Locked in the closet

I think Maddie "locked" herself in her closet sometime Friday night or Saturday morning.

Matt got up with her Saturday, and he said he found her in the walk-in closet. Now there aren't locks on the door, of course, but she closed herself in and couldn't get out because she isn't strong enough to pull all the way down on the handle and push out at the same time. Matt said it looked like she had JUST awoken and looked really confused, so he thinks she went in there sometime during the night and couldn't get out (versus waking up in the morning and going in there).

I thought I heard her once through the monitor in the middle of the night, but when I looked at it, I didn't see any lights flashing, and I didn't hear her again. When I heard her through the monitor in the morning, it wasn't a loud sound (obviously, since she was in the closet) and I was already awake, so it wasn't like she was waking me up with her voice like she would have been in the middle of the night. So that means I could have been hearing what might have been her final "cry for help" in the middle of the night before she gave up and settled in on the closet floor. :( Oh, and to make matters worse, her closet floor was filled with stuff we moved out of her bedroom (her pink chandelier, a photo shelf with hooks on it, etc.) when we painted and haven't re-hung yet. So I'm sure they weren't the most comfortable things to sleep on.

I know she was fine in there, but it does break my heart to know she might have spent part of her night on the closet floor. I bet she was scared when she got stuck in there. It's dark, and it gets cold in the closet. I hate thinking about it.

So we're making sure the closet door is shut tightly before she goes to bed. And once she's able to open doors on her own, we'll put a safety cover thing on the handle.

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Oh, and while I'm at it, I almost had a heart attack during her nap on Friday. By the time she went down, it was nearly 2 p.m. So when I hadn't heard from her by 4, I went in there to wake her up because I didn't want her napping later than that; I also thought I might have heard noises coming from her room.

When I went to open the door (carefully, since she might always be standing at the other side), it hit something and kind of thumped. When I looked down, I realized it was her head. I thought at first she was lying there playing on the floor with Baby or something, but then I realized she was face-down and not moving. Then I called her name loudly and gently pushed the door against her head (kind of a nudge), and she still didn't move. Honestly, that was one of the scariest moments of my life as a parent. I really thought she was lying there unconscious or dead.

After yelling her name a few more times, I reached my hand down and pushed her head out of the way, and that's when she started to move. She cried instantly, probably because it startled her to wake up that way, with her face being pushed along the carpet. When she sat up, I was able to go in the room and hug her. She snuggled with me for about 10 minutes.

So again, I'm guessing she woke up at some point during her nap (because I had checked on her earlier and saw her sleeping in the bed) and came to the door but couldn't open it. I didn't hear her, so she eventually gave up and fell back asleep on the floor.

Needless to say, I'm trying to get her to call out for us when she wakes up in the morning and from nap. I keep telling her to say, "Momma!" when she wakes up, and that I'll come get her, but she doesn't. So I guess I need to keep the monitor on louder until she figures it out. I just picked up a new monitor for the baby, so we can have monitors in both rooms, and I'm thinking I should have just gone with a video monitor for Maddie's room.

Poor kid. :(

Mexico 2010

I guess I didn't feel the need to rub it in, so I failed to mention here that we were going to Mexico – though most of you who are reading this probably knew anyway.

We went to Cancun from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6, and we had a lot of fun. The weather wasn't the most fabulous we've ever had on vacation – we typically luck out and have seven days of nothing but sun – but it was still nice enough. And, most important of all, Maddie had a BLAST! The kid enjoyed every second of it, as was evidenced by her shrieking with joy every time we walked out of our room. She loved standing and playing in the ocean and swimming in the pools, even though they – the pools – were a bit chilly.

Twice we took the bus down the hotel zone a bit to an area with lots of restaurants and shopping, but we just hung out at the resort for the most part. Maddie loved swinging on the hammocks, which she called "weees," and snacking on her "poopels" – pretzels – by the pool.

On our last day, we had to check out by noon but our ride the airport didn't come until 4, and she actually fell asleep in my arms (WAAAY rare), so we took a nap in the "weee."

Matt and I both agree that we're so happy we were able to take this vacation with "just" Maddie and have the memories to hold onto forever. We're excited to be adding to our family and to give Maddie a sibling, but it is a little bittersweet knowing she'll be our "only" for just a few more weeks. Her brother or sister is due April 2, so just about seven weeks from now.

If you haven't already seen the rest of our photos (well, the ones good enough to share, anyway!), check out this link.