*sigh* Emma has been battling her first cold of her little life all week... or at least I think that's what's going on. At the most, she's had a stuffy nose. Really, that's the worst it's been... so I'm very fortunate in that respect. She's had an occasional cough and some sneezing, but the sneezing is very typical for her. I used to laugh at her all the time in the NICU because it seemed like she was always sneezing during hands-on time. And a sneeze from a less-than-five-pound baby is seriously adorable. But she's done a fine job of fighting off whatever ailment this is- she has kept her goofy, happy demeanor for the most part. The only thing I've really noticed is that she's had great difficulty sleeping in some fashion; she's either taken two hours to go to bed or to hours to go back to bed. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night of last weekend were awful. She would get up for a bottle around 1 or 2am and wouldn't go back to bed for two hours. She'd sleep in my arms, but not in her crib. Monday night was alright, of course, because it was hubby's night to be up with her. So she slept all night. Go figure. Tuesday night was awful. And then something magical happened... she started sleeping through the night. All the way through the night.
I don't know what to do with myself. I almost feel more tired now that I'm well rested than I did when I was entirely sleep-deprived and my body seems to be getting greedy for sleep. To the point that I took a pregnancy test, as I haven't felt this kind of fatigue since my first trimester. No worries- there is not another crazy baby being formed in this belly. Whew.
She does seem to be on the mend now, though. Still stuffy, but at least she went to bed without a fight last night. It was amazing- she drifted off to sleep in my arms (which hasn't happened almost all week. She adamantly refused to fall asleep in my arms in the rocker and had to be held upright in my arms with my swaying back and forth) around 7:45pm and slept in her crib until 6:15am, had a bottle, then went back to sleep until 9am. She took an hour nap this morning, and now she's on the tail end of a three-hour nap in her crib this afternoon. I'm not going to get used to this, though. She has a tendency to switch up her routine without notice and screw up my sleep in the process. She's a pretty darned good reason to miss out on sleep, though. Even at 6:15am on a Saturday morning, I wanted to squeeze her to pieces because I love her so much and she's so cute and sweet.
I learned this week that having an infant and being on-call is no bueno. Thankfully my husband isn't working 24 hour shifts anymore... I don't know what I would have done in that case. The flip side is that I'm not on-call again until March, and I'm very OK with that prospect. :) It's also a good opportunity for either overtime pay or leaving super-early on a Friday.
As expected, I had some moments of reflection this week as it marked the one-year anniversary of some major events in my life. Like 12/18, when I felt the sharp twinges of her burrowing in and making herself comfortable. And 12/20, when I had my first-ever positive pregnancy test. Last night, I was reminiscing about the big announcement on Christmas day and the reaction from our parents... crazy baby was a much anticipated arrival to say the least. There's no way to top Christmas 2011, but this Christmas is going to be extra special as well.
I took Emma to the doctor on Monday to have her checked out to make sure she was breathing alright since she sounded a little wheezy to me that morning. She weighed 15 pounds 12oz with a slightly wet diaper and her clothes on. So I figure she's about 15 1/2 pounds. OMG. That puts her between the 50th and 75th percentile in weight for her actual age. She's above average. And I'm going to stop feeding her. Hah! Just kidding. She's short and fat, though. She definitely has my short legs and small feet. I still haven't figured out where the thunder thighs come from, other than the fact that she's a baby.
She still has not started rolling over yet, but tummy time is no longer her nemesis. I think she just realizes that she can hold her head up really high and can see things from a different perspective, so it keeps her interested for a little bit. She actually laughed a little while on her tummy this morning, which is a far cry from the fussing and whining of tummy-time in the recent past. She's making progress!
I held off on solid foods this week since she's been stuffy and not feeling well. I'll probably try again next week with some vegetables, and hopefully something that will help this constipation. We have a sweet new high chair (thanks, Nicole!!!!) for her, some special bowls, and her cute little spoons. I'll never deny that this child will be spoiled... but the goal is for her to be kind, sweet, and spoiled. I plan to teach her the value of giving, sharing, and being grateful. We'll see how that goes ;)
I can't think of any particularly funny moment from this week. I did get an awesome picture of her with a horrified/surprised look on her face. It's a keeper, for sure. She also peed in the bath a couple of times. I accidentally scratched her boobie with my fingernail and she laughed. And she's started laughing so hard that it surprises her. Yep, she's certifiably insane. She's definitely my kid.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
All I Want for Christmas
One year ago today, miracle baby was nothing more than a tiny cluster of miracle cells growing, dividing, and making her way down my left (yes, left. I figured I ovulated out of my left side and the ultrasound tech confirmed it. Pretty cool, huh?) fallopian tube. It was truly the beginning of this insane journey. Being forever reflective and nostalgic, I've done lots of thinking about all of this over the last few days. So much has happened in just one year- many lessons learned, tears shed, hugs, smiles, and many days of having a severely sore jaw from clenching it from all of the anxiety. I'm going to do much more reflecting over the next few weeks because this is when the dominoes began to fall... starting with ovulating on 12/11, feeling twinges on 12/18, the positive pregnancy test on 12/20, then announcing the pregnancy to our families on 12/25. I have very vivid memories from those few weeks... "All I want for Christmas is You" played on the radio today and I swear I must have had the biggest smile on my face as I sang along in the car. It was my song to Emma last year when I found out she existed... "I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know... make my wish come true, baby all I want for Christmas is you." I know, it's a love song. But the lyrics are pretty fitting... just make "baby" into a more literal meaning and voila! Emma song. I always liked that song, but now it holds a special meaning and reminds me of the most amazing Christmas gift I've ever received- my sweet child.
And now for the good stuff. Miracle baby update!
This week was surprisingly great in the sleep department. Well, for Emma. Not so much for me. Last weekend was insanely hectic, starting on Saturday when I attended the baby shower of one of my bestest friends ever. I was so happy to see her glowing with her adorable (and TINY!) pregnant belly and the joy of a mom-to-be written all over her face. I've always loved when good things happen to great people... so this shower was definitely a celebration of that very situation. Hubby decided we should break RSV lockdown and take her to a wedding the next day so we could introduce her to some of our closest friends who have been dying to meet her... I reluctantly agreed, knowing that I'd be worried and stressed the whole time.
The wedding was beautiful and another amazing celebration of good things happening to great people. You could just feel the love. A few people used the word "miracle" in reference to Emma and it was surreal to hear other people say it. Because it really is true.
Miracle baby had two meltdowns- one when we got there, and one just before the reception. The first one resulted from attempting to feed her cold formula. She takes room-temperature formula like a champ, but try to give her cold formula and she'll look at you like you've just tried to feed her motor oil. Then apparently she starts screaming. I was flustered... was this how the whole night would be?! Initially, I wasn't sure what was bothering her so I tried everything, even stripping her out of her dress, thinking that she was uncomfortable in it. I let out a slight sigh of relief when she continued to scream sans dress, because I really wanted her to wear her dress for the wedding. Oh, 90210. I'll never change... Luckily she ended up calming down and I regained my composure in time for the ceremony to start. And wouldn't you know it, she was so great during the ceremony. She even farted... just loud enough for the few people around us to hear. I had to stifle my laughter. I got her into the car after the cocktail hour to take her to the reception nearby, but there was a long line for the valet and the cars weren't moving. And then the screaming started. In an act of desperation, I pulled out my phone, looked up the number for the restaurant, and asked if there was another place to park. Hooray technology! I parked and frantically made up a bottle and fed her into a stupor. Poor kid. She was so well-behaved during the reception too... I fed her before I brought her home so she would sleep in the car. Then I got her home, fed her a little more, then put her in bed. And proceeded to collapse myself so I could get a few hours of sleep before I had to be up to feed her, then sleep for another hour before having to be up in the morning to get her ready, take her to my mom, and go to work. *yawn*
In short, we survived. And I learned to never ever put her in the car if she hasn't eaten something recently unless I want to drive home with a seriously shouty baby.
So the rest of the week went smoothly... her ever-changing schedule stayed consistent this week and I'm going to be sad to see it go- I know it won't last long because she likes to change things up with no warning. She's been in bed somewhere between 7 and 8:30pm every night after having about 8-10 ounces of formula before going down for the night. Not always at once, but usually within about 2 hours of bedtime. Then she sleeps until 4:30 or 5, has a quick bottle, then is back in bed until I wake her up around 7:45 or 8. It allows me to get up at 7, shower, make my coffee, feed the dog, put on my makeup, let the dog out, and prepare the bottle and medicine for miracle baby. I've settled into a good but hectic morning routine, which is crazy for me since I'm the opposite of a morning person.
And, the biggest news of all- she is finally sleeping well at my in-laws house in her pack n play! YAY! She slept for three straight hours yesterday and three and a half today like a big girl :) I'm so relieved... it's definitely contributed to her better nighttime settling and overall happiness.
This kid is seriously a cheeseball. And I'm not referring to the cheese factory, also known as her neck, that I've reference in past posts. In fact, the cheese factory is mostly shut down now that she is starting to have a real neck and not just a head sitting on top of little shoulders. Apparently that's what happens when you can actually start to hold your head up. Anyways... if you had asked me three months ago how I would have described my child, I would have used words like pukey, gassy, sleepy, and colicky. Now, I'd say she's goofy, silly, happy, and sweet. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, miracle baby has a personality! She's every bit as funny and goofy as I thought she'd be, too. She cheeses at anyone who makes eye contact with her, and if she's being held when someone makes eye contact, she quickly smiles, turns her head away, kicks her feet, and smacks whoever is holding her. I like to say that she smiles with her whole body. And her eyes... those eyes. I can always tell how she's feeling based on those gigantic eyes. That's the first thing that everyone says when they see her, too- "oh my god, those eyes!" Yes, they're huge. Add in the chubby cheeks and her big open-mouthed toothless smile, and she's one stinkin' cute baby if I do say so myself.
She's also about this [] close to rolling over from her tummy to her back. She can do a baby pushup (more like upward facing dog, if you ask me) that would put an athlete to shame, and is now starting to rock to one side. In fact, she came so close to rolling over at my in-laws' house today that I really thought she was going to do it. Just one more inch to the side and she would have rolled herself right over, so it's only a matter of days before she finally does it. She can also sit up on her own for brief periods of time before she topples to one side or the other... I can't believe how quickly she's growing and learning! She can also react much quicker and can divert her attention to something new immediately without the delay she had before. She's moved up from the Pentium II to the Intel I5 ;) Her playmat is still one of her favorite things to do, but now she prefers to kick her toys while grasping as many of them with her hands as she can. She likes a challenge, I guess.
I just love her to pieces. I can't kiss her and cuddle her enough... I'm never satisfied with the amount of kisses I can give her in one day.
Hopefully soon I'll figure out a way to post pictures again. Until then, trust me when I say she's super-cute. Because she is.
And now for the good stuff. Miracle baby update!
This week was surprisingly great in the sleep department. Well, for Emma. Not so much for me. Last weekend was insanely hectic, starting on Saturday when I attended the baby shower of one of my bestest friends ever. I was so happy to see her glowing with her adorable (and TINY!) pregnant belly and the joy of a mom-to-be written all over her face. I've always loved when good things happen to great people... so this shower was definitely a celebration of that very situation. Hubby decided we should break RSV lockdown and take her to a wedding the next day so we could introduce her to some of our closest friends who have been dying to meet her... I reluctantly agreed, knowing that I'd be worried and stressed the whole time.
The wedding was beautiful and another amazing celebration of good things happening to great people. You could just feel the love. A few people used the word "miracle" in reference to Emma and it was surreal to hear other people say it. Because it really is true.
Miracle baby had two meltdowns- one when we got there, and one just before the reception. The first one resulted from attempting to feed her cold formula. She takes room-temperature formula like a champ, but try to give her cold formula and she'll look at you like you've just tried to feed her motor oil. Then apparently she starts screaming. I was flustered... was this how the whole night would be?! Initially, I wasn't sure what was bothering her so I tried everything, even stripping her out of her dress, thinking that she was uncomfortable in it. I let out a slight sigh of relief when she continued to scream sans dress, because I really wanted her to wear her dress for the wedding. Oh, 90210. I'll never change... Luckily she ended up calming down and I regained my composure in time for the ceremony to start. And wouldn't you know it, she was so great during the ceremony. She even farted... just loud enough for the few people around us to hear. I had to stifle my laughter. I got her into the car after the cocktail hour to take her to the reception nearby, but there was a long line for the valet and the cars weren't moving. And then the screaming started. In an act of desperation, I pulled out my phone, looked up the number for the restaurant, and asked if there was another place to park. Hooray technology! I parked and frantically made up a bottle and fed her into a stupor. Poor kid. She was so well-behaved during the reception too... I fed her before I brought her home so she would sleep in the car. Then I got her home, fed her a little more, then put her in bed. And proceeded to collapse myself so I could get a few hours of sleep before I had to be up to feed her, then sleep for another hour before having to be up in the morning to get her ready, take her to my mom, and go to work. *yawn*
In short, we survived. And I learned to never ever put her in the car if she hasn't eaten something recently unless I want to drive home with a seriously shouty baby.
So the rest of the week went smoothly... her ever-changing schedule stayed consistent this week and I'm going to be sad to see it go- I know it won't last long because she likes to change things up with no warning. She's been in bed somewhere between 7 and 8:30pm every night after having about 8-10 ounces of formula before going down for the night. Not always at once, but usually within about 2 hours of bedtime. Then she sleeps until 4:30 or 5, has a quick bottle, then is back in bed until I wake her up around 7:45 or 8. It allows me to get up at 7, shower, make my coffee, feed the dog, put on my makeup, let the dog out, and prepare the bottle and medicine for miracle baby. I've settled into a good but hectic morning routine, which is crazy for me since I'm the opposite of a morning person.
And, the biggest news of all- she is finally sleeping well at my in-laws house in her pack n play! YAY! She slept for three straight hours yesterday and three and a half today like a big girl :) I'm so relieved... it's definitely contributed to her better nighttime settling and overall happiness.
This kid is seriously a cheeseball. And I'm not referring to the cheese factory, also known as her neck, that I've reference in past posts. In fact, the cheese factory is mostly shut down now that she is starting to have a real neck and not just a head sitting on top of little shoulders. Apparently that's what happens when you can actually start to hold your head up. Anyways... if you had asked me three months ago how I would have described my child, I would have used words like pukey, gassy, sleepy, and colicky. Now, I'd say she's goofy, silly, happy, and sweet. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, miracle baby has a personality! She's every bit as funny and goofy as I thought she'd be, too. She cheeses at anyone who makes eye contact with her, and if she's being held when someone makes eye contact, she quickly smiles, turns her head away, kicks her feet, and smacks whoever is holding her. I like to say that she smiles with her whole body. And her eyes... those eyes. I can always tell how she's feeling based on those gigantic eyes. That's the first thing that everyone says when they see her, too- "oh my god, those eyes!" Yes, they're huge. Add in the chubby cheeks and her big open-mouthed toothless smile, and she's one stinkin' cute baby if I do say so myself.
She's also about this [] close to rolling over from her tummy to her back. She can do a baby pushup (more like upward facing dog, if you ask me) that would put an athlete to shame, and is now starting to rock to one side. In fact, she came so close to rolling over at my in-laws' house today that I really thought she was going to do it. Just one more inch to the side and she would have rolled herself right over, so it's only a matter of days before she finally does it. She can also sit up on her own for brief periods of time before she topples to one side or the other... I can't believe how quickly she's growing and learning! She can also react much quicker and can divert her attention to something new immediately without the delay she had before. She's moved up from the Pentium II to the Intel I5 ;) Her playmat is still one of her favorite things to do, but now she prefers to kick her toys while grasping as many of them with her hands as she can. She likes a challenge, I guess.
I just love her to pieces. I can't kiss her and cuddle her enough... I'm never satisfied with the amount of kisses I can give her in one day.
Hopefully soon I'll figure out a way to post pictures again. Until then, trust me when I say she's super-cute. Because she is.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Sleep is Good for Everyone
My blogging hiatus was completely unintentional... blame it on the books I've been reading. And crazy baby... she's also a big reason why I haven't been blogging.
The funny thing is, I feel more tired now than I did when I was getting up every 2-3 hours at night to feed her and pump. It's either a) getting up in the middle of the night for five (well, six if you include my hospital stay) months straight is catching up to me b) I just don't remember how tired I really was in those early months or c) both. I'm going to go with c on this one.
So, here I am. Sitting on the couch typing away while crazy baby is peacefully sleeping in her crib. Well, as peacefully as she can sleep. Whoever coined the phrase "sleeping like a baby" clearly had no clue how a baby really sleeps. Or they meant the phrase to mean "grunting, wiggling, squirming, burping, farting, and puking at least hourly all night long." In which case, the saying would ring true. Anyways...
The big adjustment now is her ever-changing schedule. It seems like every week is different as her body is growing and her brain is learning, which translates into changes in her feeding and sleeping schedule. For about a week, she was sleeping straight through the night. Then she started waking up once per night for about a week or two. Then a solid two to three weeks of waking up twice in the night. Now we're back to once, but last night was twice again. It's really not that bad though... it only takes me a total of 30 minutes to prepare her bottle, change her diaper, feed her, burp her, cuddle her, then place her back into her crib. The part of her schedule that has been consistent is her waking time and nap schedule, at least for the most part. She wakes up anywhere between 7:30 and 8:00am most days. Then she eats, plays, and usually gets put into her car seat, much to her dismay, and shipped off to Grandma and Grandpa's house or to Grammy and Pop's for the day. Last weekend, her schedule was perfect. One hour nap in the morning, catnap at lunch time, then a three hour nap from 3pm to 6pm. And lately, she's been in bed asleep around 8pm. Tonight was a little different, as she was just slightly overtired and didn't want to be rocked to sleep. So I put her in her crib and sat nearby while she grunted and wiggled herself to sleep, all the while attempting to suck her thumb. In the process, she gagged herself about a hundred times. One day she'll gain control over those crazy fingers. At least I hope. But anyways, she ended up falling asleep around 8:30ish and has been having little baby dreams ever since. Cute, sweet little baby dreams.
So it's been nice to see a pattern emerging with her. And even nicer to know how well-adjusted she is overall. As long as she gets enough naps during the day and enough sleep at night, she's the happiest, sweetest little girl in the world. And even when she's tired, she'll still smile and get all cheesy with you... until she realizes she's overtired. Then the wailing starts. See below. But it's actually quite an interesting adventure trying to figure all of this out and I get quite a sense of accomplishment when I try something and it works well. For a while, Emma did great with her bath/bottle/swaddle routine. Then suddenly, it stopped working as she started spending more time at her grandparents' houses and less time at home and her schedule changed. Trying to get her into a bath when she got home after barely sleeping during the day made for an incredibly angry, screaming, crying baby. See below. So I adapted and overcame. The bath is flexible- she doesn't always get one. If I'm home early enough and she's gotten a decent amount of sleep, then I'll now give her a bottle first, then a bath, then some quiet activities (like reading a book or some calm play time), then when she gets tired, it's lights out and I offer her a bottle again and let her drift to sleep in my arms. It has worked out quite well lately. But if she's tired, then the lights go out, she gets a bottle, and typically just goes to bed early.
I will overcome the overtired baby syndrome. That's my current struggle. If she doesn't get her naps during the day when she's being babysat, then she goes into nuclear meltdown mode when she gets home. We're talking full-on relentless screaming. It makes her colic days look like a walk in the park. She did this for 45 minutes straight one night and I about lost my mind... there was absolutely nothing I could do to make her feel better. Nothing. I just held her while she screamed until she tired herself out and went limp in my arms, at which point I was far too terrified to put her in her crib, so I held her for a little while to make sure she was good and asleep before I put her down. And held my breath while I made sure she really was asleep and wasn't going to start screaming again... then proceeded to curl up in hubby's lap and cry. It was so exhausting to have her scream like that and not be able to help her feel better. I felt like I had been run over by a bus. A bus of screaming infants, that is. And the other night, she started getting hungry on our way home from my parents' house and was overtired then too. She had just fallen into a deep sleep when I got there to pick her up and she was awakened by being put in her car seat. So hungry+interrupted sleep= screaming for 35 minutes straight in the car. By the time I made it home, my nerves were fried. I called hubby on the way and apologized in advance for biting his head off. I knew it would happen- I was beyond frustrated and wanted nothing more than to get home and make her feel better. It was an even more helpless feeling than before- at least the time prior, I was able to hold her.This time, she was in that darned car seat and out of my reach. Luckily she ate well and fell asleep.
So that has got to stop. I'm open to any and all suggestions on why she won't nap well while she's not at home. She sleeps well in my parents' pack n play at their house, if only she would stop pooping during her afternoon nap there and waking herself up with her poopy pants. She naps like a champ at home- she'll easily sleep for three hours in her crib in the afternoon here. In fact, she hasn't had a real nap in her swing in quite some time now. Woohoo!
She's developing and learning at such a rapid pace now. She's just about ready to start sitting up on her own and it's obvious that she's starting to use her core muscles now. She is also almost ready to roll from her tummy to her back... she has inadvertently rolled the other direction multiple times before. But she's now trying to intentionally roll because she still. hates. tummy time. Poor kid. She has also mastered the one-handed and two-handed grasps. She can easily grab something, pull it to her mouth, and lick/bite whatever she's holding. Including lots of mommy hair. Hah! She still loves her playmat and goes to town on the toys, going back and forth between slamming them and grabbing onto them and pulling them. Her hands are very, very grabby these days. Nothing is safe. Not even my mom's dog's ears.
Crazy baby has also turned into quite the conversationalist too... well, more like quite the giggler. She sometimes babbles and coos, but mostly giggles and laughs. She is a true goofball, just like I thought she would be. Her little eyes light up when she laughs and it melts my heart. It's also quite distracting and it's difficult to get out the door on time in the morning when you've got this amazing little creature giggling at you and flashing some sparkly little cupie-doll eyes at you. Ugh, I love her too much. She also gets quite bashful now too... if she's being held by someone and sees someone else, she'll smile, then bury her face into the person holding her, then look back at the second person. Bath time continues to be the highlight of her day- she has her pre-bath giggling fit, then she splashes, giggles, and plays with her toys until the water starts to get cold. Some nights, she'd stay in that bathtub for hours if I'd let her. My little water baby...
Emma's first Christmas is rapidly approaching. It's going to be a very sentimental Christmas this year. December 18th is also right around the corner, and hopefully I can blog that day and reflect on everything that it means to me. It's crazy to think that this time last year was the last few weeks of my life that I wasn't a mommy... my, how quickly things change. And my, what a crazy roller coaster of a ride it has been.
Welp. I tried posting pictures, but it's a no-go. Apparently I've used up all of my storage for photos on this blog, so I either have to purchase more storage, or get my tech-wizard husband to help out. But seeing how it's past my bedtime, I think I'm going to opt to try again some other time.
Time for my nightly routine- peek and smile at the baby in her crib, quietly sneak away, then get ready for bed. I love seeing how peaceful she looks while she's sleeping :)
The funny thing is, I feel more tired now than I did when I was getting up every 2-3 hours at night to feed her and pump. It's either a) getting up in the middle of the night for five (well, six if you include my hospital stay) months straight is catching up to me b) I just don't remember how tired I really was in those early months or c) both. I'm going to go with c on this one.
So, here I am. Sitting on the couch typing away while crazy baby is peacefully sleeping in her crib. Well, as peacefully as she can sleep. Whoever coined the phrase "sleeping like a baby" clearly had no clue how a baby really sleeps. Or they meant the phrase to mean "grunting, wiggling, squirming, burping, farting, and puking at least hourly all night long." In which case, the saying would ring true. Anyways...
The big adjustment now is her ever-changing schedule. It seems like every week is different as her body is growing and her brain is learning, which translates into changes in her feeding and sleeping schedule. For about a week, she was sleeping straight through the night. Then she started waking up once per night for about a week or two. Then a solid two to three weeks of waking up twice in the night. Now we're back to once, but last night was twice again. It's really not that bad though... it only takes me a total of 30 minutes to prepare her bottle, change her diaper, feed her, burp her, cuddle her, then place her back into her crib. The part of her schedule that has been consistent is her waking time and nap schedule, at least for the most part. She wakes up anywhere between 7:30 and 8:00am most days. Then she eats, plays, and usually gets put into her car seat, much to her dismay, and shipped off to Grandma and Grandpa's house or to Grammy and Pop's for the day. Last weekend, her schedule was perfect. One hour nap in the morning, catnap at lunch time, then a three hour nap from 3pm to 6pm. And lately, she's been in bed asleep around 8pm. Tonight was a little different, as she was just slightly overtired and didn't want to be rocked to sleep. So I put her in her crib and sat nearby while she grunted and wiggled herself to sleep, all the while attempting to suck her thumb. In the process, she gagged herself about a hundred times. One day she'll gain control over those crazy fingers. At least I hope. But anyways, she ended up falling asleep around 8:30ish and has been having little baby dreams ever since. Cute, sweet little baby dreams.
So it's been nice to see a pattern emerging with her. And even nicer to know how well-adjusted she is overall. As long as she gets enough naps during the day and enough sleep at night, she's the happiest, sweetest little girl in the world. And even when she's tired, she'll still smile and get all cheesy with you... until she realizes she's overtired. Then the wailing starts. See below. But it's actually quite an interesting adventure trying to figure all of this out and I get quite a sense of accomplishment when I try something and it works well. For a while, Emma did great with her bath/bottle/swaddle routine. Then suddenly, it stopped working as she started spending more time at her grandparents' houses and less time at home and her schedule changed. Trying to get her into a bath when she got home after barely sleeping during the day made for an incredibly angry, screaming, crying baby. See below. So I adapted and overcame. The bath is flexible- she doesn't always get one. If I'm home early enough and she's gotten a decent amount of sleep, then I'll now give her a bottle first, then a bath, then some quiet activities (like reading a book or some calm play time), then when she gets tired, it's lights out and I offer her a bottle again and let her drift to sleep in my arms. It has worked out quite well lately. But if she's tired, then the lights go out, she gets a bottle, and typically just goes to bed early.
I will overcome the overtired baby syndrome. That's my current struggle. If she doesn't get her naps during the day when she's being babysat, then she goes into nuclear meltdown mode when she gets home. We're talking full-on relentless screaming. It makes her colic days look like a walk in the park. She did this for 45 minutes straight one night and I about lost my mind... there was absolutely nothing I could do to make her feel better. Nothing. I just held her while she screamed until she tired herself out and went limp in my arms, at which point I was far too terrified to put her in her crib, so I held her for a little while to make sure she was good and asleep before I put her down. And held my breath while I made sure she really was asleep and wasn't going to start screaming again... then proceeded to curl up in hubby's lap and cry. It was so exhausting to have her scream like that and not be able to help her feel better. I felt like I had been run over by a bus. A bus of screaming infants, that is. And the other night, she started getting hungry on our way home from my parents' house and was overtired then too. She had just fallen into a deep sleep when I got there to pick her up and she was awakened by being put in her car seat. So hungry+interrupted sleep= screaming for 35 minutes straight in the car. By the time I made it home, my nerves were fried. I called hubby on the way and apologized in advance for biting his head off. I knew it would happen- I was beyond frustrated and wanted nothing more than to get home and make her feel better. It was an even more helpless feeling than before- at least the time prior, I was able to hold her.This time, she was in that darned car seat and out of my reach. Luckily she ate well and fell asleep.
So that has got to stop. I'm open to any and all suggestions on why she won't nap well while she's not at home. She sleeps well in my parents' pack n play at their house, if only she would stop pooping during her afternoon nap there and waking herself up with her poopy pants. She naps like a champ at home- she'll easily sleep for three hours in her crib in the afternoon here. In fact, she hasn't had a real nap in her swing in quite some time now. Woohoo!
She's developing and learning at such a rapid pace now. She's just about ready to start sitting up on her own and it's obvious that she's starting to use her core muscles now. She is also almost ready to roll from her tummy to her back... she has inadvertently rolled the other direction multiple times before. But she's now trying to intentionally roll because she still. hates. tummy time. Poor kid. She has also mastered the one-handed and two-handed grasps. She can easily grab something, pull it to her mouth, and lick/bite whatever she's holding. Including lots of mommy hair. Hah! She still loves her playmat and goes to town on the toys, going back and forth between slamming them and grabbing onto them and pulling them. Her hands are very, very grabby these days. Nothing is safe. Not even my mom's dog's ears.
Crazy baby has also turned into quite the conversationalist too... well, more like quite the giggler. She sometimes babbles and coos, but mostly giggles and laughs. She is a true goofball, just like I thought she would be. Her little eyes light up when she laughs and it melts my heart. It's also quite distracting and it's difficult to get out the door on time in the morning when you've got this amazing little creature giggling at you and flashing some sparkly little cupie-doll eyes at you. Ugh, I love her too much. She also gets quite bashful now too... if she's being held by someone and sees someone else, she'll smile, then bury her face into the person holding her, then look back at the second person. Bath time continues to be the highlight of her day- she has her pre-bath giggling fit, then she splashes, giggles, and plays with her toys until the water starts to get cold. Some nights, she'd stay in that bathtub for hours if I'd let her. My little water baby...
Emma's first Christmas is rapidly approaching. It's going to be a very sentimental Christmas this year. December 18th is also right around the corner, and hopefully I can blog that day and reflect on everything that it means to me. It's crazy to think that this time last year was the last few weeks of my life that I wasn't a mommy... my, how quickly things change. And my, what a crazy roller coaster of a ride it has been.
Welp. I tried posting pictures, but it's a no-go. Apparently I've used up all of my storage for photos on this blog, so I either have to purchase more storage, or get my tech-wizard husband to help out. But seeing how it's past my bedtime, I think I'm going to opt to try again some other time.
Time for my nightly routine- peek and smile at the baby in her crib, quietly sneak away, then get ready for bed. I love seeing how peaceful she looks while she's sleeping :)
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