The Sleep Fairy arrives (Amanda)

Some of you know we have battled sleep issues with Ryleigh, somewhat beyond the normal toddler not wanting to go to bed. When you combine all the change (moving, traveling, starting preschool), it's no surprise she has trouble sleeping. But when you add the confusion arousal and the multiple trips to our bed, not only is she not getting sleep (which makes the confusion arousal worse, which means less sleep/ more exhaustion, which means worse sleeping issues... you get the picture... vicious cycle), neither are we. The exhaustion is starting to take its toll on all of us. We just need sleep.

We got a little bit smarter a few weeks ago and made Ryleigh a "nest" (a blanket and pillow) on the floor next to our bed. Sometimes you are just too tired to deal with whether she's in her bed, as long as she lets you sleep! Now at least we aren't being kept awake by kicking and tossing when she's finally asleep.

Of course, there are also the million visits out of her bed before she ever goes to sleep. Those, I guess are normal. But when your sweet angel is anything but angelic because she's SO tired, and her eyes look so pathetic, and she spends half the day yawning and telling you how tired she is, and yet cannot go to bed... In our online search for help, we stumbled across The Sleep Fairy. So we are trying it. It finally arrived today. I don't want to get my hopes up, but my little girl is in bed, and I haven't heard a peep out of her. She seems clear on what is acceptable (getting up at 2 am to go to the bathroom) and what is not, getting up ten times for another drink, etc. Anything that involves her not waking up in her own bed tomorrow morning means no visit from the Sleep Fairy.

In case you're curious, the Sleep Fairy (whose name is Macy), leaves little presents under the pillows of little boys and girls who stay in their beds all night. It starts out with little gifts (hair bows, stickers, lollipops, etc) every night, then every other night, then once a week, etc. Yes, we are bribing our child to sleep. But she is so tired, we are so tired, and we will try anything. We've tried it all! And despite all the tantrums involved in the hour before bedtime and how tired and cranky Ryleigh was, the story of the Sleep Fairy calmed her down. She seemed to take it all in, asked about how the fairy would get in, where the present would be, etc. She really wants that little gift. I'm so glad I recently found a bunch of my old trinkets from my childhood. I knew there was a reason I saved them all these years. Remember jelly bracelets and tiny flocked teddy bears? Oh yeah.

Sweet dreams, my friends. And pray that Macy the Sleep Fairy helps my child find restoring rest. Dear, sweet Ryleigh needs it so badly. And so do her mommy and daddy.

Our First Visitors (Amanda)

So yesterday we had our first visitors that weren't family since we moved to PA. To all of our east coast friends out there: You should feel bad; they came all the way from France!!! Just kidding. But we did find it slightly entertaining that the first of our friends to come visit came from so far away. Of course, they didn't come to the U.S. just to see us and are currently staying at her dad's in Lititz...

We had a great time with Jill and Fred and their twins, Ben and Alex, and Jill's dad who came to visit us at the farm last night. We had a wonderful meal together, and Ryleigh and the boys enjoyed running all over the farm. We got to know Jill (and her twin sister Amy) soon after we moved to Northern Virginia, and then Jill married Fred (she met Fred while studying abroad in France). They lived in NoVa for a couple of years after the wedding but moved to France a few years ago. We have missed them dearly in that time. And two years ago in July they added Ben and Alex to their family. We haven't seen them all since the boys were little babies, so it was really fun to see them at this age. And I loved hearing them call Jill "Mama" with their little French accents. Do you think I could teach the girls to say it that way? It was very sweet!

Jill, Fred, Ben, and Alex: thanks for taking time during your visit to come see us. It was so great to see you again!

Good Day!

Sunday was great day. We spent the afternoon at Green Lane Park at their Scottish Irish Festival. It's a thee-day event, but I guess Saturday was pretty much a wash-out. Anyway, we had a great time walking around. Ryleigh loved watching the "beautiful" Irish dancers. We spent time in the kids activity tent, where Ryleigh used potato stamps to paint a picture (glitter in the paint), glued pictures (and more glitter) on a "coat of arms," and decorated a princess crown with jewels and (you guessed it) more glitter. It was all about the glitter! We enjoyed sharing a fresh lemonade and a scone with strawberries and whipped cream. Ryleigh also enjoyed all the dogs, large and tiny, that were around the park with their owners. We discovered the great playground and swings at the end of our time, and of course, the swings were full, and despite quite a wait, she never got a turn. (The bummer of that is that on Monday we went to the little playground up the street, and while the swings were empty, they were too hot to sit on!)

Needless to say, the fun-filled day wore the girls out and both were sound asleep before we left the park! Ryleigh didn't even wake up when we carried her in the house and laid her on the couch.

Beautiful Ryleigh (Amanda)

We had a very full morning getting photos taken at Portrait Innovations. They are so great! Anyway, here are my faves of Ryleigh:

The photographer really did a great job of capturing Ryleigh's personality. The rolling on the floor is an act of defiance, and yet it's so cute. And the expression on her face in the pics with her hands on her hips and the spinning one -- so Ryleigh! She's all attitude! That's my Ryleigh!

Beautiful Ashtyn (Amanda)

We had a very full morning getting photos taken at Portrait Innovations. They are so great! Anyway, here are my faves of Ashtyn: