Updates

My thoughts are all sorts of random right now, but I thought I'd give you a little smattering of updates/recaps today.  Here we go:

• The big girl bed is going really well (for the most part)!  Bless her heart, I think we've scared her into staying in bed...quite often when we get her up in the mornings or from nap time, she wags her little finger and tells us "No no no!  No get down!"  So for the most part, she's staying in bed when she's supposed to :-) 

• What's not going so well is that she's been spending extended periods of time awake at night, fussing, crying, talking...whatever she's doing, she's not sleeping.  And therefore, neither are we.  Some of this started before the transition, so I can't blame it all on the new bed but I do think it's contributing.  And we started running up there every time we heard her because we were afraid she'd be out of bed, and now she's expecting Mommy & Daddy to be at her beck & call at all hours of the night.  We've tried letting her cry, we've tried discipline (which is awful in the middle of the night), we've rocked, we've sang...Daddy even crawls in that little bed with her from time to time.  She has always been such a good sleeper, and we are about at our wits end, especially with the anticipation of being up all night with a newborn again very soon.  Any suggestions?  Anyone else experience a digression like this?  Momma needs all the help she can get at this point!

• I hit the 37 week mark today, which means I am officially FULL TERM!!!  I realize I'm not actually due for another 3 weeks, but I am embracing the "any day" stage at this point :-)  Official word from the doctor today -- I'm about 50% effaced and dialated to a 1, which is something but not really enough to expect an early delivery a this point.  I'm feeling pretty good, just very tired.  I've had a lot more back pain this go round, but what I haven't had is the swelling or carpal tunnel I experienced with Caroline, and for that I am VERY thankful.

• I have a fabulous husband.  Not exactly an update, but I just needed to throw that in the mix.  He's always been wonderful, but now that I'm at this very pregnant point, the man is truly going above and beyond.  Dishes, floors, diapers, baths (Caroline...not me!), foot rubs, back rubs, sleeping on the couch just so I can have a little more room at times...you name it, the guy does it.  Just for me.  And I'm not sharing him.

• My Dad (aka Papa) was able to come visit us for a few days earlier this week!  We had a GREAT time, and it is so cool to watch my Dad with my child.  They are quite the pair!  They swam and drew pictures and played with play dough and went for walks and ate ice cream - they packed a lot in to a short time.  Also, I'm pretty sure they had about the same napping/sleeping schedule :-)




• We've gotten to spend a lot of good time with Dan's family this summer, having them just an hour away.  Because I'm such an awesome daughter-in-law, I never seem to remember to take pictures when we're together, and therefore things get missed on the blog (because who wants a blog without pictures?).  But Caroline is totally in love with "Memaw" and "Pepaw" (as she has taken to calling them of her own accord), and really got to know her Aunts this summer when they were in town at various times (JewJew, Manee & Tatee as she refers to them).  She talks about them all the time, and I just love that she has gotten to know so much family inspite of our distance.  Just today Grandma came over to hang out with Caroline while I went to my Doctor's appointment.  As soon as she got here this morning, Caroline turned to me and told me "Bye Momma!"  I love how much they enjoy each other :-)  And aside from just babysitting, she also did my laundry and dishes, cleaned my bathroom, and brought me a lasagna.  Am I spoiled or what?  I am SO thankful for my mother-in-law and love having them close!

I think that's about enough for today.  I'm off to do some laundry...oh wait, it's done!  Spoiled rotten, I tell ya.