Big Kid

Monkey was not a good sleeper.

Not at birth -

seriously, the nurses got frustrated with me. 

Not at home -

he only slept if being worn, held, or snuggled.

To say that he was a high touch infant 

is the understatement of the year.

In order to preserve our own sanity,

and for me to sleep at all,

we became a co-sleeping family.

It wasn't what we intended, 

but it worked. 

Beautifully. 

Monkey was half sleeping on his own for 

a few years now. 

He'd go to sleep in his room, 

and we allowed him to come into ours 

if he woke.

There were several setbacks,

but it held steady.

At our new home,

I've resorted to bribery.

And it's working. 

The bribe is not much:

New bed set -

quilt, sheets and such.

Matching decorations.

And that we'd paint his room.

(Likely, we'd have done this anyway.)

It's worked too well.

He goes to bed,

stays asleep.

He only asks for a flashlight,

and Misha

(one of the Danes).

WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THAT I WOULD BE SAD ABOUT THIS?

Seriously, 

I do not miss being kicked and punched.

I do not miss having no room to maneuver, 

no sheets. 

But on the other side,

my heart is so sad that he's this big!

Kindergarten!

The materials are on the way. 

I can't deal with this. 

Home Plans

I haven't gotten my camera out to start documenting. 

I plan to this weekend,

because there are some serious transformations happening.

First up, a fence.

We cannot live without one,

not with two Danes and a five year old. 

We're toying with the idea of installing it ourselves,

since having one done professionally

turns out to be mountain loads more than we expected.

I am sharing my list of plans with you

so that  maybe it will hold me accountable.

At least a bit. 

 Here goes:

Fence.

Paint Monkey's room, add his new bedding. 

(He's getting this as a reward for sleeping in his own bed, all night, all the time.)

Paint all this ugly oak trim white.

Replace the ugly oak interior doors with white six panel doors.

Redo the kitchen and bathroom cabinets:

white, new bronzed hardware.

Replace counters in bathrooms and kitchen.

Replace laminate in entries, bathrooms and kitchen with tile.

Sounds ambitious.

Seeing it written is kind of scary.

Especially since we are learning as we go.

 

Updates and Plans

I took another long hiatus. 

Stress.

Retraining, preschool, church, finances, moving. 

In March, 

Kevin and I celebrated 9 years of marriage. 

I did my best not to fall apart into 

a puddle of mush on Baby Girl's 1st bithday.

I succeeded, even if my heart ached. 

Easter was awesome.

There were no hospital visits during it. 

We did have a wonderful dinner

with our friends

(Pony Princess, Minnie Mouse, and their baby brother).

In April, 

we went house hunting!

We drove to South Dakota.

Got stuck in Cheyenne, Wyoming for a few days.

Yay, snow storm! Ha.

This limited the number of days we had to look.

There was seriously a marathon of houses.

Billions, probably. 

In the end, the day before we left --

our offer was accepted on a house!

(Pictures forthcoming.)

May, 

we spent organizing, sorting, donating, selling.

Monkey finished up his last year of preschool.

My mind was blown when it was recommended that he be put in first grade.

We've decided to homeschool.

Our solution was to do kindergarten as fast as he needs or wants too,

and move on to first grade early if called for.

The movers packed.

They took our things.

We lived on air mattress.

We were named God-Parents of Pony & Minnie's brother.

We drove.

And drove.

And some more.

Roadtrip.

Two cars.

Three humans.

2 Great Danes. 

1 Cat.

1 Parrot. 

Lots of luggage. 

A luggage carrier whose keys got packed into boxes.

It was therefore left with friends.

After a couple of weeks of chaos -

hotels, boarding animals, etc

we got into our house.

And soon after, we finally closed! 

We've had our household goods for about two weeks.

Life is settling down. 

I have lots of projects that I plan to do and share here.

Decorating, re-doing, and freshening. 

I look forward to seeing you back here.

There will also be more to come on homeschooling,

family life, and plans for our family and future children.