Here's what's going on with us...

We are currently preparing for some changes that will be happening in the land o'Lily. First, we are phasing out the bottle and replacing it with a regular cup. Lily's school does not allow sippy cups, so we will be going straight to a regular cup, which is fine by me.

We are also preparing to start the process of transitioning Lily to a toddler bed (still in our room). I'm really not sure how I feel about this one. Truthfully, I have become accustomed to having Lily in our bed, and there are a lot of benefits to it. I really can't remember the last time we did not get a full night's sleep. Lily typically sleeps about 11 hours at night, and I think that part of that is due to the family sleeping situation. She sleeps so peacefully and is easily resettled if she stirs at all. As a result, I think that we are all more pleasant people. Also (this is the new parent coming out in me) I like being right there and knowing for certain that everything is okay with her. I still can't shake the memory of her throwing up one night and never waking. I know that she would have slept through the night in that mess if we would not have been right there. I know that eventually we will want our own space back, and she'll probably want her own as well, but right now we are all happy with the situation, and I feel a bit like I'm forcing this decision because we "should" (whatever that means). I know that in reality she'll only be moving 5 feet away from us, but I continue to question why we are doing it. Clearly, I'm not settled on this subject.

The feeding and sleeping issues are at the forefront right now because Lily will be moving from the Toddfant Room to the Toddler Room in March. When she moves, she will take one nap per day and sleep on a little cot (instead of her current 2 naps per day in the crib). Also, bottles are not allowed in the Toddler Room which I'm not really worried about. The last thing not allowed in the Toddler Room is a pacifier. I'm not sure how this will go in the classroom when it comes to naptime, but my guess is that there will be an initial rough transition and then she will adjust and be fine. This probably would be a good opportunity for us to discontinue use of it at home as well, but I'm just not that brave. We will (and already have begun) to limit the use of the pacifier to sleeping and car-riding solely. The pacifier is just so comforting to her, and I think that I will let her hold onto this last vestige of babyhood a little bit longer.

Lily continues to be her charming self even though she did have pink eye today. She woke up with crusty eyes this morning, and I've been in daycare too long to not recognize that tell-tale sign. We went to the doctor, got the eye drops, and all is well. I only ended up missing a half-day because I was able to go in when Carl got home from work. I was thinking today that Lily has been in daycare almost a full year now, and I think that I have only missed 2 (not even full) days of work because of her illnesses TOTAL. (Carl's total days missed due to Lily's illnesses = 0). That is a pretty good record (knock on wood). Truth be told, Lily has been such an overall easy baby that she makes parenting seem a little too easy. This has me really worried about our second baby, like I'm "due" some parenting hardships. We're not going to venture down that road any time soon anyway, so I suppose we will continue to enjoy what we have now and worry about that later.

Carl is doing well. I think we are past the worst part of the third year of med school. OB/GYN has a much a better schedule, and he was very fortunate to get placed in a hospital 10 minutes from home (where I delivered) for this rotation. We are hoping that he will be placed in the Pediatric Office located upstairs from my work for the Peds rotation coming up in about a month.

As for me, I am totally and thoroughly enjoying my new car. We decided on a Saab 9-3 for my new (used) car, primarily because of its excellent performance in safety tests. And, yes, I now have rear defrost along with a myriad of other features that I love. It is funny how much having a new car has changed my lifestyle for the better. I refuse to eat in it, so fast food runs have come to an end for the time being. I park farther away from stores because I am still very protective of my new ride. I am also a more vigilant driver, again because of my heightened sense of protectiveness. Overall, I am very happy with it and plan to have a very l o n g relationship with this car.