Gas

In January I paid the Enbridge gas bill again since last the bill in August. My credit finally caught up, but the bill was still only $116 - much less than what I've paid in a very long time.

Anyway, the hiatus was nice while it lasted!

Milestone

Lauren spent her first full night alone in her bed last night - hooray!

On Sunday morning when I was dressing her (and after she had already woken at 4am wanting to get into my bed) I asked what we could do to make her room more cozy. "Change the walls to pink", she said. Not an unreasonable request, but before we do the walls we need to fix the ceiling in her room which is beginning to peel, then fix the eaves outside before the spring rain comes. The fixit list never ends!

Anyway, hopefully last night really was the first of many nights in the big girl bed, and not just a fluke. I guess we'll see tonight...

When I grow up

Just as Lauren and I came home from daycare and started taking off our coats and stuff she declared, "You know what, I want to be a teacher when I grow up."

I told her that her grandpa Philip was a teacher which she seemed to take into consideration for at least a second or two.

I can't wait to see what she makes of her life, but whatever it is I have no doubt it will be great, and I will be proud.

Big girl bed

C and I finally got around to getting Lauren a big girl bed. When we mentioned to her weeks ago that she would get one, she was so excited she squealed. I'll never forget the look of delight on her face.

It's taken a while, what with all the weekends gone by that one of us in the house has been sick, but we finally made an effort to get ourselves to IKEA this past weekend and found something that C and I both agreed would be suitable. Surprisingly we both have very different tastes in kid beds.

It's twin size with drawers built in so we can use the extra storage for linens.  I'm hoping it will last unit she's a teen or is old enough to buy a new bed of her own. I'd be happy with either scenario.

So after we spent some money on new sheets and comforter and pillows and having the bed delivered, and spending nearly four hours building the thing, Lauren decided she didn't want to sleep in it.

For some reason it didn't fully occur to me that a new bed is a huge adjustment to a little kid. We also rearranged her room a bit to accommodate this bigger piece of furniture, so of course she was apprehensive. That was Sunday night. I put her in our bed while C and I slept on the pull out couch inthe office. She slept like a baby.

Last night I slept with her (as I promised I would to keep her company) and got no sleep at all. She fell out of the bed once and a short while after that I caught her just as half her body was sliding over the edge.  For the rest of the night she tossed and turned and hogged the sheets and actually asked me to "move over to give me more space", as I lay on my side on the very edge of the mattress.

Tonight she lasted about a half hour on her own before she finally cried out. Maybe I'm giving in too soon, but I'm too tired to push back. Right now she's in our bed again alone, sleeping soundly as I prepare to pull out the couch.

Welcome back, and Happy New Year!

Hey, look at me - I'm writing again!

I blame illness and fatigue for my hiatus. I've been sick with something every month since October and am finally now feeling alive again. It was a cold after Thanksgiving, followed by another cold, followed by the stomach flu followed by another flu that turned into a cold and sinus infection.

This winter had beaten me down hard.

I'm finally feeling human again, but of course now that I've said it, I've probably jinxed myself and can expect to come down with something again next week. Lovely.

Anyway, with this small burst of energy I'm taking advantage to write a few lines. Stay tuned for more!