This morning Rochelle dropped off a birthday gift for Little Girl wrapped in Mickey Mouse paper. When LG saw it, she said, “Icky Mouse!!!” teehee

By the way, this morning at 9 am, it was 33 degrees outside. And now at 1 pm, it is 49 degrees outside. The forecast high is 58, but I don’t really think it’s going to make it. For us this is very very cold and we don’t quite know what to do with ourselves when it’s that cold. Other than whine about how cold it is. So there you go.

P.S. Did you like how I used my title to tie two totally unrelated things together? I’m good like that. ;)

While I was at the gym early this morning, Mike said Little Girl woke up, stood at the door of her room, and yelled:

“Michael! Michael! Michael! Cereal!”

It’s cold people! This morning when I got up to go work out, it was 43 degrees outside. Now (at about 11 am Arizona time) it is 51 degrees and windy. The wind is what kills you - it makes the cold feel like it’s just slicing right through you. Tomorrow is supposed to be another chilly day and then it’s going back up into the 60s. Brrrr.

My big Little Girl…

• has slept in her own bed all by herself for two nights in a row…

• got her two year old pictures taken today and didn’t have too many two year old moments…

• was told by a nice lady as we were walking out to the car that she looked like a good girl and was a pretty girl too (well yeah!)…

• took an actual nap in her bed today for more than 15 minutes.

I won’t get the pictures back for a couple of weeks, but the two I chose (from what I could tell on the computer monitor) were absolutely gorgeous. The photographer was really great. It’s not easy to get an almost two year old to smile and be still long enough to get a pretty picture, but she got several. Those who photograph small children have a very difficult job!

One of the phrases that was pounded into my head as a teaching student and a teacher was “monitor and adjust” which is pretty self-explanatory, but basically means monitor how your students are doing and if they’re not getting something, adjust your tactics.

So, yesterday, I adjusted my tactics with Little Girl and the bed. At naptime, we put her in her room and put the baby gate up to keep her in there and she stayed in there for two and a half hours. She maybe slept 30-45 minutes of that time and most of the sleeping was done on the floor next to the baby gate, but the point of it all was that she got the idea that when it was sleeptime she was going to stay in her room whether she liked it or not. After she fell asleep on the floor, I went in there and carried her over to the bed. She kind of woke up for a bit and I sat there with her for a bit to see if she’d stay in the bed. She did and I left. And she might have slept another 15 minutes.

I think she got the message, though, because last night I gave her a bath, put her in her jammies, read a story, sang a song, and told her that she could stay up and play for awhile, but when she was sleepy she needed to get in her bed and if she needed me she could call me. Then I turned out the lights, gave her a kiss and left. There was crying for a couple of minutes and then it stopped. I peeked in a few minutes later and saw her standing on her bed looking out the window at the lights. A few minutes later I peeked again and she was curled up on her bed (sideways, but on her bed) asleep? Maybe/maybe not, but hey she was IN HER BED.

Later on I went in there and rearranged her to be more comfortable - you know sleeping on the bed like normal people do…lol! She fussed once and went right back to sleep.

She woke up once that I heard awhile later, cried a tiny bit and then back to sleep. When Mike got home, he said she was in her bed but again sideways. Hey, whatever makes her happy I guess.

The point to all of this? She slept IN HER BED all night long. Whew.

Today was definitely a productive day. Mike and I did a lot of cleaning in preparation for a little girl’s birthday party next Saturday and Mike also did a lot of organizing in the kitchen, and installed some drawer locks to keep little hands out of places they shouldn’t be.

After I finished my list of things to do, I worked on a quilt for the rest of the afternoon and got all the quilting done on quilt number three. I’ll (hopefully) be able to finish the edges tomorrow and then the last quilt starts on Monday. And that makes me right on schedule with a couple of weeks to spare just in case.

We have just begun discussing Christmas and all of that around here, because we don’t really start working on that until after LG’s birthday so that her birthday doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But I did get an early Christmas present today! (Sorry Marlene!)

I haven’t done a meme in awhile, mostly because I’m too lazy to do memes, but this one sounded interesting for a lazy (ha!) Saturday morning. (Read on …)

This morning Mike and I were sitting on one couch and Little Girl was playing on the other. Somehow, she managed to release the footrest, and then informed us:

I bwoke da couch!

Today was supposed to be National Karin Gets to Sleep in as Long as She Wants Day, since Mike had a rare day off after not having to work extremely late the night before. But, as usual, my infernal body clock woke me up at 7:30 a.m., so there went that idea.

I was tired last night, so I had to make pumpkin pies this morning while Mike kept Little Girl occupied watching the parade. Then it was off to Mike’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner with his parents, grandfather, great aunt, siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins.

Mike’s brother had found a swing set on Craig’s List for $150, so he snatched it up and it now occupies a corner of my in-laws back yard. LG had never been on a swing before today (hard to believe isn’t it?), and at first she was a little leery, but before long she had it all figured out and it was rather difficult to get her back off the swing!

After dinner, we hung out and chatted and just enjoyed each other’s company. One of the things that I appreciate about Mike’s family is that there is very rarely any drama at family gatherings. In fact, I can’t actually remember there ever being any drama. There probably has been, but if so, it wasn’t enough for me to remember it.

We came home, put a very tired little girl down for her very late nap and Mike put together her new bed.

And then there was a beautiful sunset…

And tonight, I got to put LG to bed in her new big girl bed, which she loves…

But she didn’t want to stay in her bed. She’s intrepid, that one, and she wanted to get out and run around. So I told her that she needed to stay in her bed and if she needed me, she could call me. But she didn’t want to stay in her bed - she wanted to climb in and out of it. So I explained to her that if she didn’t stay in bed, she would have to go back and sleep in her crib tonight. Then I put her in her bed, turned off the light, and left the room. And she promptly got out of bed and ran to the door. So, I took all her toys out of her bed, put the mattress back in the crib, and in she went. I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear that there was a major meltdown. I won’t bore you with all the details, but this is probably the first night in her life my baby has ever really cried herself to sleep. And it was not fun. For either one of us.

But, Mike and I had discussed this before he left for work and decided that if she chose not to stay in bed (which knowing her, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t) that was the way I would handle it. And no it wasn’t pleasant. And yes I felt horrible listening to her cry and comforting her. But, the bottom line is that we have to set limits and be consistent and she has to hold up her end of the bargain. We might be going through this again tomorrow night and the next few nights to come. Or maybe she’ll get it after only one night. I’m crossing my fingers. Because I sure don’t like to have to listen to my baby cry herself to sleep.

I could write pages and pages on what I’m thankful for, but I’ll try to keep it short:

I’m thankful for:
• the four M’s in my life and the M who is no longer with me*;
• for dogs present, dogs past and dogs to come;
• for Mike’s family who treats me like their own;
• for my family even though I don’t see them very often;
• for my friends (you know who you are and how much I love you);
• for my goddaughter and her awesome siblings;
• for my blog friends and their support;
• for my health;
• for the roof over our heads;
• for my faith in God and relationship with Him;
• for food on the table;
• for my gift of music;
• and for everything else I didn’t mention here.

To all of you who read this today, whoever you are, Happy Thanksgiving. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving today, then just take a moment to be thankful for the things in your life that make it worth living.

*Four M’s = My husband, my daughter, my best friend and my dog; M no longer with me = My mother

It has come to my attention that there are people reading my blog from my real life that I was not aware knew it even existed. Therefore, I am going to use this forum to address an issue that blew up last night on my poor husband. Also, I will be deleting the post about the thank you note for the thank you note since that is what started this whole thing. For my regular commenters and readers, I now give you the opportunity to skip this post entirely and just have a lovely happy thanksgiving. For those of you who I just found out were reading my blog, and you know who you are, you should probably keep reading. (Read on …)

Little Girl is climbing EVERYTHING. The corral is pretty much history unless she actually WANTS to be in there playing because she will just climb out via the couch. (Well, we might reconfigure it one more time until she figures out how to climb out of it without assistance from a piece of furniture, but for all intents and purposes…) She climbs on and off the couches, on and off chairs, up and down the stairs - she pretty much goes where the heck she wants to go. I am a nervous wreck of course, because emergency rooms freak me out.

The one thing she has not climbed out of yet is her crib. However. However, she can get her foot on top of the rail, and it’s only a matter of time before she figures out how to propel herself out of the crib. So we can’t leave her alone if she’s standing up in her crib attempting to climb out. We now have to wait until she has settled down before we can leave her room at night.

What does this mean in the big picture? It means that I went out today looking for a toddler bed, found one, and Mike will be going to get it tonight or tomorrow afternoon - whenever he has time. And my baby, my little not quite two year old baby will be sleeping in a big girl bed for the first time ever by the end of the week. Unless she balks at it. Which I kind of doubt she will. Because she’s pretty intrepid. Mike will also be buying a baby gate for her door and adding some latches to the drawers in her dressers that we don’t want her to get into. And the diaper pail might have to move out of there as well.

I am not ready for this yet. But I guess this is not really about me is it? It’s about a little girl who is growing up. Just like she is supposed to.

And if you have a moment, please scroll down a couple of posts and leave me your opinion on my etiquette question!

This morning was my “monthly” weigh-in/measure at Curves. Now to be fair, I didn’t get weighed last month because I had to take about four weeks off because of my stupid sprained ankle. But, whatever way you look at it, I have made progress.

Since my initial weigh-in/measure in September, I’ve lost one pound (and really I’m not so worried about pounds because I know I’m building muscle and the weight is not going to necessarily go down all that fast right now) and 6 1/2 inches overall. I lost at least a 1/4 inch in all areas, and I lost 3 inches on my waist. That was awesome!

The weird part is that my body fat percentage actually went UP instead of down. If anyone can explain to me how you can lose weight and inches and your body fat percentage still goes up, I’d be really happy to hear it…lol!

But the main thing is, that it is working. And that keeps you going right? Now I just need to focus on eating even healthier. And of course this time of the year is not the best time to do that, but I’ll work on it. Gotta cut out all the fast food again unless it’s an emergency!

And if you have a moment, please scroll down to the post below and leave me your opinion on my etiquette question!

Did I mention I got a haircut yesterday? If you want to see it, go here.

Where does your spouse/significant other leave notes that he (or she) really wants (or needs) you to see?

Mine left a note in the one place he knew I would be sure to look…inside my laptop.

I guess he knows me by now. ;-)