Understanding what is important!

One of my favorite things to do is watch my girls sleeping!! I absolutely love to see those innocent little faces so peacefully snuggled into their pillows. My last post was about moving the girls into the same room. Well, unfortunately that did not work out so well. We have really worked hard on keeping our girls on a good routine for bedtime and having them sleep in their own bed. Lauren has had her problems sleeping in the past, most of which occurred around the time Allison joined our family. But now, she sleeps very well in her own bed. Allison had a rough start learning to sleep in her crib. She slept in her swing for a long time, but she eventually caught on and became a great little sleeper also. We gave the girls two weeks to try to get used to sleeping together, but after that I decided that we all needed our sleep more than they needed to sleep in the same room. They loved the idea of sleeping together, but they just didn't want to sleep. We tried several different things during the two week period trying to help them sleep together, but without fail, when one girl would wake up, she would wake up the other. It didn't matter what time it was, if one woke up, she woke up the other. Many times it was intentional, but not always. Well, we just decided that sleep was more important than the girls sharing a room at this point. I really hope they do get to experience that special time of sharing a room together at some point in their lives.
One night when they were together, they were still awake at around 11:00 and there was a thunderstorm. Allison is afraid of storms, so she would not lie down in her crib. Bill finally went in there and put Allison in bed with Lauren. He put her against the wall and Lauren in the front. When we went back to check on them they were asleep, but Lauren had moved Allison to the front of the bed. We were afraid she would fall out of the twin bed because there are no bed rails on Lauren's bed. (That sweet little Lauren has to have things the way she wants them!! I do love that sweet angel.) Bill is able to move the girls around and even wake them up and they will just go back to sleep. If I go in Allison's room and she wakes up and sees me, she's awake for a while. Thankfully, Bill was able to get Allison back against the wall and they slept pretty much through the night. But they were awake early the next morning. That was the case for the two weeks, they went to sleep late and got up early.

Lauren is now sleeping in her room in her new full size bed. She looks so little in that bed! She really loves her "big" bed. I love it because when I put her to bed I always lie down with her and we enjoy talking about the day before she goes to sleep. With her big bed, I have plenty of room to lie beside her.
Allison is back in her room sleeping in her crib. We moved the twin bed that Lauren was sleeping on into Allison's room. I don't think she is all that ready to make the change yet. I decided to let her try it out at nap time first. But she knows if she doesn't stay in the bed, she has to get in the crib. One day she did fall asleep in the twin bed at nap time, but we had a storm and some lingering thunder woke her up. I went in to hold her and she wanted to get in her crib and she went back to sleep for the rest of her nap. The past couple of days when I asked her if she wanted to nap in her twin bed or the crib, she has picked the crib. I guess she'll make the move when she's ready.
I really didn't plan for this post to be about the sleeping arrangements of the girls, but I had just gone to check on both girls before I headed off to bed and seeing them sleeping so sweetly made me feel good about our decision to put them back in their own room.

My original purpose for this post was to tell about the major expenses we have had to deal with in the past couple of weeks. First of all our microwave decided to die!!! We've only had it about 4 years. I personally think a microwave should last longer than that. After speaking to a couple of different repair people, we determined that the problem was the magnetron and to replace it would be more than a new microwave!! Tonight Bill got our new microwave installed. He is such a wonderful man!!! I didn't realize how much I depended on the microwave, until I lived without it for almost two weeks.
Last weekend Bill replaced the brake pads in both of our vehicles. While we saved a lot of money on labor, it was still a significant expense to buy the brake pads for both cars.
On Tuesday, Bill's car had trouble starting when he left at 5:00 a.m. He managed to get it started, but after working out at the gym, when he got in the car to go to work, it wouldn't start. He had to get someone in the gym to jump him off, and then again when he left work. He headed straight to buy a new battery. The last time I had to buy a battery, it was only around $50-60. His was $100!!
All those expenses coupled with a few back to school things we got over the tax free weekend last week have put a strain in our budget!!
But, back to my first sentence on this post, seeing those sweet little girls sleeping peacefully seems to make everything alright! God is good and He takes care of us.