Meet Duchess

This is Duchess, our second attempt at a kitten. I've waited a few days to introduce her since my track record with kittens isn't the greatest. I'm happy to say that so far she is adjusting well. She was a spurt of the moment decision. I had to return some library books and on the way to the library I saw a sign for free kittens. So on the way home we stopped to take a look. She was the only female left (I think females are better mousers) so we decided to bring her home with us. Maggie wanted more than one and it took several tries to leave without Maggie picking up another kitten and trying to bring it with us.

Don't you think she looks like the feline version of a border collie? Duke, our dog, is a border collie mutt and since the female counterpart of a Duke is a Duchess she was pretty easy to name :) Whatever dynasty they're a part of must be pretty dysfunctional--Duchess can't stand the sight of Duke and Duke is jealous of any attention she receives.

Now we have Dunny the gelding, Duke the dog, Duchess the kitten...and Sally the mare. Sorry Sally, but you're the oddball.

It's a good thing I planted as many peas as I did because Maggie absolutely loves them! She'd probably eat peas all day if I'd let her. The pods are technically edible, but since we were outside and they hadn't been washed yet we were just eating the peas themselves. When Maggie finished picking the peas out of the pod, she'd throw it and I'd hand her another one. One time she accidentally threw the last pea instead of the pod. She had the most distraught look on her face while she tried to find the pea that she had thrown.
Doesn't she make a cute little gardener? She can be a little destructive though. I've tried teaching her to be destructive to the weeds, but to no avail. It's usually always the tomatoes that get the damage.

I'm at odds of what I should do here. Maggie has always been a pretty good sleeper, but lately she has turned into a little insomniac. When I lay her down she usually plays quietly in her crib until she falls asleep. This quiet play time has turned into a time when she takes her pajamas off, then her diaper, then puts her pajamas back on sans diaper before she falls asleep. She's very sneaky about it and I don't always notice it before I go to bed. Then she wakes up in the middle of the night because she wet the bed. I know in a way this is all humorous, but it's hard to see the humor when you're the one changing the sheets in the middle of the night.

I have tried duct taping her diaper closed so that she can't take it off. That worked for a few nights, but then she figured out how to get the duct tape off. My sister-in-law suggested cutting the feet off of footie pajamas and putting them on backwards. It's a good idea, but the only pajamas I have like that are fleecy and too hot for this time of year.

I found some onesies that snap tight enough that she can't get them off. The problem now is that she gets so frustrated trying to get to her diaper that she screams and screams and doesn't fall asleep until way past her bed time. Then she still sleeps poorly, probably from being over tired. During the day she naps for such a long time because she's so tired that she doesn't want to fall asleep come bed time. It's a vicious cycle and I'm not sure how to end it. I know I could cut her nap short, but I feel bad about that because I know she's so tired. Sundays are always hard because church throws off her whole schedule.

She almost always wakes up at 1:30 and again at 3:00 and I have no idea why. I'm almost at wits end. I'm sure the fact that I'm pregnant and exhausted isn't helping. She obviously hates feeling wet in her diaper and I think that might be what happens at 1:30 and 3:00. Trust me, I have no problem with her getting potty trained...but what do I do in the mean time, especially since night training is usually the last step of potty training?

UPDATE: Once Maggie finally fell asleep last night, she slept the entire night and didn't make a peep. I'm not sure what I did different, besides I did put a lot of diaper cream on in hopes it would help her feel dry...I'll be doing that again tonight. I sure hope she's returning to her old self :)