Good-bye Crib!

So, it's official. The crib is gone... well, just in the basement gone. My dad made the crib for Jackson, I will always hold onto it! But it will make an appearance again here in a few months. 

Uh oh, I'm stuck! I can't climb out if there's no mattress to jump on! 

Carter is helping Forrest, while Jackson entertains himself with the drill. He likes to make it go on his tummy-- he was cracking himself up!

Jackson decided he wanted to "help"!

Look at these men at work! (while Brooke works on making some awesome S'mores)

Jackson was so proud of himself for helping (and Grandpa had a lot of fun too!)

Jackson all tucked in his "Elmo" big boy bed (along with Pooh, Puppy, stuffed animal Elmo, both blankets, and a book).

Jackson didn't even care that his crib is gone. I'm glad he got to be there to take it down, so he at least understands where it went. And after being a little stressed out about his sleeping habits in my post yesterday, he slept ALL night in his bed last night... and bedtime tonight was a breeze! I swear it was a little message from God saying, "See Amy, it will all be okay!" It may seem silly, but it was just the message I was needing! God is good.

ZZzzzz's

Ohmigosh... it's been SO cold here lately. And it's making me so sleeeepy all day long! The fact that I have practically camped out in front of my fireplace for the past week may or may not be contributing to the sleepiness.... The content of today's post is really about Jackson and his sleep though.

While having Derek home was simply wonderful, it wrecked havoc on Jackson's sleeping habits. BIG TIME. We were out of schedule, he was way over stimulated. Night-time and nap-time were horrendous feats for the first couple of days (He'd be up 6 or 7 times a night and he would cry so much he'd vomit!). I sought advice from friends who've dealt with deployments/homecomings and toddlers. I even emailed a fellow blogger that I've never even met. Desperation!

It basically ended up that I did all of the bedtime/naptime stuff, trying to keep it as normal as possible... and really, the only way for Jackson to get any sleep at all was to rock him completely asleep and put him down. every. single. time. It was time consuming and frustrating (I mean, didn't we jump this hurdle back when he was like, six months old?!... oh yeah, that was before he could climb out of his crib and open doors!), but I just couldn't bear to let him just cry it out. I feel so sorry for the little guy for all of the big things going on/about to happen in his life.

Because Jackson can successfully (and does) climb out of his crib, we introduced his toddler bed before Derek left. It doesn't have anything to do with the baby coming soon since she doesn't even have a room of her own for the crib to go! The father-in-law is actually coming over to take down the crib and we're (he is) moving it to the basement.

We didn't make the switch right away. I continued to rock him and pulled out the tricks used to sleep train little infants- put him down almost asleep, but still awake so he can learn to fall asleep in the crib. Progressively moving further away from his crib while I sang him songs until I was eventually out of the room. I may have given him a cup of milk a few times (gasp) in bed with him a time or two. He was even bribed with tic-tacs. I always make a BIG deal when he falls asleep on his own, without crawling out of his crib. His sleeping habits are improving.

We talked about his big boy bed at times and he explored a little bit. I checked out Big Boy Bed books from the library. And a few days ago he actually asked to sleep in his big boy bed. He's done okay with the transition. I've been sitting with him until he falls asleep each night. The first night he stayed in it all night. Last night he came to sleep with me for a little bit.

I am really considering my options (as if I should try a cry-it-out method or to work with slow progress getting him to go to sleep on his own). But I feel like he's dealing with so much that he deserves to be babied a little bit in this. Of course, my only fear is that it still takes an hour for bedtime once the baby comes and I simply can't offer that! I'm going back and forth....

But for reals... Jackson is in a big boy bed. Why is he growing up so fast?!

2010 in numbers

My goal was to complete my 2010 year in review post within ten days of the beginning of the new year.... I have 32 minutes to spare!

In 2010...

We gained 1 danish daughter

I took 2 pregnancy tests (one positive just isn't enough!)

We had 3 visits to Children's Mercy Urgent Care

Derek and I celebrated our 4 wedding anniversary

We participated in a 5k each (Derek ran his, I walked mine)

Our family got struck by 6 stomach viruses

I had 7 prenatal appointments

We rented 8 redbox movies

We visited a combined total of 9 states
(MO, KS, IA, MN, OK, TX, IL, SC, GA)

Derek spent 10 weeks at basic training

A few more...

I completed 13 graduate hours

Julie celebrated her Sweet 16th birthday

We enjoyed 17 days of having Derek home at Christmas

Derek is currently training as a 25B (information technology specialist)

Julie scored 26 points in her first American basketball game
Derek can do 53 push-ups and 61 sit-ups within two minutes time frame each

My blog reached 101 blog followers

I posted  169 blog posts and 928 tweets

It's been a crazy year. Overwhelming and scary at times, but fun and exciting too! I think one of the biggest things we learned as a family this year is that life happens fast! We've embraced that and we're ready 2011!

Family Pictures

What better way to celebrate the holiday season than with family pictures? 

We didn't actually go for our us, but for Derek's whole family! 

Top: Me, Derek, Brad (brother), Mary (sis-in-law)

Middle: Linda (mom), Forrest (dad)

Bottom: Jackson, Gabe (nephew)

We did get some good shots of our family, though. And this one of Jackson and Derek is one of my fave ever!

Here's our little stinker- showcasing the *only* actual smile from the entire evening... and he's only smiling because he's been promised a tic-tac. Notice the nice big boo-boo on his forehead?! It's a mystery to us how it go there, but having some sort of mark on his face has become the norm these days. 

____________________________________________

Last Christmas we took the cousins to get their pics taken and we decided to do it again and make it a tradition. Waaaaay easier said than done. I'm totally not even looking forward to adding another little girl into the mix next year! (I'm excited about the girl, just not the process of getting pics.)

(These pictures were taken in the afternoon before the above pictures and Jackson didn't smile here either. No idea what got into this boy. He was nearly in tears when I asked him to smile-- the kid who has been called the happiest-kid-alive and has never met a stranger. At least we ended up with a few!)

Jackson and Gabe are wearing the overalls that were gifts from Great-Grandpa-- so we invited him along too! He is one proud Papa and the boys love him!

We're a pretty good lookin' family if I do say so myself!

We have a name and other baby news

Even though I'm only two weeks further along than when I picked Derek up at the airport, I feel as though as if I am about six weeks closer to being prepared for this little baby girl. My focus had always been on getting Derek home for Christmas and as soon as that happened my mind cleared up and I had time and energy to focus on baby things. Yay!

First and foremost, we have a plan. Well, as much as a plan as you can have regarding having a baby. This alone has been the most complicated, thought-provoking issue. We want Derek home... but we cannot have Derek missing class or a test and falling out of his graduation group. There is a room full of soldiers who fell behind for countless reasons that spend their days looking for the end of the internet day after day just waiting for a spot to open up for them to join a new class and graduate. For some it's just a day or two, a few weeks, others wait around for months. This is NOT an option. Fortunately, the weekend before my due date is a holiday weekend. We have had an induction planned (yes, I would rather the baby girl come on her own... but not more than having the opportunity for her daddy to be there when she comes) for Friday, February 18th. Derek is talking to his COs sometime this week (pending good moods... he'll wait if they are grumpy!) and we should know if he gets approved leave. Please, please pray for it to be approved. And then go ahead and pray for the baby to stay put until that day! We've decided that if she were to come early, we will just have him wait to come home on that weekend as to guarantee that he's not missing out on anything. As of right now, there is no plan B if he isn't granted time to come home. I guess I will just deal with that if it becomes an issue.

We do have a name. Finally. As in, we figured it out on the way to drop Derek off at the airport on Monday. Despite the pleas of everyone around us, we'll keep it to ourselves until she arrives. It's nothing personal. I just know of several people who've regretted telling because they were talked out of a name. I've decided I'd rather have people complain at my decision not to share than to bear people bombarding me with their perfect names as if I have never ever yet heard of them. And to expect me to say, "Oh yes! That's what we'll name her. I will just call my husband right now and let him know because you would know better than us about what to name her!". It's one thing to get a few sentimental suggestions here and there from family, but the other day in the pretzel line at the mall a woman was passionate that I strongly consider Sonya for the name of my child. Seriously.

We've made headway on where the little girl will call home! My Christmas gift from Dad was a cabinet for the empty hole in our bedroom that will serve as her dresser/changing table. I painted it. Dad and Derek started getting it set up... I'm so excited! We've actually got a plan for what her "space" will look like!

This is me at 31 weeks with the new cabinet!! 

(my belly has grown three inches since this picture)

*How far along?: 32 weeks, 5 days

*How big is your baby?: almost 4 pounds, approx. 19 inches

*Total weight gain?: 12 lbs. (only two over the holidays! That's typical for the average non-pregnant American!)

*Sex: Girl

*Maternity clothes: I feel like I wear the exact same thing all of the time 

*Stretch marks: Ugh. Yes. But how can I avoid them when my stomach grows three inches in matter of 14 days!
*Movement: All. of. the. time. 

*Sleep: Sleep was fabulous when Derek was home. I didn't end up sleeping on my back as much and so I didn't wake up being uncomfortable a lot. 

*Best moment this week: Having Derek home!! He got to feel the baby move a lot. We made a plan, got her space a little more ready, and picked out a name.

*Food cravings: Nothing too crazy. I will be purchasing Pizza Goldfish and chocolate ice cream when I go to the store next.
*Labor signs: I've started to get sporadic contractions... talk about annoying!

*Belly button in or out: more like a nothing... It's no longer in, but it's not quite out.

*What I miss: being able to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling as if I just completed a marathon

*What I'm looking forward to: Getting all of the final stuff together for her to come!