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We have reached a milestone with Jellybean. The best thing about reaching this milestone is the collaborative effort involved: from Jellybean, L and me. It was a long, long time coming, but I can say with confidence that we have arrived at mission accomplished.

Jellybean now stays dry all night. No Pull-Ups anymore (after all my trials and tribulations with them)! And we didn't lose too much sleep in the process.

Deciding to cross the dry-all-night line was not something we planned in advance. The project started spontaneously one night when L couldn't get Jellybean to put on her Pull-Up at bedtime. He announced to me, "She's going to try to stay dry tonight! Isn't that great?" Umm, no. And I had about 25 reasons why, including that I was tired that night; I didn't wanna be up in the middle of the night changing the bed. We were, though. Twice.

I was irritated with L. Jellybean is such a deep sleeper, and I didn't think she was anywhere close to being able to wake up when she had to pee. As you can see, I was just wrong.

We had several middle-of-the-night bed changes. But, for once, Jellybean was showing determination. She WANTED to be dry. So I went with it. And, to keep everything (and everyone) positive, I added an incentive: When she could stay dry 7 nights in a row, she would get a special prize. We had a few hiccups en route to 7 nights -- but not near as many as I expected. She finally did it! I was prepared for a relapse after that, but she said she's done with Pull-Ups.

Although 2 years younger, Peanut hasn't used Pull-Ups for about 6 months. I gave her a special prize when Jellybean got one.

So, I am very happy to say that we are a disposable-pants-free household for the first time in 5 years. Yeehaw!

P.S. You'll note by the photo that I caved once again to the "princessant" demands for Halloween.

Holding onto the baby

Peanut is getting to that stage where she's starting to shed some of her baby-ness in favor of little girl-ness. Not completely, mind you, but there are definitely shades of a more mature girl coming through all the baby sweetness these days. We won't be having any more kids, so I am feeling a bit wistful about nearing the end of my baby parenting days. There are definitely things I won't miss, but there are things I will.

So now that Peanut has come down with a pretty major cold this week, she's much more a baby than a little girl. Poor thing, she's a thumb sucker, and her little nose is so stuffy that she can't even get herself to sleep with her thumb because she can't breathe through her nose. So, L and I have spent a lot of time in her rocking chair soothing her and calming her down before bedtime and naptimes the past couple days. I hate that she's feeling crummy, but a small part of me has savored that quiet cuddle time. I know it won't be long before she'll be too old to be held at all, and she'll be back to her regular bedtime routine (which involves her declaring, "I want bed!" before any lengthy snuggling can occur) very soon once she's over this cold.

Because of Peanut's cold, she had to miss out on my playgroup's holiday party last night. L stayed home and cared for her. Although this is the giving season, we decided it would be best not to share her cold virus with all her friends. Jellybean and I went and had a really fun time, including the chance to make reindeer food, which was very cute. She and I came home at 6:45 to a quiet house and L relaxing on the couch. He had taken such perfect care of sick Peanut -- he gave her an early bath, knowing she was probably extra tired, and he put her down easily at 6:30. It's no wonder I love him so!

We are leaving this weekend for the holidays -- flying this year instead of our forever long energy-sapping drive. Hopefully this cold will have finished its inevitable rounds by then.

Deceiving Grandma

My mother-in-law left this morning after a five-day visit. The girls really enjoyed their time with her, and although she wore me out the first couple of days, it was fun to have her here.

Because of choosing my battles, I decided to cooperate with L and not inform his mom that all four of us were getting over a cold. She's a nurse (now teaches nursing), and she tends to overreact to even the slightest sign of illness in L and sometimes the girls. I was feeling a bit guilty and deceptive until L came home from work on Thursday and was a bit hoarse from talking all day. Immediately, his mom grilled him: "Are you feeling okay?" "Maybe you're getting sick." "If it's not better tomorrow, you'll have to go to urgent care." All because of a tired voice. Yeah, that's what I mean.

So I was done feeling guilty about hiding our illness. She kept going on about how Jellybean must have bad allergies and I had better get that checked out -- because her nose was still runny from her cold. I just blew it all off, doing my best imitation of my husband's ability to dismiss most of what she says.

Until. Until. Yesterday, Grandma was clearly not feeling well. She was sneezing all day and low energy and just generally yucky. She kept blaming it on her allergies, and I cringed inside as I bit my tongue. I'm sure she caught our cold, and I'm sure it will turn into a sinus infection for her (that's what always happens to her). And she'll continue thinking it's her allergies until she gets home and feels the same way inside her house.

I can't tell her now. The deception has gone on too long for that to help. Will she figure out the truth?