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.