The last baby...all gone now.

Yesterday, I decided after spending this last week fighting with Alex to keep him from climbing out of his crib, that it was time to bite the bullet and buy him a bed. It seemed like a good use of his Christmas money. So the way I figured it, he's going to get out of the bed one way or another, and at least this way he won't break his neck trying to get out. He hates to sleep and his cold meds are interfering with his sleep so it's been a hell of a week over here. I'm beat and I think I might be coming down with this cold. Any, back to the story.

So I go to Walmart intent on buying a guard rail for his crib (which breaks down into a toddler bed) when I see that they have toddler beds there and they're only 20.00 more than the guard rail. It just seemed like the thing to do. Then we looked all over for a Thomas the Tank Engine bedroom set but there wasn't one in his size. Luckily, they did have a Cars one and he loves that movie so it was a good compromise. This bed fits his crib mattress so he still has sheets to fit, and his blankets fit. He just needs top sheets. As you can see, he climbed right in and got comfortable, and even though he hates to go to bed he was pretty excited about his new bed and actually stayed in it. He woke up twice in the night but never tried to climb out. I'm amazed.

In preparation for this, I bought a 4' wire shelf for my stuff (that needs a power drill to put it up but no where did it say that on the outside of the packaging, because that would have made sense). I took everything that could be harmful or played with and stuffed it in my closet on the shelf until I can get the other one up. I made sure the outlets were plugged up, and I put the baby gate up in the door way in case he tried to wander out while I'm asleep. I also bought a set of hook & eye latches for the door. I plan to put a set on the inside and outside so that I can keep him from getting out of the room and falling down the stairs until I can get a more permanent gate up there like the one I have at the bottom (it screws into the wall). I can't keep him in bed, so the best I can do is make my room as safe as possible and try to keep him from falling down the stairs.

I'm just not ready for all this. It's my 6th wedding anniversary today and I spent the morning in the dentist office with Alex getting a filling replaced in his front tooth. My husband has school all day. I'm tired from lack of sleep this week. Alex is bouncing off the walls after taking the last dose of the prednisone (thank goodness!). I have a ton of homework and no energy to read. And to top it all off, I finally faced reality and tossed out all of my pants from before I got pregnant with Alex. All my nice clothes. Fashionable jeans in dark denim, skinny jeans, cropped pants, khakis, plaid pants from Jones New York that I got at a deep discount, slacks from New York and Co., my best little red dresses. I had a beautiful wardrobe, all in size 6. Now, I'm wearing larges, 12's, sweats most days. It was a bit much to deal with. And add to it all, the fact that Alex is no longer in a crib. He's not a baby anymore and Aaron and I both wish he still needed to be in a crib because it's sad that our last baby isn't a baby anymore. Next year is preschool, and how did that even happen? Dante will be 13, and one year away from high school. Alex will be 4, and one year away from elementary school. I will be 33 and one year from a Bachelors in Psychology. Aaron will be 36, and will have his A+ certification and an Associates in Web Design, and I sure hope that those will be enough to help him find work because it's tough out there.