Growing up

Today I did something I might never get to do again.

Let me start at the beginning. The other night we put Sweet'ums to bed and we had hardly made it down the hallway before she was banging on her bedroom door, screaming for us. So I went back, rocked her for what seemed like ages, and she cuddled against me with a blanket over her head and a flashlight in her hand.

Later I swapped places with her daddy, who decided to try to talk to her. Half an hour later, he called me in to tell me he'd figured out the problem.

To start with he had Sweet'ums lay down on her bed and in her unique way she asked him to make a "[Sweet'ums] House" and get in it with her. He asked her what it was so she showed him. She pulled the blanket over their heads and held onto her little flashlight. Then he asked her why she was afraid. She started flickering the flashlight on and then off. Poor kid is afraid of the dark.

So before she went to visit my mom and dad we installed a new ceiling fan for her with a dimmer switch so we could leave a dim light on for her at night. Then, over the course of this weekend, we've gradually made some changes in the interest of making bedtimes easier.

So today, on this day of love, I dismantled what was my baby's crib and then toddler bed so I could put it together as its final stage, a full bed. It was bittersweet, because even though she's healthy and growing it kills me to pack away those reminders of her baby phases. I cried. So many nights I've leaned against that thing, sitting on the floor trying to rock her back to sleep.

I thought about how I put it together all by myself when I was seven or eight months pregnant because I was mad at Nice Guy. I thought about all the nights we leaned over the railing soothing a baby back to sleep, how many times I've had to half-dismantle the thing to lower the mattress, and finally taking off the front to turn it into a daybed just after she turned 2. How hard it was watching her adjust to a "big girl bed" and realizing how fast she was growing up, even though she was still just a little one.

Tonight we tucked her into her "new" big bed and even though she's still mad at us for leaving her in there (not scared tonight, though, as far as I can tell) she's embarking on a new phase. I'm at a point in life where it seems like time is just flying past me and it's a tad bit overwhelming.

And I just keep thinking how sad it makes me that I might never do that again. This might be the last time I rebuild a bed for a baby of mine. Bittersweet stuff.

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again: Growing up is hard for a mom to do.

Upcoming Excitings

So we finally heard back from the people about the next stage of Sweet'ums' testing. So far it's looking like March, but the lady said that there's only one other appointment between now and Sweet'ums' appointment and as of this morning she hadn't gotten a confirmation from the other kid's parents. So, she said, if she doesn't get a reply she's going to move us up to that date. Cross your fingers.

I've also got a wedding to go to in April! I'm really excited about that one. It'll be tons of fun and I'm excited for this friend to get married. I haven't been to a "real" wedding in years either and it'll be a first for me and the hubs. It'll be in this gorgeous location and I'm so so excited!

So we're on track for getting answers on Sweet'ums and I've got some stuff to be excited about. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Good Weekend

This weekend was a good one. Mom surprised me wanting to keep Sweet'ums so I was unexpectedly child-free for Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. Nice Guy had been wanting to go experiment with archery so Saturday we journeyed to way out past Pinecrest and Picnic to this archery guy he heard about at work. It was a wonderful afternoon and it turns out my sweetie is a regular Robin Hood. It was a great place at least half a mile off the main road, surrounded by horses and cows and wooded areas. The man's dogs kept me company and it was a blast watching my hubby be good at something.

Afterwards, on our way home, we decided to stop by his cousin's house. This resulted in an invitation to go to Orlando and goof off for the day. So Sunday we rose and tried to shine and made the trip to Orlando.

We visited the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum (if you haven't been to one, you should!) and then went to Fun Spot. Ripley's was great. Every one of them is a bit different, so even though we'd been to the one in Saint Augustine there was plenty of new stuff to see. Their famous fertility statues were in town and I'll be honest, I couldn't help myself.

I left the pic large so you can click on it and read the little explanation of the display. I thought they were really cool at any rate. I'm going to laugh if I end up pregnant, but I don't take these things too seriously.

There were lots of neat things, like shrunken heads and a copy of The Last Supper made entirely of dryer lint and blow dart guns from the islands. My favorite display, though, was this one:

This is a pic of me and my sweetie in front of a section of the Berlin Wall. I love history, and even though I was only about three at the time I remember seeing the news reports of them taking the wall down. It gave me this incredible sense of connection to history and so many thousands of people who waited years and years to see family they'd been separated from and anxiously awaited the destruction of this thing. I wonder about the guy who left this graffiti, and whether he and Misch ever got together. Was she someone on the other side? At any rate, it was a huge thing for me to get to touch such a big piece of the history of the last hundred years, especially after spending my middle and high school years studying as much as I could on the European part of World War II.

Once we left Ripley's we went to Fun Spot where I had a blast on the go-carts, at least until this puffy haired kid thought it would be fun to T-bone me on a tight curve at top speed. Then, at the end of that track as I came around they started flagging everyone into the pits and I was the first one in. I stopped my cart behind one empty one and started to unbuckle my belt when suddenly this other kid slammed into me full-speed from behind. He hit me so hard that my cart and the empty one in front of me flew forward out of the pits back into the track again. The attendants had to push both my cart and the one in front of me back into the pits. I ended up with whiplash from it (thank God my mom's a massage therapist) and it put me out of commission for the rest of the afternoon. It just hurt too much to get jostled around anymore.

Then, there was this awful thing. This contraption that nightmares are made of.



So Nice Guy decided to go on their Ferris wheel and wanted me to go too. I should probably mention that I'm scared of heights and it has only gotten worse as I've gotten older. I told him initially that I didn't want to go on it, but he really wanted me to so I did.

What a mistake.

First off, they didn't let us in a gondola near the one NG's cousin got in--they put us halfway around the wheel from the cousin and his girlfriend. I closed my eyes and managed to hold it together for most of the trip, despite my husband giggling at me and my irrational fear. I'm sure my refusal to look and the death grip I had on the little metal handle in the middle of our gondola didn't help any. I was alright until right at the very end, when they stopped it to let NG's cousin and his girlfriend off. They stopped us right at the very top and we stayed there for a minute or two, and I thought I'd die. When we started back down I was so glad it was almost over and counted down the seconds until I could see the attendant's shack out of the corner of my eye--

and around we went again.

I started sobbing.

No joke.

By this point my husband was laughing hysterically, not so much because of enjoying my misery so much as just being shocked at my reaction. He felt bad later for laughing at me, but at the time he couldn't help it. I admit, I laugh a little at myself. It's not a rational fear, but when everyone else looks around at what is a magnificent view of the Orlando skyline all I can see is just how high we are and how far we'd fall if this thing fell apart.

After that, I was pretty much done. Tired, sore, and emotional. I was ready to go home.

We stayed and they played a while longer but I was glad to finally head home. Then, last night my sweetie got sick. Real sick. I'll spare the details but it wasn't fun. He's been somewhat better today but we've been on eggshells every time he eats. I hate when he's sick.

On the upside we found out today that Sweet'ums' gym is going to be having a recital sometime around the end of the school year. I'm so excited! She's got stuff she has to work on before then but she's got time. Her first performance! This is going to be great. Hopefully I can get NG's cousin to come with his video camera and video it for me so I can send it to my best friend in Qatar. Maybe I'll even post it for you ladies. :)

Well, good night for now... I'll hopefully be having a busy week so I'll post pics as I have them.