I have been contemplating just what I wanted to write about on my next post. I started a few, and then saved them and never came back to them; they just weren’t what I wanted to write about at the time. So I thought I would just update you on some of the milestones that little Miss Novella has been experiencing lately. It was like she realized that she only had two months until her sister was to arrive and that she better get on this “Big Girl” gig. Speaking of, if she knows it’s for big girls, she wants everything to do with it. So there is my entry for the latest milestones.

Several weeks ago, I decided it was time, and she was ready to make the last push in daytime potty training. Ryan had a weekend off so we decided to do 3 days of intensive potty training. It took her a couple of days to really get it, but then we tried an outing and she did fantastic, and even went in a public potty. That Sunday we went to church and told the Sunday school teachers that she was potty training. They said she asked them to go pee-pee and they took her and she was successful! We have only had a couple of #2 accidents, one was the day we started potty training, and the other two were earlier this week, while she had a double pink eye infection and got a little constipated, and it was hurting to go. She is even staying dry at nap-time now. So altogether I would say we are fully daytime potty trained. Nighttime she is still wetting a lot, but hey, what is one diaper every night, as compared to diapers all day!? Nothing! It will make our lives a little simpler when the time to introduce sister arrives.

Along with the whole potty training experience we decided it was time to start working on moving into a big girl bed. We have had a twin mattress and box spring with a rail on it for Novella for awhile now, she has been napping successfully in it since we set it up and got fun girl bedding. I say fun girl bedding because before she was in a twin bed we found this cute cartoon looking bug bedding on clearance before she even turned one because we liked it…little did we know she would be absolutely TERRIFIED of bugs. When we put the bedding on her twin bed,she refused to even go into her room by herself, let alone sleep in the bed because she was so afraid. So that bedding was quickly stripped from the bed, and sent to the Coast Guard Station for Ryan to use for his duty nights. We got her some pink sheets, and a colorful comforter as hand me downs from a friend; this made her room much more inviting to herself. LOL It wasn’t long before we could rock her to sleep and put her down and she would sleep in her own bed at nap. However she was still refusing her bed at night, and was still sleeping in between Ryan and me. So we found an antique wooden twin bed frame with headboard and foot board to be an addition to her big girl bed.

If you know anything about toddlers, they toss and turn and kick and move at night.. A LOT! Or at least that is the case with Novella, and it was getting very uncomfortable, and no one was getting any sleep at all most nights. So this week while Ryan was on leave and would be home every day and night for the week we decided it was time to attempt the night time big girl bed transition. We have learned with Novella if you explain things to her in advance she tends to understand and do better with transitions, example being weaning from nursing, which is a different story entirely… but let me just say, she was a rockstar with that! So we began telling Novella about her big girl bed, and how since she was going to be a big sister that made her a big girl now and that she had her own special big girl bed to sleep in. As I have said before, she refers to herself as “Nana”… So she began talking about her bed saying, “Nanas big girl bed!”. Now let me back track for just a moment and say that she started letting us lie her down at nap without rocking her, and she would read a book to herself, tuck her baby dolls in and fall asleep on her own. To me rocking began to seem like a crutch, and I knew she needed to learn how to fall asleep on her own,  so starting with nap time and no tears it seemed that she would be ready to start night time sleeping.

The first few nights Ryan put her down with total success, no fight at all the first night. The second night she had a double pink eye infection that the eye drops hadn’t quite kicked in fully yet, and she ended up sleeping in our bed, because she just needed momma since she wasn’t feeling well; and since I am well, hugely pregnant and cannot get in and out of her bed easily, she just came back to our bed. The following two nights were my nights to put her down, the first two nights were pretty rough, she wanted momma, and didn’t want me to lie her down, she fussed and wouldn’t stay in bed. So Ryan would go in and talk to her and she would listen and get back in bed and go back to sleep easily… he is the Novella sleep whisperer or something! I’m telling you, it was like magic! Which is hilarious considering when she was little and nursing she would refuse him for sleep at every chance she had, so now that the tables have turned and she was refusing to sleep for me, I got a little taste of how he felt for the past 21 months!

So the following night was my turn, and she went down without a fight at all! It was incredible! I didn’t know what to do with myself, I was so used to going to sleep when she did that I wasn’t sure what to do with her asleep and me not in bed yet! So I did laundry, and Ryan and I watched an episode of a tv show, and then I finally decided I should probably get some rest. She has been waking every night in the middle of the night once, needing to use the potty, or needing some comforting, but went back down in her own bed and slept the  rest of the night through. So overall I would say she is doing really well in her move to her big girl bed! It has been an exhausting week, and we will see how she does once Ryan goes back to work on Monday, but for now, it has been a restful week. I told a couple of my girlfriends that I have gotten the best sleep I have had in two years, this week!

So between big girl panties, or as Novella calls them “swimsuit panties” (not really sure where she got the name) and moving to a big girl bed…we’ve certainly had a few very busy and productive weeks. Not to mention I have been nesting and putting Ryan to work on household projects lately trying to feel ready and prepared for 2.0’s arrival in May! So I feel like our lives will be a little simpler and easier when she arrives with Novella becoming such a big girl over the past few weeks! Hooray for growing up, but also realizing that your little baby, isn’t so little anymore! It has had it’s moment of emotions, good and bad. However, in the end it is all good, and she is our little rockstar, BIG GIRL NANA! 🙂