Transitioning to a big girl bed

The time has come....for Emily to sleep in a big girl bed.  I was always the mom who saw other kids going into big kid beds and said- NO WAY, crib for life (right Kelly?).  But when we went to Illinois a few weeks ago, we had Emily sleep on an inflatable mattress and she did so great and she really loved it!  So when we got home Steve and I started talking about re-decorating her room for her 3rd birthday and getting her a big girl bed. 

To start with the trasition to a twin bed we decided to take the front off of her crib.  She LOVED it!  So she's been sleeping in her crib like this for probably 2 weeks, maybe more, and she does really well.  We put a big padded mat next to her bed in case she ever rolls out- which she has done a couple of times- but she always goes right back to sleep.

So fast forward to this weekend.... Grandma & Grandpa graciously got Emily a big girl bed as an early birthday present and we put it together last night.  I wish I had a video of how excited Emily was- it was priceless!

She slept so great last night, barely moved at all and announced this morning that she "slept all night in her big bed!"

thanks G&G!!

How did (almost) 3 years go by so fast??

Ever have one of those days?

I know you all have.  The kind where you're asking yourself all day, "is it a full moon??"

To set the mood, these are the texts my husband got from me yesterday:

10:21am (side note: I held off texting until mid-morning so I feel like a should get an award):  Today is terrible and you better be coming home for lunch. (he didn't make it home for lunch)

12:00pm: This has been my whole day.... (video of screaming children throwing themselves on the ground)

12:50pm:  Steve seriously I can't handle this.

2:00pm:  G napped for like an hour.  Back to screaming.  I'm leaving when you get home.

3:00pm:  Emily can't poop and she's been crying about it all day.  I don't know what to do.

A little over the top?  Maybe.  Today I look back and think it was a tiny bit dramatic but yesterday- no way was it dramatic.  Gavin and Emily woke up at 5:30am on the WRONG side of the crib.  They then took turns crying for the entire day.  And I literally mean the entire day.  And sometimes they cried together just for the extra effect.  I could do nothing right.  They even cried on our walk which is usually their favorite thing.

I'm not even sure what was wrong with Gavin.  He's been in this crying about everything and throwing fits phase.  I remember it with Emily around this age too.  He isn't talking yet so if you can't figure out his grunts and points you are in serious trouble.  And he hates when Emily is sad so that makes him cry too.

Sorry for the TMI, but I'm keeping it real here.  Emily could not poop.  She needed to poop and she couldn't.  She would try and start screaming and shaking.  And I did everything to try to help her.  It was awful.  When Steve got home I ran out to get children's suppositories- I will leave that description out but let me just say I hope to never have to do that again.  And 2 hours of laying on me and crying later, still no poop.  She didn't want dinner and she kept saying she was tired so I put her down for bed. Before she went down I rubbed rosemary and ginger oil on her belly doing the "I love you" massage. At about 10:00 Steve said she was crying so I went in to check on her.  She had finally pooped in her sleep- hallelujah!! 

I stood in the kitchen with Steve and I just cried.  I can't remember the last time my day was so hard that it actually made me cry.  I felt physically and emotionally exhausted and beat up.  I felt like a crap mom.

But this morning, when I went to get Emily out of her bed and she smiled at me and said, "mommy I so happy to see you and I feelin so much better today", the struggle of yesterday was (mostly) erased and I knew I could do it all again today.