Big girl bed

We switched Lucy from her crib-converted-to-toddler-bed to a twin bed over Christmas break.  I got a great deal on a cute white frame off of Craigslist and then we bought a cheap bed set at Target because I assumed she would want something cheesy/little kidish that we wouldn't necessarily keep forever and ever.  She loves it!  BUT, I'm going to go ahead and write down how AWFUL the transition was for the future when I can't actually remember the details and I'm wondering why our next ones are so bad for so long. ha!  You forget these details sometimes!  She loved her big girl bed right away, but for a girl who does NOT like change at all even in the least bit, she was extremely anxious about it all at nights and wanted her door wide open, noise machine off, and every light upstairs on.  At first, I said no to all three of those demands, but one day during her nap, she got up herself and turned off the noise, opened the door, and turned lights on and slept like a champ.  So we tried it at night and she did SO much better!  So I gave in to those, but she was still freaking out every time I had to put her in bed and getting up out of bed constantly for one to two hours straight.  Basically, for three straight weeks I would constantly pick her up, put her back in her bed without saying a word, and leaving, all the while she was screaming and crying and usually following me right back out of her room.  But I stuck to it and would turn right around and quietly put her back.  I am happy to say that she is now much better and back to going down without too many problems.  Without having the noise machine on though, she has woken up WAY too early many times just from hearing Ryan get up and get ready for work in the mornings.  Oh well though... such is life.  I'm just glad that we are back to sleeping somewhat normal again.  It was rough but had to be done.

Lucy sleeps kind of crazy a lot, and this particular night made me smile as I walked by her door and saw her little feet crossed while she was out cold.  

Gingerbread houses

Our neighbors invited us over one night to make gingerbread houses.  Lucy and I went and had a lot of fun playing, chatting, and eating candy.  Oh, and decorating our house a little too. :)  I've said it a million times and I will say it again- we have the BEST neighbors!!!

We got there before the other neighbors were there and Lucy immediately went and sat by Mason on the couch and looked at whatever he was doing/playing in the iPad.  The two of them sat right there together for a long time!  They get along so well, most of the time!

One of those "moments"

One day in December, we were switching Lucy to a big-girl bed and I ran to Costco to get a mattress and a few other small things.  Lucy stayed and played at a friend's house while I went alone with Claire.  I got one of Costco's long carts, loaded up the mattress, and since it was nearly impossible to maneuver around the crowded store while holding Claire, I just plopped her down on top of the mattress.  Claire sat in the same spot the while time and was having a joy ride and loved every minute of it, while smiling and laughing and waving at everyone.  While I was hurrying through the store as fast as possible like this, everyone kept laughing and mentioning how cute/funny it was, which made me keep laughing the whole way through too.  For some reason I didn't think we would be quite the spectacle that we were?!  Anyway, while waiting in long lines to checkout, about five other women around me were all commenting on "how fast it goes" and telling me to "enjoy it while it lasts," you know... the usual comments.  But one of them came up to me and asked if she could take a picture for me on my cell phone because these are the moments that I need to remember.  I was a little bit embarrassed about it, but went along with it since she was being so nice.  But now looking back, I am actually really glad she did that because every time I scroll through my phone and see this, I smile and think about this funny trip that Claire and I shared.  Good times! (She doesn't look so happy in this picture, but I promise she was ecstatic the whole time!  She was probably wondering why I stopped pushing her around to wait in a line! :)

Pre-Christmas fun with grammy

This year for Christmas, my family all came to my house.  My mom came a little bit before everyone else to spend some extra time with the grandkids and we had plenty of activities and fun from the get-go!  Painting nails, making cookies, visiting Santa, riding bikes and playing chase in the basement, going to Zoo lights, having cousins come over and play, and some big family dinners!  Such great memories that were made this Christmas!

Basement bikers

Once we had our entire basement totally cleared it instantly became where all of our bikes and outdoor toys went.  These girls LOVE spending a lot of time downstairs riding bikes and I love that we have a place for the to go when it's too cold outside to run around and get some energy out!

Time change

It's so hard to get back to a normal schedule after spending almost two weeks in a time zone that is three hours different.  I just thought they both looked so cute zonked out in the same way from wherever we were.

The end of gymnastics

Lucy's gymnastics class lasted ALL fall and ended at the beginning of December.  It was so great to have something fun like that to look forward to once a week.  Here she is on the very last day getting her certificate and taking pictures with our neighbor friends who did it with us (too bad they were all too busy chomping on tootsie rolls to smile).

 Lucy, Riley, and Hudson