the big switch.

When we found out we were expecting another baby, I felt like Carly needed to be out of her crib and potty trained by the time he/she arrived. As time progressed, and I was so sick, I changed my mind and decided both could wait until she was three. She slept so well in her crib and having two in diapers wouldn't be that bad. But then . . . of course, we found out our one baby was two. The more I thought about it, I realized 1) there was going to be a lot of chaos in our house (hopefully somewhat organized chaos) when these two babies arrive, and Carly doesn't need extra major changes in her life during that time, and 2) I don't want to deal with major changes in her life when I've got baby twins. So I decided to get the changes underway and hopefully be fairly adjusted before the dynamic duo show up.

Step 1. Big Girl Bed.

Taking the crib down was a little emotional. How are we doing this already? It seems like yesterday we were driving home at 5 mph with that crib tied to the roof of our little Civic. It seems like not-so-long ago I was celebrating her first full night in it, swaddled and tiny and sweet. And now she was helping daddy take it apart.

Chris's parents replaced a twin bed with a queen just in time for us to inherent the twin. We set it up on Saturday. It has a bed frame with a head and foot board, but it makes the bed so tall, we decided to start out with just the boxspring and mattress. I figured the fall was a whopping 6 inches, so if Carly fell, we could dust her off and plop her back in bed with no harm done. Upon initial set-up, Carly loved it. She got right in her covers and pretended to go night-night and brought books and read stories. In fact, I couldn't get her out. Carly has been an incredibly easy child, so I was getting my hopes up this would be another simple transition.

We followed her bedtime routine and tucked her in and . . . silence. I hoped for victory and went to bed. Probably around 3 am Sunday morning, Carly started screaming "mommy! mommy!" I expected this, so I went in to find her flipped all the way around so her head was where her feet started, on her tummy, with her arm and leg off the side of the bed. So she didn't fall off, but was in the process of almost doing so. I repeat: she did not fall off. I picked her up and rocked her a bit and put her back in bed. She screamed. She would not let me leave. I kept trying to give her towel and Red Baron but she refused to take comfort in them. The child was so traumatized by her near fall. Eventually I got her to stop screaming, but she laid there sucking her thumb and her eyes wide open, not blinking. Jump forward AN HOUR and we're still there. Chris volunteered to sleep on the floor by her, which I really didn't want because it would create a habit, but I was desperate so I told him to go for it. She still wouldn't sleep. The three of us went in and out of conciousness for a few hours, and soon it was 6:15 and Chris had to get up to get ready for Church meetings. She screamed right when he left. I went in and tried to be all firm. I tucked her in and tried to walk out despite the screaming. I said "Carly, it is night night time!" in my most serious mom voice. She said "Ok" and started silently sobbing. Like, terrified silent sobbing. Obviously, I couldn't walk out on that. I went over and gave her a hug and kiss and laid on the floor where Chris had been. She was silent, but I could hear her heavy breathing and sucking thumb. I drifted off, and when I came to, her breathing had evened and her thumb-sucking had stopped. She was asleep! I army crawled, yes . . . army crawled out of her bedroom. Not easy when you're 24 weeks pregnant with twins, but it wasn't worth the chance of her seeing me. I collapsed into bed. It was 8:00. So we were up pretty much from 3 to 8. The worst night with her since she was probably 3 weeks old. She woke up at 9:30, and we made it for the last 2 hours of church. Carly, of course, was full of energy. Chris and I . . . zombies (did I mention Chris was up until 2 doing homework, so he got a whopping hour and a half of solid sleep that night?).

It was only one night, but walking into church I was on the verge of tears. How on earth were we going to make these adjustments in time to be ready for the twins? Should we just set the crib back up? Should we buy a bed rail? Ah, more money going to something that might not work. I dropped Carly off at nursery, and she started screaming. Not typical of her these days, so she was obviously exhausted. I stood outside the door, waiting for her to calm, and within 5 minutes two tender mercies occurred. One sister in the ward brought me three new baby boy footy pjs. A really kind offer, since she literally just had a baby boy. But she said they had way too much stuff, and knew we didn't have any boy clothes. It was small, but it was so kind. A few minutes later I was chatting with another sister in the ward and the topic of our rough night came up. She said they had a bed rail that we could borrow. And her husband would bring it by after church. What a blessing it was.

After Church, Carly took a nap in her new bed with no problems. She slept two hours, and so did we. Before bed last night we put the rail up. I don't know if it made her feel safer, or if it really kept her in bed. But last night she slept all night. From bedtime all the way to 8:15. Maybe, just maybe this will work. Maybe we just had one bad night, just so we could see what it was like (fingers crossed). Another ray of hope? Carly doesn't get out of her bed and wander. In fact, when she wakes up she still calls for me. Granted, it has only been two days, but I'm taking that as a good sign for now.

Now that we have one bad night and one good night under our belts, I will tell you, I'm glad we're doing this now. I'm glad we're not getting used to this with two babies in the house, and I'm glad we didn't have a night like Saturday (and probably more to come) with newborns to feed and change. I wanted that crib like a junkie wants his next fix at 5 am on Sunday morning, but last night's good night sleep is making me feel a lot better about it all. And so proud of our big girl.

As for potty training? Since we don't get to go west after Christmas, we will have a wonderful 10 days at home in Michigan with just our little family of three. It is something I'm really excited for, my little consolation prize since I don't get to go home. It will be our last hurrah as a family of three. But . . . since daddy will be home for 10 straight days, it will also we a good time to start potty training. So I'm not the only one scrubbing pee out of the carpet. And Carly will be nearly two and a half by then, so I don't feel like it is too early to hope it will work.

And official twin preparation will begin in the New Year, too. I feel like there is a lot to do, but want to enjoy Christmas time without too much stress or too much busyness. And really, we've got time. But come January, you better believe the nesting bug I've been repressing will be released.

Until then, cheers to many more nights of uninterrupted sleep (unless you count the potty breaks and hip pain, of course).