ABC Wednesday---S Is For Stuff!

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

Sleeping In The Big Girl Bed

Oh yes, oh yes, oh YES! There she is! Claire in her Big Girl Bed!!!! You know...we had planned on making the transition gradually like we did with Hope. Some day we (I) am going to learn that my girls are two very different individuals. Claire has always liked sleeping with her door closed. Well, with the arrival of the new bed that was going to be impossible. We had planned on leaving her door open and putting the baby gate up. She wanted no part of it. But you know what? She screamed for about five minutes and has slept in her crib, with her door open, for about two weeks. Garry built the bed last Saturday and put it in her room beside her crib. We didn't bother with the mattress or boxspring or sheets or any of that. We just wanted her to get used to having the bed in her room. Sunday I fired up the washer, laundered all of her new linens, and made up her brand new Big Girl Bed.

As you can see, when bedtime came? She said, "I want to sleep in my new Big Girl Bed." And she did. All night long...the very first night...and she continues to do so. Yes, there is some sadness on my part. I know she is my last baby. We are done with the crib...the one that has Hope's teethmarks in it...the one that we chose so lovingly and with great anticipation so many years ago. But I'm also excited and thrilled with the awesome girls my children are becoming. Have I told you lately just how much my kids rock? ")

Sisters

On the day Claire got her new bed, Hope got her new Big Girl Bike. And yes...we planned it that way. Here she is in all her six year old glory...burning up the patio like nobody's business. She chose this bike because, "It has blue flowers all over it. They look like Hawaii. That's where Lilo lives." She also chose her helmet because it had flowers on it too. ")

Hope has gone through some major changes of her own lately. She has always slept with a nightlight AND demanded that we leave our bedroom light on until she falls asleep. Out of the clear blue sky...perhaps the day before we started leaving Claire's bedroom door open...Hope tells us she wants to try and sleep without her nightlight. She hasn't had it on since. The very next night she asked, "Can I try to sleep without Mama and Daddy's light on too?" Again...we haven't had to turn it on since that night. My babies aren't babies any longer.

As you can see, Claire wanted in on some of the biking action as well.

Steve Perry

Yeah...Steve Perry. You know...the former lead singer of Journey? The guy with the perfect voice? No, I was never a big Journey fan. I never had a crush on any of its members. I didn't own a Journey t-shirt. I didn't want to see them in concert. I think I may own one of their albums...on vinyl. The draw for me has always been his voice. Steve sings in a VERY comfortable register for me and lately we've been belting out the duets. I think I may have a crush on his voice. And yes...I can mimic his "gravel" as well...especially if I hit several of his patented high notes without warming up.

One rainy morning the girls and I were sitting in the car waiting for the bus to come when "Foolish Heart" came on the radio. Wow...memories like you wouldn't believe. When that song came out I was right in the middle of the nastiest break-up of my life. Hearing that song only made me feel worse...making me feel like I was a total and complete idiot for allowing myself to get hurt...yet again. But now...some 20 years later...the lyrics hold a completely different meaning for me. They're all about hope...and yes...it's still scary to trust...but you may never know joy if you don't open your heart...at least one more time.

I sing this song CONSTANTLY. Hope knows it by heart and asks me to sing it to her for her lullaby. Claire is starting to join in on the chorus. All three of us were singing it at the bus stop this week. I've even been known to let loose with a verse or two while I'm going for my walk through our neighborhood. If you've never heard it? Treat yourself...go ahead...watch and listen.

And Finally A Bit Of Silliness

I don't know Wally...maybe it's just me...but I don't think this is the way *I* would've chosen to lay on the bunk bed.

I hate having my picture taken...unless I'm around someone in costume...like say...oh...this AMAZING character. Look how young I am...::sigh::...and how ridiculously happy I look! ")

Yeah...I was pretty happy here too. One of the park photographers just kept yelling, "Ma'am! Ma'am! Look over here!" I gave in...how many times in my life am I going to have my picture taken with The Beast? And, in case you're wondering? I prefer him as The Beast...once he changed into the prince? All interest was lost.

Until next time y'all,

ABC Wednesday---J Is For "Surely You JEST?!"

ABC Wednesday is hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt's Place.

Oh yes, oh yes, oh YES it's that time again. It's time for getting rid of the crib and bringing in the Big Girl Bed. If you don't remember the fun we had last time when we went through this with Hope you can refresh your memory here.

Well...silly us...we thought we had it DOWN this time. Again, you may remember how excited we were when we finally decided to furnish Claire's nursery and how we FINALLY decided on what we wanted. No? Ok...that one is here. We decided that we loved the style of Hope's furniture and we loved the quality that came from Morigeau...and we loved the service from Baby Tyme where we had purchased Hope's nursery/bedroom furniture. We ended up going with the exact same furniture, only in a different color combo. The above picture is NOT from our home! It is from the Morigeau catalog. The colors in the picture are "latte and mahogany" which is the combo we chose for Claire...Hope's are "latte and wheat".

We planned on buying Claire's new big girl bed around her third birthday...which was last week...and we also planned on using our IRS refund to make the purchase. We received our highly coveted income tax refund last week and were poised and ready to head to Baby Tyme on Saturday. On Friday night I sat down at the computer to check when Baby Tyme opened on Saturday. Just for grins I started looking around their site and guess what? There was no mention of them carrying the Morigeau brand. I got the sweats. Garry called them. Morigeau declared bankruptcy in December of last year. The person on the phone apologized for not calling and letting us know. My stomach dropped. (Surely you JEST was putting it as nicely as I could AND use a j word!) I spent the next hour or so online trying to locate anyone with any stock left. If we'd have needed a crib, we'd have been golden. But other than that? No go. Sooo...no matching desk for Hope's room...no bed...nightstand...bookshelf...wall shelf...and eventually desk for Claire's room. It wouldn't have been so distressing if we hadn't already purchased the dresser/changing table and mirror in that style for Claire's room years ago. And as you can see...they have a pretty distinctive look that I wasn't having good vibes about matching. I sent an email to my friend Carrie telling her what was going on and that I was going to give it over to Him once I hit the shower.

I was pretty close to tears when I checked my email before shutting down for the night and found I'd sold not one but TWO Barbie's on Amazon. I printed out the packing slip, turned off the computer and started getting the dolls ready to ship the next day. My frustration grew when I realized both dolls wouldn't fit in one box. Back to my office/studio...turn the computer and printer back on...print out another packing slip. With my frustration starting to turn to anger I thought, "Why do I have to WAIT to turn something over to Him?" ") So I simply said, "It's yours. I can't do anything more about it." Almost immediately the name "Wayside" popped into my head. Wayside is a furniture store nearby that we've never been to. We usually make a day of it and drive to Amish country to browse the selection there...but Claire was in DIRE need of a big girl bed, we had other errands we HAD to do, and we needed somewhere close. I looked them up online and they had pages upon pages of youth beds. I printed out the directions and the next morning we headed out to Wayside.

We walked in the door, read the store directory, went through the doorway to the right into the youth bedroom furniture department, and sitting to the left was a bed and nightstand that didn't match perfectly, but was close enough that nobody is even going to have to look twice at them. The hardware doesn't come anywhere near close to matching but we also saw another bedroom set that we liked the hardware on...hardware that we can easily duplicate by taking a trip to Lowe's. It was so quick and so painless my head is still swimming. Why is it that I have no problem going to God with the "big" things but I let the little things pile up until they are choking me? Obviously something I'm not going to do any longer! Oh! The new furniture is from Young America by Stanley. They have some gorgeous pieces too. You can take a look here.

Our next trip will be to Medina Mattress. I KNOW it's still there because we just went past it!

Oh my friends...I couldn't have made this one up if I tried! And I'm not EVEN going into the feelings that Mama is having about putting her last baby out of the crib and into a big girl bed. I'll save that for ANOTHER post! ")

Soooo...I guess you've probably noticed a few changes around here. Nothing too drastic...I'm just dreadfully tired of playing around with the HTML of my old template. There are so many new and fun looking gadgets to try and they just didn't work with my old template...and I didn't have the time or energy to sit and play with the code until they did work. So I decided to simplify and go with one of the drag and drop templates that blogger offers. AND while some portions of it are much easier, some of it confounds me. So just bear with me and I'll get the hang of it eventually.

And let's not forget that I am THE perfectionist so I've already been into the HTML of the new, improved, easier to create blogger...and changed some of it to my tastes. I hope it works in your browser otherwise...you have my sympathies!

Change has been the theme around here for the last couple of months. Too much so if you asked me...wait...did you ask me? First we had Hope starting school, which she still loves by the way. Next came new socks. Why is that significant? Welllll...my girls have been wearing socks with "grippies" on the bottom since they came home from China. You know...the ones from Old Navy that say Old Navy on the bottom along with their size in rubberized letters to keep the kid from doing a header on the hardwood? It seems Hope has outgrown those and is now into "big girl" socks. I know...I'm nuts...but it bothered me. After that came the ceremonial removing of the protective bed rails on her bed. I had tears with that one. Getting rid of her crib was less traumatic to me. She looked so tiny lying there in the center of that bed...so open and unprotected. I went into our bedroom and cried...she fell asleep and hasn't fallen out of bed once.

Claire, who is still in the crib is growing like a weed and will be in need of her big girl bed shortly. We are tentatively setting the date for that big event for her third birthday in March. Here's praying that the whole process will go smoother than it did when it was Hope's turn. Don't remember any of that? Take a look at this post.

Out of all of these things I think the one that bothers me the most is the lavender lotion. Before Hope came home we chose this incredible smelling lavender lotion and baby wash for her. I used them in China, not only on Hope, but on myself as well, so that we would have something in common...something familiar...something to help form a bond between us. When we came home we continued to use them until she developed eczema and we needed a gentler soap and a richer lotion...and I cried...my baby didn't smell like my baby anymore! Fast forward to Claire...Garry took the famous lavender lotion and wash to China and used them on her as well. The day Hope and I went to the airport to pick them up, we had covered ourselves in the lotion...again...something to help her transition...something familiar. About a month ago we ran out of the lotion...and I can't find it anywhere. I went to every store I could think of and smelled all the other lavender baby lotions they have...nothing is even remotely close. It was devastatingly sad! That scent that has been so central in our lives since January 2004 is gone. Before I threw the bottle away Hope asked to smell it. She inhaled deeply and said, "That smells just like Claire!" Exactly...exactly. We have a new lavender lotion now...it smells good...but if I ever find the other brand...I'm buying several cases!

Until next time...hugs!

You'd think that after 42...and 1/2 years I would've learned by now that anything I perceived as being easy and simple would turn out to be exactly the opposite. Yeah, well...hope springs eternal. Let's call this post, "The Comedy Of Errors" or "The Mattress Warehouse Hidden Valley Is Now Closed".

In July I told you about ordering Hope's new bedroom furniture and Claire's nursery furniture. Early in August we got a call from Baby Tyme saying everything was in. We decided to leave Claire's furniture there until we are ready for it. That way we don't have to worry about where to put it while we are getting her room ready. We piled in the Jeep on a Saturday and headed for Hartville to pick up Hope's new bed and nightstand. Newsflash...it wouldn't all fit in the Jeep. We took what we could and while Hope was napping, Garry drove back to Hartville and picked up the rest. After unloading it in the garage he drove to Medina to buy her a mattress and boxspring. He came home, unloaded those and we all took off for Kohl's to look for sheets, mattress pads, pillows, etc.

With the washing machine running at full capacity the next day laundering all of her new linens, Hope napped in her crib, blissfully unaware of the angst her parents were about to go through. After she woke up I moved the crib to the other side of her room so Garry could build her big girl bed where the crib used to be. We planned on leaving the crib in the room for awhile after she was in her new bed for security reasons. We had been preparing her for this for quite awhile so she was really ok with it!

Garry put the new bed together and right away we knew we were going to have problems. It was a platform bed, raised significantly higher off of the floor than a traditional bed, and doesn't require a boxspring. Garry put the new pillowtop mattress and boxspring in and my stress level just about shot out the top of my head. It seems soooo totally ridiculous in hindsight now but at the time all I could think about was how we had Hope so psyched up about this and it wasn't turning out perfectly. (Linda...stop laughing! I can hear you in *this* country!) The top of the mattress was only about two inches away from the top of the headboard. It reminded me of the story of The Princess & The Pea where the princess sleeps on a tower of mattresses. Garry removed the boxspring, leaving only the mattress which was just the perfect height. Great, right? NOT! The bedrails we had purchased will only work BETWEEN a mattress and boxspring. It was getting later and later, we hadn't had dinner yet, and Hope still didn't have a bed ready to sleep in. Feeling beaten and dejected (and I know Garry wasn't feeling the love either) I pulled the nasty old 1950's-60's mattress and boxspring off of the twin bed in "The Boys' Room". The room is set up as a guest room but since we never have guests, it's always been called The Boys' Room as the cats love the peace and quiet they can find there. They're going to have to find a new spot soon because it's going to turn into Claire's room!

Garry put those two horrid looking old things on our baby's new bed while I proceeded to spray Lysol all over them and set about putting her new linens on them. Gads...they looked AWFUL but they were the perfect height and the bedrails worked. She didn't seem to care that they were old and disgusting and that if Garry or I tried to sit on the bed with her she just about shot off the other side. She was so excited she couldn't go to sleep. She had a ball until around 11:00 when I couldn't take it anymore. I airlifted her out of the bed and put her in the crib...she was asleep within 15 minutes.

Her nap the next day was about the same...I gave up after an hour of happy chatter and put her in the crib. That night she slept in the bed! YAY! The next day's nap was just the same, but after that she has slept and slept well in her big girl bed.

Garry called the guy at Medina Mattress the next day and "explored his options". The guy is one of the nicest men you could ever hope to do business with. He genuinely cares and will do just about anything to work things out to your satisfaction. He told Garry to come in and take a look at what else he had, he could also order something else, and if all else failed he'd take everything back.

That next Saturday while Hope was napping Garry took another trip to Medina. He didn't find anything that would work and the only sets that were the right height were just newer cleaner versions of the yucky mattress/trampoline set that she was already using. The owner told Garry that Sealy makes a low-rise boxspring. They both looked all over the warehouse but he didn't have one in stock. He told Garry that he would order it for us, we could try it with the mattress we had purchased from him and see if that worked any better.

The next day Garry dismantled the crib while Hope and I watched from her big girl bed. It went very well until he actually started removing pieces of the crib from the room. She tried very hard not to cry, but in the end, there were tears. With tears streaming and bottom lip quivering she said, "Claire sleep in crib...Hopie sleep in big girl bed...when Claire done, Hopie sleep in crib again." It was HEARTBREAKING!

SO! Inside the guest/boys'/Claire's room we now have Hope's brand new pillowtop mattress and boxspring sitting on the nasty old metal bedframe, the crib and it's mattress, AND our old queensize mattress and boxspring that was waiting for disposal.

The next Saturday, another trip to Medina for Garry while Hope is napping. He came home with the smaller boxspring and ladies and gentlemen, we have a winning combination! The Sealy boxspring with the Serta pillowtop mattress works! YAY! Garry called Medina Mattress right away and let that wonderful man know how appreciative we were for all of his help. Then do you know what he offered to do? He said he would come over the next day after the store closed and get whatever we didn't want out of our way. He pulled in Sunday a little after 4 and took the unused Serta boxspring, the old nasty twin mattress and boxspring, AND our old queen set. As he was getting into the truck Garry was cleaning up a bunch of the plastic that the mattresses had been wrapped in and moving the old steel bed frame. The guy gets out of the truck and says, "You want me to take all of that too?" Medina Mattress in Medina Ohio people...the owner is a prince.

Enjoy your week!