So tired. So worth it.

There was no sleep at all for us last night.
Addie woke up at 10pm. Common for her, between 10-11pm she always wake for between 5-30min. She has done this pretty much since she got readjusted to the time zone when we came home from vacation at the beginning of September. Usually we don't even go in there, unless she gets crazy, because she is still mostly asleep. She's been doing great for 2 straight weeks, even when she has a "bad" night, she's usually up from 1-3am. Last night she was up ALL NIGHT LONG. Seriously, every five minutes.

After the first half hour of her not settling, I went in, put another shirt on under her sleep sack (it was a little cold), then rocked her and she went back to sleep. She didn't cry when I left and about 4 minutes after I was back in bed she started crying again. So Lawrence took a turn. He was in bed for 3 minutes. We gave her motrin. An ear, a tooth? She wasn't warm, but at this point it was after 11 so we thought we'd give it a try. No go. We let her cry. I went in after another 20 minutes. She stopped immediately when I rubbed her back and went back to sleep, but when I left more crying. Desperate I brought her into bed with me. Something I haven't been able to do since I was (for a few months of a broken foot) crawling in and out of her room. The last time I tried it, unsuccessfully, was when we were on vacation. She slept on me for about 15 minutes, then in my armpit for about 15 more, then she thought it was play time and was putting her hand in my mouth and laughing. I took her back to her own room. She laid down wide awake and was quiet for about 10-15 minutes so I thought we were golden, but nope. It was now well after midnight. I put my pillow over my head. I'm not sure how many more times I went in there, it's a blur, but I do know that she was still crying when Lawrence went to work at 5 and when Lily got up at 6. Off and on, off and on. Just enough of a break for my brain to think...ahh this is it...and then, nope.

TIRED!

In other news we had a wonderful weekend. Happy THIRD bday to our cousins Tyler and Cassidy on Friday - Nov 21. We can't believe they are already 3.

On Saturday we went to the Griz/Cat Montana Rivalry game party at On Deck, a very clean bar/restaurant in downtown Portland. We left the house around 8:30 and got there right at 9 for bfast and to watch Lawrence's Buckeye/Michigan Rivalry game. It was a lot of fun, they had a huge tent set up outside on the Deck, and Lily thought it was very cool that we were on the roof.

Around 12:30, we got Addie bundled up and Lawrence did circles with her in the stroller, she fell asleep no problem. We then brought out Lily's mini DVD player and put it on the tray of the booster seat. Lawr and I then got an hour of uninterrupted time watching the game and talking with fellow Griz fans. It was really great.
We felt only a LITTLE guilty about breaking out the TV since we'd already done play doh, coloring, and had exhausted all options. Plus, Lily always gets to watch her Dora movie on Football Saturdays on quiet time, earned by good behavior. The kids were great. Addie ate some stuff off the floor and broke out a little, but as usual she was a hit, she was first in her Buckeye Cheerleader outfit, then in her Griz one. With her big sweet smile, dancing, and doing "touchdown" with her hands, she won hearts of everyone whose attention she could get. Lily ended up falling asleep on Lawrence's lap at the end of the game and we actually had to wake both kids up to get in the car.

We stopped at the Ornelas's on the way home for a few minutes so Lily could see Lucy for a few promised minutes. Then we got home, ate dinner, bedtime, and Lawr and I were in bed by 8:30. We were beat, but it was a really really great family day. It was our first day of going out and doing something all together, just us, since I broke my foot, and we really had fun. I can't believe how good it felt to get out of the house all together for a full Saturday.

Lily and I went to church yesterday with The Chappelle's. We had a really wonderful time. Lawrence and Addie had some QT together and we all were in good moods, just in time for nap time and quiet time. I got a short nap in then cleaned our room and did laundry. Then we worked on Holiday gifts for our grandparents, which are turning out awesome. So much fun. The message at church was about Greed. The definition being wanting more of stuff you already have enough of. It was an extremely good message. Lily asked me if she could take her toys with her to Heaven. I told her, no, God will have everything she needs when she gets there, plus, hopefully she will be Grandma Lily by the time she goes to heaven and she won't need toys. Then she started to cry. OBVIOUSLY I didn't do a great job of explaining! Grr. Well, I ended up telling her she could take her toys to heaven. Great. Perfect ending to the Greed message, and the you can't take it with you message. Oh well, if she needs to think at this moment that she can take her bear and blankie with her to heaven, I'm okay with it. There are bigger fish to fry.

Here was her voicemail to Uncle Matt on the phone yesterday. "Hi Uncle Matt, it's Lily, I want to invite you for Thanksgiving. I didn't want to go to Joseph, Uncle Matt, because I want you to be able to come for Thanksgiving. Addie is good, she won't stop brushing her teeth, you will have to get in a fight with her if you want to get her toothbrush back, Uncle Matt. She still likes shoes. If you say shoes she will get you your shoes, Uncle Matt. She's really funny. I love you, goodbye." Click. HA!

Lily will not stop squeezing Addie, her head, her body, her hands. She loves her so much that she can't keep her hands off her. Addie hates it and runs the other direction as often as possible. Except when she doesn't. Sometimes she goes right up to Lily and gives her a big bear hug, and puts her cheek on Lily's cheek. That is her signature move. She likes to be cheek to cheek. Or cheek to anything, really, she'll do cheek to knee if that's what she can reach. As a result her neck is always a little crooked, so cute. Last night we had a long long talk about being more gentle with Addie and me being more gentle in my tone in teaching Lily what's too rough (as I am rather quick to 'rip her a new one' at the moment that it happens). She said, when I think of love, I think of Addie because her head is so soft. I don't want to have the no touch rule until Addie grows hair because her head is just TOO soft.

Smile. Below is Lily's recap of our day of Rivalries...