Lydia Grace Barron and Molly Joy Barron

How was your Thanksgiving? Lydia's was great! Grammy and Poppy came over to our house. Grammy made a perfect turkey, gravy, stuffing and pumpkin pie, and I made green beans, roasted harvest vegetables, creamed spinach (Omi's recipe), and acorn squash. Lydia enjoyed having her grandparents over to her house, and it was a really nice day. Meanwhile, Omi and Opa called her from Germany to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving! She was happy to hear from them.

We made a decision not to put the Christmas tree up this year because it's so much work, and with Molly coming, it just seemed like a big endeavor. And putting it away after Christmas could be a big chore with a new baby and lots to do. But, on Saturday Oliver decided to put the tree up! That made Lydia and I happy. Especially Lydia - she LOVES the Christmas tree!! We decorated a bit otherwise but we're keeping it to a minimum this year.

This weekend I decided to try to organize Lydia's toys and create a new play space for the girls. Lydia's toys are everywhere. They're relatively organized in containers, but they're everywhere. She doesn't really play with most of them anymore. She prefers to make up games of her own, or to play with Oliver and I. Upstairs we have a fairly large space behind our couch that is perfect for a play area. Here's the beginning of the new play space...

It's a start anyway. There are still a lot of toys to organize, not to mention Lydia's books (she has a LOT of books).

I mentioned in my last blog that Lydia transitioned to her toddler bed. She has done GREAT! The first night was tough, but not because she was upset about the change... She wasn't bothered at all by the change from crib to bed. In fact, I think she was pretty excited about it! But, there were 2 issues.

1) She was used to moving around a LOT in her bed. Every corner, every side, every angle. and 2) She discovered she could get herself up...anytime she wanted to.

Oliver left the bumper on, since we know she sleeps up against the slats a lot. Might as well help her be comfy. Molly won't need the bumper for awhile.

The first night started out fine. We did our usual bedtime routine, prayed, put her in bed and said "Night-night, I love you." No problem. She went to sleep. About 3 hours later, I woke up and heard Lydia crying. She doesn't usually wake up at all during the night. I waited about 5-10 minutes to see if she would stop and put herself back to sleep. But she didn't stop... And then it hit me. She might be on the floor!! I went upstairs and peeked in her room, and sure enough...poor little thing had fallen out of her bed and was on the floor totally unsure of what had happened or what to do about it. I knew she wasn't hurt (I could tell by the type of cry, of course), so I just picked her up and calmed her down, sang, prayed and put her back in bed. She was upset about that... The trauma of the abrupt disturbance during her sleep had her now feeling super sensitive of the "Mommy, don't leave me" kind. After comforting her some more, I left the room. She cried. I laid down upstairs in the living room to wait until she went to sleep. I was worried she was going to fall off the bed again and knew I wouldn't be able to sleep until she was out. She cried and wimpered and finally was quiet. After about 10 minutes I figured she was asleep, but then heard her giggle and hum and...could that be her dancing in her room? Sure enough, the little stinker had gotten up and was playing in her room. So, I went in and said in a stern but sweet voice "Lydia, it's time for night-night." I put her in bed, said I love you and left. I waited upstairs to see what she'd do, and sure enough...after 15 minutes or so she was back up and playing in her room. I went in and this time didn't say anything to her. I just put her in bed, kissed her and left. She stayed in bed! Good girl. Again, I was still concerned about her falling out of her bed again, knowing how much she moves from end to end during the night. So, I waited until she fell asleep. Just as I was sure she was asleep and was starting to head downstairs to bed, I heard a thud. A thud! So sad! She had fallen out of bed again. She cried, so I went in to make sure she wasn't hurt, and helped her get back to sleep. By this time it was after 2 AM and she managed to stay safely asleep in bed until almost 7 AM. Phew!

The good news... That was only the first night. She hasn't fallen out of bed since that last fall, and she quickly learned to sleep properly with her head at one end (the end with the guard rail) and her feet at the other. She stays that way all night now. It's funny what a couple of falls will teach you. She now comes downstairs by herself in the morning (which is cute except that it's EARLIER than it used to be). The second she wakes up, she gets herself up and we hear her running around upstairs. I get up and turn the downstairs light on so she can safely make her way down, and I go back to bed until she comes to our room to find us. At first I was super concerned about the stairs at night, but we have a fairly bright night light on the stairs that is sufficient. So, if she did get up while it was dark out (which is typical now in the winter) she can see to come down and I don't have to worry about her falling down the stairs.

So, that was a long story, I know... We're so happy the transition only took one night and she has adjusted to her big girl bed. She really likes it and we keep reinforcing that she gets a big girl bed because she's not a baby. When the baby comes, the baby will sleep in a crib and Lydia will help us take care of her. She always smiles when I say that.

We had a great long weekend, but somehow only managed to take about 5 pictures! So, we'll have to catch up with more pictures soon.