Lucy Lu [Baby, I Love You]

Hooray: Lucy is home!

We brought her home last Friday. It has been a whirlwind. Parenting is hard, you guys. [Insert an eye roll from all of my friends with two-legged littles.]

She is so playful and has the cutest personality. She's been a real joy to have around, especially now that Wes is back in school for the semester. Having her home has definitely made me feel less lonely. We're working on a few things... things like potty training & not eating the living-room rug... but overall, it's been fun. :)

The hardest thing about it so far has been figuring out sleeping arrangements. At first, crating her caused anxiety for everyone involved. The first three nights she cried non-stop, and I ended up rescuing her and sleeping with her on the couch. [This was selfishly motivated, by the way -- I felt bad for her, of course, but ultimately, I had to get some rest!] Monday night I left her in the crate (victory!), but we still got little sleep. Tuesday night, after Wes went back to school, I begged facebook friends for advice & several people suggested putting her crate by my bed. That will never work, I thought. It will be even worse -- she'll know I'm near, but she'll be frustrated that she can't be with me.

Not a peep from her crate all night. Amazing!

Last night we went to bed at around 8:30 p.m. We watched Grey's Anatomy from my bed, and then I put her half-asleep self in the crate. I heard her whimper at around 1 a.m., so we both got up for a potty break. Of course she was ready to play at that point, but I was exhausted. I didn't know what to do -- would she, being fully awake at the point of being put in the crate -- cry? I knew I would cave if she did, and for her sake, I don't want to cave. I want to work on being consistent. So we slept together in my bed until 6 a.m. [Not consistent, I know!] I didn't sleep solidly (I didn't want to roll on her or have her decide to jump off the bed or something), but it wasn't too bad. Since I don't have to get up early tomorrow, maybe I will risk the middle-of-the-night crating and see what happens!

Wow. This is totally turning into a mom blog. Sorry about that. I guess the last few paragraphs are for the grandparents. ;) One more picture for everyone's general enjoyment -- Wesley & his little girl taking a nap:

More updates soon on Lucy Lu (technically Lucy May Crouser, but Lucy Lu is my favorite nickname!).