Lydia Grace Barron and Molly Joy Barron

Lydia had a great weekend! On Friday night she went out for Tex-Mex with Mommy and Daddy's friends, and then watched the Presidential debate. On Saturday she went over to her cousin Liam's house to play, and on Sunday she watched football with Daddy for a few hours while Mommy went shopping. Oh, and she recently got a new toy! It's a baby grand piano! Oliver and I are still discovering all that it can do... The noises and songs seem to be endless. Lydia can already play Mary Had a Little Lamb! (Well, not really, but she's trying really hard! Look at that face in the first picture - full concentration!)

In other news, Oliver and I have a confession to make. Up to now, at 5 1/2 months old, little Lydia Grace has been sleeping in our bedroom in the travel bed. We really thought we would move her upstairs much sooner, but there was this long series of excuses not to....

1 month old: "What if she becomes unswaddled and the blankets cover her face??"

2 months old: "WAAAAAAAAA....!!!!" (That's the sound of Lydia screaming when we tried to put her to bed in her crib a few times. She hated it.)

3 months old: "Mommy is going back to work and it's just so much easier to soothe her during the night when she's right here next to us..."

4 months old: "But she's used to having a blanket over her and tucked under the travel bed mattress and the blankets aren't big enough to tuck under in her big crib but we can't not have a blanket on her because then she'll get cold - or will she? What if we put more clothes on her, but then what if she is used to the blanket and doesn't feel secure and cozy on top of suddenly being in this huge crib and what if her arms or feet get caught in between the slats of the crib sides, but we're not allowed to put up the bumper until she can move more and oh my goodness her bedroom is so far away from our bedroom - can we really leave her up there all by herself? Seems crazy. And it's just so much easier to comfort her during the night when she's right there next to us...

5 months old: "Wow, when we visited Lydia's grandparents she didn't have any complaints about sleeping in a new room with a new bed. We should totally move her to her crib in her bedroom now."

5 months, 2 weeks old: FINALLY did it and guess what? She LOVES her bed!!!! Loves it. Has probably had the best sleep she has had in weeks, in fact. Obviously we have the monitor next to our bed, but we haven't once had to tend to her during the night. She sleeps through like an angel. And boy does she move all around!! We lay her in the bed with her head at the north end and her feet at the south. In the morning she's the opposite, with her feet at the north end and her head at the south end! Or she'll be on her side... Or facing east-west... She's funny. She seriously loves her bed.

Now I should tell you that when Oliver reads this he'll be saying something along the lines of "I was totally prepared to put Lydia in her bed much sooner and just make her tough it out but I wanted to be sensitive to Nicole's sensitivities to Lydia's perceived sensitivities... But I always knew Lydia was ready for her big crib. I never doubted her."

But Mommy isn't so sure... Daddy's tough, but he's also a softy. :)