It appears that my life now revolves around facebook a little too much. Maybe the format is better for my ADD. Regardless, it is one of my resolutions to blog more. Since I’ve already broken several of my resolutions, I’m trying to hold onto the few I have left!
I just haven’t had a heck of a lot to write about lately. I mean, my life isn’t incredibly exciting. Maybe it is fun for me, but I can’t imagine anyone else trying to read about it.
So, I thought about writing about work.
Here is my first installment of that.
My day tomorrow will consist of a 2 hour conference call on a new transmission line project, review of title searches on 2 state-owned properties within an entirely different project, attempting to get out of a 10 yr old tenant-friendly lease for a landlord corporation that seems to be heading toward financial ruin, get a subdivision finalized for an old rubber factory by getting the town to take part of the property, reviewing maps from the 1890s and 1920s to try to determine the area of a property on a town line that was not clear established until 1988, review 3 different rights and restrictions matrices for project engineers, read a country club’s bylaws to prepare a memo how to resolve an access issue, prepare fund application for a municipal water main project, review engineer notes on “sliver” properties within new transmission corridor, prepare correspondence to landowner of tobacco farm re: impact of transmission lines on property, review conservation restrictions for nature conservancy versus eminent domain powers of utility…..if anyone is still reading, you deserve an f’ing medal.
I plan to top off my fun-filled day by calling my mortgage broker about refinancing my house and visiting the ob/gyn for an annual. Can you see why I haven’t been writing lately?
The good news is the very last item of my day is starting to cause me some unusual excitement. The ob/gyn appointment. Yes. Whoopie!
I’m hoping this appointment results is a green light to start TTCing as soon as we are ready!
When we get that green light, we can then have more conversations about how we have one of the most “spirited” children in the world and are we nuts for lining up for another one?!!?
Speaking of spirited children, guess who climbed out of his crib on Friday night?….
This goes hand in hand with the fact that we’ve totally and completely lost control of bed time (or any bed rules for that matter) in our house. This kid is falling asleep in our bed, placed in his crib, then waking up at 5 am only to come back in our bed again. It’s awful.
We tried to just let him cry it out and put our foot (feet? foot?) down about making him go down in his own bed. This kid screams like he’s being stabbed with a sharp object. And he doesn’t stop. One night, we were going to stand our ground and we stuck him in there and tried to close our ears. He screamed for an hour and 45 minutes. Non-stop. It was getting late and our condo neighbors were starting to slam doors when we finally couldn’t endure one more second.
We’ve tried music, night lights, no music, no night light, door open, door shut, stuffed animals, different blankets, reading before bed, getting a routine down. Nothing has worked.
Back to this Friday night. We decide it’s a weekend night, we’re going to try again. We read to him, give him a bottle (sigh, yes, he still take a bottle – we totally suck), etc. Tell him it’s time for night-night, etc. Lois gets into bed, we both kiss him goodnight and I bring him into his room kicking and screaming bloody murder the entire time. Once I leave his room, I close the door and climb into our bed across the hall.
By the time I have the remote in my hand, I realize the screaming is getting closer and his doorknob is rattling…what the f*ck?
Lo turns to me and says “you didn’t put him in his crib?”
Of course I did! How could he be at his door? It took me several seconds to figure it all out. The little son of a ….
We were so scared that he would do it again and fall 3 feet on his head, guess who slept with us Friday night?!!?
The next morning, I put him in his crib and watched him. He put his hands on his mattress and put his feet in the air, getting them up over the crib rail, pulling himself up with his legs and then sliding himself down the outside of the crib to the floor. He did all this in about 15 seconds. I was in shock.
After checking out crib tents on Sat. and getting advice from my FB friends, we decided to take the front panel off the convertible crib and make it a toddler bed. (I had some reservations about the crib tent based on how strong and determined this kid is). I bought a bed rail on Saturday night (trekking through the snow storm for one) and got him all set up.
Here’s the final result:
We’re trying to make a big deal out of the big boy bed and he loves climbing in and out of it and even hanging out in there. We put a gate on the top of the stairs, but I think I might put one across the door of his room instead. Plus, I’ll need to make sure all of the furniture is anchored to the wall.
A friend of mine has a fire engine bed for Shmoo but I thought he would be okay in this for now. This same friend suggested that we should just make the move to the toddler bed, totally different than the crib (since the crib will be converted back to a crib if we have another baby) and to make a big deal about letting him get new sheets too. I’m torn on this for now.
He’s still not going to sleep in his bed, but we’re taking it one day at a time. This is exhausting.
As for the obligatory pictures of the Shmoo, we did get some sledding in, even though the amount of snow we got this weekend was significantly over-predicted.
Mere said,
January 12, 2009 at 11:26 pm
I’m a Facebook addict too. Hee hee! Love the pics. Can’t believe shmoo is getting so big.
Linda said,
January 13, 2009 at 12:37 am
I’m ready for my medal.You lawyers have all the fun :d
I only had stay in bed issues with my last child, and it was NO FUN!! He catapulted himself out of his crib on a regular basis. Never did break his head (darnit)
My grands have both been a handful for my daughter. Gabe (now 5) slept with them, and when baby 2 came along, he went to his own room. Now mind you-Misty slept in that twin bed with him until last year.Lu slept in their room with Ella. Ella is 3 and sleeps in her own big girl bed as long as someone reads to her and lays with her first.(Due to the sleeping arrangement with Gabe, Ella was conceived on the floor of the nursery that hadn’t ever been used for sleeping at that point)Hubs and wife are now back together in the same bed after 5 years. I bet they have no idea what to do. ha ha
Maybe try laying with him at bedtime.Is he too young for a sticker chart?
And don’t you worry about that bottle. Only worry about it if he’s going to kindergarten with it. Ella finally gave up her “only after coming home from daycare” bottle when Misty told her that the plastic wasn’t good for her. She’s finally grasping the “it might make you sick” concept.
Hang in there…
sassyfemme said,
January 13, 2009 at 1:26 am
I’m addicted to Facebook now, too. My nephew and BIL got us hooked on it during Thanksgiving. Now we’re getting our friends around here into it, too.
Stacey said,
January 13, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Yay for gearing up to TTC #2!! So exciting! Spirited or not, these kids are the best.
Are you not trying to sell the house anymore at this point?
We’re working on gradually moving Riley into her toddler bed but she hasn’t climbed out of her crib yet. I don’t think she will any time soon as she’s pretty good about going to bed. It’s just the middle-of-the-night fits that we have to deal with that are no fun.
Have you tried a pick up/put down method I mentioned a while ago? That’s how we got Riley to go to bed and put herself to sleep. She also would not cry it out so I feel for you. The theory is that CIO makes them feel abandoned and that you stay in the room. As they get up, lay them back down. When they cry, soothe them and then lay them down the instant they stop. I think for toddlers you don’t bother with the soothing so much. Just say, “It’s okay, it’s just time to sleep.” Eventually you don’t really say anything and just keep at it. They will wear themselves out and the tears will not be anything but frustration which is no big deal.
Routines do help. Have you tried dimming the lights, playing soft music and doing a routine of bedtime stories. I always warn Riley that we are on the last book and then it’s bedtime. I also found that on difficult nights, I give her choices like, “Do you want to lay down in bed or sit? Do you want your blanket on or right here? Do you want water or milk?” Choices make them feel like they have some control over the situation. If you do choices through out the day, then they don’t always fight bedtime as they feel like the day has not been all out of their control–they’ve had a say in everything.
Good luck!!!
KJ and the Kids said,
January 13, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Ok so we have and are STILL going through the SAME SHIT.
Cameron is our problem sleeper.
Let me tell you what we’ve done and then if you want to try any part of it you can. (if you haven’t already of course)
First of all….Sound machine. 2nd Consistency.
If you look up the word consistency in the dictionary you would find the words HARD WORK listed. It’s not easy and you will feel like it’s a lot of work with no rewards but you have to stick with it.
Ok so we do the routine of teeth brushing and then books. Kisses, cover with blankets, sound machine on, fan on, and then one of us takes a seat in the glider chair in their room.
If they get up they get counted and then a time out on a chair in the dark kitchen. (we sit right there too…it has to be dark so that they can’t play)then back to bed and back in the glider.
If they wake up in the middle of the night….we walk them back to bed, lay them down and leave. If they immediately get back up….we return them to bed and then take our seat in the glider.
Now we can sit there for a second and leave and sometimes they’ll fall asleep on their own and they stay in bed all night.
It’s a work in progress and maybe not the best solution but it’s better than getting up all night and sleeping with them
Good luck !!!
meg said,
January 13, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I love facebook
glad you got something figured out with his bed. How is it going with him sleeping in there now?
Love the sledding pic.. so very cute.
merr said,
January 13, 2009 at 8:45 pm
So try the Super Nanny technique of putting him to bed. Then sit a few feet from his bed but look away. As soon as he gets up, put him back in and then sit back down. Do not say anything to him as that rewards him for his behavior. Just walk him back to his bed. Each night you need to move closer to his door until you are out of the door. It works every time on the show! Good luck!
Kyla said,
January 13, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I’m not really one who should be commenting about bedtime routines – given Jack still sleeps in my bed every other night and Alyssa every morning. I do know though that before he had a big boy bed Jack was in mine every night! Cute little sledder!
Shannon said,
January 13, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Sorry you’re going through bedtime hell.
We have a very predictable bedtime routine. Erik’s been listening to the same CD every night for a year and a half. LOL. We do bath, a bit of quiet TV now, then books and bed. We always tell him “This is the last book, then bed.”
We have also sat in the chair in his room, without engaging in conversation with him. Some nights he just needs someone to hang out there with him until he falls asleep.
I was also going to suggest what Stacey said about giving him choices so he thinks HE’S in charge of bedtime. Ask him if he wants this blanket or that one, blanket on or off, sippy of water in bed or on the dresser, music on or off, etc.
I would pick one approach and stick with it so he knows what to expect.
That is the most adorable picture of him on the sled!
carrie said,
January 14, 2009 at 12:53 am
I love schmoo!!!! talk about a photogenic kid. he can’t help but be adorable! (and yay for facebook!)