Birthday loft

So my stepmom is a dumpster diver. It sounds weird, but she works (and used to live) in a college town so the students are always throwing away things that should not be thrown out. She brought home a perfectly good folding table - worked really well for the garage sale, as well as some sort of old-fashion-y small suitcase things for the girls to store their art supplies or whatever. Very cute stuff.  Her latest acquisition is a loft bed. A metal frame PBTeen loft bed. Whoever discarded it threw away all the bolts that held it together, but for $12.50 she and my dad assembled it in their garage. And they offered it to the 7yo. We weren't sure if she was old enough for it, I don't want her to fall off, and she has a tendancy to puke when she gets a cold, so how difficult would it be for her to get down, get to a toilet, get to a puke bucket in those instances...it doesn't happen as often as it used to...so...we went for it.  Her room is only 10x10 so a loft would really open up the space for her. Her older sister has a loft that her dad built for her which is equally heavy and a little more bulky. This one is also not quite as tall so she wouldn't be quite as close to the ceiling as her sis.

The loft came home two weeks ago and she LOVES it. Dad has build a nightstand shelf that sits over the top rail so she can store a book, water bottle, her clock and tissues and whatever else girls need high up in the air at night. Its super heavy duty and the gray finish goes fine with her purple room. All dumpster dives are allowed now, it sounds like an odd practice- but what a score!

loft pre-shelf

Thanks Grandma C!

We replaced her ceiling fan with a light fixture and bought her a clip on fan to keep her cool. We'll also buy her a wall mounted fan in the spring when it warms up again. She loves it.

A New Week. Without Naps.

As much as I hate Mondays, I'm glad for a new week. The 9yo has conquered the pukes and the 4yo seems to just be fighting off the remains of a cold. The last couple of days she's fallen asleep around 3-4pm and slept for an hour or so. Bedtime the last two nights has not gone well. Something like this maybe...

Moooooommmmm.

What.

I can't sleep.

Just rest your eyes and try.

Ok. (mom goes downstairs, settles into couch for blogging...)

Moooooommmmmm.

What.

I need my back rubbed.

Grrr. Ok (rub her back, pat pat, ok go to sleep)

3:30 am. Clunk. Sliiiidddee (imagine a sliding closet door, open....clunk. closed.)

(husband) What's she doing? (me) oh, just getting a new stuffed toy probably. at 3:30am.

Then I hear rustling very near our door. Ugh. I get up, and say 'go get back in bed'. I pick up the stuffed toys she's crafted into a bed. Head in to tuck her in again, at 3:30 am. Did I mention the time? She's wide eyed. Like I CANNOT POSSIBLY SLEEP WOMAN! Thankfully, she goes back to sleep.

NO MORE NAPS. Seriously, no more naps.

In other news, I can't wait to see Oh Dawn's new house. I hope there are loads of pictures. I may be moving vicariously through her move to a new house. 

Everyone sleeps

Last night we turned a corner. The 4yo slept, no puke, just a little snoring...all night long. The 9yo thew up at 1130, but not again, and slept...all night long. I held her hair at 1130..and then I slept...all night long. Last night was borderline blissful. After getting through the newborn and sleep training years of small children, illnesses are the only time I lose out on sleep. My girls are such good sleepers, we can do pretty much whatever we want after their in bed. Now, to be honest, the 4yo does stall at bedtime and sometimes she makes me go up there to answer inane questions before she agrees to shut it and sleep. But overall they are the best sleepers ever. And, now that I think we'e in the clear for vomit, I get to sleep again as well.

So it seems we'll be all better for the weekend.

If I were a gambling woman...

So remember yesterday? when I said...

"Tonight is going to be a repeat of last night, I'd bet cash on it."

Well, I was right, but with a twist. Last night the 9yo spent most of her night in the bathroom, hugging the toilet. The 4yo did throw up to start, but I'm pretty sure that was snot/cold related. This one, is probably a stomach bug. So...it was a repeat..just with a different kid. And honestly, I much prefer when the 9yo has to puke vs the 4yo. The 9yo can run to the bathroom and make it (most of the time) into the toilet. No sheets to wash, no towels or precious blankets to wash. Just run, puke, rinse, sleep, repeat as necessary. She threw up around 7 times last night I think, each time with less results. She finally fully emptied her stomach at around 6:30 this morning. So that's something like 11:30 puke, 12:30 puke, 1:30 puke, 3:30 puke, 5:30 puke, 6:30 puke... and it's possible I've missed one in my recollection. The night was kind of a blur. I'm still working today though, because I have a particular project I want to get done, and the alternative is watching TV on the couch with the sickies..catching the sick.

So, I started this post this morning and I'm finishing it tonight. The 9yo threw up at least 4-5 more times today and rocked a fever of 101. It was down tonight but she's clearly not feeling well. Poor kid. We've worked hard the last 2-3 days on her very last Awana (church group) memorization. 32 verses, all said in a row. We were through 20 verses at least..and then she got sick and we couldn't finish and she didn't get to go. I'm so very proud of her, even without completing it. She was working so hard at it, and she's really good at memorizing. I don't think I could have done it. So she didn't eat at all today, and she drank some gatorade, but a bunch of that came back up.  Her stomach is just not happy with her right now and it sounds like there's a bug going around as well. So I tried to keep the 4yo separated from her, on the same couch..it's a very long couch..today, while they watched TV and rested. It went ok. The 4yo clearly feels better, she was playing and doing things and up and about more today. So my hope and prayer is that the 4yo finishes her cold, and doesn't catch the stomach bug the 9yo has. Ideally, the 9yo gets over hers after tomorrow also, AND the husband and I don't catch it. I'm not gonna hold my breath on either of those. We'll see how it goes.

So wish me luck, that Thursday is better than Wednesday..and Friday, oh sweet Friday, please be better than both of these last two days. Sorry, the only thing I have to talk about right now is not sleeping and catching puke. Sorry.