Category: life events

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Back in the Swing of Things

Here's what I'm using all day now.

I’m sure I’ll have more to report on in the future, but for right now, I can safely say that I’m settling in at the new job.  I’ve been telling people for awhile now that there would be a definite “learning curve” with the science carried out here, and believe you me, I wasn’t kidding.  I’m having to re-learn basic circuit mechanics (i.e. resistance, capacitance, voltage, etc.) from physics class 8 years ago in order to comprehend the bulk of what I’m doing, so that’s where much of my learning is coming from.  The rest of it is coming from the actual manipulations of cells in order to collect meaningful data.

Basically, what I’m doing now in the lab of Steven Mennerick in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University, is termed “electrophysiology.”  It’s a technique used to record changes in current and voltage across the membrane of a cell, in this case, hippocampal neurons from mice.  I’ll write more about this in a Primer sometime after I get more settled, but in short, the process involves attaching an electrode to the interior of a cell, and then a second electrode outside the cell in the surrounding fluid.  Depending on what drugs and ions you have present in the two locations (intracellular and extracellular), you can record peaks that look very much like ECG recordings from your heart.  These peaks will tell you whether sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, etc. are entering or leaving the cell, which in turn tells you about how the cell functions.  Specifically, it gives you insight into neurotransmission, as the process of a cell receiving a neurotransmitter (e.g. dopamine, adrenaline, etc.) must involve some change in the flow of ions across the cell membrane.

The rig pictured above is the one I’m learning on.  It’s a large microscope with some tubes and electrodes running up to the state where the dish of cells sit.  Then, you use some little knobs and widgets to move the electrodes very slowly toward the cell so you don’t kill it by “popping” it.  So yeah, this takes some practice.  You have to make sure you don’t break the cell open, you have to make sure you don’t damage your electrode, and you also have to make sure you’re doing everything fast enough so that certain components of the system don’t “go bad” to the point where you need to replace them.  There’s a healthy balance between speed of operation and “care” of operation in all of this, for sure.

Aside from learning how to actually puncture and gather data from the cell, I’m having to learn about the aforementioned physics of circuits.  Good thing my Dad works with circuit breakers, just in case I ever need some help.

I’m definitely making progress, though.  I’ve been able to successfully puncture (or “patch,” as the technical lingo goes) more than a few cells, so right now, I’m working on consistency more than anything.  I’m hoping to get some more reading done today or tomorrow so I begin to understand why I’m doing some of the things I’m doing.

At the very least, it’s keeping me busy.  🙂

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A Brand New Day

Needless to say, this past weekend was somewhat hectic.  We got the truck loaded on Friday night with the help of relatively few (yet extremely helpful) people, which was shocking in and of itself.  At our parent’s suggestion, we ended up switching to a 26′ truck from the 22′ truck we had originally reserved.

Yeah.  That wouldn’t have worked.  We have far too much stuff.

In any event, we got it loaded and I drove the truck down from Swisher on Saturday morning, with Sam riding shotgun.  I pulled up to the new place (pictured above) just after 2:00, so all things considered, I think I made reasonable time.

We got the truck unloaded relatively quickly, this time with a bit more help than we had loading on Friday.  Had some problems with getting furniture up our narrow staircase to the upstairs, though.  Sadly, my orange swivel rocker won’t fit, and neither will the box spring for our full-size bed.  The mattress itself barely made it up there, so that’s something, I guess.  Meg’s room is mostly set up and the guest room is pretty much full of boxes, and will surely be the last thing to be completed.

The back yard. Nice covered porch and much, much less grass than I had to mow in Iowa.

The family hung out into Sunday, so we made a good deal of progress toward unpacking, though there’s plenty more to do.  We mostly chilled last night and watched the Cardinals game.  Brooke went to work today and Meg and I hung out, getting a few things done.  I did some work organizing the pantry, our bedroom and other miscellaneous areas of the house.  Meg was a bit fussier than usual, though I’m sure this is because a). her Mom had to go to work, and she was awake when Brooke left, and b). she’s finding herself in new surroundings.

So, we went to the park!

This park is about 2 blocks from us.

Thankfully, there’s a nice park very close to our house, well within walking distance.  There’s a playground, as well as benches, a field, and so on.  In general, a nice resource to have nearby, especially as we don’t have a really good place for her red swing.  Good thing the park has swings fit for Meg.  🙂

"Wheeeeee!"

Meg didn’t get to swing much this week, so she was eager to get in.  I kept asking if she was “all done,” and all she’d say was “no.”  Well, that and “wheeeee.”  We stayed at the park for a good 20-30 min, checked out the slides (which were a bit wet for my taste), and then walked back home for lunch.

In all, a pretty good day, despite Meg’s mood.  Nice having Brooke back now, too.  New “Dinners” posts forthcoming.  🙂

 

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“I love it when a plan comes together.”

Back on June 24th, I was informed that money was getting tight and that I should start looking for other opportunities elsewhere.  Obviously, this news wasn’t exactly welcome, as the timing of it effectively prevented me from being able to jump directly into a teaching position somewhere (as those positions are almost all filled by the end of June).  As I’ve posted before on the blog, we made the decision that Brooke would go back to work in St. Louis in mid-July to help ensure that we would have health insurance in case I had to leave my position in Iowa before I found something down in St. Louis.

Long story short, there weren’t many options.  I may write at greater length about this in the future, but basically, most industry positions want people less qualified than I am.  As in, folks with bachelor’s degrees.  I applied to practically every industrial company in St. Louis that did pharmaceutical work, including some generic chemical companies, but in the majority of cases, I never heard anything back.  I did have a strong option with Monsanto (that I will definitely write more about later), but that fell through after the third interview.

Thankfully, I came upon another option at Washington University, so last week, I accepted a position as a postdoc in a lab in their Department of Psychiatry.  I’ll be doing work that is radically different from what I’ve done in the past, so there’s going to be a steep learning curve, even moreso than the one I had here at Iowa.  Still, I will continue to work with catecholamines, so at least some of the work will be familiar to me.  I’ll write more about this once I’m down there.

This post is mostly with regards to the timeline.  My position will start November 1, so the current plan is that we’ll be moving down to St. Louis on October 22 to a house off of Kingshighway in south St. Louis City.  The house is a shade smaller than we have now, but it has a two-car garage, a fenced in yard for Edie, and has enough bedrooms that we can surely find room for everyone, as well as have guests over from time to time.  And the pantry is huge.  And it’ll have a dishwasher and a garbage disposal (which we’ve lived without since living in Iowa).  Brooke will work that following week while Meg and I get our bearings and take a little time off.  Meg will start at her new daycare on October 31.

I guess we’ll have to send her in a costume on her first day?

So the plan is set in motion.  We’ve got a few weeks to finalize everything, and my Dad and Brooke’s Mom were very helpful in boxing lots of stuff up this past weekend, so I think we’re on pretty solid footing for jumping state lines again.

Almost 4 months after getting the news, and after 3 months of living most of the week apart, we will be back together in St. Louis again.

As Hannibal Smith is so fond of saying: “I love it when a plan comes together.”

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One Man and a Baby

I remember watching “Three Men and a Baby” more than a few times growing up.  Pretty sure we had it taped on VHS.  I didn’t watch it as much as “Ghostbusters” or anything, but definitely more than a few times.  For those that don’t remember, “Three Men” involved a set of bachelors living in a New York high rise when a baby is left on their doorstep.  Not knowing what to do, they try their hand at taking care of it, learning more about child care than they ever thought they would.

Granted, I have a bit more experience than Tom Selleck (and no mustache), but there are times I can relate.

When we first started this little adventure of ours, we didn’t know quite how long we’d be doing it.  As of next week, it will have been two months of Brooke being here for the weekend, and Meg and I alone four nights a week.  Brooke typically gets here mid-evening on Thursdays, though a few weeks there, it’s been closer to 10:00.  She will then be here through the weekend, keeping busy making sure the produce from the garden is processed and that Meg and I have something to eat during the following week, and then she leaves after putting Meg down for a nap on Sunday afternoon.

For the most part, it’s gone shockingly well.  Certainly, it isn’t an ideal situation, but all things considered, I haven’t damaged Meg in any permanent way.  🙂

We generally stick to a routine, which thankfully works well for Meg and for me.  I get up at 6:00 am, then I wake her up at 6:30.  I give her some milk and we hop in the car, so she’s at daycare by 6:50, putting me to work only about 15 min later than I normally would get there.  I pick her up anywhere from 4:30 to 5:15 pm, then we come home and eat.  She likes hot dogs and bananas, but I’ve had some luck giving her bits of whatever I’m eating.  Her new love is cottage cheese (blech…).  Then, we go outside or watch some TV, or just play with toys for awhile until she goes to bed at 7:30.  After which, I finish cleaning up, do some laundry, and either watch TV or play video games.  Rinse and repeat.

Regardless, it’s been an interesting experience, one that, in some ways, I’m glad I’ve gone through.  It’s good to know that I can take care of a small human without hurting it and that she’ll still prosper and thrive under my guidance.  If anything, I think we’ve “bonded” a bit more than we would have, otherwise.  Obviously, these aren’t the circumstances I would have chosen for such things…

Meg still misses her “Mama,” though.  They talked on the phone a bit tonight.  🙂

Fun Fact: “Three Men and a Baby” was directed by a young up-and-comer named Leonard Nimoy.  I learned something new!

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On This September 12th

The headline on September 12th from the New York Times

I actually started composing something a week ago about September 11th, reminiscing about that day and the general mood of the country prior to the attack on the World Trade Center.  As I paid attention to some 9/11 coverage during the past week, I was reminded of what the country was actually like, and that I was really viewing it with rose-colored glasses.  Hey, I was a sophomore in college; I’d only just started paying attention to the world around me.

Thus, instead, I reflect on September 12th, or really, the initial days that followed September 11th.

Much like the JFK assassination and the generation(s) before me that were actually alive at that time, I remember exactly what I was doing at the time it all happened.  I was in my dorm room and had just gotten up to read my Yahoo! News feed and see that a plane of some type had hit the first tower.  I woke up my roommate and turned on CNN just in time to watch the second plane hit the second tower.  On live television.

What followed over the next few hours, and few days, and few weeks, was a series of feelings.  Confusion.  Fear.  Shock.

Then Focus.

Then Togetherness.

Then Direction.

This country went through a terrible tragedy and, from it, came a sense of direction that it hadn’t had in awhile.  My initial blog post was looking to those years before 9/11, and that it was a time that I wish we could all return to.  However, in many ways, the country was already on a downward spiral of divisiveness, with the Lewinsky Scandal and Impeachment proceedings in the news.  With a Dot Com Bubble bursting.  With a Housing Crisis already in the works.

Really, a decade on, I’d like us all to reflect on where we were 10 years ago today, rather than 10 years ago yesterday.  Sure, yesterday was incredibly important and it is equally important that all those lives were lost.  At the same time, I think it’s essential that we remember how much of the country actually came together for a common purpose.  Eventually, that purpose was misdirected toward other political goals.  That purpose was used to divide the country even further than it’s ever been, certainly in my lifetime.  And today, on September 12, 2011, we are about as divided as we could be.

But on September 12, 2001, we were all together.  In grief.  In searching.  In wondering.

Yet also, in a desire to root out evil.  A need to be together in service to our communities.  To be together in solidarity and in support of our firefighters, policemen and EMTs, but also in support of each other.

Case in point: I read on Facebook that over 100 people from our church in St. Louis went to East St. Louis to be in service to others on September 10th as part of the Serve 2011 project.  That’s the kind of feeling we should be getting from 9/11.  Not only focusing on the attack itself, but also on the need to better ourselves that followed for the first few days and weeks after it.  The thing that was designed to tear us apart that actually helped bring us together, even if only for a few short moments.  Where we weren’t rich, poor, black, white, man or woman: we were just American.  And we were all the same.

And that’s what we need to work toward finding again, 10 years later.  Ten years after September the 12th.

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Meg’s Word List

"To you, Chicken, I say 'bah, bah, bah.'"

As first-time parents, I assume it’s expected that we should be surprised with the level of language comprehension and execution that our 17 month old has.  To be fair, neither Brooke nor I have much experience with children of this age, so we don’t really know what Meg is supposed to be doing, aside from walking and playing.  That said, it’s astounding to me the number of words Meg seems to know already.  My Mom has marveled at this fact in the past, and her general feeling is that Meg wasn’t walking for so long that her language skills developed sooner instead (we’re convinced it was because of the ear infections, messing with her balance: she was walking within 4 days of getting ear tubes put in).

With all this in mind, I figured I should recount the words Meg knows.  We aren’t really keeping much of a “baby book,” in favor of taking a ridiculous number of photos and videos, and writing things down on this blog, instead.  Bear in mind that these are all words that Meg appears to know, most of which she can say, though it may not sound like we know it (and I have included her phrasing in parenthesis after each word).  At the bottom, I’m also listing a series of body parts Meg knows.  So far as we’ve read, this part is quite impressive, as she’s not really supposed to be able to do this for another year or so.  She can only say a few of them, but she can point to each one reliably.

Words:

  • Mom (“Mama”)
  • Dad (“Da”)
  • Meg (“Mee”)
  • Edie (“Dih-di”)
  • Banana (“Nana”)
  • Apple (“Appo”)
  • Juice (“Ju”)
  • Car (“Doh”)
  • Chicken (“Ba ba ba”)
  • Sheep (“Bah”)
  • Cow (“Mmm”)
  • Outside (“Outside”)
  • Elmo (“Emmo”)
  • Abby (“Abbee”)
  • That (“Da”)  — [Note: This is what she says when she points at something…]
  • Shirt (“Sit”)
  • Shoes (“Soos”)
  • No (“No”) —  [Note: As in, “I don’t want to do that”]
  • No? (“No no”) — [Note: As in, “I know I shouldn’t do this but I want to do it anyway…”  :-)]
  • Goodnight (“Night night”)
  • Hi (“Hi”)
  • Hello (“Ello”)
  • Goodbye (“Buh bye”)
  • Hat (“Hatta”)
  • Star (“Tar”)
  • Ball (“Bah”)
  • More (“Mo”)
  • Cat (“Didee”)
  • Good morning (“Minning”)
  • Uh oh (“oh-ohhh”)
  • Whoa (“whoa”)
  • Help, please (“Hep-eez”)
  • Baby (“bee-bee”)
  • All done (“aw done”)
  • Close door (“ah doh”)

Body Parts:

  • Nose (“no”)
  • Eyes (“ay”)
  • Ears
  • Teeth
  • Cheeks
  • Knees (“Nee”)
  • Feet
  • Toes (“Dohs”)
  • Belly
  • Hair
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Our New Reality

As some of you may have heard by now, my position at the University of Iowa is, unfortunately, coming to an end sooner than planned.  I had hoped it would last into 2012, but alas, funding shortages are moving the schedule up to the point where I can probably only stay here into October (though no specific date has been set).  While this, obviously, isn’t the greatest of news, I’m trying to take it in stride and view it as an opportunity to move on to bigger and better things.

Sadly, there isn’t much up in our area for my education and training level, so far as teaching or industry prospects go.  Therefore, we’ll be making the move back to St. Louis.  Luckily, Brooke was able to secure a position at her old job, Bridges Community Support Services, practically the same day I told her the news.  They are more than happy to get her back, as they’re going through the Survey process again like they do every few years (effectively, it’s a State audit of their services and records).  She has frequently commented about how she missed working there, so she’s excited to get back to work with those individuals!

As a part of this situation, we made the decision for Brooke to go ahead and start at Bridges as soon as she could.  Therefore, she started on July 18th.  Basically, this means that we’ll be living apart for the near future.  She’ll still return to Iowa on Thursdays, or we’ll meet up in Hannibal occasionally for the weekend, as that’s the half-way point.  Brooke will be staying with her sister, who also works in the area.  Meg will be staying with me here in Iowa, as daycare is substantially cheaper here than it is in St. Louis.  My Mom was kind enough to come visit for this week to help transition me into “semi-single parent” mode, and Meg will stay with Brooke’s parents for a few days next week before starting at daycare again.

Me staying up here a bit longer will also ensure we actually get something out of that garden we’ve worked so hard on!

Hopefully this transition won’t take too long.  Believe me, this strategy isn’t the ideal way to carry this out, but we’re going to make the best of it.  Again, this wasn’t exactly “The Plan,” but we’re looking at it as an opportunity to return to the friends we made over the 5 years we lived there, and to be closer to family that want to see their granddaughter/niece more often!  I’ve applied to various positions in the St. Louis area and have some contacts across the city that are keeping their eyes and ears open for me.  I should start hearing back on the first crop of applications in the next week or so, I hope.  Certainly, all your thoughts and prayers are appreciated.

Thus, we’ll probably post some updates here over the coming weeks (hopefully not months…).  We see this as “fate,” of sorts, as many of our close friends are moving back to the St. Louis area and things are aligning relatively well for our return…with the notable exception of me having a job, of course.

So, this is our “New Reality” for the time being.  Certainly not a perfect situation, but one we know we have support in dealing with.

What point could there be troubling?
Head down wondering what will become of me?
Why concern we cannot see
But no reason to abandon it
The time is short but that’s all right
Maybe I’ll go in the middle of the night
Take your hands from your eyes, my love
All good things must come to an end some time
But don’t burn the day away
Don’t burn the day away.

— “Pig;”  Dave Matthews Band

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Big Day

Meg’s ear appointment was supposed to be last Wednesday, but somehow, the hospital over-booked and we were bumped to today.  If you recall, we were getting ear tubes put in to help limit or eliminate her countless ear infections, hopefully spurring her to start walking and put on some more weight (she’s skinny!).  The procedure is outpatient surgery, something neither Brooke nor I have really had much experience with, so the whole thing was rather interesting.

We got a call yesterday afternoon that instructed us to have Meg here at 7:00 am.  So, Brooke and I got up at 5:30, got everything ready, then woke Meg up and hopped in the car by 6:15 to head down to Iowa City.  We got here a bit early, but got checked in pretty quickly and was moved back to the pre-op area.  All the nurses and doctors were very impressed with Meg’s demeanor, as she was being shockingly good compared with the other toddlers that they usually see.  Honestly, I was pretty surprised too, as Meg couldn’t have anything but clear liquids before going into surgery…and she could only have those clear liquids 2 hours prior to the surgery.  Therefore, Meg hadn’t actually ate or drank anything since 7:00 pm the night before.  That, and to get her there on time, we had to wake her up a good hour before she would normally wake up.  All things considered, she was very happy.

We had to keep her entertained for 30-45 min before they took her back for surgery.  She got her oxygen levels checked on her toe and her blood pressure done on her leg, all while I tried distracting her with a book.  Worked pretty well, really.  Meg did not want to be weighed, and wasn’t a fan of having a stethoscope on her chest.  Other than that, she did alright while being poked and prodded.

…but she was pretty upset when the doctors had to take her to surgery.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t accompany her back there unless one of us got dressed up in a surgical gown, etc., so we just let the doctors do their work.  Brooke and I had to sit in the waiting room for another 30 min or so while the work was being done, then the doctor called us in to talk about things.  Meg did quite well, apparently.  Tubes put in, went under anesthesia just fine, and seemed to be coming out of it well, too.  After Meg was awake, the doctors brought her in to a post-op recovery room where we had to sit while we waited for her to be allowed to leave.  They had to do the same oxygen, heart rate, etc. tests again, but nothing was different.  In the picture above, you can see the cotton balls in her ear, but we removed those shortly thereafter.

Oh, and Meg was very thirsty.  As in, 20 oz of apple juice in about 15 min thirsty.  And she liked the hospital graham crackers very much.  🙂

Because Meg was so good, the nurses brought in a few stuffed animals for her to choose between.  While I would have chosen the blue, furry monster, Meg went with the smaller, less interesting yellow bear (?) with sunglasses.  She didn’t ask me, though.  Oh well.

All in all, the whole morning went very well. I was still able to make it to the lab by 10:00 am to get some work done, and Brooke took Meg home, still in her pajamas.  We have some ear drops to use for the next week or two, and she should only need Tylenol today, but we’re told she should be mostly back to normal by this evening, already.

Hopefully she’ll sleep well.  She had a big day.  And did great.  🙂

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“…it’s a series of tubes.”

We’ve been fighting Meg’s various ear infections since, oh, last November or so. We think it started around the time she came down with strep, and thereafter, it just seemed like she had a (likely unrelated…) string of ear infections that just…wouldn’t…go…away… We tried at least 4 different antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, and once we hit Spring, even some allergy medication. None of them would ever, truly, get rid of the infections. Sure, while on antibiotics, she would improve, but a week or so later, she’d be back to her ear infected ways.

We didn’t even notice at first.  She went in for a regular check-up and they told us she had an ear infection.  She had been sleeping alright (relatively speaking…), never had a fever, no discernible hearing difficulties, and wasn’t pulling on her ears or anything: Meg wasn’t presenting with any of the typical signs, so we hadn’t even noticed.  Since then, we’ve paid a bit more attention and can usually tell when it’s getting worse.  Then, we make the appointment, get some more (or different) antibiotics, she gets better for a week or so, and then it gets worse again.

Finally, over a month ago, we scheduled the appointment with the otolaryngology department here at the University to check her out.  Took that long to get her in…  Yesterday, at the appointment, Meg did remarkably well!  The doc said she had some fluid in one of her ears, but definitely no infection in the other one.  In the end, she recommended going with ear tubes for sure, then if they pop out too soon (i.e. less than 6 mo; they can stay in up to 3 years), or the infection comes back, then consider “shaving back” the adenoids.  Others had told us that tonsillectomy could be in the picture, but this doctor didn’t think her tonsils were bad or anything (w00t!).

Now, what are these tubes going to do? Here’s the description and diagram:

Ventilation tubes allow fluid to drain out of the middle ear space and allow air to reenter. The risk of recurring ear infections is greatly reduced. Hearing returns to normal with the tube in place and speech development can get back on track.

So after this is done, and assuming it works, we’re hopeful that Meg will put on some more weight and start walking, as we think her whole system has been messed up, slowing her development.  She’s cruising just fine, can stand, and has even taken a step or two, but it just seems like her balance is off and is affected by the ears.  For example, she only seems to try taking steps when she’s only a day or two out from beginning a round of antibiotics.  Sure, correlative, but balance in a biped is greatly affected by the situation of your ears (specifically, the semicircular canal, a component of your inner ear).  So far as speech development goes, she’s making attempts at repeating words you say, and frequently she succeeds, but at 15 mo old, she probably should have been doing this more a few months ago.

Meg isn’t too far behind, but we’re hoping that getting tubes in will help her out.  Then she can start running around and terrorizing the chickens and her mother.  🙂

Oh yeah, and the title comes from the late, great Senator Ted Stevens…who described the internet as a “series of tubes.”

Sigh.

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Hootie Was Right

Last Wednesday night, Meg went to bed as she normally does: takes a milk bottle (8 oz, usually), goes to sleep within 15-20 min, and we are out of the room within 30 min.  She woke up around 10:30 and had more milk, and had to be rocked to sleep again.  If I remember correctly, she woke up again in the 1:00 hour and had to be rocked to sleep yet again.

3:30 am rolls around, and she won’t go back down.  She will fall asleep, but we can’t lay her back in the crib without her waking up.  We finally bring her to bed with us, causing me to stay in bed and skip an hour of work.  Brooke, luckily, was on spring break, so she didn’t have to be at work at 7:30 am.

Meg really hadn’t slept through the night but for a handful of times since last November when she had strep.  Sometimes, she’d wake up once per night, sometimes two.  This past week or so, it had gone up to 3 or 4 times a night.  Wednesday night was the last straw.  3:30 am until 6:00 am is simply ridiculous when you have a one-year-old that doesn’t have an ear infection, and whose teeth aren’t causing that much pain: she’d been given Orajel and a few doses of Tylenol throughout the night.

Granted, Meg has battled various sicknesses and multiple ear infections, and the teething has been an issue more recently.  But to our knowledge, nothing was physically wrong with her now.  She was just escalating the times she’d wake up in the middle of the night, and simply would not go back to sleep on her own.

Brooke did some research, posted a plea for help on Facebook, and went to the library on Friday to see what books she could find.  She settled on “The Happiest Toddler On The Block,” by Harvey Karp.  Mostly, we used the book for the sleeping portion, although I’m sure Brooke will read the rest of it for other interesting tidbits.

Basically, there were a few possibilities outlined in the book to try with your kid, and I will briefly summarize them here:

  1. Immediately when your child starts crying, go into their room, pick them up, soothe them until they stop crying, and then put them down again in the crib.  If the start crying again, pick them up and do it again.  And again and again.  This can take 20-50 times when you first try it, though it will decrease each time you do it.
  2. Let your child cry for 3 minutes, then open their door, look to make sure they haven’t thrown up or injured themselves, then say “I love you, it is time for you to go to sleep, goodnight,” and then close the door again.  As they will undoubtably continue crying, go back in 5 minutes and do it again, then go back in 10 minutes and do it again, and finally go back every 15 minutes thereafter until they go to sleep, constantly reminding you that you’re there, even though they can’t see you. This method could take up to 5 nights, with the third night being the worst.  The crying could last an hour, easily, especially for the first few nights.

We chose the second option, as the first one never seemed to work in the past (or any portion of the method).

As we really didn’t want to risk a repeat of Wednesday night, we went ahead and decided to start Friday night.  We went out to dinner at the Starlight Room (very good!), and got ice cream at Dairy Queen.  We had a very pleasant Friday night, in preparation for what was to come…

Meg went down by 7:30 just as she normally does, and then she woke up around 10:30.  Brooke was already in bed, and as it was Friday night and I was staying up gaming anyway, I took the first shift.  I did exactly as the book prescribed, and used the stopwatch on my phone to make sure I went in at 3 min, 5 min, 10 min, etc.  Brooke stayed in bed and listened, just in case Meg started doing something unhealthy (aside from screaming at the tip-toppest of her lungs).  She also gave me a few pointers, as I wasn’t being “soothing enough” the first two times I poked my head in… 😛

It was around midnight when she finally stopped.  I think it was 11:45, the last time I actually went into the room, but I stayed up later to make sure she didn’t cry for the next 20-30 min.

She was likely tired out after that ordeal that she didn’t wake up again until around 4:00 am.  Brooke got up that time and went in, but she only had to once.  Meg fell asleep after Brooke went in and went through the routine.

Meg slept until 7:00 then.  Not bad for the first night!

The second night, Meg woke up multiple times, but never cried up until the 3 min line, so we never poked our heads in.  Never got up.  Not bad for the second night.

And last night?

Not a peep.

Not one, aside from a little coughing here and there.

Yes, on the third night, Meg slept from 7:00 pm until 7:00 am.  No crying.

Obviously, we’ll see how this translates into Night #4.  We’re off to a good start, certainly.  Because we have started this, we are also being more cognizant of giving her a sippy cup to use throughout the day, for both milk and apple juice.  It was good that we started this on a weekend so we could monitor how much she was drinking.  Yesterday, she had 4 sippy cups-worth of fluids, so she was certainly getting enough out of it.  Since she isn’t drinking as much (or at all) during the night, she transferred most of her fluids to the daytime.  So long as this continues while she’s at daycare, we should be good to go.

I’m sure we’ll still have some bad nights ahead of us, as the teething hasn’t stopped and she will surely get another ear infection or two, but at least now we have a plan and solid footing for a workable sleep schedule: for the whole family.

“Let Her Cry,” indeed.