A Christmas to Remember

The week of Christmas I began busily preparing my recipes/shopping list etc for the big Christmas Eve dinner with John's side of the family - in total 13 people and 1 baby. I decided this year to make as many of my dishes casserole style so that I could easily prepare them ahead of time and keep warm before dinner. No big mess of pots & pans to clean up, and no special roast that could throw off my timing.

It was Christmas eve, I had nearly assembled my Yule Log, prepared all of my casseroles and had them waiting in the fridge to be baked, some cleaning around the house left to do, and other odds and ends (make the salad, set the table etc). John was summoned to pick up the lobsters simmered in tomato sauce at his customer's store in Saugus, I gave the go ahead to take off since I was pretty well set. And I was, until I started getting a nasty headache. I figured it was probably from all the stress of running around, so I figured I'd make myself a cup of coffee and relax for a little bit. It didn't get better, it got worse. And then I vomited. But, I felt better - for about 15 minutes, and then I felt worse, and again vomited. Not good. I had already had a stomach bug two weeks before and this felt just like another stomach bug. After trip #3 to the bathroom I told John we needed to call his family and ask what they wanted to do - the food was already in the oven. So our Christmas eve dinner was cut from 13 to 7, and I suffered through making the rest of the dinner and sat at the table while everyone ate. Angela, having taken an early nap and consequently tired from staying up too long, had to go to bed at 7:30 - there was no keeping her up late for the sake of watching her open presents.

So, the two nephews that were there opened their presents. I mentioned to John that he was going to be in charge of setting up Angela's kitchen set that hadn't been assembled yet. His brother offered to help, and they opened the box and started putting it together. It had a whopping 30+ steps and John's brother left around 9:30 and John's sister and her  family stayed till after 11. It still wasn't done and I was dying to just go to bed. I tried helping John but we were both just not in the mood to work on it anymore. By 1am we gave up and went to bed.

To add to the holiday joy, Angela woke up at 5am and had no desire to go back to sleep. I tried rocking and singing, and she'd just point to the door or downstairs. I'd try to say "it's still night-night time" and she'd look at me and laugh and then eventually started crying when she wasn't getting her way. We resigned ourselves to getting up, despite the fact that the downstairs was a disaster and we never really got to set up all the presents the way we wanted. So, at a very dark hour of the morning, we let Angela open up her presents. Being only 15 months old, this was a very time consuming process as she would open a toy and play with it, or seeing as some of her toys had already been set out (the kitchen set, her piano) she was also excited to play with them over and over again. This was all well and fine, except for the fact that we were both on the verge of passing out on the floor. I suggested that we should start opening up our gifts for one another in an attempt to wake up a bit. By 8:30 we were feeling much more alive than previously.

Since I was feeling physically much better and there were no signs that John or Angela were getting the same bug, we decided to go to Hingham for Christmas with my side of the family. That was very good, Angela enjoyed passing out presents, and it was nice to just sit on a couch and know that Angela was well occupied.

Link to Christmas photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=594149&id=595610491&l=cb25de27d8

Weaning etc

Well, we've official weaned. The writing was on the wall and I guess Angela knew it. It was all so lovely and cozy when she couldn't control her limbs, but then it turned into kicking and hair pulling and then demanding to sleep while nursing and me trying to find a way to keep her asleep while I pried my nipple out from between her newly sprouted lower AND upper teeth. And all of a sudden it just happened, one night I didn't feel well and John put Angela to bed without me - and without nursing. The next day she woke up, I got her and she didn't even make a motion - so I didn't offer. And that was the end of it. Now she falls asleep more easily during nap time, sleeps better, and goes back to sleep with rocking/singing (generally). I think knowing that she's not going to be nursed helps her sleep better on her own (thank God).

We also had our first stomach bug make its way through the house a couple weekends ago - starting with Angela vomiting all over John and then a couple times after that, and then John & I both got it... and finally my parents. How fun.

We had Angela's 15 month appointment this week - she's gained another inch (now 31 inches) and a whopping 3/4 of a pound to put her just under 20 lbs. She's a lean mean toddling machine. I mentioned to the doctor how she's not really using words much at all. Babbles constantly but doesn't really try to say or repeat what we say to her. However, since that appointment she now will occasionally say "meow" when we ask her what a cat says, and started saying "touch" CONSTANTLY.... I am big on .. "no touch" this and "no touch" that ... so now she touches everything and says "touch" - it's funny. She also said "dirt" today when I was potting some indoor bulbs - she saw the dirt and wanted to touch it and I told her it was dirt - this was apparently hilarious to her as she broke out in laughter everytime I said dirt and then said dirt a few times herself. Hey, whatever works.

We are super-excited for Christmas this Saturday and seeing her reaction to lots of presents under the tree - some unwrapped, some wrapped. It will be a long weekend, but hopefully many fun memorable pictures will be taken.

Holidays, Holidays, Holidays!

Where to start - it's been so long.

Angela is a walking, spinning, dancing, running away from you in a crowded store kind of girl.

Halloween was good, she didn't really want to walk outside in the dark on her own, but she was a big fan of having a basket of treats to play with. I made one mistake - introducing her to the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup - I had to eat them all because she liked it so much that she would freak out if she saw an unopened one. She was even so bold as to "taunt" me with one, offering it to me and then as I'd reach for it, she whip her arm back and run away and laugh. How quickly they learn....

We've started a toddler gym class which she has really enjoyed - being around other kids, in a big open place where she can run around, it's a lot of fun - and it wears her out. But these days, with all her running, it's not so hard for her to work up the need to take a nap - now, if only she could take a long nap, especially now that she refuses to take a second nap despite how badly she needs it some days.

I myself, had a good 3 week period where I felt absolutely exhausted all day. It was rough. But it has passed now and I feel much better, still getting sick in the morning but that's no big deal compared to last time.

Also on the sleep front - Angela, we are proud to say, is sleeping though the night about 95% of the time, and falling aleep on her own without crying - such a blessing. It makes the whole parenting experience that much less stressful and more pleasant.

She understands a lot of what we say to her now, but for one reason or another, she feels little compulsion to try to say real words. She will babble nonstop at times, but no more of the "dog/bird/bye/cheese" that she was saying a few months ago. She loves to be out in the public though, she babbles even more - and louder and has recently been giving super-enthusiastic waves to anyone who will pay attention to her.

She's had her top two teeth coming in for over a month now, and I spotted some more coming in as well, which, along with experience eating solids, has made eating real food much easier for her. She's also become a pro at tearing the house apart, and it often looks like a bomb went off which is a lot of fun to clean up after putting her to bed.

Angela loves her daddy

Tonight as we were getting ready for bedtime, Angela kept going over to daddy giving him hugs, she would just lock her arms around his neck and it was just turning John to mush with love. And then, while we read books, rather than sit in my lap she chose to lean against daddy and cuddle with him. But the icing on the cake was when I was nursing her and we were singing to her - she stopped nursing and went over to daddy to cuddle with him and attempt to sleep on top of him, we both just melted, it was one of the sweetest daddy/Angela moments to date.

Adventures in... Potty Training!?

Grandma bought Angela a little pink potty for her first birthday. I think it's called the Princess Potty ... it plays "royal tunes" if you "go" to the potty. Today I put her on it for the first time when I suspected she had to go (#2)... and within 15 seconds, she peed! Later in they day I tried again - same thing! And then while I was out at my Pilates class, John put her on before her bath - three times the charm!  I'm not sure what will lead from this, but we are definitely surprised.

12 Month Check Up

19lbs 5oz & 30 inches. Angela pretty much screamed the entire time, while she was getting measured (because they lie her down) while she was getting weighed, and then the whole time the doctor was there... more because he's a guy. Two shots, and then I was given paperwork to take her to a lab to get blood drawn from her arm. How fun. She started screaming the instant the male phlembotonist (I believe that's the right word) touched her arm, however it didn't seem that she screamed any more once they put the needle in, so that was good. And in the end, she got a Pooh Bear sticker.

Notable Moments

• We took Angela into Boston for the first time this weekend; she's getting a bit too big to carry around these days, even with the help of our wrap carrier.
• First trip to the aquarium! Angela enjoyed all the fish, and she touched a starfish and a mussel! However, I'm pretty sure she enjoyed the other kids the most. She touched a little girl on the head and said "girl"!
• I took a pregnancy test yesterday and it was positive! Due date looks like early June 2011!
• We said "night-night" to Angela this evening at bedtime and she just rolled over and went to sleep - no crying!

1st Birthday ...

So, our little nugget is turning into a little kid. We have really enjoyed this year so much and despite being told by someone when she was a newborn, that "this is when it's the easiest - it only gets harder," it has been quite the opposite. (Of course that comment came from a man who was most likely minimally involved in the beginning and thus HIS role only became more involved.)  The morning of her birthday I busted out my rendition of "Happy Birthday" ... a song she hasn't heard me sing before, which in turn, I was given a look of "what the hell is going on?"   We had a TON of things to do before her party and we were lucky enough to have her babysitter come for the morning and afternoon so that we could run around trying to finish everything. Our babysitter, Marisa, gave Angela a gift - a homemade Winnie the Pooh blanket and it was just such a thoughtful/sweet gift. (Angela has attached herself to Winnie the Pooh, so I've just gone with the flow.) She even kissed the Winnie the Pooh on the blanket when she saw it for the first time and later on when we asked her to kiss him again. Her birthday also turned out to be a rare day for a nice long (and much appreciated) afternoon nap, that left her refreshed and also quite surprised to come down to a house FULL of people. When it came time for cake, Angela did OK with a bunch of people singing loudly to her, but she's not one to just sit in her high chair so we didn't get to do the whole baby/cake experience. She did surprisingly well with opening presents, she was actually interested in what she got, especially the dollar bill that Uncle Damian gave her...the girl likes her money. Once she became comfortable with the crowd, she definitely loved seeing all the people and wanted to be held by most of the women there... the men - not so much (good girl).  All in all it was a great day.

Night 8

Less than 10 seconds of crying at bedtime. BOO YEA!

Sleep Training Night 7

Despite trying to stay with Angela and sing to her while she fell asleep, it didn't work, so we left the room. 30 seconds of crying and she just put her head down and went to sleep. Thank God.

Sleep Training

Well, after many long months of multiple multiple night wakings, we decided it was time to suck it up and start letting Angela cry it out at night. Our plan was to rock her to near sleep, lie her down and then go in for "check-in" intervals. First night: 3 min, 5 min, 8 min, 10 min, and then 10-15 min after that, when I'd go in I'd give her a little hug and a kiss, give her a few moments to calm down and then put her back down again.

It took 1 hour and 10 minutes the first night - not fun, but she slept till 5am - holy cow, I fed her and put her back to sleep. She woke up 10 minutes later, cried for about 15 minutes, fell back asleep and then woke up at 7:30.

Second night, it took about 50 minutes for her to fall asleep, but not much crying at all - we watched her on the monitor as she sat in her bed (kind of sad, really) and then eventually just laid down and fell asleep. She woke up at 4, and I couldn't get her back to sleep so I brought her into bed and she fell asleep on her own next to me and slept till 7:30 again.

Third night was a bit tougher, she kept clutching John around his neck and didn't want to let him go, which was very hard for him. Again she slept till 4ish and I brought her in bed.

Fourth night she actually fell asleep on her own in her bed while we sang to her - big improvement from before, and we didn't have to hear her cry. Although, she did wake up an hour plus later but didn't take too much before she fell back asleep.

 Fifth night we were down on the south shore for my brother's birthday and she fell asleep in the car, so that was a bit of a bust because I just laid her in her bed when we got home, but she did stay asleep for most of the night until I brought her in bed with us.

 Tonight was a bit tough, but also easy. We tried singing her to sleep, but it just wasn't working. I finally rocked and then laid next to her until she fell asleep, unfortunately she woke up from the noise of the door shutting (damn door). I let her cry, and she was crying pretty hard, but I only had to check on her once (when I did she had little tears coming down and I felt so sad and held her a bit extra, I could see the look in her eyes that she knew I was going to leave her again) and after 20 minutes of crying she stopped, and then she sat there for 20 more minutes (very still, it was sad to watch) but she did fall asleep on her own.

All in all, it has not been as hard as I was anticipating, which has been a great relief to me. Although, I still hate to see her cry and I hate watching her just sit alone in her bed looking very solemn, it has atleast worked to improve our sleep issues quite quickly.

Little Baby Sponge

So aside from really liking this whole new walking concept (which is, obviously still a bit shaky at this point), Angela is also big into learning/understanding the meaning of words. It's become a game to us to find out just what words/concepts she understands. So far we know she knows:
Bye, Hi, Doggie, Cat, Bird, Pooh Bear, Green Bear (her green TY bear), "give green bear to grandma", kids/baby, where's mama's: ear, nose, belly button, big toe. Tonight she even put a fake phone to her ear and said hello a few times. She still does not call us by any names, even though she knows who we mean when we call each other by mama/daddy.

She's also decided which books are her favorites. During the day she prefer's her flip tab books - Where's Spot and Dear Zoo. At night she love, love, loves Good Night Gorilla. A few nights ago, after I had already read it to her, she took it back from the pile, crawled back into my lap, grabbed my hand and gave the book back to me. Since then, she's been doing it all the time. I can very well read Good Night Gorilla 3-4 times before bedtime. I also LOVE how she sits in my lap to read her a book. During the weekend, when I am very gratefully allowed to sleep in, she will treat John the same way, but if I'm around he usually is treated like second fiddle.

She's also a bit of a gymnastics monkey. She'll climb off the couch (an even tries to crawl off our bed - not a good idea, my friend) she tries to swing her leg over things and find ways to climb up anything that looks interesting.

Sleep has taken a turn for the worse during this time. I'm working on making Pooh Bear her bedtime lovey so that she may one day be comforted by his presence and not feel the need to cry for our (my) attention.... one day... one day.

Walkie-Talkie

Well, after having a good week of sleep, it all went to pot this past week. However, I'm trying to cut our little miss some slack. She took her first steps on Thursday... of all days, but the day that Auntie Bianca came to visit!! I kept saying to our babysitter Marisa, that Angela would walk before her last day... but I sent her home a half-hour early on her last day, and Angela literally walked about 15-20 minutes after she left. Such is life. She also has been spending a lot more time talking and interacting with people. Her sense of understanding is really blossoming, and I think the combination of mastering her walk and realizing she can communicate, is making her mind a bit restless at night. I'm trying very very hard to be sympathetic as she was sleeping in up to 8 hour stretches last week now back to 1-2 hour stretches the past week.

It's been a while..

since I last posted. Angela's sleep habits, or lack thereof have been all consuming the past few weeks. We had a conversation with a sleep consultant over the phone, changed some things around and for a week Angela was taking better naps and was easier to get to bed. Then last week, it all became undone somehow, I think she caught on to our game. And then, last night, she turned it all around again - went to bed at 8:00, woke up at 2:00, and then slept till quarter of seven. John got her down for a nap at 9:15ish and she's been asleep for over two hours now. This is only one night/day so I'm not putting too much stock in this being a new habit - but it's atleast a nice break.

In other news Angela can now:

• 
  
  Wave and say "bye-bye" - but usually only does this after the person has left and cannot see or hear her.
• 
  
  Stack toys and put them away (small victories)
• 
  
  Throws a ball (kind of)
• 
  
  Gives High-Fives
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  Gives non-biting kisses with the smooch sound (to grandma, once)
• 
  
  Pretty much climb off the couch on her own.
• 
  
  Imitate words that we say to her - birdie, diaper, doggie - not very well, but the basic sound is there.
• 
  
  Roar like a lion.
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  Climb a full flight of stairs, thanks to daddy encouraging her to do this as he stood behind her.
• 
  
  She also tried to brush her hair last night, which was pretty cute.

She also likes to reach and scream for things/babies etc that she can't have. This is less cute.

Hands up!

Sunday, at Leah's 2nd birthday party, Angela had a blast watching the other kids, and in some cases "kissing them" (aka kind of biting them -eeks). When Missy was leaving for work and saying goodbye to Phin, Angela heard Missy say "bye-bye" so Angela waved and said "bye-bye"! Yesterday, while at home I was with Angela and raised my arms up and said, "Hands up! Hands up!" - and she did it! After a little bit, she would even do it without me putting my hands up.

Scary Things

Scary for us: the second bottom tooth is starting to come in and keep the other tooth company. Which means biting is going to be that much more fun. (The first tooth is about 1/10th of the way out if you can see it)

Scary for Angela - the sound of the front door opening (or even the sound of the wind causing the door to make the slightest creak). The sound of someone walking up/down the stairs or around the house - if she can't see them. The sound of me shouting to John. Any of these will put Angela into a tizzy where she jumps/climbs onto the person nearest her and looks around the room with rapid eyes anticipating the unknown.

I can do what you can do. Well, I can atleast try.

I'm noticing that the communication barrier is beginning to dissolve. I say, "Angela, where's dada?" and she turns and looks at dada.  We play music or sing and she bops her head or, if she's standing, she bops her little bum in the air.  The other day I was cleaning the cabinets with a cloth and I could see Angela watching me so I gave her a cloth and showed her how to clean the cabinets, and there you have it, she did a wee bit of dusting. This method of imitation is very specific to what I'm drinking. If it's in a glass and I put it to my mouth, the girl wants her share and watch out if I don't let her. Diaper changes are another story. She does not like lying down and regardless of how quick we are at completing the task, she's generally screaming the whole time, unless we're lucky enough to find an object that can grasp her attention long enough to not care what we're doing with the lower half of her body. On the sleep front we have decided to do everything we can before calling a sleep consultant or letting her cry it out. After her first tooth was followed by her first infection & fever and consequently no sleep, we've actually rebounded and done better than we were before. Still atleast two wakeups per night during the hours of 12-5 and I'd like to get it down to one if not none. So the past 3 days now we've initiated a more structured bedtime routine starting at 7:30: bath, nursing, playtime on the bed, reading books, singing songs and finally rocking to sleep by around 8:30/8:45. I want to give this new schedule 2 weeks to assess our success and then figure out how to get her to start falling asleep on her own. I've finally broken down and ordered a baby sleep book to get some ideas. I can't work on baby #2 until I know that I have a shot at getting some rest before dealing with 2 children under the age of (potentially) 2.

We are...

Waving. Quite enthusiastically. Sometimes with both arms as if to say, "HEY I'M OVER HERE!"

Clapping.

Throwing more of our food than we are eating.

Very attached to mummy.

Wanting to stand ALL THE TIME, trying to walk, but we know we need a helping hand. However...we're sometimes standing on our very own for up to 5 seconds or so.

Goodbye Gummy Smile

We will miss you - you were so cute.

Angela was fussing today regardless of how I held her or tried to entertain her. So, I stuck my finger in her mouth and wouldn't you know I felt something sharp poking me back, for the first time.

In other "firsts" this week Angela had discovered the art of "putting things back where they came from" which is fun to watch. "Hey wait, I can put this toy back in the bowl!"

According to our babysitter, she also discovered her shadow and was reaching down and trying to grab it, which has only gone to convince me further that I have a puppy - not a baby.

9 Month Check Up

17lbs 12oz (she's gained a whole whopping 1 pound 7 ounces in 3 months)

29 inches (but has grown a total of 2 inches!)
We've got a long, semi-lean baby: 90% for height, 35% for weight.

Sleep continues to go into a downward spiral. I believe tonight is going to be night one of daddy on sleep duty, which means I'll be waking up John when I hear Angela cry because he sleeps too heavy to hear her himself.

Angela can "technically" say mama at this point, however she only brings it out after I pass her over to John and she's upset to lose her human pacifier. Her mummy attachment is so evident that if Angela & I are in her room playing and she hears daddy's feet coming up the stairs she literally bolts from wherever she is and pounces/climbs on me in anticipation of John coming into the room. It is so funny to watch her do this that John and I now "set her up" and have John wait outside the room and then rush in so we can see her reaction.

espite this behavior, John is pretty much the only male that Angela will let hold her. She definitely prefers the female sex and it is apparent that she is developing a sense of the different types of people, and has made up her mind what people she likes and who she doesn't. Most men can forget it. Women - it depends on their personality. Other babies and kids she adores & gets so excited when she sees them that she just wants to reach out and grab them, same goes for animals, stuffed or alive.

ah baba dada va-ba-da

I guess the whole making sounds thing has clicked. Yesterday while giving Angela a bath, she threw out a "ba" sound. So we started saying "ba" back and Angela has been babbling ever since. Usually "bababababa" but she's even throwing "byebadada." Right now I'm downstairs listening to John trying to rock Angela to sleep while she uses her new "baba" sound to voice her protest over the matter.

Dah-dee

We've been working on getting Angela to say da-da or ma-ma, and aside from one time saying a very distinct "da" she hasn't done much on this front. Until today during one of our seemlingly unproductive sessions of saying dada and mama and pointing or patting the appropriate person, that Angela put out a "dah-dee," at which point we both looked at each other saying "did she just say daddy?" The verdict is still out, but we definitely heard something we hadn't before. Despite the language barrier, Angela still has her way of getting her point across. Specifically in regard to identifying who she wants holding her. In order of preferred people: #1. Mommy    #2. Grandma    #3. MacKenzie (Andrew's gf)    #4. Daddy. Everyone else she decides after she meets them and is able to assess them for herself. Females are most definitely preferred over males, the males she likes to smile at and maybe reach out to touch them, but generally she doesn't want them holding her. She'll even pick a random woman in public over daddy - and luckily daddy is ok with this. If someone she doesn't want to  be held by tries to reach and hold her, she'll turn her head and look in the opposite direction for a little bit as if to say "sorry, I can't see you so I'm technically not rejecting you, but really I am."

Many times while she's crawling all over the house and about to get into something she shouldn't, I'll say something to the effect of "Angela don't do that," and you can see that she senses my tone as she pauses, looks at me for a little bit and then goes right back to what she was doing. The best part though is that we can say "Angela come here" with our hands out and she crawls right to us with great enthusiasm (that is, unless she finds something else more interesting - aka something she shouldn't be doing/playing with). My my favorite mannerism is something she's been doing for a long time now - you make a funny face or do something weird to entertain her and rather than smile at you or stare, she actually raises one of her eyebrows as if you say "you're off your rocker, mom." The closest picture I have to this look is this: which was taken when she was two months old.

In other news, Angela is doing very well with standing and practicing walking. She can tool around the house in her walker and can stand and hold on to something with only one hand. Cruising seems to be coming up soon. Clapping hasn't happened yet but she's very close to doing that as well. She hasn't perfected her wave but she will throw her hand back and forth from time to time when we're practicing bye-bye in the mirror or even to someone else. Now that she's become much better with her dexterity, she will also use this new found ability with her fingers, to take her pointer finger and play with our lower lip so that it makes a 'blup blup blup" sound - this is entertaining except for when she's past-due for a nail trimming and then it actually kind of hurts. I am still breastfeeding multiple times per day which is fine, aside from the face slapping, scratching, kicking, and hair pulling that goes along with it. Her favorite nursing position though is to grabs her foot and bring it up to her forehead. Hmm, whatever rocks your boat, little lady.

Sleep is Overrated, right?

God only knows what is going on with our little nugget. I think we've made every mistake in sleep training possible. Back when Angela was about 3-4 months old I was actually getting her to fall asleep on her own in her crib and she'd sleep for 6-7 hours straight. However, since her bedtime has been moved back to 7-8 o'clock and without pointing fingers (haha, yea right), someone else was involved in the sleep process and began running the shower to soothe her to sleep; we now pretty much need to run the shower everytime she falls asleep. Whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night I've been breastfeeding her because she just wont have it any other way. On top of all that, we now only rock her to sleep and put her down when she's fully asleep - and she's more aware of what is going on.

So, fast forward to current day - we now have a baby that isn't getting good naps when the babysitter is here - wakes up 3-4 times within the first two hours of being laid down at night, hates her crib, and now sleeps in the master bedroom with me while John sleeps in the guest room. (Although, he's not complaining because he likes the mattress in there a lot better than ours.)

I tried some sleep training last night - laying her down drowsy, but not asleep, put her mobile back on her crib and let her cry for 20 minutes. Yea, that just really pissed her off and she was really upset when I finally got her and I just felt awful. And this afternoon, when I sat her on the floor in her room and decided to turn her mobile on just to get her used to it - she saw it and immediately FREAKED OUT screaming - so I think I've officially scarred my baby girl into hating her crib & mobile. Basically she thinks crib = mom's leaving me alone. Good job, Adrianne.

I am strongly leaning towards setting up a floor bed for her - it will make it easier for us to lay her down & I think it will take away the crib/prison association.

On Her Own

Tonight is the first night that Angela's is sleeping in her own room. It has been months since she has slept for more than 5 hours during the night; her average max right now is 3-4 hours and I'm not quite sure why. I'm hoping that perhaps it's because if she wakes during the night she may hear us roll over in bed, or the sound of John snoring, and it causes her to wake up more rather than go back to sleep. It has become a big song & dance to put her back in the crib unless she's 100% asleep. The last thing I want to do at 2am is spending an extra 20 minutes walking around the room trying to make sure she's sound asleep, and recently she's even fussed when I do that. Sitting in the rocking chair is not an option - she, for whatever reason, does not like to sit in the rocking chair and the second you try to sit down in it - she knows it.  If I nurse her to sleep she wants to keep nursing and nursing and nursing, and she doesn't take a pacifier so - she pretty much wants to sleep on me. I do not really want to do sleep training until she's really hit her major milestones, which there aren't too many left at this point, but I'm also getting burnt out.

Social Misfit

So, Angela really loves other kids and babies. She sees them and she goes ballistic -shrieking and thrashing her arms and legs in the air. I love taking her to the park so she can not only enjoy a good "swing" but also so she can watch the other kids run around. I feel kind of sad that I do not have a playgroup for her, because she really loves being around lots of people. We were at the mall tonight and she saw another baby - an 11 month old boy, hanging out in his mother's ergo-type carrier minding his own business, when Angela spotted him and immediately started reaching for him - smiling and shrieking. Meanwhile he could care less what she was doing, that was until she let out such a loud screech that he actually started crying. Go Easy, Girl. Go Easy.

It figures...

Angela started officially pulling up and standing this week. (Notice our new blue walls in the kitchen/family room.) She has also managed to start feeding herself at this point (working on mastering her pincer grasp and also chewing her food), which has created a whole new reason for me to be paranoid and nervous, now that she has the ability to choke. She will eat baby puffs and cheerios and also Mum Mums which she has now gotten the knack of eating the whole thing pretty much, whereas before she'd gum it a few time and then put it down and I'd end up eating the rest... ahh motherhood.

Still no teeth yet - and we're perfectly ok with that... Angela's a bit of a "biter" aka - kisses on the face - and I don't really want to add teeth to that equation. She's also crawling like a champ all over the house so we're probably going to invest in some gates very soon.

We had our first professional photo shoot with Angela this past weekend, and ofcourse she only took a 20 minute nap and was totally cranky before the photographer got to the house. Luckily, Angela likes company, and got all excited once she saw the photographer. After a while the thrill was gone, so we asked our painter (who was still at the house) to come over and give Angela some attention, and it worked long enough to get the last shots.

Where's the Pause Button?

Angela is at a wonderful age right now. She's sitting, crawling, doing a bit of self-entertaining, doing much better eating from a spoon, loves people - laughing, smiling, babbling - and even putting out a few (unintentional) "mama" sounds. She is so happy and full of energy - we have fun together every day. I do not want this baby to grow up. Now that she's gotten the hang of crawling her sleep habits have improved slightly and she's been much happier during the day. I'm actually not looking forward to the next milestones as much (pulling up/cruising/walking/talking) because I know that there is only so much time left to really cherish these baby moments.

First Cold

So, this was a "milestone" that I wasn't particularly looking forward to. However, I think the combination of warmer weather and the fact it wasn't a bad cold - made it easier to handle and it passed quickly. We had 2 days of runny nose and lots of sneezing and then luckily only one night of stuffy nose, lots of nursing, and little sleep. Last night Angela took a trip into the shower with daddy to help clear her sinuses before bedtime, we ran the humidifier all night, and she actually had a really good night's sleep! Today she's been much better, which was good because I left her for a while with daddy so grandma & I could get massages, then John & I took a nap and then went out to dinner. I think today was the most time I've spent away from Angela. At this point - as long she's entertained - she really doesn't miss me. However, if I come into the room and she spots me, forget it. She wants me to hold her and heck with everyone else. Such is mommyhood.

Moving Out

We are testing a night of Angela being out of our bedroom. Every night when we "sneak" into the bedroom, the door squeaks and the noise of us getting into bed, coughing, sneezing, talking, or running water to brush our teeth puts us at risk of waking her up. Not to mention the sound of John's alarm going off in the middle of the night, and then the sun coming in through the windows in the morning (our bedroom faces east). The painters will be here in a few weeks to paint her room so we can finally set it up. She's sleeping on the guest bed, surrounded by a fortress of pillows, in the odd case that she decides to roll over or squirm for the first time while sleeping. We'd move her crib into the guest room but we would need to partially disassemble it which is just a pain in the butt, and I only want to do that when we know we're moving the crib for good - into her own room.

In the solid foods front, I've put more of a focus on feeding her more frequently despite the more often than not "shut mouth" move she'd pull on me when I'd try to feed her something with some flavor. However, I've persevered and now she likes bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Applesauce is ok and she's not crazy about those pears with their strange grainy texture. Thank goodness for my mini food processor, roasted sweet potatoes are oh so yummy and not stringy when you can puree the heck out of it! I've also given her teething cookies and Mum-Mums, which she'll actually eat most of now with success and no gagging or pushing it out of her mouth. We're playing around with cheerios and puffs to see how her dexterity is. It's cute watching her try to pick them up. She hasn't managed to get them up to her mouth yet though.

               I have recently been very cognizant of the fact that she is growing quickly before my very eyes, and I'm spending time each day analyzing her little body and appreciating how cute and fun it is to have a baby around. I love to hug her and rub my face against hers, and see the little smile that sneaks on her face when I do that. She stares at us so intensely, trying to figure us out - are we being funny? Serious? What does that look in our eyes mean? She's starting to understand the concept of waving and we've noticed her practicing here and there - sometimes if we wave, she'll stick her hand out in the air. If we're on the floor and I motion for her to crawl to me, she gets excited and will crawl right over! It is such a gift to be a mom and this really is the best time of my life. We are experiencing new things all the time and it is so exciting and wonderful.

We have a crawler.

A baby crawler. Well, the beginnings of one. A baby crawler that blows raspberries and has saliva slobbering all down her chin. It took her a while to realize that in order to move forward she has to use her legs. Before she understood this, she'd just keep moving forward with her arms and then land on her belly. But today, while my mother was visiting we noticed she tried to shimmy her legs a little bit. So we took off those cumbersome pants and let her get enough friction to make some progress. Perhaps this was why she took a 2 hour nap this morning - preparation for the milestone ahead. Perhaps this is why she's been waking up to 8 times after we lay her down for bed at night... lets hope this leads to better sleep habits.

I am Seven Months Old and if you

put something on my head, I have figured out how to pull it off instead of just kicking and flailing!

Angela is so so very close to crawling. She is surprisingly quite mobile even without crawling, through a combination of getting into a crawl position and then efficiently plopping her bum back into a seated position without toppling over, she makes her way around the floor.                                                                                             I don't know quite what it is, but her sleep habits have actually gotten worse. A six hour stretch of sleep used to be normal, and then we were getting closer to 7-8 hours of sleep. Now it seems 4 hours is the longest she will go. And then on top of it, sometimes it's hard to get her to sleep in her crib, the second we try to lie her down, she wakes up and starts crying. So lately, I've been putting her back in the bed with us because she'll sleep lying next to me. Forget her falling asleep on her own, that has not happened for a long time.

She's been rather cranky this past week and I haven't pushed the solid foods too much because I didn't think she was in the right mood for it, and on top of it I was tired from her crankiness and just didn't have the energy to try. However, the past couple of days she's been happier and is doing a good job with the rice cereal and even accepted some mixed with banana,which initially she gave an "BLECHK" face but then was eager for it.

On Days Like This

On days like this, when Angela isn't on a good sleep schedule (for whatever reason, this time I'm not so sure), barely napping (as in today with 2 naps - one that I don't think hit 30 minutes), a bit clingy and crabby at the same time, and totally bored with everything I try to do to entertain her -

I try to stop and remember that there are so few days that she will be in this stage of her life. I will only get to experience her as a baby once, for about a year (before she starts walking & talking) and that if I resent these days or wish they'd go by faster, I'm actually cheating myself. I can never go back to these days once they're over.

Someday in the future I'm going to be with her somewhere and a cute young baby will pass by and I'll say "Oh, I miss those days." I don't want to miss them because I was too busy trying to survive them, I want to miss them because I was able to appreciate how precious she was and how awesome it is that I am her mother and that I get to participate in guiding her on the many paths that she will travel during the course of her life. I want to know that I did the best job raising her and that I enjoyed the process as much as I could. Because, no matter what my salary is, or how in-shape I am, being her mom is both the hardest and most rewarding job I will ever have.

Small Milestone

Today while visiting down in Hingham, Angela was playing with a teething ring my mother had purchased for her and began passing it from one hand to the other. Right - Left - Right - Left etc etc. She seemed somewhat interested in this newly found method of self-interaction. Mom and I however, were much more impressed - "oh look, she's passing from one hand to the other!"

Goo Goo Goo

Angela is getting stronger and stronger every day, especially this past week. She's gone from trying to lift her hips up off the floor to now getting them fully off the floor and she's been rocking back and forth. Today she even lifted one arm off the floor, while in this position, and actually tried to sit herself back up on her bum!

She is very adventurous trying to climb over my legs when I have her sit in between them, climbing OUT of her bassinet which I was using as a mini play pen (that ended quickly), and sometimes when she tries to grab toys out of her reach, I think she is going to fall forward but she actually manages to pull herself back and I'm just amazed.

We're hearing lots of "goo goo goo" these days as well as "bbbbwwwuu" no "da da" yet.

The best was this Easter weekend when, while watching the Rallo's dog fetch a ball, Angela was laughing hysterically the entire time. I wish I had caught it on video and hope she'll do it next time we're over there so I can get it.

Tonight while we were at the grocery store, she was so intent on looking in the same direction that we were pushing the cart, that she twisted her body around and held onto the back rest of the cart with one arm so that she could look forward.

We have not made a ton of progress on the solid food front. Some days she does ok with the rice cereal and other days she has no interest. I tried other foods a few weeks ago and that did not go over very well at all, it seems these new flavors are too potent for her at this point, so I'm backing off a bit.

Dear Daughter

Dear Darling Angela,

I am glad to see that you are getting such good sleep at night that 4:00am seems like a good time to wake up, but in reality you still have a few more hours left until it's time to get up. Maybe it's that you figured that's when Daddy leaves for work and you want to spend some time with him, and I can appreciate that, as long as Daddy is still home to put you back to sleep.

Also, even though our relationship at this point is based off of only 6 months of being together (nearly 24-7), I can assure you that I will never abandon you, and would appreciate if you could give me the benefit of the doubt on this issue. If I put you down on the floor and walk away, I'm not leaving you forever, I'm probably going to get you a toy or get myself a drink of water so I don't die of dehydration. So, there is no need to scream at the top of your lungs and scrunch your face up. You look much prettier when you don't do that.

Lastly, I know that I'm the coolest Mommy that you've ever known, but I'm really not THAT much fun to be with. It's ok if you take nice long naps like most babies your age. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, so you could assume we might even have MORE fun together if we got to have a nice break once in a while to recharge our batteries.

With Much Love,

Your Mommy

We got it!

Angela managed to roll over from back to tummy today! First she did it on our island after a bath (yikes, we really need to watch her now) as she was trying to grab something out of her reach. Afterwards, we decided to let her continue this on the floor where it was a bit safer. She is getting quite strong these days, a lot of the time when she's on her tummy she's pushing herself backwards and doing the best she can to lift her butt off the floor - not getting too far yet, but she's determined!

The Tether that Binds

So aside from the fact that I exclusively have to personally feed my baby every two hours during the day, we have now entered the realm of baby-mama separation anxiety. A very big part of me enjoys this stage, I know once she's 2-3 years old she's going to diss me to hang out with daddy so I will appreciate this attention as much as I can. However, we've learned that we (I) have approximately less than one hour that we (I) can be away from her before she freaks out and starts crying/screaming unconsolably. Leaving her with daddy on a Saturday morning while I sleep in is one thing, both of us leaving to say, enjoy a nice meal with her in the care of someone else is completely different. We are yet to test the possibility that she might feel more comfortable if someone watched her at our home, every time she's freaked out it's been at someone else's home... so there may be hope.

I guess one could also say that we are in the midst of practicing Attachment Parenting techniques. Bedtime routine usually consists of dimmed lights, some books read and then a combination of nursing, running the shower for background noise, and some rocking and singing of "The Ants Go Marching" (no, not the Dave Matthews song)... usually by the time I get to the tenth ant, she's out for the count - somewhere around 9pm. Sometimes shortly thereafter she'll wake up crying and we pick her up, run the shower and within a few minutes she's back to sleep. By 2:30-3:00am she wakes for a feeding (still in our room, in her crib) and then again by around 4-6:00am and usually after that she's a bit fussier so I'll bring her into bed with me and feed/cuddle/sleep until somewhere hopefully close to 8:00am.

Talk Monster etc

Angela is learning how to make consonant sounds which involves lots of breath & spit being projected out from her lips. She's made a few "dee" sounds but it seems like she's really working on the letter 'B.'

This was at first extremely exciting to us and hilarious at the same time, but now that this little lady has discovered her new talent she does NOT want to stop practicing and it's starting to drive me a little insane.

In addition, she has become increasingly able to lift her upper body into a "push-up" position and twist around, we feel crawling might not be too far away.

Birth - 6 Month Milestones

Weight/Height

Born: 6lbs 14oz 20.25 inches
Discharge: 6lbs 6oz
1 Week Appt 6lbs 9oz
2 Week Appt 7lbs 8oz
1 Month Appt 9lbs 13oz 22.0 inches
2 Month Appt 12lbs 11oz 23.5 inches
4 Month Appt 14lbs 11oz 25.5 inches
6 Month Appt 16lbs 5 oz 27.25 inches

Milestones
October 18th Held Head Up
October 19th First Smile October 26th Slept 4 Hours at night
November 16th Found Hand
November 23rd Slept 6 Hours Straight
December 8th Began Grabbing
December 21st First Giggles, Slept 7 Hours Straight
December 27th Rolled Over from Tummy to Back, Hours Straight
February 24th Sits Up Unsupported

Six Months Go By

Our baby will be six months old this week. Half of a year since she entered into this world and six month until her one year birthday. We have the brains of typical parents to a first child. Everything she does is amazing, we think she is absolutely gorgeous, and that everyone else is just as in love with her as we are.

John has realized that a baby can be a lot more fun that he initially thought. He admits to carrying her around the store when we shop so he can watch people get all excited when Angela shoots huge smiles at them and listen to them tell him how cute she is.

I have realized that I need a break here and there so I can decompress and recharge in order to fully appreciate how precious she is instead of trying to keep her happy, remember to change her diaper/feed her, and get her to sleep. 

 I have lost over 40lbs at this point and I suppose I should be happy with that, but ofcourse I'm thinking about the 20lbs yet to go especially on the days where I'm just too tired to exercise.

                                                    

Independent Woman

Angela has had a busy week. She discovered that she can sit up and has managed the coordination to hold a bottle to her mouth and can even get some milk out of it!                                                 Finally, Angela has joined the Boston Salads sales department and showed off her new polo shirt in support of the family business. As we were taking her picture, she also discovered that our arm chair is a bit uneven and when she throws her back/head into the back cushion she can get the chair to rock!

Working on a Happy Sleep Schedule

Up to this point Angela has made a very natural and relatively easy transition into an acceptable sequence of night feedings/sleeping. We've gone from struggling to get her to bed before midnight and being up for periods of 30 minutes up to 2 hours during the middle of the night as a newborn, to a 10:30pm-8:30am routine and then 8:30/9:00pm-7:30am. However the past two days (seems like since she's really grasped the sense that she can sit up on her own now and that this is so much more fun than lying back) she woke up at 3am once and didn't go back to sleep till 5am and then this morning woke up at 6am with no desire to go back to bed.

I do not own any baby books, or specifically any baby-sleep books, but it seems that the idea is - sleep promotes more sleep and to not delay putting down a baby at the earliest signs of sleepiness.

So tonight I noticed Angela was getting a little cranky before 7 and decided to start winding her down & get her ready for bed (changed her diaper, put her nightgown on, brought her downstairs - read some books, nursed her & then brought her into the bathroom because she likes the sound of the shower and held her with her head on my shoulder and sang "The Ants Go Marching"). By 7:30 I had her in bed and was doing my exercises downstairs. She's fussed a few times but now at 9:45 is still asleep. We'll see how things pan out tomorrow morning.

Naps are another issue all together - many days I know that she's tired and needs a nap but I have a much harder time getting her to lie down and when she finally does many times the nap only lasts 20-40 minutes and she's up and raring to go! I'm thinking of applying a nap routine just like her bedtime routine to see how things go.

The Diaper Debate

After dealing with a lot of "up the back" diaper blowouts in the past weeks I decided not only to go up to the next size in diapers but also to switch brands. At first I was in love with Pampers Swaddlers- they were so nice and soft and anything else just seemed too rough & papery. However, the Pampers were lacking elasticity in the back and the poop just kept shooting out.

So, we tried Costco size 3 diapers this past weekend, not that much bigger than size 2, but definitely more snug and still pretty soft - and best of all - no diaper blowout as of yet! I read reviews that Luvs, which are also rather inexpensive are also quite good and that the other diaper brands - Pampers/Huggies spend more money on marketing which is why they charge more. I'm thinking of giving them a try. I should market a diaper sampler pack so that people can find out what works best for them without having to commit to a whole package of diapers and risk not using them.

In other news, Angela is on the verge of sitting up on her own. Sometimes she's pretty good but will sway side to side and fall over, but her core muscles are definitely getting stronger these days and she's even getting better at pulling herself up into a seated position when she's reclined.

Hello size 6-9 month clothes

We are moving up in the world of baby clothes this week. I am going to miss some of the 3-6 month outfits and will see if we can make them last another week or two, but am excited to delve into our new batch of clothes.

We purchased a video baby monitor and a stroller this weekend. I am glad that I waited till after Angela was born to do a lot of my baby shopping so that I could gain a sense of what I needed/wanted.

Right now Angela is a very social baby. If we go out into the public and a stranger comes up to her and smiles/talks to her, she eats it up like a fat guy at an all-you-can-eat buffet. People are shocked at how friendly she is... but we'll see how that goes once she understands the concept of a stranger. She is also becoming a lot more comfortable in a sitting position and at times can hold herself up for a few seconds here and there.

Finally She Decides To Roll Over!

Over a month ago Angela rolled over in her crib, just that one time and it seemed she had no idea or desire to roll over onto her back when we'd do tummy time. Despite a week plus of sleeping 5-7 hours the past week she'd been only doing 2 hours at a time, which was a bit tiring and frustrating because I couldn't quite understand why she had reverted back to such an intense night feeding schedule... who knows maybe she was gearing up to complete the task of rolling over! This afternoon we went from a struggle to roll over to all of a sudden rolling over almost instantaneously when I'd put her down! Congrat's Angela!