Transitioning From Crib to Bed

My little girl is growing up so fast!  She wants to do everything herself and now she has decided that she no longer wants to sleep in her crib.

The transition happened so fast, I barley knew what was going on.

It all started about three weeks ago.  I put her to sleep in her crib like usual but about two hours later she woke up crying that she wanted out of her crib.  I was going to snuggle with her for a few minutes on the twin bed in her room so I set her on the bed and went to get her baby and blankie from her crib.  By the time I grabbed them and turned back around to the bed, she was snoring away. 

I tucked her in, pulled up the bed rail (thank goodness I bought one a month ago, just in case) and went back to the living room.  My husband commented on how quickly she fell back asleep and was shocked when I told him that she was on the bed.  He asked me 20 questions on if she was safe and how did the bed rail work.  After the quiz, he seemed assured that she would be alright to sleep on the bed alone.

That night I hardly slept at all, I was up and down every half hour to check and make sure she was still on the bed and sleeping.  She was of course snoring away, happy as a clam. 

First thing the next morning, I set up the video monitor so that I could check on her all I want with out leaving my bed. 

I am torn as to if I should be happy that she is growing up or sad that she is not my baby anymore.  It is bitter sweet and I love seeing her grow and change everyday.

The problem is that it takes FOREVER to get her to go to sleep.  I have to lay on her bed with her for almost an hour every night, until she falls asleep, to get her to stay on the bed.  I have tried sitting on the floor but she just sits up so she can see me and talk to me.  I have tried telling her to stay on the bed and leaving the room, but within minutes (or seconds) she is pitter pattering down the hall way to come find me.

Nap time is much easier, it usually only takes 10-15 minutes to get her to sleep but these hour plus nights are getting to be a bit much (plus, I have a tendency to fall asleep while trying to get her to sleep).

Do any of you mom's who have been through the crib to bed transition have tips on how to get my Wiggle to stay in bed and go to sleep with out me having to stay with her the entire time?

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My Apple Itunes Account Was Hacked

I hate losing money but I hate it more when money is stolen from me!

I am over the top pissed off!   Who am I mad at? Everyone! I am mad at the hackers (who suck, get a freaking job and quit stealing from people that work for their money), Paypal (even though it is not their fault, they just gave away my money) and Apple Itunes (where the hackers purchased crap, you need better security).

What makes people think that they can go around stealing other people's hard earned money?

It all started with an odd email from Paypal.  It said it was a receipt for a purchase from Apple Itunes.  I forwarded it to the Paypal spoof account, like I do with all the other spam emails I get that are from "Paypal".  I then took a closer look at the email and sure enough it was an actual receipt.  Still, I thought it was some sort of mistake so I opened my Paypal account and yep there it was a transaction for $19.98 paid to Apple Itunes at 4:22 AM.  Like I would purchase the game Plants VS Zombies or the app Goodreader for Ipad (I don't own an Ipad!!!)

Now, I am up early with my daughter (not usually 4:22 AM) but I am never up that early shopping on Apple Itunes.  In fact the last time I even purchased anything from Itunes was in January 2009 and the last time I paid for my Itunes purchases with my Paypal account was in 2007.

I immediately changed my Paypal account password, removed my bank account information from my account and deleted the credit card I had attached to Paypal.  I filed a resolution claim with Paypal and searched the internet for a phone number for Itunes.

I got up and phoned Apple first thing the next morning.  Turns out the phone number I found was for the IPhone (which I do not have).  A really nice employee named Angela, assisted me with changing my Apple Itunes account password and checking for any additional unauthorized charges.  Sure enough the hackers tried to make another almost $40 in charges that were not paid through Paypal (according to my account, Apple would like me to pay them with a credit card, FAT CHANCE!!!).  I can only assume that these charges were not paid because I did not have the full $40 in my Paypal account and the credit card I had on file had expired.  When the card expired my credit card company gave me a new account number, I thank you now even though I cursed you then (I had the old number memorized for easy shopping).

I emailed the Itunes support about the unauthorized charges.  The IPhone employee informed me that there is no phone support for Itunes, I can only assume because they would be inundated with calls from people who have had their accounts hacked.

SHAME ON YOU FOR NOT HAVING BETTER SECURITY, OR CUSTOMER SERVICE!

From what I have been reading online, this is not the first time Apple Itunes has been hacked and it is running rampant again right now.  From what people that have been hacked are being told from Paypal, the hackers are finding open billing agreements between Apple Itunes and Paypal (most being from 2006 and 2007).  Apparently once you make a purchase from Itunes with your Paypal account, it sets up a billing agreement that allows Apple to bill your Paypal anytime unless you go into Paypal and remove the agreement.

Paypal is investigating my claim and Apple says they will contact me (via email) within 48 hours.  I am confident that Paypal will come through for me and return my money but from what I read, Apple is much less helpful and does not seem to care much that their customers are being ripped off (Interestingly 3 of the 7 apps purchased were created by Apple Inc.)

I will keep you updated as to what happens and if I get my money back.  Oh and Apple, if you think for one second that I am paying you the almost $40 that is outstanding on my account, think again!  Depending on how this situation is handled, I may never purchase from you again (not that you will care because I never purchased that often and you might not consider me a key customer).

I guess I should feel lucky that my credit card was expired and for some divine reason Paypal did not charge my bank account (even thought it was attached to my Paypal account) and I was only hit for $20.  I read about some people that were taken for hundreds and one person was out over $1000.

To me it is not the amount that was stolen but just that I was robbed and it SUCKS!!!!

Wiggle's First Trip to the Beach

Wiggle bean is 18 months old and we recently took her to the beach for the first time.  For some people this would not be a big deal but we are less than 2 hours from the Oregon coast and I love the beach, not sure why it took me so long to take her there.

We got her some sand toys and she had a ton of fun sorting through it all and seeing what was in the bucket.

  Daddy was such a great sport making sand castle after sand castle only to have Wiggle Bean smash them flat in less than 2 seconds.  Wiggle of course though it was the most fun game ever.

If she wasn't pounding them with her fist, she was giving us her best King Kong impression and stomping them to smithereens.

After smashing about a hundred sand castles, she found a new game, tossing sand in the air and letting it fall all over herself and everything in sight.  She was covered head to toe in sand, it was everywhere.  She was so coated in sand, that I had to strip her down and hose her off in a hotel bathroom sink so that she could comfortable make the two hour drive home.

All in all, even though it was not a sunny and warm day at the beach (it is the Oregon coast after all!) we had so much fun and I can not wait to take her back again.

Losing my Job!

I know no one is invincible in the down economy but I thought being in Human Resources, handling all the payroll and benefits, for the company I work with that I thought I had some job security.  Boy was I wrong!

Since we do not have a HR department (I am the sole HR contact), I am part of the accounting department.  About eight weeks ago the entire accounting department (three of us) was pulled into the COO's office where the CFO was waiting to tell us that we were being let go.  The entire accounting department was being consolidated with the accounting/HR functions of our parent company in Utah.

The accounts payable/receivable position and my HR position were being eliminated and the Accounting
Manager position was moving from corporate HQ in Portland Oregon to the parent company's office in Utah.  My direct manager, the Accounting Manger, has had the difficulty of knowing that this change was coming since November of last year but had to keep the burden of knowing to herself at the direction of senior management.   Since she was moving to the Utah office, she had to put her home on the market and prepare for the move all while maintaining business as usual at the office.

I had recently started a full bathroom remodel and was in the middle of it when I was told that I would soon be losing my job (not great timing!). 

The AP/AR person and myself were offered a severance package with an additional amount if we stayed on for 6 weeks to train our counterparts in the Utah office.  We both chose to stay and our final days were two weeks ago. 

The first week of being unemployed was like business as usual since I was already scheduled for vacation that week so last week was my first week of having "nothing" to do.  It was odd, not having to get up and get ready for work.  I am not sure where the time went, at the end of the day, I looked around and could not figure out what I did all day.

After finding out I was being laid off, I panicked but thankfully I have a wonderful husband that was my rock and my voice of calm and reasoning.  After my initial panic, I decided that I would look for a job but would not settle for anything.  I was going to spend some quality time over the summer with our daughter since it would not be something that I might have a chance to do again in the future.

Guess there is always a silver lining, even when being laid off of a job you had for 10 years.