Changes!

Lots of changes in the Lane house these days.  We have started to prepare for baby with some room rearranging.  The first step was to tear out some seriously awful carpet in our "office" room - aka the room that holds everything that we can't find a home for.  We've been busy trying to get rid of things because a lot of the stuff in that room has been sitting there untouched since we moved in over a year ago.  With the new carpet put in, we were finally able to get the furniture moved around and now have a designated guest room and finally a room for baby.  This meant that the twin mattress that was to become Evelyn's big girl bed now needed to find its proper place in her room.

Transitioning Evelyn to a big girl bed was actually quite easy.  Ever since the mattress arrived Evelyn has been checking it out and calling it her bed, so we were fairly certain that she was interested in sleeping in her bed and didn't anticipate much trouble.  Once we got the crib out of her room, we put the mattress and box spring right on the floor so that there is little risk of falling far if she rolls out.  I had a feeling that more trouble would come from moving the rocking chair into the baby's room.  And my concern was correct when that first night Evelyn asked, "Where cuddle chair?"  Break. My. Heart!  Daddy assured her that the best part of a big girl bed was that we could read books and cuddle right there on her bed.

The first nap and night was a little rough requiring a little extra time resting with her than usual, but after that first day, it was like she'd been sleeping there from the beginning.  We put a gate up at the top of the stairs finally, totally expecting her to climb out all the time.  But for almost two weeks she has not moved from the bed when she wakes up.  She sits right there in the middle and cried or called for us to come and get her.  It actually was kind of great.  That ended this morning, when for the first time she realized that she was awake and could get out and play with toys or read books.  It bought about five more minutes of quiet for Mommy, but she soon became curious about what was going on elsewhere in the house and came looking for me.

With all of the changes taking place, we decided to have Evelyn's Special Day.  You know what I'm talking about...just like Jon and Kate and their special days with each of their 8 kids.  And to make it special for Mommy and Daddy, too, we planned to meet up with some friends at the Baltimore Aquarium.  We had a great time at the aquarium, and were all exhausted by the end of the day.  Evelyn made the day even more special for Mommy and Daddy by sleeping in her big bed until 9:00 the next morning!

Evelyn loved the turtles the best!



**I wrote this post about two weeks ago, but was having a hard time with the pictures.  Since then, Evelyn has fallen out of the bed twice.  She continues to get out of bed in the morning and sometimes after a nap, but we figured that was fine because at least she wasn't getting out at night.  As I sat here writing this, she suddenly appeared in the kitchen.  Looks like she's getting more and more comfortable with her big girl bed the longer she sleeps in it!