Time for a Big Boy Bed

Please tell me that you have some fantastical advice for how to keep your toddler in bed at night.

For about a week now, Ty has been crawling out of his crib. It's made naptime, and bedtime a bit of a .....er....challenge. And by "challenge" I mean a total FREAKING NIGHTMARE.
Well, earlier this week, he cut his eye open on one of his Houdini escape antics, so we're thinking that in the next week or so (whenever we get the time) it'll be time to tear down the crib and move to a big kid bed.
The other day I did our usual regular nighttime routine, put him in his crib, and stood outside his door. He climbed out, opened his door and without saying a word, I picked him up and put him back in bed. I was determined to outlast him.
Well....after we did this little routine TWENTY TIMES (not joking), HE outlasted me. I was about to pull my hair out. And this has become the thing that we do before every nap, and before bed every night. I KNOW he's tired. I KNOW he should go to bed...(it's not like I'm putting him down prematurely) but he will NOT stay in that bed. He's been our best sleeper so far - say goodnight, lay him down and he goes to sleep and stays asleep for 12 hours, so now I'm flustered to say the least.

And it gets worse: The past 3 nights, he's also got in the habit of waking up around midnight, or 1 am and he'll be UP FOR 2 HOURS!!! What can we do??? I put him in bed, over and over and over and over, and he repeatedly climbs out. I don't want to lock him in there (yet) because he can't climb BACK INTO the crib when he finally gets tired, but he won't settle back down. I was even so desperate that I tried to just let him sleep with us (which I was LOATHE to do, but so tired at the moment that I didn't care) and he wouldn't even settle in and lay with us. And it makes for two very tired, cranky parents when we're messing with our 1 year old for 2 hours in the middle of the night. *sigh*

I considered getting one of those net-crib cover thingies to contain him in the crib and night, but I'm not sure how well they work. Right now, we're planning on switching to a big bed in the next week or so, and getting a childproof lock for the door (so he can't open it at night) and then, if he wakes up and climbs out of bed, he'll be awake, but at least contained to his (baby-safe) room.

This is a first time for me.....Owen was in a big boy bed (and staying in it all night) by 15 months, and AJ hardly ever used a crib, so I'm at a total loss as to what to do about this situation.

So if anyone out there has any ideas or suggestions, I'm all ears!!
Right after I go take a nap.

Composting?

Has anyone out there ever done a compost pile or compost bin? I'd like to try it for our garden and to reduce garbage, so I've been reading up on it, but I'm a little afraid that it will attract rodents or small animals or lots of bugs or something.


There's about a million how-to's out there on the internet...here's one that I found.


Anybody know anything about it??

Wicked Tickets Up For Grabs

Steve-0 and I bought tickets to see the musical Wicked at the Carr Performing Arts Centre in Orlando on Saturday, April 26 but we're thinking that now we might like to save the $$$ and not go, so we're trying to sell them off to someone else.

Tickets were/are $79 ea and the seats are Orchestra right, Q28 and Q29.

If you're interested in taking these tix off our hands, or know of someone who is - let me know.

UM....Excuse Me.

But has anyone seen my cell phone?? It's been MIA for about.....oh, a week now.

Please let me know if you find it.

And then, if you haven't done so already, go vote on my logo in the post below.

Help Me With My Logo

So I've been redoing my website and I'm hoping to wrap it up here in the next 2 weeks. I want to revamp my logo so I've been playing around with some ideas and I'd like your input as I'm not really sold on anything so far. So....if you would (and you must. because I said so. And I'm the boss of this blog or I'll take my logos and go home), peruse these logos and then vote on the one you like best.
THEN....if you feel like going the extra mile, leave a little input in the comments section. I like this one, but _______ or, I WOULD like this one, except that _______(the colors are weird, the font looks out of place, I hate trees, etc. etc.), or, This one looks good, but it needs more _______.
One vote per person please. :)

Thanks!

Here are the Options:

#1 (the Oval):

#2 (the Cherry Tree):

#3 (the Swirly Thing):

#4 (the dandelion):

#5 (the damask):

#6 (the blocks):

Wanted: Wooden Sword

Got a photo idea swirling around in my brain....I need a child's wooden sword. And a shield would be nice too, but not necessary.
Rudimentary, very simple, nothing too fancy....can anyone accommodate?? If I had any smidgen of woodworking talent in my body, I'd make one myself, but that's about as likely as Britney Spears winning a Nobel Prize for astro-physics.

I'm willing to pay....anyone? anyone??

Help a girl out.