sleep is for the weak.

So, this has been a fun week. If by "fun" I mean "sleep-free." And as each day passes, even less sleep is had. See, Jane has given up her crib. She figured out she could launch herself out last Monday, and since then, bedtime is destroyed (as in, I put her to bed, and five seconds later she's walking out saying "hi," as if it's totally natural for her to just decide it's not bedtime yet), and she shows up at our bedside as early as 4 a.m. (!!!) croaking out demands to make coffee. (I don't let her drink coffee. She likes the process of making it with Greg. It's just funny hearing a 2.5-year-old demanding coffee. God knows we've needed it more and more every day.)

On Saturday we picked up a toddler bed from my cousin, who is letting us borrow it since her daughter has now graduated to a big bed. Last night was the first night Jane "slept" in it. That translated to her not going to bed until 9:15 (bedtime is 7, although I'm moving it to 8 because she usually stays awake in her crib until then anyway), then getting up at 11 and getting in our bed (Greg let her in; I was asleep at the time), I woke up at 1 and realized she was there and put her back in her bed, she came in at 4 demanding coffee, I "slept" on her floor next to her bed so she would stay in her room until 6:30.

My back is killing me, she's been a grinch all day, and I feel like I have a newborn again with all of the middle of the night household activity. A bunch of people have suggested locking her in her room and letting her cry until she figures out she's not supposed to come out during nighttime, but I just hate the whole idea of this. Look, I was a fan of "crying it out" during sleep training, but hearing her launch herself against the door and wailing every night is just not something I can deal with right now. So if this means I stay in her room until she's asleep, and have to sleep on her floor during the transition, then so be it.

(I say this now. Let's see how I feel in a few days.)

PS How in the hell is my BAYBEE in a BED? How did this happen?!?! I was literally teary when Greg was taking apart the crib.

creepy crawly

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present: THE ENEMY. Who worked in conjunction with either:
Asshole #1 or

Asshole #2

to give me Lyme Disease.

I have been feeling like mondo crap for oh, many months, and my doctor randomly gave me a Lyme test last week. It came back positive, but they have to retest because I guess there are a lot of false-positives for Lyme, and I really didn't think I had it, because I never had the rash, or any joint aches or anything. But woe, am I tired. Anyway, found out today I have an 'early case' of Lyme. So basically it doesn't solve my problems of earlier months, but damn, if this wouldn't have become a major issue if we didn't catch it. Because I've been consulting with the fine Drs. Google and WebMD all weekend, and Lyme Disease? Can be absolutely awful.

So 21 days of antibiotics for me. Never a dull moment!

croup is poop.

So remember on Friday how I blogged that my weekend was going to be lame? Woah, was I right. I must be some sort of prophet or something.

I had gotten extremely little sleep on Thursday night, so the highlight of Friday night was going to bed early, with the hopes of getting 7 or 8 hours of sleep. Since this has happened less than 10 times since Jane was born (not entirely her fault; my capability to sleep deeply has been destroyed, so I wake up a lot), I am not sure why I was going to be treated to a night of glorious sleep, but a girl can dream, I guess. When I was going to bed, I heard Jane cough a couple of times, and it sounded a little funny, but she had a cold, and she was still sleeping OK, so I let her be.

At midnight, I woke up to the sound of Jane crying, coughing (weird barky cough again) and struggling to breathe. Seriously guys - if I know you in person I will be happy to do the demonstration of her lack of breathing for you, but suffice to say, she was really, really struggling. I knew immediately that it was croup (she had a much milder case of it in the past), so I knew to get her in either really cold air or steam. I brought her outside while Greg turned on the shower, and of course it wasn't REALLY cold out so it wasn't helping - and the steam didn't instantly help either.

You guys, I was scared out of my effing mind. There have been many, many times I've diagnosed Jane with something terrible, but this was the first time I was actually, truly scared for her life. Croup is a condition/virus that causes inflammation in the upper airwaves that causes children to have the weird cough and restricted breathing - and it usually comes on super fast during the night - you know, precisely when the doctor's office isn't open. We had called the answering service at her doctor's office, but I couldn't decide if it would be a better move to just bring her to the ER-but at the same time, I didn't want to get her away from the steam. I decided to stay with the steam - and after about a half hour, she slowly but surely began to get more air back in her lungs.

By the time I actually spoke to her doctor (about 1 a.m.) she was still wheezing, although her mood was much better and she was ready to play all night. Her doc also immediately diagnosed croup based on my description (and excellent demonstration of Jane's breathing, or lack thereof). She called in a prescription to the 24-hour CVS that I have banned except for emergencies (of which this was one) so Greg was able to go pick up the steroid right away. It wasn't until three in the morning that we all finally went back to bed. We had Jane sleep with us because I really wanted to monitor her breathing up close.

Jane's mood has been for crap all weekend, poor thing, and this morning I decided that she might have an ear infection, so it was off to the Minute Clinic at a different CVS. Luckily, there was no ear infection - I think the diagnosis was cabin fever, because she was much happier to be out of the house.

What a long weekend. And to think it is an hour shorter than all of the other weekends!

my weekend is going to be lame, so please enjoy this picture instead.

OK, if this picture doesn't make you laugh, we can't be friends anymore. This is George, a 250-pound blue Great Dane who was recently named the tallest dog on record by Guinness World Records.Dudes, he weighs 120 lbs MORE than Junior! And I thought I had a big dog.

It's the weekend, but it looks to be a really rainy one. I'm not sure what we're going to do, other than try not to kill each other. We all have colds right now as well, which rocks just as hard as you imagine it would. Why oh why do we get all the great springlike weather during the week, and this weekend we're supposed to get several inches of rain!? This better not be a precursor to how the weather patterns will be this summer. Because I will lose my ever-lovin' mind (more).

Have a great weekend!

sprung.

Oh my, but the weather has been nice around here. Fifties, sunny - it feels downright balmy for early March. I just came inside from spending a good 45 minutes outside with Jane and the dogs after work. It was the first time it was both light and warmish after dinner. It was definitely the best 45 minutes of my week so far - that is until Jimmy tripped Jane and she did a faceplant on the walkway.

Spring - I want to make out with you big time. Scraped hands and all.

she takes my breath away

We had a great trip to NJ this weekend, and while we were there, our friend Dimitry took some amazing pictures of Jane. I know everyone thinks their kid is beautiful - but these pictures bring tears to my eyes. Sometimes I can't believe she's mine. (Sorry, sappy today, I guess!)

this blog sucks!

I love, love, love reading blogs. But man oh man, this blog sucks lately! Mainly, I think it's because I'm incredibly boring. See, right now it's Friday night, about 8:30 p.m., and I just finished watching "The Office" and now I'm watching today's "Oprah." I will probably go to bed in about an hour.

But it's Friday! Which means it's the weekend! And we are going on a road trip! To NEW JERSEY! (I do believe all of these exclamation marks are necessary - this is only the third overnight road trip we've taken with Jane.) We are going to see Greg's old college roommate, his wife, and their new baby. This is, of course, unless Jane wakes up with a cold. We've been strictly forbidden to show up bearing illness.

Getting ready for this trip has taken me two freaking days. As with everything else, I blame Jane. I just don't know how to prepare for a trip to a house that is very, very nice and certainly not childproofed yet. I'm bringing coloring books, books, a few small toys - but other than that, I am really just hoping that 50-degree forecast is really true, so she can spend some quality time outdoors with their three dogs.

So that's my weekend. What are you up to?

we've been busy.

Secret lovers, that's what we are
Artists at work

Hanging out at UConn

Valentine's Day with Dora

Enjoying Alan's delicious cupcakes

Relaxing on the dining room table, as if this is a rational place for a dog to be