Happy Labor Day, AKA One of Those Rare Mondays Everyone Doesn’t Hate!

My friend Heather and her family have been facing all kinds of challenges lately, from injury to lost jobs to illness to their crazy landlord evicting and suing them unjustly. The most pressing worry at the moment is how to bridge the gap between now and when Heather’s husband starts getting paid for his new job, how to pay rent. They’re having a yard sale this weekend, and are also selling a few things (a 45-piece Noritake Isabella set [pictured above], a Fender Squier Strat electric guitar and Marshall amp, some collector’s plates, some crazy cool knives) via Heather’s blog and Flickr. If you’re interested, you can read the backstory on Heather’s blog and check out Heather’s Flickr set Firesale.

Last night*, it took almost three hours of crying, holding, back-patting, and reassuring for Elliora to go to sleep in the crib. And Elliora cried some too. (Ba-dum-bum! But seriously…) Tonight, it took about seven minutes and she was sleeping peacefully. We don’t expect that to be a trend or anything—I’m sure it’ll take an hour or more some nights, and a few minutes some nights—but we’re very thankful that tonight it was brief and relatively easy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to use this precious time she is asleep to finish up one of the five baby blankets I need to get crocheted in the next couple of months.

*I should clarify, last night was Elliora’s first night ever sleeping in the crib. Up till now she’s been sleeping in the Amby hammock.