Big Girl Bed - Round 2

We never got Maddi used to sleeping in her big girl bed during our first attempt around Christmas.  

Here we are 7 months later on day 4...

I decided it was time! Sydney sleeps so well through the night and I think she'd do just as well in the crib, which just so happens to be where the toddler bed is since the girls will be sharing a room.

I knew Maddi would fight me. She LOVES her crib. She cries for it!

The first 3 nights actually went a lot smoother than anticipated. It takes Madison quite a while to fall asleep so I purposely had her skip naps so that by bedtime she was actually ready for sleep.  

Night One: Bed at 8, cried for her crib and wanted me to sit there until she fell asleep. I was out by 8:30pm which is pretty much a record. She slept through the night and woke up crying the next morning at 8am.  Since she did so well I took her out to lunch and Toys R Us to let her pick out a new toy. When we got home I told her I'd open her reward and let her take it with her to her big girl bed for a nap.  She was all for it! She crawled right into bed and waited patiently for me to open her new Dora the Explorer cellphone. =] Well she didn't nap. She also never left her bed. Apparently she and Dora had quite a bit to discuss.

Night Two: Since she didn't nap it was bed at 8pm again.  A new world record. She was asleep and I was out of there by 8:20pm. She woke up, again crying, the next morning at 7:30am. No complaints here, I was up feeding Sydney anyway. So far so good, right?

Night Three: We ran her ragged that day with errands and shopping so no nap and bed at 8pm. Another 20 minute session of me reading to her, rubbing her back and explaining that her bed is beautiful all the while she's crying and pointing to her crib.  Did I forget to mention that was routine for the previous two nights?! The following morning didn't go as smooth. She was up at 5:30am!! She woke up crying for me again and ran straight to our room. We put her in bed with us and she DID NOT go back to sleep! She laid there and talked and stared and tried to get her sister's attention.  At 8am Chris got up and she followed. Shortly after she decided she wanted to "nap" with Mommy so she came back to bed.  She actually ended up falling asleep at 9am and slept until 10:30am.   

Night Four, tonight: After trying to get her to sleep in her bed at naptime and not being very successful we still tried to get her in bed at 8pm.  She fought me a little harder tonight and I think I was a little less patient. She fell asleep, I made my way out and she was awake, crying and making her way to the living room about an hour later. Back in I go... She held my hand and I rubbed her back until she fell asleep. Now she's sleeping peacefully and hopefully she won't be up earlier than this morning since that seems to be the pattern so far.

Wish us continued luck. Sorry this was so long.

Sydney at Two Months

She is just the smiliest little sweetheart ever!

Sydney at One Month

She is just growing way too fast!

We are officially a family of four!

Our second beautiful baby girl was born on April 28th at 4:53pm.
She weighed 9lbs. 1oz and is 20.5 inches long.

My due date was April 24, which came and went so we decided to induce on the 28th. We went into the hospital at 7:30am got checked in and hooked up. My midwife got there at 10am, she checked my cervix, I was dilated to 5cm and she broke my water. At 11:30 the contractions were still few and far between so they started me on a low dose of Pitocin. After upping the Pitocin dose a couple times I finally started getting some strong contractions and we were well on our way. By 2:30 my contractions were really bad and I debated getting the epidural. Chris kept telling me to get it already (I knew I wanted to it was just a matter of when I'd ask for it), but I wanted to wait and see what kind of progress I had made. I felt like we were close. The nurse came in and checked me, I was SURE it was almost time and much to my surprise I was only ALMOST 6!! Ugh! At 3pm I asked for the epidural because I couldn't take it anymore, the contractions were so close together and out of control painful. Just after they hooked me up, I think it was around 3:15 and before the epidural had even kicked in, the nurse checked me again. I was at 8cm! By 3:30 I was 9.5. It was almost time to push and finally the epidural had kicked in. Now all we needed was my midwife who was delivering a baby in the next room.

The nurse had me give her a "practice push" and right away had me stop because baby was coming, midwife or not. She called for my midwife (who was getting ready to stitch up the poor mom who had just delivered her baby) and said, "if you don't come now you're gonna miss the birth". It was GO time! Push one: Sydney's head was all the way out. Push two: I had a brand new baby girl.

So far she is an awesome baby. They heard a heart murmur in the hospital, but it has since resolved itself and she's perfectly healthy.

We feel so blessed and never realized there was so much love in our hearts. 

Madison is TWO!!

With my due date come and gone, planning a 2nd birthday party was just another urgent "to-do" on my list of preparations before Sydney's arrival (that's if Sydney decided to hold-off until after her big sister's big day).  Luckily there's a Chuck E. Cheese's nearby and it seemed like the perfect place to celebrate. 

I was a little worried that Maddi would be scared of the characters and just not have a good time.  Boy was I wrong! She had an absolute blast.  She hit the ground running the second we stepped foot in the place.  I'm so glad she enjoyed herself.  We invited a few guests and all had a great time. After today Sydney is welcome to make her debut any time...