Thank You Charlie!

I'm not sure if Charlie could sense my desperation last night when we went to bed or that he was so exhausted from not sleeping well for the last few days, but we actually had a good night last night!! My sweet child woke up at 3 a.m., ate, and went right back to sleep (I almost cried). Then he was up at 6:15 a.m., ate, hung out in my arms, and is falling asleep in his bouncy seat about an hour later.

Amazing what a little more sleep feels like.

Thank you Charlie!

Last night I decided to email one of the university's sorority list-serves that my neighbor recommended to see if anyone was interested in doing the same deal as my previous babysitter for another couple of weeks... I got a wonderful response back from a senior who is finished with classes, has some extra time, and has nannied before. Perfect! I will gladly sacrifice some things financially this month to get more rest.

It's another really cold day here, but I checked the weather and we're actually going to be in the 50s in a few days.

Things are looking up! Tonight we'll probably be back to the old ways, but these rare times when Charlie does sleep well give me such hope for better nights to come...

Eli's Babysitter Instructions

Tonight Ben and I actually went out. On a date. Without Eli. (It's been a few months - I realize that's shocking for some people, but we have seriously been so busy since moving that there has been no time) We ate at one of our favorite Italian restaurants in the suburbs (Francesca's North) and wandered around a nearby Crate and Barrel, trying to decide what furniture we would like to eventually put in our empty living room. We found one sofa we think we like - the Cameron. I like couches with three cushions versus two (who wants to sit in the middle on the crack??), we like the sueded microfiber, and that the back is one piece, rather than big pillows because it seems a little more formal. We're still not sure what style of chairs we'll put with it on either side. Let me know if you have any ideas/favorites! (We're not super formal people, so it won't be a living room you can't touch - we just want it to look nice)

We ended our exciting date at the bookstore, where I looked at baby name books and Ben wandered around looking at outdoorsy books. We still have no solid name possibilities for this baby - 11 weeks to go... sorry child! We'll hopefully figure one out soon.

This is a rambling sort of post. But I thought it would be fun to share my obsessive compulsive, oh-so-detailed list of bedtime instructions for Eli at 17 months that we left for our wonderful babysitter - we think she's the best! After reading this, you may think it's over the top, and that's okay. I'm including this mainly for my benefit, because I think it will be fun to look back and see how things are the same/different later on.

Bedtime Routine…

Eli usually goes to bed around 7:30 p.m., depending on how tired he seems. I would start the bedtime process around 7.

1. Brush teeth – Eli’s yellow toothbrush and paste is on the bathroom sink.
   
2. Change his diaper (and he always needs more diaper rash cream because he has a sensitive bum) and put on pj’s (dirty clothes go in the hamper next to the changing table)
   
3. Read a few books – he loves picking them out from the bookshelf and bringing them to you (we usually read in the rocking chair or sitting on the floor)
   
4. We also say a prayer, so if you’d like, you can say one with him. He knows to fold his arms when you say it’s time for a prayer.
   
5. Sing a song (like You Are My Sunshine or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) and put him in the crib with his frog and dog and I usually cover him with the green blanket and say, “Snug as a bug in a rug!”
   
6. Please turn on the sound machine (on the bookshelf). Turn off the light and close the door behind you. Please do the latch lock so the door will stay closed (this old door does not stay closed otherwise).

And since this post is all over the place, I have one more funny thing to share - this morning we went to a play (Little Red Riding Hood) with our neighbors and afterwards had lunch together. Our next door neighbor randomly asked me, "Do you go to church all day on Sunday?" I smiled and said no, but it's about three hours long. He said he was curious since we never get our Sunday newspaper off of the lawn until pretty late in the day. I thought that was a funny observation!