NEWFLASH: Mama slept through the night! Well, almost.
I kid you not, folks. I just about slept through the night last night. Some of you may not realize that Rob and I and our two kids live in a 2-bedroom fourplex. Not ideal for a growing family, but definitely great for an apartment and you can't beat our neighbours! Anyhow, because of this whole 2 bedroom dealy, Joshua's little crib is located snuggly in our walk-in closet. It's actually a great arrangement - in some ways. I walk precisely 4 steps to get to him in the night, it's very cozy, and if we close the closet door part way it's dark in there at any time of day. Setback: I wake up - ALL. NIGHT. LONG! I am one of the world's lightest sleepers, and even with a fan on in the room and an earplug in one of my ears, I wake up almost every time Joshua stirs. And if he stirs too much, I DO something about it, like put his soother back in, or whatever, so that I can go back to sleep.
Well, last night I'd had it. I was so terribly exhausted from 5 months of waking up anywhere from 2-6 times a night that I rolled out of bed and went looking on the internet for 3 bedroom houses for rent...and didn't find anything. Then a new idea hit me (from the Lord? who knows!) Get a playpen. Stick the kid upstairs (our bedrooms are downstairs) far far away from my overstimulated eardrums. So thanks to a little advertising on Facebook, 12 hours later I was the proud lender of a playpen (thanks Elleah!). Once Josh was in bed for the night at 7:45pm, I set up the playpen in our pantry (which is converted into a toy room. Hey - you do what you got to do in a space like ours!) and after his 10:30 night snack bottle I put him to sleep for the rest of the night in there. Not without a bit of anxiety, mind you. That's awfully far away. But I had the monitor snuggled up right beside my pillow, set just loud enough to hear the little guy CRY...and not loud enough to hear him grunt!
So if I didn't have another child in my house I would have slept through the night. Ellie must have had a nightmare or something because she woke up screaming and then fell straight back asleep the moment I came into her room. But besides that, I didn't really wake up all night! Did Joshua? I have no idea. He did have a poop in his diaper when I got him at 6:30am, but it must not have bugged him enough to keep him awake! He was out of his swaddle, his arms sprawled, sootherless...and sleeping. What a sweet sweet sight for these tired eyes!
Now, after saying all that, I must warn you (and myself) that I will probably not sleep happily ever after from this night on. No, generally when one shares news like this with others, things...
change...the night after. So I'm not expecting perfection. But I am hoping for improvement! I am full of hope! Here is the face I was greeted with this morning:
Why'd you leave me all alone mom?!? :) Just joking. That's Joshua's "I'm stunned by a flash in my face at 6:30 in the morning" face. Wow, that was mean of me. But really he felt more like this:
Finally! Mom let me sleep on my own!!
In other news...1. We finally got our new double stroller! Well, it's not technically a double - it's more like a seat and a half. It's called the BabyTrend Sit 'n Stand and it's virtually impossible to get in Canada. And it's often out of stock in the cities that are near us in the US. And they don't ship to Canada. So finally Rob's brother James (who lives in California) was gracious enough to go and buy it for us and ship it to us. And we're pumped! THANKS JAMES!!
Rob took the kids out for an hour so I could get the house cleaned. Poor Rob - Joshua screamed all the way home. But the house was clean. :)
And the box made a great tunnel, window and mail slot included. Ellie managed to fit her entire body out through that little window, with more than a few scratches all over her semi-naked body as a result.
2. Ellie is no longer napping...when we can help it. For the last few months Ellie's been a napper about 60% of the time. The other 40% she just plays for 2 hours in her crib. We used to darken her room and do everything in our power to make all the elements JUST SO in the hopes that she would nap. Lately I've clued in to the fact that if she naps, she doesn't fall asleep at night until 9 or 9:30. But she's still up at 6:30 or 7 in the morning - and tired! So instead of darkening her room we are now keeping it bright and sunny with many reachable toys and books by her crib and it's officially "quiet time", not napping time. She's good in there for about 1.5 hours...so we still get a nice afternoon break! If we turn off the monitor we can even pretend she's actually sleeping. (Yesterday, however, I decided to peek in on Ellie to see what she was doing. Good thing I did. The child was buck naked. Again. What is it with toddlers and their clothing-removal syndrome!??!)
(Yes. She is in the exersaucer. She climbs in there daily.)
3. After many tears and much complaining, Joshua's second tooth sliced through his tender swollen gums during his morning nap today. Before his nap I could see it, but not feel it. After his nap - VOILA. Tooth number two! Good thing, too, since his mouth was starting to look a bit uneven. Here he is showing off his latest accomplishment:
Ellie had an overly-enthusiastic comment about each and every animal. Even if she couldn't see the animal. In fact, she was so excited about being at the zoo that she declared it was her birthday.
Regan and Ellie had fun pretending to pick the tiger's nose. We didn't tell them to do it. Okay, maybe we did. I'm one of those moms that tells Ellie to pick her nose all the time, actually - it's better than me trying to stick my giant-sized pinky finger up there and it's most certainly better than having the big green booger hanging out all day! No, we cheer when children find their own boogies in this home. 
Ellie and her Nana.
Joshua giving his best, "I'm cute. Carry me" face. Grandpa, always the marshmallow, got suckered in and carried Josh till his back got sore.
They truly were excited...inside.
Jon is looking for his second-cousin in the baboon cage.
Regan, "Yet's go see the camels again, Eyee!" Ellie: "Okay, Regan!"
Dana, demonstrating to her nieces how to become a baby dinosaur.
Regan thought it was cool.
Ellie thought it was downright terrifying!
