Getting some beauty sleep...

This is what NO nap at daycare looks like at 5pm.



You can imagine how much fun this makes dinner and bedtime...ugh!

Haircut & Big Girl Bed

Josie visited the beauty salon this evening with her Daddy and I have to say her trim looks super cute. I just love the short bangs.



The girls new beds were delivered today. Unfortunately, the dresser didn't quite live up to everything we had hoped for, so it's going back to the furniture store.



Josie was THRILLED, EXCITED, ELATED, FILLED WITH JOY..etc. over her new big girl bed. I have no idea how that's going to translate into sleeping tonight. As you can tell from the picture, Emma was mighty happy with their new bunk bed setup.





Emma still has her own bedroom, but as much time as she sleeps in Josie's room (every night) we decided to put a bunk bed in Josie's room which can be taken apart and made into two single beds. Emma's promised to help make her portion of the bed. I'm holding her to that promise.



Here's to hoping for a good night's rest. Sleep well, my sweet girls.

Big girl bed & bedroom makeover!!

Most of my blogging friends know that we have had an interesting relationship with sleep in our house since Josie came home. The first 3 months, she slept in my bed to better deal with her night terrors. We eventually progressed from a co-sleeping relationship, to her sleeping on a single mattress on our master bedroom floor, to her sleeping on her own single mattress on her bedroom floor (with Chris or I next to her), to FINALLY sleeping on her own single mattress (still on the floor) with her big sister Emma in the other single bed in the same room.



Drum roll please...Josie is finally graduating to a big girl bed. No more mattress on the floor! To celebrate, we purchased new bed linens and matching curtains from Ikea. Emma has her own room, but really enjoys sleeping with Josie at night. In Josie's room, both girls will have matching bed linens and that pleases big sister Emma very much.

We haven't purchased Josie's bed yet, but we hope to be able to unveil her new furniture soon. In the mean time, here's a sneak peek at the bed linens and curtains.







1 Week from today, Josie's cast comes off!!! No more kitchen sink bathing and believe me, the smell coming from her hand is getting alittle ripe...Eww!!

National Adoption Awareness Month Part 6 (sleep issues)

My blogging support group knows that sleep has been a constant topic since we came home from China and I feel the need to put it out there AGAIN as I'm addressing adoption issues this month. Of all the things that I prepared for with this adoption, I never expected sleep to be such a huge problem. Prior to our adoption, we had close friends give us their crib and I was pleased to be able to pick out new crib bedding and get the special crib set up for our little girl. Honestly, the only night that Josie EVER slept in a crib was on her gotcha night March 16, 2008 in Nanchang, China. During the rest of our time in China, she slept with me in my bed and spent most of her nights thrashing and crying.

Picture taken in Nanchang, China. Notice Josie's blue skin color.

I assumed that her sleep issues in China would magically disappear once we came home. WRONG. She never EVER set foot in her crib. That beautiful lovely crib with the brand new bedding never ever got used. She screamed holy terror in her crib. I can't even describe the screaming that would go on in her crib. It was like nothing I had ever heard. It was horrifying. That crib was immediately dismantled and put in our basement. She took up immediate residence in my bed.



Prior to her heart surgery, she used to scream and thrash all night long. Chris used to refer to her as the clock. She would turn in my bed all night long like the hands of a clock. She literally slept for 20 minutes at a time and then would wake up screaming. I was exhausted, frustrated and unprepared for the sleep deprivation that came with our new daughter.

Josie slept with me from March until May because her night terrors were so bad. I kept praying that her heart surgery would fix the sleeping issues. It helped, but not like I had hoped for. Starting in June when I went back to work, we transitioned from my bed to a single mattress on the floor in her room. For nearly 3 months, Chris and I didn't sleep in the same room. We played musical beds between our master bedroom and and cosleeping with Josie on the mattress in her room.



It's now November and our bedtime routine still requires one of us (usually Chris) to lay down with her first, let her fall asleep, and then we sneak out when we think the coast is clear. It's not uncommon for Josie to be up at least 2, 3, 4 times a night crying. She still has night terrors but they aren't as bad as when were in China or before her heart surgery. Chris now holds the title of "baby whisperer" in our house. He can get her back to sleep during one of her episodes in 10-15 minutes. For me, it can take as long as an hour. I can't thank Chris enough for being such a hands-on Dad in the middle of the night. Both of us have never loved morning coffee as much as we do since Josie came into our lives.

I can't imagine what Josie's sleep issues must have looked like at the orphanage (probably lots of unanswered cries during the middle of the night). Having an untreated heart condition and laying flat must have felt pretty horrible. We love you, our sweet little girl. We just want you to sleep...yawn.

I'd love to know from my blogging friends, what are your experiences with your adopted child's sleep routines? Did you co-sleep? Did they experience night terrors? What techniques did you use to get them to stay sleeping?

Updates

I'm happy to report that Josie's doctor appointment went very well. We are to continue her breathing treatments, but the fluid has gone down in her right lung and she is clear to attend daycare on Monday! Woo hoo! Thank you for all your prayers and email messages. It's been a stressful week of juggling parental duty and work obligations.

In other good news, Emma has been selected to be in a higher level for fifth grade math (she certainly didn't get that trait from her Mommy) and Chris is celebrating his 40th birthday on Saturday! We're hoping Emma scores a soccer goal (in her bright neon yellow uniform) in celebration of Daddy's big day.



I'm still hoping that we can stop playing musical beds at night (Chris and I are continuing to take turns with cosleeping duties). Just look at this ever so sweet picture of my sleeping beauty taken this afternoon. Why oh why, can't she do this all night long?



Have a great weekend, everyone.