Bed Time

Ella has always been at her cutest at bed time-she's all cuddly and sweet and most of the time, it's one of the best times of my day. Recently I pulled out some new bedding I got at Ikea a few months ago and we had fun giving it to Ella to put on her bed.


I love the pattern it's BRIGHT green with hippos!

This is Ella being so EXCITED about the new bedding!

A glimpse of her dramatic side.

Good night!


PS-I totally recommend these sets from Ikea. They have all kinds of cute designs and it's only $14.99 for a duvet cover, sheet, and pillowcase. Perfect if your child is in a crib mattress size toddler bed :-)

Coziness is highly valued in our house

So...on Saturday night I was out for a Christmas party (yes, I know it's february but it was actually really fun to stretch out the holiday and we decided to do this again on purpose next year. But I digress.) So I was out and Chris was home with Ella. They had a fun night, he put her to bed uneventfully and hadn't heard from her since. At almost 11pm when he was heading to bed he went to peek in on Ella. And SHE. WASN'T. THERE. He said he looked around her room and then started to look in the bathrooms, our bedroom, everywhere. He was starting to freak out (I would have had a heart attack by then) and went back into her room and turned on the lights and was about to start yelling for her when he found her. Safe and sound. Asleep. Where you ask? UNDER HER BED!!!!!

He moved her back into her bed, tucked her in and she went right back to sleep. We have NEVER played under her bed, pretended to sleep under her bed, nothing. When we asked her the next morning why she was sleeping there she said very nonchalantly, "because I wanted to be nice and cozy." She is SO funny!

Big Girl Bed-Whoohoo!!

We were going to put Ella in a "big girl" bed a while ago but I chickened out. The idea of her being able to roam freely during the night and rest/nap time just sounded like a bad idea. Plus, from what I could gather, there was no developmental stage we were impeding by keeping her in a crib. And she was happy. Until about two weeks ago. Then she started asking for a big girl bed. I was (still am) a little skeptical about it (why can't children sleep in cribs forever?) but I am happy to do it when she asks for it rather than forcing it too early (see! I learned something from potty training!). So, we've had 4 nights in the bed and it's been very successful!

Night One: Ella insisted that big girls wear underwear to sleep not pull-ups and in some rare moment of insanity, I said ok. Hence, she wet the bed about 3 hours later. Besides that, no problems.

Night Two: Went to bed with no problems and slept all night, walked into our room in the morning (the original rule was that she was supposed to call us but I think this is ok)

Night Three: realized she can get out of her bed once I put her to sleep, got up 3 times within about 15 minutes before asking for a drink and me saying yes. It worked and we didn't see her for 12 hours.

Night Four: Came out of her room once right after I put her to bed and asked for a drink. I gave it to her and had to wake her up this morning for school.

So, besides taking a step backwards in night potty training by giving her drinks, it's going reallllllly well. So glad! Rest time has been kind of hit or miss but she should be happy to play in her room with all the stuff that's in there so I hope this will not be the end of rest time. She's adorably thrilled about her bed everytime we mention it or go in her room. She's growing up!

Mommy Jail

Mommy Jail is something my friends and I have joked about as the place we should all go for certain things we've done with our children that we regret. Things like not paying attention and they get hurt or pretending you don't notice when they eat something off the floor. How much we regret them varies based on the offense, how it actually turned out, and whether the offense was actually "wrong" or just deemed so by judgmental others. So, it's confession time. I've had various mommy-jail offenses in my 2+ years in this role but the one that has been hanging over my head for a long time is that I've let Ella go to bed (nap and night) with a bottle/sippy cup in her bed ever since I stopped nursing. This may not sound so bad but it was not water. It was milk. Yup, tooth-rotting, sugar-filled milk. I've known for a fact that she always finishes the entire thing, puts it down, rolls over and goes to sleep so I've comforted myself as I read horrifying articles about "bottle rot" that she never falls asleep with milk in her mouth. Either way, I knew it wasn't the best thing to send her to bed with milk. But, she goes to bed so easily (9.5/10 times) I was too scared to take it away for fear that I didn't actually have a kid who puts herself to sleep but a kid who has an addiction to milk as a comfort item to put her to sleep. Well, about a month ago, we decided if she was ever going to night potty train we'd have to do it. Plus, just because her teeth are healthy so far, the dentist agreed it's not the best plan to brush and then let her drink milk. So we did it. We took it away. We told her big girls don't need milk in their beds and just put her in her bed. And she rolled over and went to sleep. WHAT????? I was all prepped for screaming and crying and she did...nothing. I thought maybe it was just that first night but she has had NO reaction. She doesn't care. Who would have guessed? Not me. I feel liberated. No more ongoing "bad habits" I'm too scared to kick. Ahhh. Freedom!!!! Oh wait...that familiar mommy guilt feeling is reminding me how often I let her watch TV when I probably should just sit down and play with her....oy. Mommy Jail, here I come. Thank God that he is FULL of grace for all the places I fall short as a parent.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. " 2 Cor 12:9 (NIV)