Toddler Bed Transition - Bye Bye Week 2 & Hello Week 3

We are beginning week 3 of the "big boy bed" transition & B is doing amazingly well.  He is going to bed between 8 & 9 (we are kind of letting him tell us when he is ready) & once he is in there he will get up 1-3 times.  Usually he will just walk over to the door & try to open it (child proofed of course) & then once he is done trying he will walk back over & get back into bed.  He does play for a while in there but then eventually falls asleep.  In the beginning I thought that we were going to have some issues because his video monitor only focused on his bed & I was worried about what he was doing out of the sight of it but then we upgraded his monitior to one that can scan the whole room with the touch of a button I felt better & was able to relax a bit more.

We have always had a video monitor set up in B's room but we upgraded to the Summer Baby Touch  after the 1st week so that I could follow him around his room when he was getting out of his bed.  When we 1st made the switch to the toddler bed I was sitting in his room with him (beside his bed) until he would fall asleep but saw that that wasn't going to be a good thing once Colton was here & needed attention as well.  Since Lance works such long hours I was wondering how I was going to get B down if the baby was awake & getting quite nervous about it so we talked about a few options & decided to move the monitor that B had to Colton's room, return the one we had already purchased for Colton's room & get the one that had the mobile camera so that I could keep an eye on Brayden until he was asleep each nap & bedtime.

B has always done well at bed time & has always been able to sooth himself to sleep; he has never been much of a crier at nap or bedtime & we actually found that he liked to play around in his crib a while before bed & slept better when he did.  One of the main concerns that we had was his safety (even though a room is child proofed I still see all of the what if's) & we of course didn't want him out of his bed playing with his toys in his room once he was able to get in & out anytime he wanted to so switching up the monitor seemed like the best solution.  I will go into his room when/if he gets out of bed & starts playing & tell him "it's night-night time" & he will dart back into bed & close his eyes like he is sleeping.  It is really cute when he does it because it's like he knows to pretend to be asleep so I'll leave his room & sometimes he will get out again & sometimes he will just sit up or roll around playing.

I will admit that there have been some not so good days/nights & yesterday's nap was the worst so far; he just wouldn't go down or stay in his bed AT ALL!!  He was up so I was in there every other minute getting him back in bed.  Finally Lance came home for lunch & tried to help but we ended up just letting him get up.  I don't know if it was the right thing to do but after an hour & a half I figured he wasn't going to nap right then & there & just had to make myself OK with that fact.  Lance went back to work & B & I ran to Target to get a few things & he of course fell asleep in the car on the way home & ended up napping in bed for about an hour so that wasn't too bad.  I thought that it would throw his whole night time schedule off but he was ready for bed & out by 8:30 with no issues at all.  Actually, I didn't have to go in his room once last night so that was nice.  I pray that naps like yesterday are few & far between but then again it has only been a few weeks so I say he is doing really well & rocking the big boy bed!!

So Happy This Week Is Over!!

I have had quite a week (again) & actually don't think that it is fair that I have had so much bad luck these past few months; I would like to share my bad luck with anyone willing to have some!!

Monday I got stung by a bee/wasp or bite by a spider on my middle finger; we were playing outside which means we were playing in the backyard then going through the gate & running around the front yard & pulling out all B's toys from the garage too & when I grabbed the gate to open it I think I heard a "buzzzzz" & felt the sting of a bee but was so concerned about B getting stunk that I never looked to make sure what got me.  I thought nothing  much of it, put some ice on it & we went on playing.

That evening when Lance got home from work I told him about it, he looked at it & said it looks swollen so make sure to ice it again when I got up Tuesday & that was that.  Tuesday we ran errands while B was a school & the darn thing itched like crazy & was a tad bit red but it was a bee sting so to me that was normal.  What wasn't normal was when I woke up at midnight from a dead sleep because the itching was out of control; not to mention the fact that my finger was so swollen by this point I couldn't even bend it.  I woke Lance up to see what he thought (I should have done it differently because he thought the baby was coming & jumped up in a panic) & he thought it looked really bad & that I should head to the ER...........so I did!

I got there at 12:45am & got home at 4:15am; somehow what ever got my finger caused a pretty serious infection pretty quickly & they had to give me antibiotics to help.  I hate taking anything while pregnant but of course took this since I didn't want to lose my finger!!  I decided to stay up & not lay back down since I had no idea what time little butt would be waking up that morning.  On top of the fact that I wanted to cut my finger off our little guy got his crib converted to a toddler bed because he was escaping & we were fearful that he would hurt himself while getting out of it.

We actually bought a side rail from Babies R Us for it & decided to use that as well as the top rail from his crib for the time being.  When we just put the side rail on it he would get in & go crazy jumping in his bed & we were fearful that he would fall over the side rail so we put the top bar back on it in the hopes that it would catch him if he did jump & it would also slow him down from getting in & out of bed.  Amazingly enough he isn't doing too bad with the transition & it only takes about 30 minutes to get him down each nap & night......with the exception of last night.  Last night he was in & out & up & down for almost a full hour BUT it is all new to him & these nights are going to happen!!

We made this change on Tuesday before so this was before my visit to the ER Wednesday morning & also before my return visit to the doctor on Thursday because I had an allergic reaction to the medicine as well!!  I woke up Thursday morning & felt a tad off but I just look at my swollen face in the mirror & thought "damn you look tired" & jumped in the shower.  Everything was OK until my belly & thighs were hit by the water & when that happened I thought the water coming out of the shower head was acid.  I looked down & almost had a heart attack because my big ol pregnant belly & down to my thighs was beet red & covered in bumps; couldn't the rash be somewhere else??  Why did it have to be where the baby is??  Why did I have to all of a sudden have an allergic reaction to an antibiotic when I have never had an issue in my whole 34 years of life??  Why, why, why??

I quickly finish in the shower & again freak Lance out when I wake him up & then we both have a tiny panic attack as I call my insurance advice nurse for the next step.  I was ready to jump in the car wet hair & all & head back to the ER but Lance said to wait since the baby was moving & everything seemed normal except for the fact my mid section was on fire, itchy & red.  I already had my OB appt. that morning so they told me to go to that appt. & then head to the adult medicine part of the building for a 2nd appt. to get my ugly rash having skin looked at (one of the up sides to Kaiser is everything is in one building).

The baby is of course fine & I am on the mend now too; both my finger & the rash are getting better slowly & will hopefully be completely gone all together in the next few days.  I am exhausted both physically & mentally & really just want the next 3 weeks of this pregnancy to go with out another issue; I am really hoping that this little guy decides to come all on his own sooner rather than later but my body is giving me the same signals that it did with Brayden which is I am in for another induction so just be patient!!  Either way as long as Colton is healthy I am happy.........BUT PLEASE no more trips to the ER, bug bites, infections, rashes, & PLEASE let B get the hang of his "big boy bed" by the time Colton does arrive just for a tad bit of peace of mind!!

Toddler Bed Already.........I'm Not Ready!!

I can't believe that I am actually considering doing this already but I think B might be trying to let us know that he is ready for a "big boy/toddler" bed.  I have been hoping & praying that he would stay in his crib until he was about 2 so after Colton was born but he has been trying more & more to get out of the darn thing & has almost succeeded quite a few times.  I have run into his room after seeing him on the monitor with his whole body is laying on the top corner of his crib; so does this mean he is ready or at least it is time?  At 18 months is he even going to stay in a toddler bed?  

On side of me thinks that if he is ready than he is ready & we will hopefully at least have it down to a science by the time Colton is born so we won't have a new baby in the house as well Brayden's bed transition but then another part of thinks that if he can hold out a little longer it might not be so bad to do it after Colton is born since I am going to be up & down throughout the night feeding C anyway.  I just don't know & am trying to trust my gut feeling on this but my gut says that he is just not ready for this big change however if he falls out & gets hurt I will never forgive myself for letting that happen!!

I would love any advise or to hear from you ladies about your personal experiences with the transition.

On another note: We have been blessed with good weather for the past few days (above 50) so we have been trying to make the most out of it & getting outside as much as possible.  We have a small little play area in the front of our neighborhood that we go to every once & a while & B just loves to swing............