First Zoo Trip and Big Girl Bed - Take 2!

Hello again! So let me catch you up on the events of this past weekend. Saturday afternoon Olivia decided she didn't want to take a nap and climbed out of her crib again. No big deal right!?! Well that night she didn't want to go to sleep either and it was getting late with a big day planned for the next day so we really needed her to get a good nights sleep. Anyway, we had put her to bed and were downstairs with the monitor on and we started to hear her calling to us - only not through the monitor! We heard her coming from the stairwell! We peeked around into our stairwell and saw her a couple steps down the stairs walking out way! She had crawled out of her crib and over the gate at her door and was attempting to walk down the stairs! NOT good! So, we brought her back up and put her back to bed, slid the gate about 6 inches higher on the door so she couldn't climb over it and put a second gate in the hall *just in case!*

We went back downstairs and heard her yelling for us. We went up to check on her and she had crawled out again and was stuck at the gate to her doorway calling for us! Needless to say, we decided it was time for the toddler bed again right that very minute!

So we converted it back to a toddler bed AGAIN (remember the first attempt didn't go so well!). Anyway, she still didn't want to sleep in the toddler bed - she'd get in it but if we tried to leave the room or make her lay down - she got REALLY upset and wanted nothing to do with it! I wound up having to give her a bottle of milk - in bed - (I know, I know, the mommy police are going to come lock me up!) - but she settled down and fell asleep. She actually did really well overnight until about 6am and woke up scared and upset. After giving her another bottle of milk, she was back to sleep for another hour or so.

one night down - many more to go!

Then on Sunday we went to the NC Zoo! We met my parents AND Grant's parents there and made a nice family day of it (it was Easter, after all!) Olivia had fun seeing all the animals in person since she'd only seen cartoons, stuffed animals and them on TV before. She learned some new animals (i.e. oss-rich - ostrich) and was pretty good most of the time. Here are some pictures from our day:

Elephants:

Flamingos:

Tree Frogs:

She passed out halfway through the zoo and got a nice little nap in. She woke up just in time to see the seals and polar bears!


I got some cute pictures of her, too. To show off all her hair and how big she is getting! Her hair is really starting to get wavy - almost curly - especially when it is hot and humid out (like it was).

Mountain Lions:

Riding the "train" (shuttle) from one end of the park to the other:

Giraffes:

It was a good day and it was nice to spend it with the grandparents at the zoo for her first times. We actually got a family pass for the next 2 years so we can go anytime we want to!

Ok, so now we had another night in the toddler bed facing us! It took another bottle of milk to get her to go to sleep, but she slept really well - and even slept in a bit! Now Monday night was a different story! I was trying to get her to go to sleep without milk! It took about 20 minutes of me rocking her in the glider, then 5 minutes swaying her over her bed, then me carefully putting her into her bed - from which she woke up screaming to be rocked or get her milk! I then rubber her belly for a while and she settled down. I had to slowly creep toward the door while comforting her until she FINALLY fell asleep and I snuck out! But she went to sleep without milk!

Then I left town on Tuesday morning - so I have NO IDEA how it went last night with her and daddy. I will be headed home this afternoon and we'll see how it goes tonight!

So that is how it's been going in our home lately.

Other than that, we are VERY EXCITED because baby Emma (Olivia's cousin) is scheduled to arrive next Friday and we'll get to see her! We cannot wait (as I'm sure Becca and Chad can't either!) This weekend I am helping to throw a baby shower for my good friend, Diane. So we continue to stay busy - we just hope for some downtime every now and then to enjoy our beautiful little girl!