Big girls apparently DO cry

We have good news and bad news. The good news, Jay and I found a babysitter, who is awesome and whom Annie adores. The bad news: Annie has all of a sudden realized that everything in her life is now different and started freaking out at bedtime, which makes using said babysitter for nights out (like that pictured above at an MS benefit; and yes, that is me being a pirate) increasingly troublesome. We returned from our return to grown-up land to find that Annie had indeed not gone to bed, but instead cried for me and screamed the second our sitter left her room. Now, Annie has had trouble falling asleep before, but it's usually her talking and singing in her crib happily that delays her sleep, not screaming, pathetic whaling. Also, Annie had gone to bed fine for the sitter the last time we had used her. After that, it was all down hill. We bought mattresses that weekend, and thinking they'd be delivered that Monday, we moved Annie to her crib mattress on the floor for Sunday night. Got a call. Nope, mattresses won't arrive until Friday. Long story short, Annie had to spend a whole week on a crib mattress which went fine up until that Wednesday. Then, the dark cloud descended on the Ferrara household and many a tear were shed in the process, mine included.

FINALLY, I am happy to say, after getting her mattress (Friday) AND her bedframe (yesterday), she is finally starting to come to terms with her big girl status, albeit reluctnantly and with much back rubbing and on and off night waking. I was silly in thinking that once I got her to sleep through the night as an infant, my work in the sleep department would be done. I would have given her the crib back, but it's my crib from when I was a baby and in need of some repair before we put bambino number 2 in it, so it's currently in a few pieces on the floor of what will be the baby's room. It's probably good that we didn't have that option and stuck to our guns. It's been a tough week, but I think the clouds are parting and the flood of tears is receding (along with the rainwater in downtown Louisville, which did not get to us, thank goodness... that would be ALL I needed. What next? Locusts!?). Annie still says she doesn't like her big girl bed, but she is now napping and sleeping in it, so it's clearly a love-hate relationship. Hopefully, soon, it will be more love than hate.

On a lighter note. Now that all of our furniture is in place, I can finally take some pictures of the abode and post them soon. I'm just waiting until the cleaning lady comes on Saturday (Yes! A cleaning lady!) to make the place presentable. Stay tuned.