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.