We are officially in our new house

I just picked up the last item from the old place and we are officially out of there (I do have to go back and clean it).

There is something nice about knowing all your stuff is now in your new home.

Of course it is all in boxes and every now and then when we need something we have to hunt for it. But it is in "my house"!!!!

I have resolved to empty at least one box a day no matter what else is happening. So far so good and I will update later on how this works out.

The new house is about twice as big as our old one, so I have a lot of planning to do on organization and such. However, the real great thing about the new place is there is A LOT of storage space. I have a huge pantry (such a luxury) and closets everywhere. Plus a two car garage, an attic and a basement.

Yes - this girl is very excited!!

P.S. MLO's cough resolved and she is happy as a clam again.

MLO has a cough

MLO is coughing a lot. No other sickness symptoms but gets mad when she starts coughing and can't stop.

Made for a really bad night as she kept waking up coughing and would cry and call for me when she wouldn't stop.

Despite it all she is really cute about it. She will be sitting on my lap, with her head against my chest and once she has finally stopped coughing she says "cough" makes a little noise and then sighs.

Breast Feeding

I managed to totally wean MLO.

I was trying to do it slowly and had gotten rid of the lunch meal a while ago but couldn't get any further.

She could ask for it (said "nurse") and would cry if I tried to say no, so I would give in (I am a softy when it comes to MLO).

She has been eating full regular meals several times a day for months now (including breakfast, lunch and dinner) and so I knew it wasn't really a hunger thing - but a comfort thing.

Well the last time I nursed her was last Friday morning. It has been almost a week.

The trick was going out of town for two days and leaving her with gramma.

She has asked in the last several days, but is really easy to say no and give her some juice instead.

So my weaning advice is when you know your little one is really ready and just hanging onto it because of comfort - go out of town for two days (one night) and just refuse to start back up when you come back :)

This is moving week

We are moving to the house we bought this week (from our rental) so Internet will fluctuate and I will have my hands full.

Will be back as I can and should be back more "full time" after this weekend.

Love and kisses

10th Wedding Anniversary Weekend

Hubby and I went away for the weekend (just Sat and Sun) and left MLO with Gramma. This is the first time I have been away for her for this long and I missed her more than she missed me, I think.

We were celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary.

We went to Las Vegas and saw Love by Cirque du Soleil. It was AMAZING!! The artistry was so spectacular, the feats they could do mind-blowing, not to mention the costumes and set design. The two hours of the show just flew by in the magic.

We also walked around some of the hotels like the Mirage, the Hilton, the Wynn and Paris (each with their shops and special features). Paris was great with the sky ceiling making the whole thing so comfortable. The Wynn was the strangest as we couldn't figure out the theme.

Hubby and I were contemplating what a strange mixture of artistry and vices Las Vegas is.

We had a great time but I am VERY glad to be back with MLO again - I missed her to pieces.

Bed Rail - First Night

Update:

Well, the bed rail I got was meant for regular beds and not transformed cribs. So it looms a little high (the rail obviously expecting a taller regular mattress) and then starts tilting in towards the inside of the crib.

MLO didn't really like laying in her crib and feeling like the railing was going to fall on her. So we spent a bunch of time trying to fix it. We ended up with one of her very large stuffed animals (the kind that is as tall as me) being wedged in one corner of the bed and sort of holding the rail up.

MLO still wasn't that happy with it and we had a rough night.

Hopefully she will get used to it and be okay tonight.

Bed Rail

Okay the bed rail arrived today and I am going to put it on her toddler bed.

Until now she has actually been on the floor. I have one of those large cushions made for those who like to sit on the floor. Well I set it all up with her large stuffed animals around the outside and it has been her bed.

She sleeps through the night on it and therefore I know the problem with the toddler bed was that she would roll out of it and wake up.

So this should handle that.

The next challenge is convincing her it is time to go to bed and keeping her in bed until she falls asleep. She wants to come play with my or the kitty or da even when she is tired. Unfortunately she doesn't get exhausted until about midnight and this is just WAY too late for her to be awake.

So, I admit I have resorted to driving her around in the car two nights in a row (she falls asleep in her car seat) because I am so tired I just need her to go to sleep.

Dropping MLO off at daycare

Okay, I don't know how parents manage to drop their child off somewhere when all the little one wants is her/his mommy.

Two days in a row now I have tried to pull myself away after arriving at the daycare and can't do it. I love her so much I don't want her to cry. I just want to hold her and kiss all the tears away.

So when I start leaving and I hear a frantic "mommy" from MLO I turn around and give my little angel a hug as she comes running to me.

The lady who runs the daycare has been great and helps me eventually slip away.

Does it get any easier?

Toddler bed time

This weekend we moved MLO to her toddler bed rather than the crib. The reason being that she had figured out how to crawl out of the crib and the thump in the middle of the night was too much to bare.

So, we are getting her use to the toddler bed.

The biggest problem so far is she moves around A LOT in her sleep. She rolls around and she even has sort of sat up in her sleep and laid down in the opposite direction (she has done this when sleeping in the bed with me so I know).

As we got to find out while changing the crib over to the bed, it doesn't come with toddler bed rails. Of course, I didn't think about it when we bought it (and moving to a bed seemed so far away, I prided myself on even getting one that would transform).

So, she keeps falling out of bed. I have lined the floor next to her bed with a large cushoin, stuffed animals and so forth. She hasn't hurt herself, but it does wake her up and she then comes looking for me.

So, mommy is running low on sleep and frantically looking for a better rail to put on the bed to see if we can at least keep her in the bed while she sleeps.

Cartoon Speak

Two strange phrases that have appeared in my vocabulary:

"Love it" - think the two headed dragon in DragonTales

"Just keep swimming" - sung by Doree in Finding Nemo

Seeing daddy

Daddy has been out at clients a few times this week during the night and with MLO in daycare now (not at the house) he hasn't really gotten to see her.

Well last night she insisted on staying up until he got home (9pm) and hanging out with him. She would run between the two of us delivering hugs and kisses.

When I finally took her to sleep we got a big family hug (with her little arms around both my neck and daddy's neck).

After lying in her crib for about half an hour she started crying out for me. I went to see what was happening and she kept pointing to the door saying she wanted to see "da".

Her love keeps me warm...

Daycare

MLO started at Daycare on Monday.

Both my sister and myself have been going over there and hang with her to show her that it is safe.

She likes playing in the yard - this place has many, many slides and different toys. MLO is having a great time and actually didn't want to leave yesterday (good sign).

So far she plays by herself and hasn't really played with the other kids (there are five girls and two boys). Though they keep trying and I think she will warm up to them.

June arrived

Wow, June arrived and totally took me by surprise. Haven't had time to breath really and keep track of all that has happened.

We do have a new invented word by MLO "mommyda". This is a person who is supposed to be at her beck and call. From what we have been able to figure out it is either both or us (mommy and do) or either one of us (mommy or da). However sometimes she does mean both and when only one responds she gets upset.

Today is her first day at a daycare. I will probably be worried about her all day (even though my sis is there for most of the day with her to get her feeling safe there).

Other than that, we are working on getting the new house set up for us to move. Helping the landlord find a renter for our current place.

Plus MLO was sick on Sunday and on and on.

Will get back to funnier individual anecdotes in a bit :)