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Last night, well actually in the wee hours of this morning if you want to get specific, I found myself curled up with Maya in her toddler bed. I quickly discovered that although they may be perfectly comfortable if you are a mere 3 feet tall and weigh only 25lbs or so, for a 5’7″ 125lb adult they are definitely not comfortable, far from it in fact.
So, just how did I find myself in this most uncomfortable position at 2:30am this morning? Well let me tell you…
Tuesday Maya started coming down with a bit of a cold. She was getting sniffly and was a bit irritable. Then yesterday she woke up with a raging fever, her body was definitely in full battle mode. We spent the day quietly at home, resting. It seemed to do the trick and by the time she got up from her nap her fever seemed to be gone and she was in a much better mood. I thought we were out of the woods. That was until the fever kicked back in just before bed.
When I put Maya to bed last night I knew there was a possibility that the night would be a rough one since she was going to sleep with a fever and really stuffy. Sure enough at 2:00am I woke to the sounds of her crying. I went to her room and she told me she had to pee. As I reached down to help her out of bed I could feel the heat radiating from her. I knew before I touched her that her fever had kicked into high gear. When I touched her skin the heat was unbelievable. I took her to the bathroom so she could pee and I could take her temperature. I gasped when I saw the number flash up on the screen, 104.2, holy cow. That is by far the highest fever she has ever had, EVER. I was scared, and worried and just wanted to make her feel better. After rubbing her down with a cool wet cloth and dosing her with Tylenol again we headed back to her bedroom.
I tucked her in, kissed her and started to leave the room when I heard a tiny little whisper “Mommy sleep with me little bit”. It broke my heart and I couldn’t say no. I mean who could resist such a request in the middle of the night, not to mention my fried nerves and worried heart needed the reassurance of laying there next to her. So, I crawled into her bed, one leg still on the floor and rubbed her arm as she fell asleep. I listened to her sniffle and whimper and just wished her temperature would go down and she could get some rest. Slowly the sniffles turned into the soft rhythmic breathing of sleep.
I stayed with her for about half an hour, curled up in that way too small bed in the most uncomfortable position possible because I knew she needed me there, and because I needed to be there. I needed to feel the temperature of her body begin to cool, I need to hear her soft breathing to reassure myself that everything was okay.
Toddler beds may not be comfortable but sometimes the comfort of our heart is more important than the comfort of our body.
The craziness is finally over. Our wood floors have been refinished. And, let me tell you, I couldn’t be more happy with the end result. They are gorgeous, even better than I expected them to look! It definitely makes all the hard work of pulling up the carpets and moving all of our furniture into 2 small rooms worth it. Look how beautiful they are 
![014 [640x480]](http://www.letstalkbabies.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/014-640x480.JPG "014 [640x480]")
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When I got home Friday evening from being gone all week while the floors were being refinished I was ecstatic to discover the floors turned out so pretty but I couldn’t quite enjoy them yet. The house was still in total disarray and it made me feel all chaotic and stressed looking at the mess. So, Lorne and I spent Saturday and Sunday putting most of our furniture back and getting the rooms set back up again. I felt much more relaxed afterwards and really started enjoying the new look.
The rooms all look so beautiful with their gleaming woods floors and the furniture back in place. The wood floors really make all the rooms look bigger and our furniture looks much better against it than the very ugly rose colored carpet.
Project wood floors is complete and now we move on to the next big project. I’d love to start painting the rooms but I think Lorne has another project in mind first.
Little by little we are turning this house that we love into OUR house. It feels awesome.
It is back to school time in our neck of the woods. Over the next week or so kids will be waking up early, getting dressed in that cool new back to school outfit, getting their backpack ready and heading out the door to board the bus for their first day of school. It is both a very exciting time and a very nerve-wracking time. I can remember being filled with first day of school jitters during the days leading up to the start of school. The first day of school means big changes. Meeting a new teacher, new classmates, figure out what this year brings in terms of knowledge, getting used to a new routine, it is all enough to make our kiddos feel very nervous, and us parents too.
There are several things you can do to help ease your child’s back to school jitters and nerves. You won’t be able to alleviate them entirely, nerves are part and parcel of going back to school, but you can help ease their minds a little and make them feel not so alone.
- Acknowledge your child’s fears and give your child a chance to talk about what is making him nervous.
- If your school has an open house before the school year starts be sure to attend. Meeting her new teacher, seeing what her class room will look like and walking the halls of the school will all help alleviate some of her worry.
- Accentuate the positives. Talk about your child teacher, the school bus, and school in general in a positive manner.
- Bring your child along when picking out school supplies and let them help decide which ones to go with. They will be more excited if they know school will mean they get to use that cool new backpack they helped pick out.
- Buy a few “back to school” books to read with your child. If their favorite character has one pick it up to help show your child that going back to school is fun, even for (insert favorite character).
- Buy your child a special going back to school outfit. Having a special new outfit to wear on the first day of school will help make your child feel special and help get them excited about the first day.
- If you are packing a lunch for your child include some of their favorite lunch foods and a special note to remind them that you are thinking about them and hoping they are having a wonderful first day of school.
- On the first day of school make the day all about your child(ern) cook everyone’s favorites for breakfast, make a big deal about taking first day of school photos and plan a special dinner of everyone’s favorites.
Usually after the first few days your child’s nerves will calm down and their fears about starting school will be gone. Just be sure to continue to give them a chance to talk about their day, their fears, their ups and downs at the end of every school day.
What do you do for your kids to make them feel special on their first day of school? What do remember from your childhood about your own first day of school jitters?
I’ve been gone all week staying with my very dear friend, Heather, while our hardwood floors were being refinished here at the homestead. While I was gone I decided to take a little break from blogging and make it feel like a little mini vacation. We had such a wonderful time hanging out with Heather and her kiddos. As much as we wanted to get home to see daddy and the kitties, we kinda wanted to stay too
I promise next week things will be back to normal around here and I’ll have some wonderful posts for all of you. In the meantime I’ll leave you with a picture of my little princess. How cute is she
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Living in a condo you get to know your neighbors in a way you often don’t when you live in a house. Passing in the hallway every day, sharing a fire escape patio, and having to work with each other to get things done in the building means those people who start out as just neighbors end up becoming very dear friends. The type of friends you are sad to say goodbye to when you move out of that condo.
When we moved it was hard to say goodbye to a couple of our neighbors because they had become very dear friends. Maya had known and loved them since she was born. They were a big part of her life. We knew we were going to have to make sure we stayed in touch and try to see each other as often as possible. So, Saturday night we had them over for a barbecue. Tom and Wendy, our neighbors from across the hall who we just love and who are some of the few people who have ever taken care of Maya for us, and Loren and her dog Molly, our neighbors right below us, came over to check out our new digs and hang out like old times.
What ensued was an amazing evening of good food, good friends and good laughs. Maya enjoyed having an audience while she was playing in the pool
We ended the evening having good great fun watching Maya play with whip cream!!
We had an amazing time hanging out with our old neighbors who are now just simply good friends. We are looking forward to our next fun get together.
Thank you Loren for the great pictures