TILTW: 5/24-6/1

* Sometimes, it really is best to just get outside and do something for a bit. Sunday's record hot day tried keeping me indoors but we went ahead and piled in the car to go visit my 88 year old grandmother for her birthday. And... we survived and we all had a really lovely day. Such a difference from Saturday where I barricaded myself in my room all day. :( When we got home, Lovie played with her new water table (photo) for a while. It was hard getting her to come in and eat dinner she was loving it so much.

* I went to my gynecologist on Tuesday and had a bit of a breakdown when describing to him the Monster I feel like I am for half of the month. We talked a lot about everything and he's pretty sure I have PMDD and prescribed Prozac. I pray the shit works. Time will tell.

* Lovie's been without a binky now for a week. My big girl. She still brings it up at bedtime but we just ignore it and she moves on and goes to bed. I think she sleeps more soundly since she doesn't have the pacifier to wake up to find. That said, I think she doesn't sleep as long but we'll find that out this weekend. We'll also see if we can get the little chica to take a nap as she all out refused all last weekend and when she's overtired, she's a bear.

* Today's my wedding anniversary. 5 years. We've been together for 12 so it seems way longer than that. Then again, it doesn't. Honestly, I can't believe he's put up with me for this long. And with that, today marks the start of a 6-day weekend for us. Holla!

well rested baby is a happy one, right?

Phew. Check out those tabs below that adorable header. Notice anything new? I added two new tabs- one on bedtime, one on napping. Maybe it will help you out, maybe not; nevertheless I’ve been meaning to write about our routines and how I believe it’s because of those routines, that we have such an awesomely happy baby kid pretty much 24/7. Well, something happened yesterday that sparked this mad rush of writing… apparently, daycare is trying to transition my Lovie to one nap a day!


Now, she generally only naps once a day there anyway, but now they’re trying to make it so that that one nap is after lunch. Sigh. And when I asked if they thought I should do the same (they’re doing this because she will be moving to the Toddler Room {TR} in a month, if not sooner and in the TR they all nap at the same time- after lunch), they said it would probably help her adjust better at daycare if we dropped a nap on the weekend.

I thought about all that we’ve done to get Lovie to be the awesome sleeper that she is (and yes, I do realize that much of our success is a result of Lovie being a generally easy baby- we’re not super human or anything!) and this nap situation all the way home after leaving daycare. And then, when I was on the phone with my husband for the two minutes he could spare, I was about to tell him we were going to try to drop a nap when I changed my mind and decided that I’d rather be with a happy baby on the weekends than a miserable one.

Here’s the thing. Lovie naps just fine at home. I’ve long accepted her napping like utter shit at daycare. It’s been happening since day 1 practically! But on the weekends, I have no problem getting her to nap twice a day: once in the morning, around 10 and once in the afternoon, around 3. I’m not a bitch about it either and there have been times when she refused the second nap but she always has that first morning nap without any problems and generally the second nap is without any problems either. She comes to me when she’s tired and starts laying on me and will literally walk to her room after I say, “Come on and get your baby doll so you can take a nap.” Why on earth would I take that second nap away from her? She’s happy. She’s happy and content and fabulous and I’m not sure I want that to stop just so that things can be easier on the folk at daycare.

Besides all that, Lovie adores the TR. She’s been there a handful of times already and loves it and they love her. So I’m sure once she’s in there, she’ll do fine transitioning to one nap a day. It’s not like she’ll just fall asleep while they’re playing. That’s not her. She’s got to be up in the action and the action is with the “big kids” in the TR.

So… I’m keeping things as is at home. It works. And if it aint broke, I aint touching it!

tired

Hot. That’s how I would describe the weekend. And that’s not right…not for October in the Midwest! It should be nice and cool and crisp but instead we had to turn the damn a/c on to ease up on the damn sweat that oozed from our pores. Boo! Not a fan of summer heat as it is and then when it invades my Fall, I just wanna throw out a big “Ef You” to it.

I wonder if the heat and my hatred of it played upon my mood this weekend. I wasn’t very happy and that makes me sad. I love seeing and being with my Lovie, yet when she got up both Saturday and Sunday hours before the sun, I was angry. And that saddens me… that I was angry. I wasn’t angry at her, just that she refused to sleep in – or even play by herself in the crib for a bit. I mean I got my fat ass up and gave her some toys and turned on her closet light and told her she could stay awake… and 6 minutes later she stood hanging onto the crib rails like a prisoner and screamed. And cried. And chewed on the railing. And screamed and cried and screamed. All while the husband snored. Are you kidding me, man?!? Angrily I got up (both days) and stormed back into her room, threw the light on, scooped her up and out of the crib and placed her on the floor and placed my fat ass in the chair we have in there. And both days she looked at me, made her way to a toy, looked at me and smiled as she played.

She was so happy to be free of the crib, to be with her momma, and moments prior I was angry.

I suck!!

I’m just so tired…all the time. (Lovie has only STTN maybe a dozen times in her life- and no matter how frustrating it might be to get up, I cannot fathom letting her “cry it out”.) And the fact that I can’t seem to ever catch up on sleep just pisses me off even more. And I hate being pissed off over something like that because the fact of the matter is that I’ve never been happier in my life. Because of her. My Lovie.

She just smiles at me and it’s like … magic. I may be tired, I may be upset that I’m up before the sun while my husband snores in bed, but all she does is look at me and smiles and everything in the world is great again.

this pic is exactly (oddly enough) 2 months old
bc she's not a fan of the camera these days

Pillow talk

I think it may be time...

We've witnessed her using her Seahorse or one of her Grandma Bears as a pillow before...

We've witnessed her trying to use the bumper before, too...

But we've never found her this passed out on it.

I could just eat her up... how could she be *that* beautiful?!

I think it's time for my not-so-itty-bitty-anymore baby doll to get her first pillow. Wow. Do they even make baby pillows?

TGIF and TGFMBBG

I posted this a couple weeks ago on my Facebook page: TGIF and TGFMBBG (thank God for my beautiful baby girl) who I thank God for every.second.of.every.day!

It's the truth, too. 

She's just... so... unbelievably... words can't really describe it... amazing.

Such a blessing.

Awesome.

My baby doll.

Work's been a little crazy lately, but I think about posting often. I have a lot of things rumbling around this brain and I just need to find some time to sift through it all... For now, I'll just say that my sweet Lovie was in an exceptional mood this morning. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that she went to sleep last night at 7 without any fussing and slept the whole night through until 5am.  God, I love mornings with her.  Even if she's sound asleep and I have to wake her (which I'm not a fan of doing but don't have a choice most weekday mornings), she *always* has a smile on her face.  But this morning was a bit different. She was ... giddy, if it's possible for a baby to be giddy! Just all smiles and giggles and talking.  In fact she said her second "word" this morning after breakfast: Baba (her first was Dada on Father's Day no less!). But, again, we're pretty certain she's just making noises and not really realizing that that noise can be a word used to communicate.

Man I just love this kid.

TGIF, TGFMBBG!!

well shit

it only took all friggin day (not because I'm busy but because of Blogger) to be able to get a post here in Blogger-land. BOOOOO!

sorry guys, will be by to visit tomorrow (or maybe later if Lovie needs a nap when we get home) because I tried stopping by and commenting on several blogs and the comments would not go through! :(

And speaking of shit, I have a diaper review from over the weekend:

I took some advice from some of you (re: tummy sleeping equaling a wet bed in the morning) and had the hubs pick up overnight or a size up diapers Friday on his way home. He brought home Pampers Overnight diapers just in time for Lovie’s bedtime. On went the overnight diaper, her pj’s and nighty night baby doll went. At 2 in the morning she started fussing loudly so I went to give her a binky and warm a bottle and immediately discovered she was soaked.

Ridiculous!!

Prior to using the overnight diap, if she would leak through it wasn’t until the morning… so to find her at 2AM already very wet pissed me off- to be blunt.

We didn’t make it out of the house Saturday so I just put on a regular diaper Saturday night and changed it in the middle of the night when she woke for a bottle. Then yesterday we were out visiting my dad and stopped at Target and returned the shitty “overnight” diapers and got a pack of Pampers 2-3 (she’s in a size 2 normally and they didn’t have size 3).

Lovie STTN (slept through the night) and when she woke, I immediately felt around and found everything dry.

Hoorah for the little things like not having to wrestle with changing sheets on a Monday!

Tummy Sleeping: Pros and Cons

For the past several weeks, Lovie's been flipping over like a fish outta water as soon as we lay her down for the night. She ends up spending the rest of the night on her tummy, and since she gets herself into that position, we leave her. Clearly she's turned into a tummy sleeper like her momma.

Pros:

• sleeps longer and harder
• hair is growing into bald spot on back of head
• she's exceptionally cute in the morning when she pops her head up to say good morning

Cons:

• we've had several soaked diapers, pj's, sheets
• if she spits up, she lays in it!
• boogers!

The Cons list really bugs me but I can't really do anything about it. If she wakes at night for a bottle (which she has been the past week again), I try to change her diaper which will help with the leaking. The boogers... god I have issues with boogers. I'll change her shitty diapers any day of the week but I really hate the boogers. And the other day there was one stuck to the sheet. Gag.  I made the old man get it off because I was too lazy to change the sheets (it's a pain in the ass to change the sheets because of the stupid bumpers- but of course I change them every other week unless there's an accident).

What a stupid post for a Friday... or any day for that matter. Whatever. I'm a bit salty today for some reason. This is all I have right now.

She missed me, too.

Lovie didn't STTN last night. And that's totally fine by me.

And no, I'm not insane. Well...  ;D

She's been STTN all week - the first week she's done so - and all week I've been complaining that I miss her... I guess she sensed that and woke last night around 130.  She didn't cry or anything.  I probably could've let her carry on (she was fussing loudly and popping her head up to look over the crib - like she was looking for us!), but I figured that she was hungry or she wouldn't have woken.

When I went in to soothe her I had to turn her over onto her back (she's been flipping over onto her tummy all week, too). And when I did so, I gave her a binky and she settled down a bit, but her legs were kicking and I just knew she was hungry.

So I warmed a bottle and scooped her up into my arms and she guzzled the bottle, looked at me, smiled, closed her eyes, and nuzzled into me as I held her and her breathing got heavier and heavier.

It's these little moments - even the ones near 2 in the morning - that make me feel immensely blessed.

I held on to her for a couple minutes, reflecting on the fact that at the same time tomorrow, it will have been exactly 5 months since she was pulled out of me. She's grown SO much since then.  She used to fit on my chest perfectly and now she overlaps it.  A lot.  And that's just her growth in size...never mind all the milestones she's hit along the way!

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If you're stopping by because of New Friend Friday from The Girl Creative - WELCOME!! : ) 

Happy Friday, Happy LONG Weekend!!

Cutest Alarm Clock Eva

Ack, don't you just wanna swoop her up and nom on her?? : )

She did it again last night! My itty bitty baby doll Lovie slept through the night.

: (

I know most parents would be doing cartwheels right now... but not me.  In fact, I slept horribly last night because I just missed her so much.

How pathetic is that??

After our normal bedtime routine, we laid her down and she fussed for a couple minutes until she flipped over onto her belly and started playing with, holding, singing with the Seahorse. Her head would pop up, she'd look at the Seahorse, her head would lay down. Repeat about 64 times.  The hubs turned the Seahorse back on when it shut off - not because Lovie fussed, but because he "wanted to be nice." : )  When the Seahorse turned off the second time, Lovie turned her head the other way and laid it down and fell asleep.

It was 7PM on the dot. No pacifiers were used, only the Seahorse.

Sometime after 2AM, I heard her "talking" as I slept on the couch. (I couldn't sleep. I missed my baby doll and was hoping she would wake so wanted to be nearby when she did.)  With my eyes still closed, I smiled listening to her jibber jabber. When I reached for my cell phone/alarm clock to see the time, it said 5:08AM.

Oops. I forgot that I shut off the alarm yesterday when I wasn't sure if I hit the off button or snooze button.

Thank goodness Lovie woke when she did or we'd have been sorely late to school and work.

...8 more hours baby girl

bedtime

Last night was a bit rough (when it comes to Lovie) as far as getting Lovie to go to sleep.

Ever since she's been about 2 weeks old, she's been sleeping in her crib.  And this whole time we've basically been following the same routine at bedtime: bottle, bath (every other night- though this may change to every night now that day care is starting to apply sunblock when they take the kids outside), story (or 2 or 3- minimum is Goodnight Moon), cuddles and kisses, lay down in crib, (swaddled up to 3 months old), paci if wanted, Seahorse on, noise machine on, Nighty night.  Sure, in the beginning, we would have to stay very nearby for up to an hour at times to pop the paci back in or to rest a hand on her to reassure her we were there and everything was safe, but both the hubs and I remained very consistent with our routine and Lovie was very rarely ever picked up and/or rocked, etc, once she went down for the night - except for another bottle.

We didn't read any "sleep training" books or anything, we just started a "routine" very early and we're both very firm believers that consistency is key with anything baby/child related.

It's not rocket science, after all.

Anyway, last night was quite odd because for months now, Lovie generally will go to sleep within minutes of laying her down... except for last night. It was like she reverted back to being a brand spankin' new baby.  We gave her a bottle, gave her some cereal, a bath, cuddled, read stories, cuddled and kissed, laid her down, Seahorsed, noise machined, Nighty Nighted... and after a couple minutes, she started fussing. And that fussing turned into crying. First daddy went in to give her the paci and calm her a bit and after a couple minutes more fussing.  So I went in.  Then again the fussing, then crying, then screaming.

Lovie does not scream unless something is wrong or unless she's super hungry and we neglect to realize that she's hungry.

I had the hubs make a bottle while I did something I normally do not do: I picked her up. I had to. She was so upset and I'll be damned if my sweet angel get so upset for no apparent reason.  It was like she was scared or something!  Poor baby!

I picked her up and she immediately calmed down.  I started singing softly to her and she remained calm but very alert, never once really relaxing.  After several minutes of singing and rocking I laid her back down.  She started to get excited again and I softly told her it was bedtime, that we were here for her, that we weren't going anywhere, that it was OK to go to sleep.  I placed my hand on her chest and belly as I softly spoke and shhhhhhushed.  She grabbed onto my hand with both of her hands and just looked into my eyes.  We stayed like this for a good five minutes before she started to really relax and release her grip a bit.  I slowly removed my hand and quietly walked out of sight.

She was out cold in a matter of seconds.

I was glad I could help her, but I was also a bit upset that she was so upset. Does that make sense?

Well... she ended up sleeping the entire night through - something she's NEVER done. She's gone a night without waking to eat, but she'd always wake and fuss long enough to get us to give her a paci before falling back asleep.  She did that for 5 days in a row several weeks back but since has been back to wanting to have a bottle (and eating it all up!) once in the middle of the night.

Last night was the first night she just slept.  (I know I'm a freak of nature but I actually *miss* her when she STTN because I love that time with her when she wakes to eat - it's so peaceful and quiet and after she's done eating, she closes her eyes, smiles, and nuzzles into me and goes right back to sleep.)

I think it's because she's been rolling onto her belly to sleep. Because this morning (the 5th morning finding her on her belly) when I went in to wake her, I said, "Good Morning!" in my trying-to-be-excited-and-happy voice and she instantly popped her head up (she was on her belly) and smiled super big though her eyes were still closed.

SO.FRIGGIN.CUTE!

Good Morning Baby Doll!!  Good morning, Good day, Good night, Good LIFE!!

... 7.5 more hours