Night pottying update

Definitely NOT NOT NOT done with diapers here, at least at night. Ava did well for the start of the night, getting up to pee a half-dozen times. But once she is asleep, she has difficulty waking enough to get up and make it to the bathroom before peeing. I heard her up in the bathroom at 2:30 am, so I went to check on things. She was cold and wet, as was the bed, so she'd obviously peed sometime earlier in the night. At that point I just pulled the wet stuff off the bed (had clean, dry sheets underneath), changed her pjs, and put a new diaper on her (with no protests this time). And last night she didn't protest at all either. I think she knows she isn't ready to go diaper-less at night.

Nap training continues to go well though. Yesterday she kept her bed dry by managing to get up after waking and walking all the way into the bathroom before letting lose. So she soaked her pants, but at least it wasn't the bed. I was proud she woke up and got up before going. That is a huge forward step. :)

Goodbye to diapers?

One certain not-yet-2.5-year-old refused to put on a diaper at bedtime tonight. FLAT OUT REFUSED. Hmmm... She's very well trained during the day. We're working on naptime, and she doesn't wear a diaper then anymore (but still has accidents maybe 50% of the time). But this was a first at night. I didn't think we'd tackle night training for a while. We'll have to see how this works out. I'm fairly certain she's going to be soaked at some point in the middle of the night, and again in the morning if she still refuses a diaper after getting changes. But maybe she'll surprise me.

Mega update

I've lost all sense of time. Seriously, minutes pass in seconds, days pass in minutes, and weeks pass in the blink of an eye. I remember as a kid when life passed at the slowest snail's pace, but now it is more like a rocketship. Somebody put on the brakes, will ya?

Life in our household has been continuing full-steam ahead. Nothing major has happened in the last week, except for the most minor case of the sniffles in both kids. My computer at school (where I have the most uninterrupted time to blog) doesn't like Blogger, so I've been unable to post from there and frankly, posting time at home is almost non-existent lately.

So the VBAC birth that was going on last week obviously ended. I was not called to stay the primary doula. Baby was born later that night via emergency cesarean, after a transfer from the birthing center for what the doula described as "scary" decelerations. While at the hospital, the mom was able to continue laboring all the way to 8 cm (that is 7 cm further than she got last time), but then FHT took such a serious dive a cesarean was performed immediately. Turns out there was a serious cord entanglement going on, and baby wasn't coming out without bringing the placenta with it. Healthy boy, 9.5 lbs. Mom is really happy she got to experience so much labor.

In other news, daycare woes continue. Ava is now registered for 3 afternoons a week starting after Thanksgiving, but that is not a convenient schedule for us at all. With some luck, all the right changes will take place in the next 6 weeks, and we'll get both kids in there for 2 full days/week by January 1. Cross your fingers for us. We're still on the waiting list for the campus daycare center, but it looks like that will be July before space is available.

We've been getting our wills and advanced directives together around here. We already had a will, but seeing my aunt's death and the aftermath associated with her will and assets, I've realized how important it is to have everything meticulously prepared. I've been learning about trusts. There are just so many ways to take care of your loved ones after you die. Confusing stuff. Not like we have much to leave em (and not like we plan on dieing for 50 years), but I wanna make sure they get every penny!

Potty training! I think we are officially potty-trained here. Accidents are extremely rare now and almost predictable because of the circumstances. We still haven't tackled nap or night training because Ava has no access to the potty during those times, but it is coming soon.

Night weaning! Alder has night-weaned himself. This has been going on for about 2 weeks. I can't believe it. Last night he slept for 10.5 hours STRAIGHT. And he's not even 6 months. I'm so thankful we've gotten here with absolutely no urging on our part. Franny, I hope your next one takes a cue from Alder. Granted, things were still very rough 2 months ago, but to completely sleep through the night ON HIS OWN at less than 6 months...that is just worth almost anything.

Not much else going on. Keith and I are dreaming of our new minivan that we hope to get next summer.

Oh, and 2 days ago I finished writing the final manuscript of my dissertation. It needs major editing, and I still have to write a brief introduction and brief conclusion to the whole dissertation, but that should only take a couple of days. I can't believe I'm almost there. Hopeful defense date in late January.

And one more thing! I'm on the verge of signing up for my first class towards the long path to midwifery. I'm thinking this will be a one or two classes at a time, maybe a couple of times a year thing...so the entire curriculum will take probably 5+ years (I'm thinking of going for the AS degree which includes the CPM first, then possibly the MSM if I'm still into school and all). But that sounds about right to me. I have no apprenticeship lined up anyway. It takes time to figure those things out, and until I'm done with the PhD and have earned a little money, I can't even fathom an apprenticeship with no income.

Okay, that is all now.

Pigtails!

Finally, hair long enough to do cute things with! Oh, I'm gonna love playing with my girls' hair (yes, I meant that as plural - we want more kids). Now if she'd only sit still.
Me and my boy last night.
Ava "helping" Daddy fold the laundry.
Serious boys only here.

And now that that fun is over, today has been a really hard day. I'm sure most of it is the rotten sleep I've had over the last few nights, and for some reason last night felt like no sleep at all. But today, both kids seemed in a rotten mood too. Alder refused to nap, so I spent hours trying to get even a little sleep out of him (I did succeed to win the battle for one nap, but he usually needs 3 or 4). Ava was particularly needy, and that makes getting Alder to sleep very difficult (picture loud, whiney toddler hanging on mommy as she tries to nurse baby to sleep and then transfer sleeping baby to crib). Despite the difficult day, we got a lot of things done. Keith and his dad repaired our fence in the back and nearly finished it. The work was done much faster than I think we thought it would happen. I packed the kids up and went to the grocery store, figuring the outing would brighten their moods (it did). I found some great Seventh Generation training pants. We primarily use cloth, but there are occasions for disposable training pants (more on diapering and potty training later, I'm sure). We also relaxed and had yummy American Dream pizza for dinner. MMmmm...pizza. So there were some good parts to the day too. Of course, the smiles from both my kids were the best.