My Baby's Almost a Toddler!

Morgan turned the big O-N-E a few weeks ago! As most mothers would agree, the time has flown by with amazing speed. She's becoming more and more of a "real person" as the days pass. She's still not officially a "toddler", since she's not really walking, yet. She has taken up to 6 steps, though! I'm not in much of a hurry for her to begin walking, but it is still exciting when she takes those little steps.

She had her 12-month appointment and she's weighed 23 1/4 pounds, was 31 inches tall, and I didn't get the head circumference. She's in the 75th percentile for weight, 85th for

height and 95th for head circumference. They gave her the MMR, Chicken Pox and some other vaccine, along with her flu shot. My poor baby had to have 4 needles in her that day and she was not a happy camper. Once again, a couple of days after her flu shot, she had a really rough night. I despise those flu shots! Her other vaccines have never caused her any problems.

She's still on soy formula, since we were waiting to take her for a visit with a board-certified pediatric dermatologist. It was pretty much a waste of time, because all he said was "she has eczema", and gave me a handout and a prescription for some foam for her scalp. He did give us the "OK" to try milk, again, though. We'll be trying 2% milk on Frid

ay. He said he didn't believe her problems with eczema were food related. I'm still nervous about the transition.

Going to milk and, in particular, weaning off the bottle is going to be very stressful for me. I know, obviously, it won't be a picnic for Morgan, either, but I'm so nervous because the bottle has magical curative powers for Morgan. No matter what ails her, a bottle always fixes it, or at least stops the crying. I know soothing with food isn't the best option, long term, unless I want a 100-pound 5 year-old, but it really gets the job done, for now.

She's still waking up once a night, most nights and she's thirsty for her "milk"! I know this is a learned thirst, but I'm getting anxious about breaking that habit. She had gone without night feedings for quite a while, but slipped back into the habit a couple of month ago. I guess I can still give her a little water, but I'm afraid that in her sleepy state, she'll try to drink it like a bottle and choke on the sippy cup. Maybe I'll have to keep one bottle for emergencies. ;)

She's doing very well with the few signs I've taught her, and that makes me really happy. She uses the "more" sign to tell me she wants more food/drink, but she also uses it to say she's hungry. She never really caught onto the "milk" sign, which is funny to me, since it's her favorite thing in the world. She gets so excited when I'm shaking the bottle to mix the formula and you'd think she had been in the desert for a week with the panting and lip smacking. She has mastered the "all done" sign and uses it to tell me when she has had enough food/milk/whatever. I just noticed she has decided to clap her hands to say "yes", when I ask her if she wants something. I guess I should work on the real sign. It thrills me to be able to communicate with her and I'm looking forward to more "real words" being added to her vocabulary.

Right now, pretty much everything is "that" or "dada". She points at EVERYTHING and says "dat"/"that" all the time. She says "light" sometimes when she points at light fixtures, and I think she sometimes tries to say "ball", but that's about it. She constantly calls me "dada" and it drives me crazy, ha, ha. She'll say "mama" every once in a while, so maybe she knows she's picking on me and is doing it for fun! She still loves to "read" her books and enjoys pointing to all the things she can and identifying them, as "dada", of course.

She has started dancing this adorable "twist" dance. I don't know where she picked it up, but I love it. She did this cute dance when her Daddy came home from work today. It's funny, because it's very similar to my "gopher dance" that I used to do when happy. I don't think she has ever seen me do it, so now I'm wondering if the "gopher dance" is genetic. :)

Well, I need to get to sleep, but I wanted to write something, since it has been a while.

Here are a few of our pictures from her 12-Month Sears Portraits session:

Time's Flying By...

Whoops! It has been way too long since my last blog entry!

Morgan is doing well and growing so tall! She can pull up and stand and she "cruises" around the living room. She stands up in her crib and drives me crazy, but I love how she takes notice of everything, inspecting even the tiniest dot on the floor. She even tries to eat some of those "dots" and that always keeps me on my toes. She'll be a whole year old next month, and it blows my mind! She turning into a real person, right before my very eyes. I've been having to rock her sleep a lot, lately, but I'm not really minding, since I won't have the privilege forever and am enjoying it while it lasts.

I am going nuts with her eczema, though. I just cannot stop her from scratching her hands and I feel so bad for her at night, when she seems to be so itchy. I've sewn several "baby straight-jackets", which are just onesies with the sleeves sewn shut, but she manages to get out of every contraption that I've fashioned. I'm continuing to hope that she outgrows this, or that it will get better over time. Luckily, her face is fairly clear most of the time, but her hands, ankles, etc., get pretty scraped up from all her scratching. Thankfully, the weather is getting cooler and starting to match her head-to-toe wardrobe.

I'm in the process of planning Morgan's first birthday parties. She's having a family party on the weekend of her birthday, and a playgroup party on her actual birthday, which is on a Monday. I need to think of snacks and favors for 30 kiddos - my little baby has more friends than I do! I'm so glad I joined the Stay at Home Moms Playgroup, though. She just flourishes, surrounded by her friends, playing and interacting and learning. The mommies in the group are great, which is a big added bonus. I would have been so lonely if I had not joined this group. I love seeing Morgan acknowledge other babies and kids and finally start to interact with them. At her first few play dates, she just slept. ;) She was only 2 months old, so that was to be expected. Now, she crawls around, smiling at her friends, giving them pats and "kisses" on the head.

She's not walking just yet, but she can stand pretty well, and I'm not in a big hurry for that to happen. She also doesn't have any teeth, but again, all in good time.

Well, I need to run, she's waking up from her afternoon nap. Here are a few pictures:

My big girl standing at a children's table...

At the pumpkin patch...can you spot my little pumpkin?

Enjoying the bubbles at playgroup:

Ear Infection Update

OK, so we took Morgan to the doctor and he said it definitely looks like the non-allergic amoxicillin rash. I find the term "non-allergic rash" to be an oxymoron, but anyway...He said her ear infection was looking much better and that we didn't need to switch to a new antibiotic. In fact, he said she could stop taking the amoxicillin. He didn't want to label her as "allergic to amoxicillin", either, since she didn't have any other reactions. He said there's nothing we can do about the rash - it will just have to run its course, which could take 7-10 days. My poor baby already has eczema, she doesn't need new rashes! Well, I'm very glad she'll be off those antibiotics. I think they were causing her mood swings, poor sleep, etc. I expect her to improve much more quickly, now. Hooray! :)

9 Month Update - Running a Little Behind...

Morgan turned 9 months old a little over a week ago. She had her 9-month pediatrician appointment last Monday. She weighed 22 pounds, measured 28.5 inches long and her head circumference was 46 cm. All of these values were in the 90th percentile! I was really looking forward to this appointment, as I was told there wouldn't be any shots. Well, the pediatrician said he "lied" and they had received their shipment of flu shots. They were expecting an early flu season, so they offered us the shot. Not wanting to turn down protection for our baby, we agreed to give her the shot. She let out one squeal, but I had her bottle ready and popped it in her mouth and she was a happy camper. I watched her closely for the rest of the day to watch for reactions, but she was fine.

Then, 2 days later, on Wednesday evening, she started to look a little down and extra tired and fussy. I chalked it up to being sleepy and put her to bed. I woke up at 1:00 a.m. to the sound of an odd cry. She was crying in a way that sounded different and I didn't wait to see if she'd go back to sleep. I rushed in her room and picked her up and she was burning up! She was moaning and her whole body just felt so hot to the touch. My husband got up to see what was going on and he picked her up and we headed to the kitchen to take her temperature. She looked ill and then began to vomit, but she was choking on it and it scared me. She only choked for a second and then it all came out. After she threw up, her temperature started to come down. It was at 102ºF, but had come "down" to 100º. I was about ready to head to the ER, because I didn't know what was going on, but we decided to give her a minute and see how she did. I gave her a little bit of water and she was very thirsty. I thought that was a good sign (that she wanted to drink.) She even gave me a little smile. I called the nurse line and she said as long as her fever was below 104º, there was no need to take her anywhere. I asked if she thought it was a side effect of the flu shot from 3 days before and she said it was possible. She said to just try and get her back to sleep, since she was undoubtedly tired. We put her back to bed and she fell asleep.

The next day, she was fussy on and off all day long and she kept a temperature around 99º/100º. I hadn't given her more Tylenol, as I was waiting to talk to the pediatrician's office. I spoke with another nurse and she said it very well could be the flu shot giving her the fever. I resumed giving her Tylenol and that kept the fever down. Thursday night, I gave her a dose of Tylenol around 6:00 p.m. Pretty much as soon as it wore off, at around 10:30 p.m., I heard her cry again and went to get her and she was burning up again. Due to lack of sleep, I can't recall whether she threw up that time, but I gave her some more Tylenol and she went back to sleep. She also awoke again at 4:00 and I fed her and she drank almost the whole bottle. She slept until 6:00 and I got her up and thought she was a little better. However, she still seemed warm and was making odd sounds. I put her in the highchair and started making a bottle. I heard more off sounds and looked at her (I had turned the highchair a little so I could see her) and she was turning red and choking on vomit again. This time was even scarier than the first time, as her eyes were red and she seemed in distress. I ripped the tray off the chair and pulled her out and luckily she cleared what was stuck and started breathing. Two near heart-attacks in two days was enough for me. I called the pediatrician's office when they opened and they said the earliest appointment available was for 10:45 a.m., which seemed like years from then. They said if we went to the E.R., we could wait all day and I agreed, so I made the appointment. My husband took the day off from work and we took her in to the doctor. She was looking/feeling much better by then and we joked that it seemed silly to be bringing a smiling baby into the office. However, with her waking up 2 nights in a row and choking on vomit, I had to have her checked.

We saw a nurse practicioner and she checked her over and found that it wasn't the flu shot that was bothing her, but instead, a mild ear infection. She prescribed the antibiotic Amoxicillin. We had to wait an hour on the prescription, but Morgan's fever was already down and staying down. We got the medicine and she did NOT like it. It hadn't been refrigerated yet, which is supposed to improve the taste. She spent most of Saturday and Sunday alternating between smiling and crying. One of the side effects is mood swings and I believe she had them. She would actually smile then immediately start crying actual tears, poor thing. Last night, Sunday night, I was putting her in her pajamas and noticed she had a rash over her entire torso, front and back. It was exactly like the pictures I had seen when researching Amoxicillin side effects. It was called a "non-allergic amoxicillin rash". My poor baby seems to be the "lucky one", getting those side effects that only 5-10% of users experience. :( I called the pediatrician's office, though, because I read that the rash must be looked at, to rule out a true allergic reaction. So, we now have an appointment for 9:15 a.m.

I'm so sad that she's sick, but I keep telling myself how lucky we are that she didn't get this sick when she was under 3 months old. I would have hated for her to have to get a spinal tap for fever, etc. This is really her first time being sick, so I'm glad that she's a healthy, robust 9-month-old baby, with reserves to get her through her waning appetite.

Oh, and another thing I wanted to add was that this illness has not slowed down her development, which I think is great. She learned to make the "Ba" sound and has been "talking" up a storm the past couple of days. She has said "bay bay", "bah bah", "bob", etc. I just love it! On top of that, last night, my husband called me into the living room to show me something. He had her standing up, holding on to the front of her walker and she was making perfect walking movements! She was taking slow steps forward, as he held the walker, to keep it from running away from her. She definitely can't walk behind it alone, but it was still amazing to see!

I'll post another update later...

Sleep Training Update!

OK, so on Friday night, Morgan was supposed to go all night without eating. Technically, I think she did, because she slept 8 hours, before crying to be fed. However, this was at 3:00 a.m., so it depends on how you look at it. I was thinking about it and I don't think it's quite time to totally wean her off night feedings. I'm not very good about giving her enough solids during the daytime, so I think one night feeding, as long as she sleeps past midnight, is fair. She has been doing such a great job and when she cries at 2 in the morning, I know she's really hungry and not just asking for milk to be put back to sleep. She has proven to me that she can put herself to sleep on her own, so there's no need to force the issue on night feedings, just yet.

Saturday night, she only slept 4 hours and woke up at 11:00 wanting milk, though. Normally, I'd make her wait until after midnight, but I was late giving her solids and kinda messed up her feeding schedule, again, she shouldn't suffer for my mistakes. I fed her about 2.5 ounces and then she slept another 5hr15min. After that, I fed her a little more and she slept another 2 and half hours. Her total sleep for that night was 11 hours and 45 minutes, which is amazing to me!

Last night was a even better. I've read that "sleeping through the night" is sleeping 5 hours straight, usually from 12a-5a. Morgan went to bed at 7:30p and slept all the way to 5:15a! She did let out a single cry at 2:30a, but it was in her sleep, so I say that doesn't count. ;) She was very hungry when she woke up at 5:15a, and she had slept almost 10 hours, so I gladly gave her a little water and then a little milk. She slept from 5:30a-7:00a, for a total of 11 hours 10 minutes, with only one waking/feeding. This is a first for my sweet baby and I'm so proud of her! It only took her 8 months, but she finally slept through the night!

Sleep Training - Week One almost complete! I ♥ Dr. Ferber!

As some of you may know, Morgan has never slept well. Only a few times in her life did she sleep 5+ hours straight. Her typical routine is to go to bed and wake up just about every sleep cycle. I was in her room every 45 minutes to an hour, most nights. Sometimes she'd sleep 2-3 hours at a time and give me a little break. Ever since she was a newborn, I've been reading books on baby sleep and doing research on the web. I've read the following 3 books: The Baby Whisperer (BW) by Tracy Hogg, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems (SYCSP) by Dr. Richard Ferber, and The No-Cry Sleep Solution (NCSS) by Elizabeth Pantley. They are all good books, by respected authors. I believe the first book I read was the BW and I find it more helpful now, than I did when she was a small baby. I just couldn't seem to get into a structured routine, while at the same time trying to figure out what to do with a baby. The next book I got was the Ferber book and it is the best of the 3, when it comes to explaining the nature of baby sleep. He is a baby sleep expert and I found the information very helpful. Baby's just don't sleep like adults do, and I had a lot of learning to do on the subject. I was initially very wary of letting Morgan cry for any period of time, though, so I went out and bought the NCSS. I felt that the author was on a bit of a "high horse" about how her method did not involve crying, like that meant it was superior. The NCSS is different, not better. The BW and Ferber methods are also different, and not better/worse. I believe I went out and bought 3 tools and one ended up being right for the job at hand and the others were valid tools, but for someone else's workshop.

Let me provide a little more background before I get into recounting our sleep training. I distinctly remember watching an episode of "Mad About You", many years ago, where they had their little baby in her crib, behind closed doors and they were letting her "cry it out". Jamie was sitting on the floor, outside the door, with Paul and crying and wanting to go to her and saying something to the effect of, "I don't want her to think that nobody's going to be there for her and that she's all alone in the world." It was a touching scene and I decided then that I'd never leave my baby alone to "cry it out". It seemed like a cruel process and I didn't think I could ever do such a thing.

When I read the Ferber book, however, I realized that his method was not at all like the "crying it out" (CIO) that I had heard about. In my mind, CIO is leaving your baby alone, locked in their room, to cry for hours until they pass out from exhaustion and accept the fact that nobody's listening or coming to help them, so they might as well just shut up and sleep. THAT's the CIO that I was very much against. Ferber's method does not involve abandoning your child so that they lose faith in the world. As a friend put it, "he does changes their habits without breaking their spirit".

Ferber's method involves putting your child to bed awake (which is the same suggestion as in most baby sleep books), so that they learn to put themselves to sleep without the use of "crutches" like eating/nursing, being rocked, patted, walked around, etc. You are to go through a loving bedtime routine, which can include a bath, book, song, etc. After you place your baby in the crib and tell them that you goodnight and that you love them, you leave. When you do this, your baby's going to cry. Crying is their only form of communication and they are going to use it to tell you that they are not pleased. I should add that before you place them in the crib, you are to do a safety check and make sure that they are fed, dry and not suffering any discomfort that would otherwise explain their crying. That way, you know that their crying is merely a protest to a change in their routine.

Morgan had become used to the following routine: pajamas and a bottle of milk. She would fall asleep drinking that bottle of milk and then I would burp her on my shoulder and she'd be asleep as I got up and placed her gently in the crib and snuck out of the room. She'd roll over and go right to sleep, without a fuss. However, 30-60 minutes later...WAH!!! She'd cry for me to come soothe her. She'd probably eat every time, but I'd make her wait a few hours between feedings. Every night, I'd have 3-4 bottles of water ready and formula in the dispenser. In total, she drank about 6-8 oz. at night. It didn't matter how little or how much I fed her during the day. I soon realized that it was habit, more than hunger, driving these frequent night wakings.

When Morgan was 4 months old, I decided to give Ferberizing a try. The standard plan is to start with a 5-minute wait time. I didn't really have a bedtime routine then, so I just placed her in the crib. I went to the other room and she went bananas! She was screaming and after the 5 minutes was up, I went in and she had turned herself all around in the crib and was pitching a major hissy fit. I went away for another 5, unable to do 10 and when I went back, she was livid. She was looking at me with this pleading look - "why are you doing this to me??" So, I picked her up out of the crib, told her I was sorry and abandoned the project. She just wasn't ready and I wasn't doing it right.

I then decided to try out the No-Cry plan. It involves mostly the same principles, but instead of leaving the baby in the crib, you pick them up each time and put them down and give them the "shush-pat", where you make a "shush" sound and pat them on the back. This is an exhausting plan, because you might have to pick them up and put them down 10-15 times before they go to sleep. I don't see how this is a "no cry" plan, though, because she cried every time I put her back down and most of the time while I was holding her, too. It actually made her more upset if I'd pick her up and put her back down. She'd get more and more upset each time, instead of being calmed. I'd end up having to feed her to sleep to stop her crying. The logs in the NCSS book even have a space for "time spent crying" or something to that effect, and it's just supposed to lessen over time. I don't think it's fair for them to call themselves a "no-cry"solution. I honestly don't think there is such a thing. A baby is not going to like you taking away their sleep crutches or changing what they are used to and they will protest and the way babies protest is to cry. It's like she wants to stick a fork in an electrical outlet and I'm telling her she can't and she's crying.

Anyway, I tried to get some help from parents who had successfully sleep-trained with a "no-cry" method, but I couldn't find anyone. I was nearing 8 months of basically no sleep and I needed to find something that worked. After reading more and more and more, I decided to try Ferber again. I spoke to other mothers who had successfully Ferberized, without rendering their babies insane. They all tweaked the method to suit their needs and I decide to go with Ferber's alternate interval plan that starts with a single minute of wait time.

My husband rigged up our camcorder, which has a night-vision setting, and placed it on the shelf near her crib and hid it behind the shelf curtains. He hooked it up to a spare flat-panel computer monitor in the other room. That way, I could see her and know that nothing was wrong and go in earlier, if she looked like she was in distress. This made a world of difference in making the process tolerable. Nobody wants to hear their baby cry, and it's even worse when you're imagining what they're doing in the other room. Is she spinning around? Is she shooting laserbeams out her eyes??

(Wow, I just realized this is a ridiculously long blog...sorry!)

We decided to start on a Friday night, so my husband could offer more support, if needed. I decided the bedtime routine would be bottle (well before bedtime), pajamas, book(s), bed. I couldn't add a bath to the routine because of her eczema. Another really helpful addition to the process was the purchase of Huggies Overnites diapers. They are the best! They keep her so dry at night, no matter how much she wets. I never have to change her at night. Even when she drank a ton of milk at night and wet and wet and wet, her skin would be smooth and dry in the morning.

So, I put her in her jammies, read her a few books and turned off the lights. I held her close for a few minutes and sang her a little song. I told her that I loved her and that it was time for "night night" and I put her in the crib. She immediately began fussing and I patted her and told her it was OK and it was time for bed. I said a few more sweet words and then I left the room. I went to the other room and started the 1-minute timer. I watched on the monitor as she cried and rolled around, wondering what the heckamazoo was going on. I sat there for the longest 60 seconds, reminding myself that she was clothed, fed and dry and was just protesting. After the minute passed, I went to her crib and patted her and told her that everything was OK. She cried harded at seeing me, but then she settled down and I left again for another minute. This extended to 3 minutes, then 5 minutes. I had put her in the crib at 7:45 p.m. By 8:25 p.m., she had settled down, found a comfortable position and was sleeping soundly. The total "fuss time" for Night 1 was 40 minutes. - and it's not like she cried for 40 continuous minutes. It was broken up by my visits. She then slept for 4 hours straight, which was a wonderous improvement over her normal routine. She woke up at 12:25 a.m. and I fed her a few ounces. Another part of the process is weaning off the night feeds, so for Night 1 she had to go 2.5 hours between feedings and she had gone above and beyond my expectations. After I fed her, she slept another 5 hours! She awoke at 5:45 a.m. and I fed her a little more and she slept until 7:30 a.m. That was another 1.5 hours, for a total night's sleep of 10.5 hours. We went to wake her up at 7:30, so I don't know how much longer she would have slept, but I didn't want to let her sleep too late and throw off the next day. She was a happy camper when my husband and I went to get her out of the crib. It was probably the most restful night she had experienced in her entire life. Morgan has always been a happy baby, despite her lack of sleep, but she was in an impossibly good mood that day.

I continued the process for the next day's naps and she fussed and wiggled for about 15 minutes, before falling asleep. Again, she didn't cry that whole time. She definitely cried for the first couple of minutes, but then she tossed and turned to find a comfy spot and then drifted off to sleep.

That night (Night 2) she only fussed for FIVE minutes and went to sleep. She caught onto the routine very quickly and I was amazed. When she was down for a nap, I waited longer than the 1-minute interval, because she was settling and I knew that if I went in there, she'd feel the need to put on a show of protest for me. With me out of the room, she was free to get settled and go off to sleep.

Nights 3-7 were as follows: (remember that fuss time does not mean continuous crying time...)

Night 3:
Bedtime fuss time: 8 minutes
Sleep Stretch #1: 3hr 40min
Sleep Stretch #2: 3hr
Sleep Stretch #3: 2hr 35min
Total Sleep: 9hr 15min

Night 4:
Bedtime fuss time: 8 minutes
Sleep Stretch #1: 4hr 35min
Sleep Stretch #2: 5hr
Sleep Stretch #3: 1hr
Total Sleep: 10hr 35min

Night 5:
Bedtime fuss time: 18 minutes
(interrupted by coughing fit...)
Sleep Stretch #1: 3hr 50min
Sleep Stretch #2: 5hr 30min
Total Sleep: 9hr 20min

Night 6:
Bedtime fuss time: 1 minute!
Sleep Stretch #1: 6hr 45min
Sleep Stretch #2: 3hr 30min
Total Sleep: 10hr 15min

Night 7:
Bedtime fuss time: 2 minutes
Sleep Stretch #1: 5hr 50min
Sleep Stretch #2: 1hr 50min
Sleep Stretch #3: 2hr
Total Sleep: 9hr 40min

Tonight is Night 8 and she's supposed to go the whole night without a feeding, so we'll see how that goes. She only fussed for 5 minutes, so she's still doing well.

I should add that she developed some seasonal allergies (sneezing, coughing, no fever) right in the middle of our sleep training, but she's still doing really well. She was coughing in her sleep and I was afraid the whole process would be derailed, but thankfully not. The only "problem" now is that she knows the wind-down process and she starts to fuss right when I turn out the light. I'm always holding her when I turn the lights off and she leans back in protest, because she knows what's coming. I know she's tired and she knows she's tired, but she just has to give me that little protesting cry before nodding off to Dreamland.

I think the Ferber Method was a success for us, this time around, and I am so very pleased. I truly believe that she cries less now, using a "cry" method, than she did when trying either no method or the "no-cry" method. If there are mothers out there not getting any sleep night after night after night, I would like to tell them that Ferber is not the Devil and your baby won't die if he/she has to cry for a few minutes. Instead they (and you) will get the rest they need and be all the better for it. I know this method doesn't work for everyone and not all babies adjust quickly, but it's a viable, humane option and not an exercise in baby torture, like some would have you believe.

Crib Recall!

First off, let me say that if you are not already on their mailing list, please go to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website at http://www.cpsc.gov and sign up. They will send you email notifications about product recalls that could save your child's life!

I received one such email yesterday for my daughter's Simplicity drop-side crib: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09260.html

I also received an email directly from Wal-Mart.com, which is where I ordered the crib, using their "Site-to-Store" feature. I checked the model/serial number on the bottom of her crib and, sure enough, it was on the recall list. I also called Wal-Mart customer service to confirm. I had bought the crib as part of Simplicity's "Nursery in a Box" set, which comes with a crib, changing table and dresser. I called Wal-Mart and they said I could just take the crib back and not the other pieces, as I explained that we had clothes in the drawers and items on the shelves of the changing table.

I was not going to let my daughter sleep one more night in that possible death-trap, so I disassembled the crib and we loaded it up in the truck bed and headed off to Wal-Mart. Just as we're driving up to Wal-Mart we see this HUGE wall of rain headed our way. It has barely rained 3 drops in months and now that we're carting a crib in the truck bed, it has to rain. We get the crib inside, ahead of the rain and take it to the customer service department. They didn't give us any trouble. We didn't have our receipt or anything, but they gave us a full refund for the cost of the entire set, which was amazing. We then went to pick out a new crib. There were only 2 brands left that weren't recalled, so we got the white one, to match her furniture and checked out. When we get outside, it's raining cats and dogs! We're got Morgan with us and so we're trying to get the crib in the back (the employees helped with that) and the car seat in the car and the stroller had to go in the back, too. My poor, beautiful stroller got doused. Anyway, we get home and we had called my dad to meet us at the house to bring in the crib, because Greg hurt his back and shouldn't lift anything heavy. My dad arrives and it's still pouring down. He helps bring the crib in one piece at a time and that's when they see that both the front and back boards are broken. One is slightly cracked and the other is flat out broken and splintered. Grr! We call Wal-Mart and ask that they bring another crib box to Customer Service and let us exchange just the broken parts, since we're not loading that thing up again. They agreed and my husband went to exchange the pieces. My husband and my dad got the crib all set up and just in time, because Morgan was so tired and fussy.

She went right to sleep in her new, hopefully safe, crib...for an hour...oh well, I guess her new crib didn't change anything, but at least I know she's not in a death-trap...until the next recall comes out...