Score One for the Good Guys

Victory!

Last night, Kaylee spent her first night in the nursery! This is a momentous occasion.

You see, we had Andrea over for dinner last night. We'd already given Kaylee her bath (which is beginning to be less traumatic for all involved, by the way) and a bottle, and we had her in the swing next to the dinner table so she could hear our voices and not feel exiled and therefore scream. Well, she has a bit of a bad habit of getting very tired (read: fussy) while we're eating, so Sze put her in her crib to sleep for a bit, because it was closest to the dining room.

"Do we want to let her sleep in her crib tonight?" I asked.

We paused, considering the options. On the plus side, if she sleeps in the nursery, that means we can remove the dratted co-sleeper that is strapped to the side of our bed, mandating feats of acrobatics every time either one of us wants to get up, which, with an infant, is often. We can use the beautiful furniture that her grandparents bought her. We can reclaim our room!

"We can. Let's do that."

On the downside...

"Wait. What if she chokes? She's choked today." I say

"She won't choke." Sze replies.

"What if I don't wake up?"

"You always wake up. You're a light sleeper." He says

"I didn't wake up last night. What if it's important? What if we can't hear her?"

"We have a monitor for a 1200 square foot apartment. We'll hear her. She's only 40 feet away, honey."

"She's more than 40 feet away! I don't know if I can do this. What if she scoots under the blanket again?" I'm pretty worked up at this point.

"If she scoots under the blanket again, she'll cry again, like she always does. Relax. She'll be fine."

"But what if she's not???"

And so on. Despite my neurosis, we hooked up the monitor, moved the bottle warmer into her room, and let her sleep. By the time we went to bed, my spine was made out of a 2 x 4. Every peep on the monitor had me flying down the hall. I don't think I could have relaxed if you'd pumped me full of valium. What if? What if? What if? Somehow, I finally drifted off to sleep.

Because she's still in a growth spurt, we've gone back to the scheduled bottles, so when the alarm went off at midnight, Sze crawled out of bed and fed her. Everything was fine. At three, I wobbled down the hall for my turn. Everything was fine. At six, Sze got up to start his day.

"Where's the baby?" I murmured, 3/4 of the way asleep.

"She's in her crib, remember?"

"Still? Oh."

And so went the first night of Kaylee in her crib. Hopefully we'll be able to actually move her in there permanently, but we'll see how tonight goes. This is good, though! Hurray progress.

Speaking of progress, it looks like spring is FINALLY starting to show its face, so I think a trip the the park is in order for today. Kaylee is blowing bubbles and making toothless baby grins in my lap, so I guess she's in favor of that plan.

Today's recipe is full of fresh produce in honor of the turning seasons. It's also what we ate last night. Behold, oven roasted ratatouille! (No rats, please).

Oven Roasted Ratatouille

1 eggplant, cubed
2 zucchini, cubed
2 bell peppers, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup red wine
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes
Herbes du Provence

Preheat oven to 400. Combine all ingredients in a casserole dish, seasoning to taste. I like a little more red pepper flakes to give it a bit of a kick, but that's just a personal preference. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Serve over pasta or quinoa. Enjoy!

Buon Appetito!