My very restless girl

My daughter has a problem. She really doesn't like to sleep in her own bed. I have really tried everything from briberly to threats to sleeping with her to letting her sleep with us. We usually play a game where she comes out of bed and finds us, we walk her back to her room, she says for a while and then gets up again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Usually in this process, she eventually gives up and falls asleep somewhere in the house.

Here she is asleep in the den. It's almost always the same pose, face down with her hands tucked under her stomach.

This time she's actually asleep in her room, but still on the floor.

Asleep off the kitchen. Fortunately, she found a matt to sleep on.

This is just off our bedroom. That hardwood floor is, well, hard.

This is impressive because she's actually asleep in someone else's house. We were visiting a good friend from high school and she snuck out there, too.

Just outside her bedroom. She fell asleep on a toy. Her shirt also came off somewhere in the process.

Okay, this was a planned sleepover on the floor of the den. Aren't they cute?

Here she is asleep in my sister Mary's house in Austin.

Half-way into her own bathroom.

This is a personal favorite. We were spending the night in San Antonio to go to Sea World the next day. I think she debated sleeping in the laundry basket and then thought it would make a nice blanket.

On the go

Last weekend, my cousins visited from Austin. The kids had a blast! Margaret did consent to wearing a skirt in this picture, which is an upgrade over the nakedness she was rocking minutes before.

Bjorn has been commenting that I never seem to update this anymore. Part of the problem is that the kids are home for the summer. I have a sitter, but they're still bounding into my office occasionally, especially in the evenings. They also have decided that if the sun is only going to set for like 8 hours a day, that's about all the sleep they need, thanks. Mommy, however, disagrees.

I also got a new computer a few months ago and it's proven to be a pain to get my camera to upload pictures. Yada yada yada, too lazy, busy. Well, I just discover Blogger has added a new mobile upload feature. Watch out, Internets! I'm going to be going crazy. Maybe.

This and that

When we were looking at houses, Bjorn really wanted a pool. My problem with the pool was I was nervous the kids would get into it when I wasn't around and that shit just scares me. So we started only looking for houses that had a separate pool fence so that it was separate from the rest of the yard. That meant the kids could have a yard and still have a separate pool. The first house we put an offer on did have that already. Then that fell through and we fell in love with our house. It didn't have a separate pool fence, but it looked it did at one time. So we made a deal with ourselves that we would add that fence.

So we did! And it looks great. Now I can open the door to the backyard and send the kids out to play without having to supervise the pool area. We were also able to padlock the pool with a combination lock. I feel better already. Now we need to find some toys to put in the new fenced area.

This picture is evidence I have the coolest mom ever. We had tickets to see the supremely hilarious David Sedaris at SMU a few weeks ago. I stopped to pick up mom and we prepared drinks to put in our purses to have at intermission. She's just awesome. And so was the show.

Also awesome? These guys. The other night, we had a terrible thunderstorm so they both converged in our bed. I snuck out to watch the news about Bid Laden and came back to this picture. I think I love them more than ever. Plus, sleeping children are sometimes superior to awake ones that stand over me in the bathroom stall asking if I'm done yet over and over and over and over again.

Said thunderstorms produced a ton of rain. Our creek is a major artery during times of storms so Meggie and I went down to check it out. Check out her little fashion statement, too. Who doesn't wear a striped dress with striped pants of a different vintage with a raincoat to match?

When in Roam

When we moved it, I put a gate on Meg's door to keep her from getting up in the night falling down the stairs trying to come to our room. Eventually, we started opening the gate at night so she could wake up and go to the bathroom, or more likely, come to our room. So when I steam cleaned the carpets a few weeks ago, I took the gate off and put it in the attic. Now she is free to roam the house after I think I've put her to bed. I find I miss that gate, but she's going to have to grow up some time, I suppose.

This is her asleep in our bed. She'll sneak past us and I'll find her asleep there.

Lately, I find she's sneaking out after I tuck her in and I'll find her asleep in random spots. It almost looks like a crime scene.


Here she is asleep in between the kitchen and breakfast room.

 

Asleep in her room but on her chair wearing a leotard.



Shocker - asleep in her own bed.



Asleep next to Bjorn. So cute.



Here is a tease - she was faking being asleep which I didn't know until I took the picture. She then gleefully jumped up to see herself in my phone.



The great big bed

When we moved into the new house, one of our first orders of business was buying a new king-sized bed. With two little kids, it was impossible to have one of them in addition to us in the queen-sized bed and not wake up with bruised kidneys due to tiny, but powerful little arms and knees that seem to find the most sensitive spot to kick you at 3 a.m. after visiting complaining of a bad dream. 

So far, it's been mostly a good thing. We actually like cuddling with the kids (most days), but the best part is being able to pull them into bed with us and going back to sleep instead of having to constantly return them to their beds. I know, I know, we're supposed to break them of this habit and we will. Eventually. 

When Meg comes down in the middle of the night, she never just comes by herself. Instead she almost always brings some sort of accomplice in the form of a lovey (or multiple loveys) with her. I changed the sheets on Friday and this is what I found that had probably accumulated over a week. 

This morning was unusual -- we had both kids in bed with us (usually just one and usually just Meggie). Andy fell asleep on our bed with his head on the foot of the bed. Meg started in her own bed, but woke up screaming something around 3ish having rolled over on her Elmo book that makes noise.

The sleep monster

Hey, look! Another post about my kids' sleep habits!

Little Meggie is my challenge in the sleep department right now. We have a nightly ritual of fighting with her to go to bed -- she's liking to stay up late and we're trying to make her go to bed earlier. After frequent requests (demands) to "rub my back!" and other things that she shouts from her gate, she eventually goes to bed. But this whole thing can sometimes take hours. I read somewhere that it helps if you let them think they're pulling something over on you, like sleeping with a toy they're not supposed to or sleeping in a chair (see picture above).

Of course, she starts out sleeping in her own bed and then sometime between say 3 a.m. and 6:30 a.m., the little sleep monster comes down the stairs, goes to Bjorn's side of the bed (thankfully) and climbs in with us. The worst part about breaking that habit is that we love it. On the one had, wouldn't it be nice to get an uninterrupted night of sleep? But then, she's just so adorable and cuddly! And on weekends, her climbing into bed with us means she'll stay in bed dozing until sometimes 9 a.m. Over New Year's weekend, both kids slept until almost 10 a.m. Seriously, Intranets, I haven't been able to sleep that late since sometime in 2004. It's heavenly.

Settling in

Well, after three weeks, I feel like we're finally settling in. Sure, the house is still a wreck in many ways and there is furniture in places that I'm not sure I like still. BUT we're getting closer. Mark and Bjorn put a bunch of boxes in the attic and now the garage is more or less thinned out with stuff that should actually be in the garage. I still have a lot to do, like taking a good look at the yard and doing some wedding and grooming, but every day we get a little more settled in and are understanding the quirks of the place. I'm happy with it. I am also loving being so near my family. We've seen my parents and/or sister and nieces in various combinations and it's so great just to be able to do that so easily. I know the kids love it, too, especially seeing Megan and Emma. It's pretty adorable.

Meg has also been sleeping a little better and generally this weekend was less clingy. Course, I thought that last night as I went to bed, marveling that she finally went to bed by herself without someone in there rubbing her back. Then she went and screwed it up by waking up at 3 a.m. and having a little party in bed until 5 a.m. Bjorn and I were not happy with that development.

Mark starts community college today and I must say I'm impressed with him for getting his stuff together to get himself registered and figuring out the money to pay for it. I think he's in a good place to do well this semester.

Some things we still have to figure out, like finding a pediatrician, but we're on our way.

The great sleep battle of 2010

Meg has turned from being my champion sleeper to being my champion refuse-to-sleeper. Seriously. It started in the spring. She was probably ready for a big girl bed, but she refused and wanted to sleep in her crib. So when we listed the house, the toddler bed went up into the attic. Naturally, with Bjorn out of the picture and me pressed to keep the house clean, she decided it was time to screw with me. She started throwing herself out of the bed and it was anything I could do to get her to sleep.

Then we went on vacation for two weeks and it just got more complicated. She and Andy would share twin beds next to each other and she did fine, assuming you could get her to go to sleep. It was often lots of bringing her back to her bed, practically begging/threatening/bribing to get her to finally knock off. After the trip, we were at my folks for a few weeks sharing a room with Andy. She was refusing to go to bed and instead would immediately pop out to find us. Even after she finally went to sleep, she'd occasionally wake up and trot through the Jack and Jill bathroom to get to us. Lack of sleep on my part combined with sheer frustration of the situation were making me seriously batty.

Now that we're in the new house, we got a baby gate to keep her in her room. Our bedroom is downstairs and her's is up so I worry about her roaming the halls at night and falling down the stairs. Plus, she really needs to get back to going to bed at a decent time/pace. After a little over a week in the new regimen, the results are mixed. She does eventually go to sleep in her own bed, sometimes with one of us rubbing her back, other times not. Bjorn's apoplectic about it (I'm only marginally less so) as she screams and cries so loud, she also made herself throw up, until she just wears herself down and finally nods off.

Even with that, she's crying out sometime in the early morning (say between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.) and ending up in our bed. Thoughts on how to fix this, short of simply drinking more?

Settling in

Oomph. After the initial thrill and excitement of getting moved in, my interest in further unpacking and sorting is definitely on the wane. So much has been done and so much is still left to be done, like putting books away, sorting through linens and putting the kitchen stuff to use in a way that makes sense to our lifestyle. I was so used to where everything went in my old kitchen that's it's going to take some time to assess it and figure out what makes sense where.

A nice problem to have is that we have a three-car garage now. It's the natural entry point into the house from the garage into the laundry room that leads to the kitchen. Unfortunately, there are lots of empty boxes out there now so it's less useful than it could be. Plus, the movers somehow misplaced the screws to put Andy's bed back together. If you recall, he's got a cool loft bed from Ikea. I love it and, it would be perfect for his new room. Sadly the movers broke it into it's original parts and the bolts to put it back together are missing. I am holding out hope that they're somewhere in the mess in the garage and that once Mark breaks down the boxes, I'll find them. Otherwise, I'm going to have to see if  Ikea will see me 50 replacement pieces.

Both kids started a new daycare/preschool this week. Meg did great the first day, not so much the other two days, which makes me sad. Although Andy won't need aftercare (yet) due to my current work schedule, I wanted him to get familiar with it should he need to go on occasion. Also, I wanted him to meet a couple of kids that will be going to his elementary school. Getting back to some schedule is going to be a good thing. Meg especially is staying up too late (mostly because she won't go to bed). She transitioned out of her crib while we were on vacation so I got a baby gate to keep her in her room. I worried about locking her in, but her room is on the second floor and I fear her roaming around half awake looking for me. I did ask the doctor about it first who said it was fine. Of course, she now goes in her room and wails loudly about wanting to get out, but that'll settle down eventually, right? Right?

Andy starts kindergarten a week from Monday. Wow.

Post No. 398568 about my kids' sleep habits

One of the things no one tells you about having kids is that for the next 10 years, you will talk about sleep. The thing about it is, I really like it. And I really don't like it when the kids decide I don't need it.

Case is point, Meg is too big for her crib now. She can get out of it (and/or throw herself out of it) so it's time. I knew this which is why months ago I bought a big girl bed for her that she promptly refused to sleep in. Then the house went on the market and the toddler bed went into the attic. But now, she and I are having a stand off about it. Last Thursday she cried and wailed and threw herself out of the bed finally in a stand off that lasted hours. I finally got her to sleep on my bed and then transferred her to her room where the crib mattress was on the floor. Around 5 a.m., she "fell out of bed" and wailed and wailed. I picked her up and brought her into my bed where she proceeded to kick me and flop her head on my boobs for about two hours.

Tonight, I tried to get both kids to sleep in Andy's room. He's got an adorable loft bed and the bottom bunk is really just a mattress on the floor. Perfect. I started bedtime around 8:30. We read two books and then left. I tried this for about 45 minutes until Meg kept getting out of bed. I tried to take her back into her crib and she pretty much hooked a leg on the crib rail before I could get her in there so I knew that wouldn't work. I took the mattress out and put it on the floor. She cried for a bit once she realized I have a baby lock on the door handle preventing her escape. I told her I was going to lock up and I would come check on her in five minutes. Ten minutes later, she was asleep. Phew!

The bonus of this whole exercise? Andy went to sleep before 10. Sadly, he hasn't done that in a long time.

Oh, and speaking of sleep, props to Jennifer. She babysat the kids while I flew to Dallas and I believe graciously helped fix them. She also took them to the mall for Pillow Pets. I can't believe I actually bought something because of an annoying ad during kids TV shows, but they are really pretty cool.

Regression

So both kids are in the middle of some weird regressions. Meg has discovered waking up at night is fun! I suspect she's 1) teething 2) having dreams/nightmares 3) she thinks me straggling in to give her a sip of water, hold her for a minute and set her back down is comforing and 4) she thinks Mama looks best with bags under my eyes.

To make it more interesting, Andy has been wetting the bed a lot lately. It's weird how it happens. Since around Christmas, he will be fine for two or three weeks in a row with maybe one accident, then he goes like three or four nights in a row having accidents. Naturally him having an accident means he comes to my room and tells one of us (hopefully Bjorn) that he's had an accident. Sometimes he will have changed into new clothes and crawls into bed with us to then kick me the rest of the morning. Other times like today he came in at 2 a.m. needing help with new clothes and sheets. Poor guy was so exhausted he could barely sit up straight. I made him wear a pull-up after this. I explained to the extent I could that his body is growing right now and it's so busy growing overnight that it doesn't have the energy at the moment to tell him to wake up. We'll see how well that goes over tonight.

Adding to the fun is that Meg has had the barfs twice in a week. First instance was Wednesday afternoon so she was home Thursday (after waking up at 3 a.m. to throw up and then rally into such a good mood she was up until 5 a.m. just being happy. Crazy kid). Then yesterday out of nowhere she woke up from her nap and threw up on me. I gave her some Pedilyte and she threw that up later, too.

Needless to say, I'm sleepy today.

You know, I've been debating changing the title of this blog beacuse until recently, they were pretty good sleepers a lot of the time. It just didn't seem right. But now? Now I am in desperate need of a good night's rest.

Movin' on up

Young Margaret probably only has hours left before she moves up to a toddler bed. Hours. I had planned to keep her in her crib until the summer, but the little bugger has demonstrated she can just bend at the waist just right and try to get out. She hasn't successfully gotten out. Yet. But the clock is ticking. I have casually been looking at toddler beds. I have some specific wants. I want either a bed that uses a crib mattress or a twin, but I don't want to get one of those in between beds that requires a whole new set of sheets. Right now, we're down to three sizes -- twin, crib and queen.

I am loathe to go to the toddler bed. Unlike Andy who I don't think realized he could get out of his twin bed for probably two months, Meg absolutely knows. And absolutely knows how to open the door knob already. On my list is one of those door handle protectors to keep her from letting herself out. I also will have to bolt everything to the wall that isn't already or take it out. She's turning out to be quite the thrower these days. Sigh.

All this is at a time when she's been struggling to go to bed. Last night the little brat darling refused to finally go to bed until after 10:45 p.m. She might have been up later, but I finally crashed. It's now almost 10 p.m. and she's finally quieted down after a 90 minute struggle where poor Baby Elmo and Daddy Elmo were sacrificed overboard as she protested the sheer injustice of bedtime.

Going commando

I'm proud to report that Andy had seven straight days of waking up with a dry pull-up (including Christmas, which is sort of remarkable considering how tired he was!) To celebrate, he could pick his treat. He wanrted his personal manna -- soda. And maybe some candy. I suggested a Slurpee, which I tried to explain is a combination of soda AND candy only icy and you can drink it through a straw. He thought that idea was just crazy.

He also convinced me that he wants to sleep without a pull-up tonight, which I allowed, mostly because I was trying not to laugh after he put on a pair of his sister's Christmas pajamas that are probably 3T. He's showing his belly and the legs are mid-calf.

In other milestones, he's *this* much closer to be able to reliable wipe his own butt after going to the bathroom. Parenthood really does make you cheer for some strange things.

Phew

We are back. I, for one, am exhausted. I have a feeling my mother as uber hostess for many is beat as well.

It was so fantastic seeing my parents, my sisters and my adorable five and 2 1/2-year-old nieces. Andy and Margaret had the times of their lives. I loved watching that. It all made me wistful that we don't live closer. It is always hard traveling for the holidays and then trying to be a good house guest when my kids insist on smearing yogurt on the kitchen floor and then while I'm trying to triage that situation, the other one starts eating her yogurt with a knife. Oh, and let's not forget Meg forgot how to sleep while we were there. No fool, she sensed our weakness and inability to let her cry and ended up in bed with us probably every night at least for a bit before waking up before six FOR THE DAY. Of course, today -- our last morning -- Mom had to wake her up in order to leave for the airport to catch a flight that was then delayed nearly three hours. Fortunately both kids were angels on the plane, once Andy got down throwing a 30 minute fit that his new favorite cat Meowey was in our checked luggage. This after I asked the kid before I checked it if he was okay with that. Poor kid is practically luggage himself after so much excitement the past week. I, too, and worn out.

I also look forward to the years to come with the kids are easier to travel with and easier to send out of the room to play games with each other while we catch up and play bridge.

There are lots of great pictures to share, but right now I'm just too damn tired. I am planning to watch a little Tivo BY MYSELF IN MY OWN ROOM and then go to bed. I am crazy like that.

Holy sleep regression

Meg is going through some sort of phase at the moment where she cries and shrieks at bedtime and naptime. It started Thursday night and has happened every night since then. Naptime today was so painful I finally had to put her in the car and drive around for 10 minutes and she was out, then made the transfer and had to be woken up at 4:30. With a baby, this sort of stuff is expected, but in a 18 1/2 month old?

Part of it is the cats' fault. She got freaked out that the cat was in her closet so when I noticed the shrieking, which is highly unusual for my normally good sleeper, I went in and sure enough, one of the cats was there (and dying to get out). That first night, Thursday night, nothing we did worked and she even threw up a little either due to the intensity of it or catching herself just right. Because of that, we didn't feel right laying her back down to cry. Then we tried everything -- holding her, cuddling, water, you name it. We ended up bringing her to bed with us until about 1:30 when my back hurt so bad I had to move her back to her bed. That stint in our bed was probably the main error of our ways.

Jennifer put her to bed last night while we went to the movies and had a similar, but not quite as bad experience. Tonight was particularly terrible -- nearly 40 minutes of shrieking -- not crying, no shrieking. Bjorn finally went in and held her until she fell asleep -- at 10:15 p.m. I suppose if this keeps up, we're going to have to go back to Dr. Ferber and just let her cry it out. The problem is that she's older and has more resources to throw at me, like shrieking.

Suggestions on the 18-month sleep regression, other than more wine for mommy?

Parent/teacher conference

I had a parent/teacher conference at Andy's school this week. I know, sort of ridiculous as he's FOUR. It was the second one he's had there, I think, but the first with this new teacher in the class he's been in maybe six weeks or so. Generally he's doing well. He knows all his upper case letters and all but two of his lowercase letters as well as all his numbers. I could have told them that.

What I didn't know is that he's apparently quiet(ish) at school. I find this remarkable since he's soooo talkative at home. Since he broke up with his BFF/frenemy by moving up to the next class, it's taken him a little time to find his niche. Right now he's good friends with a little boy whose parents we know (score) and another little girl that the boy is friends with. I know them from birthday parties and they seem like nice kids so that's a plus. He also likes to tell me though, "I'm every body's friend." I love that. And I love that he seems to be progressing well.

I don't love right now is his pattern (like last night) of coming to my room at 5-ish claiming bad dream. I have been having a devil of a time sleeping lately. Either I have trouble falling asleep or else I wake up too early and can't go back to sleep so this early morning wake-up does not please me. This morning he came to our bed, insisted on getting in. Then between his wiggling and Bjorn's snoring, I finally left for Andy's bed for half an hour for some general peace and quiet. Needless to say I'm tired today. What is my obsession with sleep, theirs and mine? Seriously.

Tomorrow I'm getting the ducts cleaned in the house to hopefully alleviate some of Andy's allergies. Heaven knows when those were last cleaned. Certainly not by us.

15 months

Meg went for her 15 month check up on Friday. The little darling is 26 pounds and 32 inches tall -- a healthy, growing girl most certainly. Bjorn is excited for her height. He figures if the old wives' tale of double their height at two is correct, then she's at least going to be 5'4" and that's a solid two inches taller than me and makes her the tallest on my side of the family, next to Aunt Tia. She showed off her jabbering sounds and a few steps. Then she had to get three shots. She cried and I nearly did. Poor chicken.

It's been a weird few weeks for me though. I've been having trouble sleeping for some reason. I don't feel stressed necessarily although Bjorn working out of town so much hasn't been so great. Now I find myself stressed about not being able to sleep. How refreshing is that? So I lie in bed mad at myself for not being able to sleep or else I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and have the same thing. It makes no sense.

My doctor had prescribed Ambien some time ago and I've been taking that a little. Of course, now I'm paranoid about getting an addiction to sleeping pills so I lie awake at night and try to go to sleep, then worry about that and then take something. Rather ridiculous. And the catch is that to take Ambien, you have to have an eight hour window to take it so if I don't take it early enough, I'm screwed. So now I'm totally in my head about this. It's so bizarre. Anybody else go through this?

It's so funny to be worried about my own sleep. I swear I have spent the better part of four years worried about my kids sleeping habits so I think my own have been all over the map for so long that I don't know what to do with myself.

Bribery parenting

Andy has been waking up in the middle of the night again. Some nights, he just cries from his bed. Other nights, he gets up and comes to our room. Both are annoying. In fairness, he was sick yesterday with a fever and stayed home with Bjorn.

"I've been a good boy today, right?"
"Yes, yes, you have."
"Since I was a good boy at the pharmacy, can I have a Popsicle?"
Can't argue with the kid's logic.
"Actually Andy, I'll make a deal with you. If you go all night without waking Mommy or Daddy up and staying in your bed, you can have two Popsicles with breakfast."

It actually worked. And was worth every drop. I've been having trouble sleeping lately so it was so nice not to be fighting with him at 5 a.m. this morning.

My budding teenager

Andy is just four, but I see glimpses of the living hell that will be his teenage years.

"Andy, how was school today? Was it picture day?"
"No. Nothing. I'm not telling."
"...Did you play with Christopher?"
"Christopher wasn't there today."
"Who did you play with? Eli? Kiki? Evan?"
"Nobody. I don't want to play with anyone."

To be fair, he is sooo tired and cranky this evening. He took a really long, weird nap yesterday after staying up too late with Mark and Jennifer the night before. That combined with the time change meant that he didn't get a really good night's sleep and then didn't nap at school today. Oh, and with the nice weather, he spent a lot of time on the playground at school and then I took the kids to the park on our way home. So he was T-I-R-E-D as I often spell to Bjorn.

Oh, and Meg's sinus infection initially seemed better only for me to pick her up from school and see her all goopy again. I tried to call the doctor's office and got the weird 16 year old high school afternoon receptionist who was useless at either getting me to a nurse or making an appointment for the morning so I called my friend who I'd run into at the doctor's office the week before where her daughter was also getting treated for a sinus infection. After a minute, she said, "You know to stay away from milk, right." Um, well, I was after the initially barfing, but once that had passed, I introduced dairy again on Friday and then milk yesterday. No wonder! I now need to go back to clear liquids for a few more days and see if that doesn't clear things up. I swear, this kids need instruction manuals.

In completely unrelated news, it is my favorite time of the year -- college basketball time! Right now is Championship Week with all the conference tournaments. Local college George Mason is playing VCU tonight on ESPN 2 for the CAA tournament and there are tournament finals on television all week. I am pscyhed! That also means the NCAA tournament is just in a few weeks. I am trying to convince Bjorn (and anyone else interested) to get together at a bar during the day on that first Friday to watch the games. That will be while I'm still in the pool at the office. Usually by Sunday, I'm mathmatically eliminated.

Pukey baby

It's been a long three weeks/month and Casa Bennett. Apparently my home has turned into a germ factory and young Margaret Anne has been its main target. Poor chicken has had three stomach bugs and two ear infections since we before we left for Dallas on the 19th. Her poor mother (i.e. me) is very, VERY sick of this and I am willing to beg, borrow and steal whatever it takes to make her well again.

The latest bout started on Saturday night when she threw up her dinner just after I put her to bed. Since then, she's been alternating between throwing up about once a day and having diarrhea. After numerous phone consultations with the pediatrician, I went ahead and took her in yesterday afternoon. We went through several possibilities and checked that she didn't have an ear infection (thank heavens, since more antibiotics might mess her tummy up more). They do want to test for a urinary tract infection on the off chance that could be causing her trouble. But generally, they think her stomach is raw from all the upset and just needs time to heal. The game plan we came up with is to temporarily stop dairy to give her a break. That means going ahead and stopping formula, which I was going to start doing in a few weeks anyway. Then once she recovers, we can add back in cheese and start whole milk. Fingers crossed.

This whole thing has been messing with her sleep, too. And now without being able to feed her at night, she's up and not ready to go down again. Once she's healthy again, we'll have to do some tough love to get back to normal.

The whole thing has been totally stressing me out. I finally even went to my doctor yesterday because I was getting so worked up that even when I was able to sleep, I couldn't and was feeling really anxious. I expected a prescription for Prozac or something, but instead got some Valium with the instructions to let Bjorn handle more. When we were in Dallas, Meg only wanted me so since then, I've just been jumping on even though Bjorn has offered to help. So last night, I took some medicine, went to bed at 8:30 and Bjorn got up with her from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. He is quite a great guy, that Bjorn.

So, fingers crossed that this game plan works. And fingers crossed that she remembers how to sleep again! I could use some predictability back in my life. Well, until learns to walk and totally throws me for a loop again!