The prayers of a 2 year old...

We've been trying to make a habit of reading Garrett 2 books at bedtime, then we say prayers, then rock in the chair before bed. Tonight was no different. After reading the two chosen books, I asked Garrett if he wanted to rock in the chair and say prayers. "Yeah!" was his response. So all three of us (baby sister too!) climbed into the rocking chair and started with the bedtime prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep..." then continued to ask God to bless Garrett, Mommy, Daddy, Baby Sister, Grandma's and Grandpa's, etc. Once we've gone through the list, I will ask him what he wants to pray for. In the last week or so, Garrett wanted to pray for Daddy, Baby Sister (twice), and my friend EB and her daughter Carolyn. Again tonight, I asked him what he wanted to pray for...

Garrett: "Ummm....hmmmm.....(tapping his chin)... I got it!" (holding his finger in the air)
Me: (laughing) "Okay, what do you want to pray for?"
Garrett: "Ummm... let's see (tapping his chin again)....I know!"
Me: (laughing harder) "What do you want to pray for Garrett?"
Garrett: " Um, ... tows." (Garrett-speak for cows)
Me: "You want to pray for cows?" (more laughter)
Garrett: "YEAH!"

So Mommy had to make up a prayer to pray for the cows of the world... What more could a cow ask for than fresh air and good food, lots of land to roam and lots of mooing? Garrett especially liked the "lots of mooing" part and even had to join in...

What am I going to do with this creative and absolutely adorable little boy?

Color Me Confused...

Okay, so at one point I was so excited that a certain technique worked at keeping Garrett in his bed at night. No more. Since that post, things have definitely gone downhill. As time went on, he kept getting up more and more, then I tried time-outs, yelling, and I even threatened to spank him (which I REALLY don't want to do). I've been so frustrated with this. And it's not just getting him into bed, it seemed to couple with him waking up frequently in the middle of the night crying. Both of these together make for a really bad night's sleep.

So Saturday night, Doug and I decided there was only one thing left for us to try- the doorknob cover on the inside of his room. We did use it once, but he freaked out and we never tried it again. This time we were going to give it one week and see how it worked, but we had to wait for a night that I was home to put Garrett to bed because Doug would never comply with it on his own if I wasn't home too.

So last night, I gave Garrett a bath, brushed his hair and he brushed his teeth, then found a book to bring to bed for me to read. His hugged and kissed Daddy goodnight and we went into his room. I grabbed the doorknob cover and he helped me put it on. He even cheered when it latched together. I tried talking to him and explaining what it does and what will happen if he tries to open the door. He did try opening the door, but because I was in there with him he didn't cry or get scared. I just explained that the door is now "stuck" that it means he has to stay in his room and be a big boy.

After reading, prayers, hugs, kisses and rocking, I told him that I would leave his door open just a little bit. The first time he gets up, Mommy will close the door and he will have to stay in his room the rest of the night. He didn't really seem to get it, but I thought maybe leaving the door open at first might be of some comfort for him as he's trying to go to sleep. I left his room and left the door open about an inch, fully expecting him to be up in a heartbeat as usual. I sat on the couch with Doug and told him what I did. A minute later, I got up to check to see if he was at the door, because I didn't hear anything. He wasn't there. I must have checked 10-15 more times, expecting to see a little white face appearing in the crack of his door, but nothing. I started getting nervous, thinking he would start the nightmare as Doug and I were trying to go to bed, but nothing! Not only did I NEVER have to return him to bed and lock him in his room, but he slept the whole night through, without waking once! I even left his door open throughout the night, but I did put the gate across his door in case he woke in the night. I certainly didn't want him to start the freak out process at 2:30 am!

So, I'm really confused. Doug and I have tried everything reasonable to get him to stay in his bed, and the first time we really buckle down and try to take control, he has no problem! It made me feel a little bad that if all he wanted was the door open at night, it was a simpler fix than I could have ever imagined. However, tonight may be a different story. I'll do everything the same, but now I'm scared that last night was fluke.

Please pray for Garrett (and my sanity) that this issue can be resolved this easily!

She's on her way (hopefully)!

I had another weekly appointment with Dr. Florido. Last week I was dilated a fingertip, and "thinning a little". This week, as I was sitting on the table waiting, I told God that I wanted to be 3cm and 50% effaced. When she came in I told her what I wanted, and it just so happened that I am a "tight" 3cm and 50% effaced! She said it was pretty good progress for 1 week. But I have to be careful to not get my hopes up because I did the same thing with Garrett and I was still 2 days overdue. Dr. Florido also said that she has dropped into my pelvis more because I'm measuring smaller than I did last week (measuring 35-36 weeks this week). She also stripped my membranes, which hurt like crazy and made me sore for the remainder of my work shift, but she didn't feel confident that it would put me into labor in the next 24 hours because my cervix is still so thick. She said it may increase my chances of going into labor next week, but emphasis on the word "may". Again, I had my membranes stripped with Garrett and nothing happened. So we'll see if Baby Girl wants to make an appearance anytime soon. I'm hoping for sooner rather than later.

Ultrasound pics...

I had my ultrasound today and she's in the right position to deliver! Thank God! The pictures that were taken don't look very good because her face is half hidden behind the placenta. She also looks a bit chubby, which Doug will be very happy about. Here are two of the best pics that were taken...

In this picture, it's kind of hard to see, but her right hand is in front of her right eye/cheek area.

Unfortunately, these are the only pictures that we got that she looked mostly normal. The ultrasound tech Melanie also showed me a shot of her head where you can see her hair! Doug will also be excited about that! He can't wait to put bows in her hair. It's kind of odd to think that the next pictures I'll be posting of her will be newborn pictures! Its coming so fast and not fast enough at the same time. But for now, I'm content knowing that God will be planning her birthday and not us.

Tidbits and Fairytales...

Just wanted to updated on a few things that have been happening lately...

First, I went to my first weekly appointment with Dr. Florido on Monday and she checked my cervix. I'm dilated a fingertip and thinning just a little, but again, this happened with Garrett too, and I was 2 days late. The bad news that came from this appointment is that Baby Girl might be breach. As I was in the waiting room to get into my appointment, she got the hiccups, but they were up by my ribs, not in my pelvis like they usually are. I mentioned it to Dr. Florido and she decided it would be best to do an ultrasound to double check her position so that there are no surprises when I try to deliver. I go in tonight for the ultrasound, so unfortunately I have no good or bad news on that yet. I'm really praying that she's head-down and not breach. I know that they could try to turn her, but I also know that it's really painful and might not work, in which case I would have a c-section. I REALLY don't want a c-section! But I'll find out for sure tonight which way this little girl is headed (literally!).

Last night produced a pretty funny story. First things first, Garrett does not say all his words correctly, which makes this all the more funny. Garrett is VERY into picking his nose and getting the "boobies" (boogies) out. I realize now that maybe we should have called them something else, but he just loves to pick boobies! Anyway, Doug and Garrett were playing in Garrett's room and about to get ready for bed when Garrett started picking his nose. Let's just say that Garrett commented on the size of the boogie. ("BIG BOOBY!") Doug started commenting on Mommy's boogies... Can you tell where this is leading? Doug was encouraging Garrett to say things like, "Mommy has nice boogies" and "Mommy has big boogies". And when Garrett said it... well, you can guess what it sounded like! Although I was a little shocked that Doug was encouraging this, I was cracking up laughing! And of course Garrett thought he was really talking about boogies!

Now, this morning was not nearly as funny. I actually dreamed about my morning first. In my crazy pregnant lady dream, I was sleeping in bed in the exact position that I really was laying in, and for some reason I had Garrett in the bed with me. He was sleeping on top of me snuggling on my chest (like he used to do as a newborn, just bigger) and he woke a little, put his hand on my cheek and said, "I love you". I got all teary and hugged him and told him that I love him. Then he went back to sleep. Doug came in with his breakfast on a tray, and for some reason he was eating flavored Tootsie Rolls with the wrapper on with a fork. But not unusual for a dream so I just continued to tell him what Garrett said to me because I thought it was so sweet. It was light outside and the sun was shining, and it felt like a wonderful day to wake up to....

Then reality hit. I wake up a second time, a little confused why it was so dark in my room all of a sudden, and Garrett is whining/crying at the gate across his door. I'm slowing trying to swim out of my fog so that I can get up. I get Garrett out of his room and start the morning stuff (let the dog out, use the bathroom, etc.). As I was in the bathroom, Garrett started using his pouty voice asking for Dada. I told him Dada was at work this morning, and when he didn't seem to understand why Dada wasn't there, I picked him up to go change his diaper. Garrett freaked out. He got so upset that he bit himself on the hand. Then cried more. When I restrained his kicking feet and sternly told him "No kicking Mommy" he bit himself again, but even harder, and now he's crying because he hurt. I'm probably a bad mom for feeling this, but I don't have any sympathy for him when he hurts himself because he's upset. So no, I did not kiss his owie. After finally wrestling a diaper on him, I put him down with every intention of walking away and getting some orange juice. But Garrett wanted me to pick him up. I sat on the foot stool and he hugged me, still balling his eyes out and no matter what I did or said, he would not stop crying. Eventually I did pick him up, and he still cried. Finally I asked him if I could go back to bed and he said no. Once Garrett calmed down, I just had to call Doug and tell him about my ironic crazy morning. Dreams really can be better than reality!