Sometimes I feel like I spend most of the day in the bathroom... with the kitchen and living room coming in sscond and third respectively.

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow we're celebrating Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpas.

Mom and grandma are making (between the two of them) turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, salad, dessert and probably more stuff I don't know about. I'm still a little unclear on what I'm supposed to bring. I guess I should call grandma. Now.

We're going to head over, eat lots of food, sit holding our tummys and head home.

Then on Friday we're going to decorate the 4' tree I bought at Menards with a few little ornaments and a polka dot ribbon Katie picked out. We decided to avoid the large, very heavy tree decorated with many breakable ornaments till Jake is out of his "shake it till it falls over or lands on you" phase. He's also going to be a climber so maybe we'll be using the small tree next year too.

This tree is going to reside in our living room window so if you're in the neighborhood on Friday night, swing by for a peek! (This is not an invitation for everyone we know to come into the house... though I guess we don't know many people and if you really wanted to stop by, just call first and I'll whip up some dessert and move Katie's kitchen and many toys from where they block the front door so you can enter without breaking someting - and by something I mean an arm or leg. No coffee though unless ya like instant.)

So, we're excited about that. And then on Friday night I think Katie is going to the lake for the weekend. Dad mentioned it to me last night but didn't actually invite her so I'm wondering if he was just expecting me to catch what he was throwing out there in the form of saying that mom will be shopping this weekend and he and Katie would have fun doing stuff or if I still need to confirm she's invited before I pack her clothes and she packs 50 of her favorite toys in multiple bags.

If she goes, I think, now that Jake is sleeping in his crib (woooo hooo!!!) I might attempt to watch a movie. But, I'll probably just end up going to sleep at 9:30 when I put Jake down cause that's what seems to happen.

Ahhh, and I don't have to work on Friday. I have a 4 day weekend to relax and have fun! Unless I go out to catch some black friday sales. Which I probably won't. Because it's probably not going to be relaxing. Or fun.

So, I didn't want to say too much and jinx the whole "sleep in crib" thing but...

Last night marked the THIRD night Jake spent in his crib!

Saturday night he fell asleep and I decided to put him in his crib (which doesn't ever work because he wakes up instantly). He started to cry (quelle suprise) and I considered picking him up, but then I reconsidered.

I thought "do I really want to continue squishing myself into bed next to Jake (when Jake gets to lay in the middle and ends up migrating so he's rightnexttome then I move over toward the edge of the bed and he scoots over so he's still rightnexttome but now I'm hanging over the edge just a little bit?

OR, did I want the bliss of freedom to read in bed, to go to the bathroom without rushing (because I'm afraid *someone* will wake up and crawl off of the bed), to snuggle with the covers pulled up to my neck (because I can't when Jake is next to me... he doesn't like to have his legs covered)... Yes, I wanted that bliss.

So I let him cry. Remembering ever episode of Supernanny I had watched this month (because really, that show is ALWAYS on!) really helped too. I remembered that parents are supposed to sit outside of the crib with their side to the baby so I did that. Oh, and no eye contact. (This got easier on night two and three because I was very busy playing Brickbreaker on my blackberry storm *insert hearts and hugs and kisses here because... I lurv my blackberry**.)

I felt very bad for awhile but at about the 40 minute mark Jake started to get sleepy. He would stand up and cry, then he would plop down onto the mattress and cry, then he would stand and then sit over and over and over. Finally, he plopped down on the mattress and stayed sitting. Then finally the moment I had waited for... he flopped down onto his tummy and rested his head on the boppy pillow that was in his crib (because I didn't think he would actually stay there!).

I scooted toward the door a little... and he woke up and cried more. Then he flopped down again (it was so cute!) and I scooted a little more. He woke up again and cried but for less time. We continued the "scoot and cry" for about 5 minutes till he flopped over and was out. So precious.

He slept for about 3 hours before he woke up. I brought him to bed then.

The next night he went down very easily. We got Katie to bed and were snug as a bug until... 10:30 when Jake woke up crying. I picked him up and cuddled, then put him back in his crib (while keeping an eye on Katie to see if she was waking up). He cried for about 5 minutes but went back to sleep. This happened at 11:30, 12:30, 1:30 AND 2:30 but finally he settled and we were all back to bed. Katie didn't even stir till about 2:45 when I tucked her in again and she rolled over and covered her ears. In her sleep. I guess she's used to Jake's loudness.

Last night he fell asleep easily and I heard him crying two times during the night. Both times he stopped before I could get my glasses on (you know... so I could play Brickbreaker while I sat on the floor waiting for him to calm down). I was so proud of him... and me for sticking with it.

I kind of miss it though. Not enough to quit... just enough to be a little sad that it's over. Because we can't go back to where we were.