This weekend, TC and I decided to finally tackle the hurdle of getting Hudson to sleep in his big boy bed. All of the furniture is in the room and we’re just waiting on all the bedding and the curtains, but he has sheets and his favorite blankies, so we knew it was time.

Hudson had been napping in his big boy bed for about a week and it was going as well as can be expected. He is used to a pitch black room with his black out curtains and he just wasn’t always completely understanding that it was time to sleep. And this is the new place where he is supposed to sleep.

In a few weeks, I will be trying to tackle the challenge of getting a newborn on a good eating and sleeping schedule and it is really important to me that Hudson be well-adjusted in his new room and new bed before the baby arrives. I need to have at least one great sleeper!

For those that have been interested, here’s how the nights unfolded for us, starting with Friday.

Friday Night

TC and I put Hudson in his new bed. He has a big daybed with a rail on the open side. We lifted him into the bed and read Goodnight Moon to him- just as we did every night in the nursery. We put the book away, gave Hudson a kiss, and turned out the light. Then we closed the door and walked out.

And he cried. And cried. And cried. So I went back into his room and he stopped crying. I rubbed his back and sat on the edge of the bed, but he never dozed off. So I left the room again.

And he cried. And cried. And cried. This time, TC went into his room and rubbed his back and ended up sitting on the floor of Hudson’s room for about 45 minutes until Hudson fell asleep. And TC may have fallen asleep, too.

During the night, Hudson may have woken up once, but he got himself back to sleep easily without our help.

The next morning, we praised him for sleeping in his big boy bed and doing such a great job!

Saturday Night

We followed the previous night’s routine where we read Goodnight Moon, kissed Hudson goodnight, turned out the light, and shut the door. And I watched Hudson in the monitor as he climbed out of bed where there’s an opening in the rail.

I ran into his room and told him that he couldn’t get out of bed until Mommy or Daddy came to get him out. Then I left.

And he cried and got out of bed again. So TC went back in to put him back in bed.

For about 30 minutes, we went through this routine of us putting Hudson in his bed, Hudson getting out of his bed, us putting back in his bed and Hudson crying and trying the whole thing again.

TC ended up sitting on the floor of Hudson’s room again for 45 minutes until he fell asleep.

Sunday Night

I put Hudson in bed, read Goodnight Moon, turned off the light, and he was fine. He was fine until I closed the door. So I opened the door and he stopped crying.

I sat on the floor just outside his room as I watched him sitting up in bed looking at his lovies, but not getting out of bed. Because I had reminded him that he’s not supposed to get out of bed. After about 30 minutes, he fell asleep. He played for a while before falling asleep, but he did it on his own and it was drama free.

The key was leaving the door open so he didn’t feel trapped. But we didn’t want to put up a gate because we have enough gates in our house and didn’t want to deal with having a gate there if Hudson wasn’t going to be getting out of bed without our help anyway.

Sunday afternoon nap in church clothes

Monday Night and Tuesday Night

We followed the same routine with Goodnight Moon, kisses, lights out, and walking out. We didn’t shut the door and he never cried. He was asleep on Monday night and Tuesday night within 5 minutes.

We stayed consistent, never moved him back to his crib, and he figured it out.

Tuesday night at bed time. Finally understanding that there’s a head and a foot to the bed.

Challenges

Our only challenge now is that when Hudson wakes up in the night, he is crying for about 10 seconds before he lies back down and falls asleep in a new position. I know this won’t last forever and he is likely just confused about where he is when he’s waking up. He never cries for long at all, but I want him to get comfortable in his new room and be aware of where he is when he wakes up.

Thank you all for your suggestions on my first post about this. I just thought I’d give an update on the whole process and how it worked for us.

Edited to Add: I forgot to mention that we do close the door when Hudson falls asleep. We have a video monitor and watch him closely  and then once he seems to be asleep, we confirm it by peeking in on him. Then we close the door. Our house isn’t big by any means and Hudson’s bedroom is very close to our living room. It has been a bit of a challenge for us to keep our noise (dogs, talking, TV) down so we don’t disturb Hudson. So we just shut the door after he falls asleep and that works out well.

WARNING: Picture overload! But sometimes you just can’t miss a minute of documenting your toddler’s life.

Columbia is really fortunate to have a wonderful children’s museum. We have a fantastic zoo, a great art museum, and EdVenture Children’s Museum. I had been to EdVenture a few times for meetings, but we had never taken Hudson.

The weather was amazing on Saturday and we wanted to get out of the house and take him somewhere hands-on that he could play and explore. The museum was great. There were just enough activities for a toddler and we could also spot right off the bat which activities were too grown up for Hudson.

There are times when you see your child recognize something in real life that they see on TV, read about in books, and talk about often, and those times always make me want to cry. To watch the recognition in Hudson’s little face as he saw a real life fire truck, so close that he could touch it and even go inside was such a sweet moment. He started running in place and saying “fire TRUCK! See it?”

He got to climb up in the truck and sit in the seat. He sat there for about 10 minutes and didn’t want to leave. Bigger kids were roaming all around him and he was just watching, but he was so proud to be sitting inside the big fire truck. So sweet.

He was so teensy next to the big truck and the museum had little fireman hats, jackets, and boots the kids could put on. Hudson isn’t much into dressing up, but we got him to pose for just a second on the front of the truck.

After playing around the fire truck, we made our way over to the farm area of the museum where Hudson sorted some (wooden) eggs…

Then he planted some vegetables and cotton with Daddy…

And finally experienced another highlight in the life of a 21-month-old, sitting in the driver’s seat of a tractor…

The museum had a little red Volkswagen Beetle and Hudson kept shouting, “Red car! See it?” So he climbed on in and adjusted the temperature and played with the radio.

Then his Daddy took him up some fun stairs and he got to go down a big red slide a few times. The only meltdown of the day came when we had to leave the area with the big slide. Thank goodness TC was there to go up there with him because I couldn’t have maneuvered the stairs… or fit down the slide, I’m sure!

I will be eager to take Hudson back to the museum after his brother is born. I’m thinking it’s something that I can probably even manage alone.

1. I had my 30 week appointment today. I was seriously in and out of the office in 15 minutes! I always come prepared with my list of questions, so I’m not babbling like a crazy lady while I’m in there. I had only gained 3 pounds since my last visit, but it’s still about 30 pounds overall. That doesn’t surprise me, though. I’ve known the whole time that I have been gaining weight like it’s my job. It’s just a shame I’m not getting paid!

I would totally show y’all a bump picture if I could get my act together and remember to have TC take a picture. The heart beat sounded great at the appointment. I am measuring about 2 weeks ahead, so we could have another large baby boy. I will be 31 weeks tomorrow!

2. I tweeted this picture of my hair the other day, so I thought I’d show everyone who reads my blog, too. I’m still getting used to it, but I do like it. I just can’t believe I did it and I miss my hair.

3. I wanted to update all of you on my decision to rise a little earlier in the morning to have my daily quiet time and prayer time. I have been reading my Breaking Free by Beth Moore daily devotional (not the full Bible study, which is wonderful, by the way– but just a verse per day with some commentary from Beth Moore). I also decided to read through a few books of the Bible during this time and because I love to read through the book of James, I chose James for this week. My verse from Breaking Free for the day was Proverbs 11:2, which says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace. But with humility comes wisdom.”

Then I turned to James chapter 4 to read my chapter for the day. And James 4:4-6 says this:

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”

Talk about a way to wake up in the morning. I randomly read Proverbs 11:2 in my devotional book and then the same verse is referenced again in James 4, which was also pretty randomly chosen. I do not believe in coincidences, so I have spent every quiet moment I’ve had today asking God to show me exactly why he showed me these words today.

If you ask God to teach you something, He’s not going to miss an opportunity to fulfill that desire.

4. I am on the hunt for some fun ideas for Hudson for this summer. The baby will be here, he won’t have school, and I’m concerned about him getting bored at home every day. He is going to do two weeks of swim lessons. I have looked into the possibility of a few day camps, but most of the fun day camps are for 4 year olds and older kids.

Any Columbia friends have any suggestions for 2 year olds? Any readers have ideas for keeping things at home “camp-like” to keep the kids excited?

5. Last night for supper, I made a super easy recipe that I got from our Sunday school cookbook. My friend Emily submitted this recipe and it is so delicious and so easy. I told myself that I need to remember to have the ingredients on hand for after the baby is born because this is one of those “throw it all together and leave it to cook” recipes that only took about 45 minutes total.

Here’s the recipe for Salsa Chicken for those that were interested. (I’m sorry I don’t have a picture.)

Ingredients:

4-5 chicken cutlets

2 pouches of Uncle Ben’s 90 second rice in Santa Fe flavor

1 can of black beans rinsed and drained

1 jar of salsa (any brand)

8 oz of shredded Mexican blend cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Put the chicken in a baking dish and cover it with the salsa. Bake for 30 minutes (or until chicken is done).  While chicken is cooking, microwave the Uncle Ben’s rice and rinse and drain the beans.

When chicken is done, get a new baking dish and layer the rice, beans, and chicken with salsa on top. Cover it all with the cheese and put back in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Top it all with a little bit of sour cream.

*I added corn to mine last night and layered it in with the rice and beans.

I love this recipe because almost all of the ingredients are things that were already in my pantry. And Hudson loved it! He ate every bit of his serving and had leftovers for lunch today. I love not having to make something separate for him!