She is TALKING. So ridiculously cute.
I wah pee! - I walk please!
I see? - Can I see?
EAT!! (in a very emphatic way...it's pretty clear what this one means)
BUH!! (ditto - she loves her books)
Her favorite way to read is to point at every object on the page and say, "Sah?" (what's that?) and then listen to me say the answer. Over, and over, and over.
Diaper time..."I see?" She likes to see the results of her, um, work? And then, "I tuh?" Which means "Please hand me a wipe so I can clean myself."
And in other potty news...she peed on the potty!! TWICE!!! She says, "Poop!" which obviously means, "I have to pee," and then she DOES it! I'm so ready to be done with diapers.
She loves to get her hands washed in the sink. Today, I put foaming hand soap on her precious hands and she rubbed them together then immediately started rubbing them into her hair! She was shampooing. =)
She says "No, ta-too!" to most things...even things that don't require a polite answer - like, "Time to change your diaper!" Emerson: "No, ta-too...No ta-too...NO, TA-TOO!!!!" She yells it. In a very thoughtful way.
Whenever a song is on that she likes, she listens intently. Then, when the song is over (or if it's a favorite song that she knows well, when it's approaching the end of the song), she'll say, "Uh-oh!" which is code for "immediately put the song on repeat or risk major Emerson meltdown."
She knows animal noises - cow, dog, cat, sheep...that's it for now. And body parts - eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, elbows, knees, back, belly button, feet, toes, legs, hair. She's very good at brushing her hair.
Whenever you say, "Em, you're making me sad!" She makes a sad face and whimpers. And then grins because she knows she's the cutest thing that ever existed. Likewise with her "No ta-toos." She loves to get tickled, that girl.
Whenever I walk in the door after work, she somehow knows it's me. She jumps down from whatever she's doing and RUNS to the front door, calling the whole way, "Mama, mama, mama!" It melts me. It almost makes me like going to work so I can get that welcome when I come home.
Favorite foods: yogurt (that she can eat herSELF! - very messily), Mac-N-Cheese, breaded chicken cutlets, pasta with sauce, grapes, guacamole (she will eat three huge bowls if I let her - even with onions), scrambled eggs, toast.
This girl loves the water. We take her to the beach and she will walk and walk until she's under water - and then when we pull her up, she smiles, blinks the water out of her eyes, and flails around until we put her back in. She is a fish. Also loves playing with the faucet, which keeps her occupied while Sam and Abi are swimming off the dock.
She's so easy to put to bed. Play in the room for a while ("I pay?"), put on jammies, read 2 books (the same two books, every night), and drink her ba-ba (yes, she still gets a bottle - it's cuddle time and I'm not ready to give it up). Then, when she's done with her bottle, she'll hand it to me ("heya go!") and I ask "Ready for night night?" and she says "Niy-niy." Then I tell her I love her and she tells me, "I ya-ya!" I love this girl.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
EEK - 14.5 months!
EEK is so fitting...can it really have been 3 months since I last wrote? I would be a terrible professional blogger.
I was just reading her 11.5 month post and can't believe how much has changed. She is a expert walker now, although she still does that baby thing that I love where she looks intently in one direction and then her feet take her on a completely different path. Amazingly she manages to stay upright most of the time, and even when she does fall, she's pretty tough and doesn't squawk. She has been known to open the front door on her own and run down the driveway and across the street before I even know she's gone (thankfully Sam and Abi were out there when she went - which is probably why she went - she loves them!). Don't worry, Mom and Dad, we now keep the front door locked and that hasn't happened again. She does LOVE to be outside. "Si" is one of her many words. Em is my only child that patiently sits in my lap to put shoes and socks on ("tuh-toh" for toe-toes - ugh - what a ridiculous word, which only sounds cute when a 1-year old says it). And I'm certain the only reason she tolerates shoes and socks is because I won't let her go outside without them.
She is still pretty serious. When you get her to smile (with those gorgeous dimples!), it is a huge reward because you have to work for it! I have figured out a surefire way though - I hold out my hand with a Cheerio or similar treat in it and she reaches for it and then I close my hand really quick, grabbing her hand. This, as you all are aware, is HILARIOUS. We could literally do this for hours. The joke never gets old.
Em is also quite opinionated. Somehow, despite not having many actual adult words, she manages to convey exactly how she feels about pretty much everything. Food, for example. While string cheese was absolutely THE. MOST. DELICIOUS. FOOD. a couple of weeks ago, yesterday I apparently gravely insulted her by offering it. How do I know this? Well, Em is excellent at waving her hands around her highchair tray so that all undesirable contents go flying through the air and onto the floor. She has an uncanny ability to selectively choose the pieces she wants and discard the rest. I know in several years this will strike me as "adorable." For now, it is "messy" and "aggravating." A simple "all done" hand gesture would suffice.
Her favorite word right now is still "mo." As I wrote in my last post, this doesn't mean that she actually wants "more" of anything, just that she wants SOMETHING. Usually it's her drink. I am still trying to teach her sign language (the juice sign is pretty easy!), but, have I mentioned that she's fairly stubborn about things?
Other words in her vocabulary include: hi!, buh-bye, dog, mama, dada, boat, "tuh" (stuck - as in, "my leg is stuck between the bars of my crib"), "sie" (outside), "ri" (ride - she LOVES car rides), and "ba-ba" (bottle)...there are many more but those are the most reliable ones.
She blows kisses like a champ, only not on command.
We recently started a game where I balance something on my head and pretend to sneeze ("ah....ah....choo!") - which is, as I'm sure you already know, funny beyond measure. Then she'll put something on her head and say, "ahhhh..." with a huge smile on her face. =)
At her 1 year checkup, her head circumference was 92nd percentile, height was 50-something, and weight was 30-something. Picture a toothpick with a marshmallow at the top. Actually, she looks very proportionate, but you have to admit that the numbers are funny.
She is not my best sleeper. She was doing well for a while, but over the last few months she has decided that she likes company (and milk - switched from formula a month or two ago) at 3:30 EVERY SINGLE MORNING. If she weren't so heartbreakingly adorable it would be a lot more annoying, but as it is, it's getting old. She'll cry for a few minutes, and as soon as I walk in, she's silent. I pick her up from her crib and she remains silent. I put her on the ground to get ready to change her diaper, and she says, in the cutest way possible, and in a wide-awake voice, says, "ba-ba!" Who can resist that?
I was just reading her 11.5 month post and can't believe how much has changed. She is a expert walker now, although she still does that baby thing that I love where she looks intently in one direction and then her feet take her on a completely different path. Amazingly she manages to stay upright most of the time, and even when she does fall, she's pretty tough and doesn't squawk. She has been known to open the front door on her own and run down the driveway and across the street before I even know she's gone (thankfully Sam and Abi were out there when she went - which is probably why she went - she loves them!). Don't worry, Mom and Dad, we now keep the front door locked and that hasn't happened again. She does LOVE to be outside. "Si" is one of her many words. Em is my only child that patiently sits in my lap to put shoes and socks on ("tuh-toh" for toe-toes - ugh - what a ridiculous word, which only sounds cute when a 1-year old says it). And I'm certain the only reason she tolerates shoes and socks is because I won't let her go outside without them.
She is still pretty serious. When you get her to smile (with those gorgeous dimples!), it is a huge reward because you have to work for it! I have figured out a surefire way though - I hold out my hand with a Cheerio or similar treat in it and she reaches for it and then I close my hand really quick, grabbing her hand. This, as you all are aware, is HILARIOUS. We could literally do this for hours. The joke never gets old.
Em is also quite opinionated. Somehow, despite not having many actual adult words, she manages to convey exactly how she feels about pretty much everything. Food, for example. While string cheese was absolutely THE. MOST. DELICIOUS. FOOD. a couple of weeks ago, yesterday I apparently gravely insulted her by offering it. How do I know this? Well, Em is excellent at waving her hands around her highchair tray so that all undesirable contents go flying through the air and onto the floor. She has an uncanny ability to selectively choose the pieces she wants and discard the rest. I know in several years this will strike me as "adorable." For now, it is "messy" and "aggravating." A simple "all done" hand gesture would suffice.
Her favorite word right now is still "mo." As I wrote in my last post, this doesn't mean that she actually wants "more" of anything, just that she wants SOMETHING. Usually it's her drink. I am still trying to teach her sign language (the juice sign is pretty easy!), but, have I mentioned that she's fairly stubborn about things?
Other words in her vocabulary include: hi!, buh-bye, dog, mama, dada, boat, "tuh" (stuck - as in, "my leg is stuck between the bars of my crib"), "sie" (outside), "ri" (ride - she LOVES car rides), and "ba-ba" (bottle)...there are many more but those are the most reliable ones.
She blows kisses like a champ, only not on command.
We recently started a game where I balance something on my head and pretend to sneeze ("ah....ah....choo!") - which is, as I'm sure you already know, funny beyond measure. Then she'll put something on her head and say, "ahhhh..." with a huge smile on her face. =)
At her 1 year checkup, her head circumference was 92nd percentile, height was 50-something, and weight was 30-something. Picture a toothpick with a marshmallow at the top. Actually, she looks very proportionate, but you have to admit that the numbers are funny.
She is not my best sleeper. She was doing well for a while, but over the last few months she has decided that she likes company (and milk - switched from formula a month or two ago) at 3:30 EVERY SINGLE MORNING. If she weren't so heartbreakingly adorable it would be a lot more annoying, but as it is, it's getting old. She'll cry for a few minutes, and as soon as I walk in, she's silent. I pick her up from her crib and she remains silent. I put her on the ground to get ready to change her diaper, and she says, in the cutest way possible, and in a wide-awake voice, says, "ba-ba!" Who can resist that?
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Emerson...11.5 months!!!
Precious baby girl. Smart. Strong. Independent, yet loves to be held. A charmer. Serious. Gorgeous.
20 lbs on the nose! She is walking everywhere, although very unsteadily (my favorite kind of walk). When she's about to fall, she gently bends her knees and plops down on her bottom. She took her first real steps over Christmas. Today Sam said, "Aw, she's walking! She might never crawl again!" making me, obviously, ridiculously sad and sentimental. Hence the blog entry tonight.
She knows some sign language! She is really good at "more" (putting her little fingertips together in front of her chest) although it's usually the absence of this sign that really means anything to me - she signs "more" when she hasn't had anything yet, or when she wants me to pick her up, or really when she wants anything at all. It's when she's not signing "more" that I know she's done with whatever she's eating. She also says "mo" while she's signing it, which exponentially increases the cuteness factor. We're working on "all done" (waving hands in the air by her face), and she sort of gets it, but definitely doesn't understand what it means.
Her first words were "more" (see above) and "dog" (which she pronounces "da"). She's also really good at mama (obviously my favorite in her current repertoire). She's been saying all these for a few weeks. She first started saying "dog" over Christmas at Mike and Meg's - every time Bailey would come down the stairs or enter the room, her eyes became fixed on him and she would follow him around saying, "da! da!"
She has 2 full teeth on the bottom and 2 more poking through on the top. She has two of the most adorable dimples I've ever seen. She has a gorgeous silly face, where she crinkles up her nose and eyes and gives a huge grin. She sometimes gives me this face and simultaneously tips her head backwars onto the chair/ couch/ etc. It is hilarious. She loves to be chased and tickled. She can wave bye-bye and give high-five. Working on blowing kisses. She starts dancing every time the alphabet song comes on, or when Gramma sings the "dancin'" song.
She eats everything that mom and big siblings eat. She is particularly fond of ham, pork, prime rib, blueberries, wagon wheels, apples, and marshmallows. When she first discovered Cheerios, all you had to do was bring out the box and she got a huge smile on her face! Now they're old hat. She's onto the real foods. Much to my dismay, since my next order from Amazon just automatically placed itself, and we're about to get 12 x 10 more containers of smushed-up baby veggies. Thankfully, she hasn't wanted to feed herself with a fork or spoon yet. Finger foods are messy enough.
She loves to hang out in my bathroom, standing on the edge of the tub and putting her fingers in the water dripping out of the faucet. She loves baths too. She's a splasher! She recently has come to enjoy destroying everything in her path - pulling every shoe from my shoe shelf and throwing each one vigorously onto the floor, doing the same with her clothes and diapers in her changing station, pulling every wet wipe one by one out of the container and onto the floor, pulling all the books off the bookshelf...shall I go on? She does NOT enjoy getting her diaper changed but she is definitely getting better. This has been an ongoing issue for several months so maybe I'm just getting used to it, but I actually think it's not as hard to change her as it was before. Although Papa recently changed her and it's a miracle the diaper stayed on...and her knees were well-coated with diaper rash cream. :-)
On a different note, Abi got her first stitches today - a door opened into her forehead and left a gash right over her left eyebrow. Only needed 2 stitches and she was SUCH a trooper. Squeezed my hand a little bit when the lidocaine went in, and then said, "Ow" when the needle entered the skin, but otherwise not a peep or a tear. My brave little soldier.
Sam is noticeably more mature over the last month or so. His thought patterns and ideas are follow-able and make actual sense, and his behavior is impressively better too. He will (usually) calmly say to Abi, "You are pushing my buttons, Abi!" rather than exploding as he used to do. My kids are amazing. I am so lucky.
20 lbs on the nose! She is walking everywhere, although very unsteadily (my favorite kind of walk). When she's about to fall, she gently bends her knees and plops down on her bottom. She took her first real steps over Christmas. Today Sam said, "Aw, she's walking! She might never crawl again!" making me, obviously, ridiculously sad and sentimental. Hence the blog entry tonight.
She knows some sign language! She is really good at "more" (putting her little fingertips together in front of her chest) although it's usually the absence of this sign that really means anything to me - she signs "more" when she hasn't had anything yet, or when she wants me to pick her up, or really when she wants anything at all. It's when she's not signing "more" that I know she's done with whatever she's eating. She also says "mo" while she's signing it, which exponentially increases the cuteness factor. We're working on "all done" (waving hands in the air by her face), and she sort of gets it, but definitely doesn't understand what it means.
Her first words were "more" (see above) and "dog" (which she pronounces "da"). She's also really good at mama (obviously my favorite in her current repertoire). She's been saying all these for a few weeks. She first started saying "dog" over Christmas at Mike and Meg's - every time Bailey would come down the stairs or enter the room, her eyes became fixed on him and she would follow him around saying, "da! da!"
She has 2 full teeth on the bottom and 2 more poking through on the top. She has two of the most adorable dimples I've ever seen. She has a gorgeous silly face, where she crinkles up her nose and eyes and gives a huge grin. She sometimes gives me this face and simultaneously tips her head backwars onto the chair/ couch/ etc. It is hilarious. She loves to be chased and tickled. She can wave bye-bye and give high-five. Working on blowing kisses. She starts dancing every time the alphabet song comes on, or when Gramma sings the "dancin'" song.
She eats everything that mom and big siblings eat. She is particularly fond of ham, pork, prime rib, blueberries, wagon wheels, apples, and marshmallows. When she first discovered Cheerios, all you had to do was bring out the box and she got a huge smile on her face! Now they're old hat. She's onto the real foods. Much to my dismay, since my next order from Amazon just automatically placed itself, and we're about to get 12 x 10 more containers of smushed-up baby veggies. Thankfully, she hasn't wanted to feed herself with a fork or spoon yet. Finger foods are messy enough.
She loves to hang out in my bathroom, standing on the edge of the tub and putting her fingers in the water dripping out of the faucet. She loves baths too. She's a splasher! She recently has come to enjoy destroying everything in her path - pulling every shoe from my shoe shelf and throwing each one vigorously onto the floor, doing the same with her clothes and diapers in her changing station, pulling every wet wipe one by one out of the container and onto the floor, pulling all the books off the bookshelf...shall I go on? She does NOT enjoy getting her diaper changed but she is definitely getting better. This has been an ongoing issue for several months so maybe I'm just getting used to it, but I actually think it's not as hard to change her as it was before. Although Papa recently changed her and it's a miracle the diaper stayed on...and her knees were well-coated with diaper rash cream. :-)
On a different note, Abi got her first stitches today - a door opened into her forehead and left a gash right over her left eyebrow. Only needed 2 stitches and she was SUCH a trooper. Squeezed my hand a little bit when the lidocaine went in, and then said, "Ow" when the needle entered the skin, but otherwise not a peep or a tear. My brave little soldier.
Sam is noticeably more mature over the last month or so. His thought patterns and ideas are follow-able and make actual sense, and his behavior is impressively better too. He will (usually) calmly say to Abi, "You are pushing my buttons, Abi!" rather than exploding as he used to do. My kids are amazing. I am so lucky.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
10 months of amazing little Em
Just wanted to post a quick update on her current status:
- She LOVES climbing the stairs - all 18 of them. She crawls her little tush over to the bottom of the stairs, grabs hold of the hand rail, stands up, and then peers into the living room to make sure someone is watching. Then, she gets a HUGE grin on her face and she's off! Of course I immediately head over to make sure she's safe, and she loves when I pretend to chase her up the stairs. She makes it all the way to the top and then loves to just sit precariously right on the edge of the landing, waiting for me to grab her.
- She took 2 steps last week! I missed them, unfortunately =( but it's only a matter of time before she tries again!
- She ate some tiny pieces of real chicken today, and loved them. She's not particularly picky; she'll eat pretty much any of the baby food gourmet meals, and she loves Baby Mum-Mums.
- For the past several months, she has HATED to get her diaper changed. I really don't remember Sam or Abi being so stubborn, but she would literally twist herself completely over mid-diaper change. This made for some interesting experiences after a poop, when I would try to put on cream, and she's flipping and flopping all over the place. Nothing helped. At the risk of speaking prematurely, I will say that she seems to be outgrowing the rebellion against the clean diaper. The last few days have been infinitely easier.
- She's about 18.5 lbs and barely fitting into her infant carseat. We'll have to change her to the toddler seat soon. She still has a big head but her body seems to be growing into it.
- She loves to walk behind anything that moves and push it around the house. She's terrible at steering so every time she crashes into an obstacle (wall, couch, table, etc.) she just squawks until someone rescues and redirects her.
- She's starting to imitate!! She loves to yell, "AAGH!" when one of us makes a loud noise, and she can imitate "ma-ma-ma." With Sam and Abi, whenever I would say, "ma-ma-ma," they would repeat "da-da-da," driving me nuts! Not this precious one. She knows how to get on my good side. =)
- She LOVES climbing the stairs - all 18 of them. She crawls her little tush over to the bottom of the stairs, grabs hold of the hand rail, stands up, and then peers into the living room to make sure someone is watching. Then, she gets a HUGE grin on her face and she's off! Of course I immediately head over to make sure she's safe, and she loves when I pretend to chase her up the stairs. She makes it all the way to the top and then loves to just sit precariously right on the edge of the landing, waiting for me to grab her.
- She took 2 steps last week! I missed them, unfortunately =( but it's only a matter of time before she tries again!
- She ate some tiny pieces of real chicken today, and loved them. She's not particularly picky; she'll eat pretty much any of the baby food gourmet meals, and she loves Baby Mum-Mums.
- For the past several months, she has HATED to get her diaper changed. I really don't remember Sam or Abi being so stubborn, but she would literally twist herself completely over mid-diaper change. This made for some interesting experiences after a poop, when I would try to put on cream, and she's flipping and flopping all over the place. Nothing helped. At the risk of speaking prematurely, I will say that she seems to be outgrowing the rebellion against the clean diaper. The last few days have been infinitely easier.
- She's about 18.5 lbs and barely fitting into her infant carseat. We'll have to change her to the toddler seat soon. She still has a big head but her body seems to be growing into it.
- She loves to walk behind anything that moves and push it around the house. She's terrible at steering so every time she crashes into an obstacle (wall, couch, table, etc.) she just squawks until someone rescues and redirects her.
- She's starting to imitate!! She loves to yell, "AAGH!" when one of us makes a loud noise, and she can imitate "ma-ma-ma." With Sam and Abi, whenever I would say, "ma-ma-ma," they would repeat "da-da-da," driving me nuts! Not this precious one. She knows how to get on my good side. =)
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Where is Emerson at 7.5 months?
Well, she's ALMOST crawling. Despite me telling the world that this baby would walk before she crawled, she is scooting and scooching all over the place. Especially if there is a shoe nearby that she wants to place in her mouth. She loves to stand up holding on to anything and everything. She hates lying still to get her diaper changed. Instead, she likes to wriggle her right arm to above the left side of her head while simultaneously twisting her body in the opposite direction. Makes for a fun diaper changing situation, but she can usually be distracted by a toy, or, if one's not available, another diaper (clean, obviously). She's eating stage 2 solids, mixed with rice to thicken them up. She tasted banana pudding the other day and was a huge fan. She's pretty serious, but usually takes time to smile whenever someone new comes in the room.
She is waking at the ridiculous hour of 5am, occasionally making it to 5:30 but also just as frequently waking in the 4's. This is criminal and I will be sure to remind her of it when she is a teenager. Thankfully she is sleeping a good 10 hours straight so it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. 5am is just so, so, so early. With waking at 5, she's ready for her first nap by 8am, and then another around noon or 1. Depending on the day, she also can usually take a 20 minute nap around 5pm too. She eats 1-2 full packets of food every day along with some cereal. She thinks it's hilarious to blow raspberries right after I put food in her mouth. Super funny, Em.
Did I already say this? She has 2 teeth. Starting to pop a third through! Loving peek-a-boo and tickles in the neck. Still drooling like a champ. My favorite thing: when she is tired, she rests her head on my chest and just stares into the space in front of her. She's all limp and cuddly. Mmmmm.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
First Tooth!
Emerson popped her first tooth through today! You can feel it, but not really see it, because she's all about sucking on your finger if you put it anywhere near her mouth, but not so much about opening wide and letting you look in. Goodbye, toothless grins! Hello, nursing pain! Haha - we'll see. So far I can't feel it.
She has mastered getting herself to a seated position from lying down, but she can't get back once she's up. This makes for many trips to the crib as she's trying to put herself to sleep to help her lie back down. She also, for the first time yesterday, pulled herself to a standing position on the side of the couch. This girl will walk before she crawls, I swear.
That's all I wanted to document for today. Just couldn't miss this very important milestone.
She has mastered getting herself to a seated position from lying down, but she can't get back once she's up. This makes for many trips to the crib as she's trying to put herself to sleep to help her lie back down. She also, for the first time yesterday, pulled herself to a standing position on the side of the couch. This girl will walk before she crawls, I swear.
That's all I wanted to document for today. Just couldn't miss this very important milestone.
(Note the bib to catch all the teething drool that seems to soak whatever she's wearing...)
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Special (early, so early) mornings
The last few weeks Sam and Abi have been with my parents (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD) and I have had some special alone time with just Emerson. I think this is really one of very few times in her life that it will be just us. She kind of gets a raw deal, being the third one and NEVER being the focus of my attention, so this month (almost 6 weeks, actually) is really special.
Today we had our last weekend morning together. I've really come to love these mornings. We've started sleep training (more on that later), so recently she's been sleeping really well and waking up for the day at 6:00am sharp. I'll take it, since it used to be in the 5's. She comes in my bed and cuddles with me and nurses for about 30-40 minutes, and by that time my back is sore and she's re-awake, so we get up. I make myself a cup of coffee while she plays on the floor in the living room, and then I enjoy my coffee and just watching her. She loves anything with a tag, and can entertain herself for a good 30 minutes just pulling, chewing, and slobbering on random tagged toys. When she starts to get fussy, I usually pull her up to nurse on the other side. Thankfully, this corresponds to about the time my coffee kicks in, so I'm usually pretty happy and awake by then. After that, she likes to stand on the side of the couch and play with the coasters, and then I can usually put her in her bouncy thing for 20-30 minutes or so while I FaceTime with mom, Meg, or Scott. The last 2 days this has taken us til about 8am, and then she'll play a bit longer. Around 8:15 she starts rubbing her eyes and getting cranky, and I can put her easily to bed (where she is right now). Yesterday she slept over 2 hours and we'll see what today holds. During the week her normal nap time is 9 or 9:30, but I'm wondering if this will change given her weekend schedule. If it stays like this, it will work out perfectly for when the kids go back to school.
Sleep training. Ugh. It's like saying a swear word to say that. But, for all the horrible connotations it has, I have to say it is a necessary evil. Up until about a week ago, Em was still waking up every night between 1 and 3am for a bottle. I would stumble to the kitchen, pull out a bottle from the fridge that I had already made, and put it in the microwave. For the 30 seconds it took to heat it up, I would rest my head on the counter and fall back asleep. When the timer beeped, I would take the bottle out and stumble back to my bedroom where the princess would be fussing/ crying and waiting for me. I would feed her the bottle which took anywhere from 20-30 minutes and then put her back in bed, then I would put the bottle back in the kitchen, stumble back to bed, and gratefully immediately fall back to sleep. Except for the occasional times when I couldn't fall back asleep; those were awful. Usually that one episode would take us through until about 5am, when she would wake up again. In my sleep-deprived state, I would pray (literally, pray) that she would go back to sleep, and my prayers would usually be answered by making her quiet for 5-6 minutes and then making her cry again. So we were up. Ugh.
About a week and a half ago, I decided that this was NOT. WORKING. I was miserable during the day, taking naps while I pumped, and just chronically absolutely exhausted. I have a whole new sympathy for patients who tell me they're tired. It's the worst feeling ever. Anyway, so I decided I needed a good night's sleep. That night, she woke up at 1am, and I went upstairs so I couldn't hear her. I came back down at 2, and she was back asleep. She woke up AGAIN at 3am, and I went back upstairs until 4, at which time she was again asleep. She woke up for the day at 5:30. Not the "good night's sleep" I was hoping for. And not the "sleep training" I planned on, it just kind of happened that way. That day, I did some reading on "CIO/ Ferberizing" and decided I was going to implement it that night. And wouldn't you know, she picked that night to sleep straight through the night with no wakings at all. The mere threat of Ferberizing had her scared asleep. It wasn't that easy though. The next night she woke up at 1am, and I did the 5 minute check, the 7 minute check, and the 10 minute check. By the time the next 10 minute check came, she had fallen back asleep. Not too horrible. From that point on, she would wake in the middle of the night (usually around 3am) and fuss for less than 5 minutes, and then put herself back to sleep. Turns out she didn't need that bottle after all. Last night she slept straight through (at least, I don't remember any wakings) and was up for the day at 6. Again, I'll take it. Let's hope it keeps up throughout our trip to RI and back. Having a good night's sleep is SO much better. For both of us. I know it makes me a better mother - I honestly think I love her more after I'm well rested. =)
And with that, since she's napping, I guess I'll go down for one myself. I know my time to do this is limited, since once the big kids get back the opportunities for napping will be essentially non-existent. I'm loving this time with Emerson, but I do miss them.
Today we had our last weekend morning together. I've really come to love these mornings. We've started sleep training (more on that later), so recently she's been sleeping really well and waking up for the day at 6:00am sharp. I'll take it, since it used to be in the 5's. She comes in my bed and cuddles with me and nurses for about 30-40 minutes, and by that time my back is sore and she's re-awake, so we get up. I make myself a cup of coffee while she plays on the floor in the living room, and then I enjoy my coffee and just watching her. She loves anything with a tag, and can entertain herself for a good 30 minutes just pulling, chewing, and slobbering on random tagged toys. When she starts to get fussy, I usually pull her up to nurse on the other side. Thankfully, this corresponds to about the time my coffee kicks in, so I'm usually pretty happy and awake by then. After that, she likes to stand on the side of the couch and play with the coasters, and then I can usually put her in her bouncy thing for 20-30 minutes or so while I FaceTime with mom, Meg, or Scott. The last 2 days this has taken us til about 8am, and then she'll play a bit longer. Around 8:15 she starts rubbing her eyes and getting cranky, and I can put her easily to bed (where she is right now). Yesterday she slept over 2 hours and we'll see what today holds. During the week her normal nap time is 9 or 9:30, but I'm wondering if this will change given her weekend schedule. If it stays like this, it will work out perfectly for when the kids go back to school.
Sleep training. Ugh. It's like saying a swear word to say that. But, for all the horrible connotations it has, I have to say it is a necessary evil. Up until about a week ago, Em was still waking up every night between 1 and 3am for a bottle. I would stumble to the kitchen, pull out a bottle from the fridge that I had already made, and put it in the microwave. For the 30 seconds it took to heat it up, I would rest my head on the counter and fall back asleep. When the timer beeped, I would take the bottle out and stumble back to my bedroom where the princess would be fussing/ crying and waiting for me. I would feed her the bottle which took anywhere from 20-30 minutes and then put her back in bed, then I would put the bottle back in the kitchen, stumble back to bed, and gratefully immediately fall back to sleep. Except for the occasional times when I couldn't fall back asleep; those were awful. Usually that one episode would take us through until about 5am, when she would wake up again. In my sleep-deprived state, I would pray (literally, pray) that she would go back to sleep, and my prayers would usually be answered by making her quiet for 5-6 minutes and then making her cry again. So we were up. Ugh.
About a week and a half ago, I decided that this was NOT. WORKING. I was miserable during the day, taking naps while I pumped, and just chronically absolutely exhausted. I have a whole new sympathy for patients who tell me they're tired. It's the worst feeling ever. Anyway, so I decided I needed a good night's sleep. That night, she woke up at 1am, and I went upstairs so I couldn't hear her. I came back down at 2, and she was back asleep. She woke up AGAIN at 3am, and I went back upstairs until 4, at which time she was again asleep. She woke up for the day at 5:30. Not the "good night's sleep" I was hoping for. And not the "sleep training" I planned on, it just kind of happened that way. That day, I did some reading on "CIO/ Ferberizing" and decided I was going to implement it that night. And wouldn't you know, she picked that night to sleep straight through the night with no wakings at all. The mere threat of Ferberizing had her scared asleep. It wasn't that easy though. The next night she woke up at 1am, and I did the 5 minute check, the 7 minute check, and the 10 minute check. By the time the next 10 minute check came, she had fallen back asleep. Not too horrible. From that point on, she would wake in the middle of the night (usually around 3am) and fuss for less than 5 minutes, and then put herself back to sleep. Turns out she didn't need that bottle after all. Last night she slept straight through (at least, I don't remember any wakings) and was up for the day at 6. Again, I'll take it. Let's hope it keeps up throughout our trip to RI and back. Having a good night's sleep is SO much better. For both of us. I know it makes me a better mother - I honestly think I love her more after I'm well rested. =)
And with that, since she's napping, I guess I'll go down for one myself. I know my time to do this is limited, since once the big kids get back the opportunities for napping will be essentially non-existent. I'm loving this time with Emerson, but I do miss them.
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