NOT let her go home and insisted she go to the ER - so she did and I spent from 5 pm until 1:30 am in the ER waiting for tests and results. Anyway, she ended up with a kidney stone that is obstructed.... got a stent - and will have O/P procedures to break up stone later on this upcoming week...she's all good :) This all happened on Monday night.... ANYWAY.... this little change in plans ended up being great for our family.


Brad had Joshua and Lauren since I was at the ER -- had to get both to bed... well as you can imagine, Lauren cried for me at bedtime ... and Brad walk/ rocked her around until she calmed down and then he actually slept with her and Joshua in our king bed. I got home at 1:40 or so -- and she woke up and reached for me... it was so good to tell her I'm always coming back ...but that also daddy loves her very much and will always take care of her too! Great bonding moment. Given the time of night - I swept her up and took her to sleep with me in Joshua's bed.

BUT the next several nights..... actually every night since then, she has been sleeping in her room in her toddler bed! Joshua starts out resting next to her -- and he eventually slips out of her bed - there is just not enough room for both -- and he's been sleeping on the floor in her room. Some have a protective dog at their feet during night time -- Lauren has Joshua..... and it's so very cute!! It's hard to see Lauren, because her babydoll's head is right next to hers - which blends in dark hair with her own dark hair - and I think her brown little arm is up there in the mix too, along with one of her groovy dolls (who happens to have dark shoes) -- but I promise you -- the little brown spot in that white bed is our little miss. And you can sortof see Joshua on the floor :)

I am soooo excited to begin catching up on sleep -- it feels wonderful to have a full night (or almost full night). Lauren usually wake up sometimes at 12:30, other times at 2 or 3am -- and if I'm lucky 5 am -- I go in and comfort her with pats and turn back on her lullaby CD, along with her dream lite turtle that shines stars on the ceiling.... these things together give her security in knowing where she is and that all is ok. Today she slept until 8 am!! YES!! I think she's getting better sleep too!

Now to be real transparent - those initial nights were rough in getting her to lay down -- and we even did our sleep training techniques that we used on Joshua we learned from Millpond Sleep Center -- from Nanny 911. Basically, you close the door until they lay down (they hate the door closed) -- when you open the door if they haven't laid down you tell them, "lay down or I will close the door" if they lay down, keep the door open-- she just got spitting mad the first few times because she wanted to make it clear she did not want to sleep here --- she even gave me "the Marathi" and pointed to our bedroom as if to say, "you know we sleep together in that bed in your room - so let's go in there now and be done with this!".... but we remained calm and consistent -- and now after around 1 week - she's fine in her bed --- and even tells her baby dolls "night-night" when she leaves them in the morning to come downstairs -- it's the cutest thing. I do still have to stay in her room until she's asleep - which usually isn't long at all - but I'm fine with that for now. And I also don't think she'd do well if Joshua wasn't in her room initially either - she really calls out to him and NEEDS him by her..... so thankful he seems to understand this need and have empathy for her.

I am thankful for mom's ER visit and our determination to break this cycle. Sometimes changing the routine is all it takes to get permanent change accomplished. Many people have prayed for us over this sleep thing - and for that I am ever grateful!

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