He did it!

Every single night before we go to bed I say, "Maybe this will be the night that Topher will sleep all night." And I say it with a smile because it's a joke but I figure eventually it has to be true. Last night it WAS true--he did it! He had an incredibly fussy evening and cried for a couple hours and finally, finally fell asleep just before 8pm (when I was at my wit's end, by the way.) Then he faked me out a few times during the night making noises and sounding like he was starting to stir. But I only had to go into his room once to move him back to the middle of the crib (he likes to scoot himself all the way to the top so his head is pushing up against the bars) and I told myself I wouldn't pick him up unless he actually made a cry. And that didn't happen until TJ's alarm went off just after 5am. That's about 9.5 hours of sleep! We are so excited. And it only took us 14 weeks to get to this point, which, in all honesty, has seemed an entire lifetime. But the very very best part was that when I took him out of bed this morning to change his diaper, he was actually smiling at me. It was like he was proud of himself! Usually he's crying because he's so hungry. And he did start whining near the end of the diaper change but at least he had some smiles for me first. Today is a very exciting day for another reason. Seven months after the flood destroyed our home, we're getting carpet put back into the lower level of the house. When I think about all the work that has gone into our house in order to get to this point, I'm amazed. There was the pumping out of the nasty flood water (twice, since the house filled back up the first time), the removal of all our ruined possessions, the gutting out of our walls, floors, insulation, absolutely anything and everything that came close to touching the water, the sanitizing of every exposed surface (did I mention that there were worms everywhere?), cleaning of the air ducts, replacement of the appliances, and re-wiring of all electrical outlets, the professionals coming in to rebuild all our walls and put in new insulation, the painting of of all the new wall surfaces (which TJ and his dad did themselves) and the trimming of the floorboards (again which TJ and his dad started and TJ finished by himself). Just looking back at the pictures is a little traumatizing for us. Again, I can't think of a natural disaster that is more cruel than a flood (mostly because it's the only disaster that insurance completely ignores). However, we have been extremely blessed during this whole process. There was a time we thought we would have to foreclose or file for bankruptcy, so we have come a very long way with a LOT of help. The carpet will make our home usable again, and it symbolizes a lot of hard and dirty work thus far. It's a 2-day job, but I'll post updated pictures as the work is completed. --KC