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The sleep
Things are starting to work themselves out. It is still far from perfect but who needs perfection anyway? The napping is getting better, sometimes Maddie still only sleeps for 40 minutes, but longer naps are getting more regular and the frequency is so much better! We have stopped our nightly driving ritual and after one night of the blessed child screaming her head off for 30 minutes straight while daddy rocked her in a pitch black room I think that she is starting to resign herself to the fact that she must go to sleep at night. I'm learning that I have a very stubborn child.....she takes after me of course. She is so active and LOVES to play and hates when play time is over. I didn't realize that at 3 and a half months babies could already have such strong opinions. Dan and I don't think that she is capable of using her opinion to manipulate us yet, but she definitely protests the end of fun and having to go to bed.
So now for naps we lay down with her in our bed until she falls asleep and then sneak away which works really well, and at night we rock her in complete darkness until she falls asleep and then put her in her crib. If we even have a small light on, she will find something to look at to entertain herself and not go to sleep. Crazy baby! She is still sleeping through the night.....sometimes 10 hours at a time.....I think that her fat deposits keep her from getting hungry in the middle of the night. Dan and I are getting good sleep except of course when we stay up till 1:30 watching the DaVinci Code in bed......not the best idea we've ever had! lol. All in all things are coming together and I believe that God was listening to our prayers and teaching us a lesson in patience and now he is throwing us a bone to help lighten our load. Thank you God!
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Love the sinner not the sin.
Current mood:contemplative
A recent e-mail has caused me to spend the last couple of weeks pondering the pandemic of HIV/AIDS and how we as Americans feel about it. More importantly I have been trying to figure out why this virus is such a loathed topic among God loving people.I find that when talking to Christians about HIV/AIDS the general feeling is that this virus is preventable and that it stems from sin and is a just punishment for that sin. I can see the point there, but it doesn't sit well with me. The lack of compassion and empathy in this view doesn't make sense to me when I look at what I hear every Sunday at church and what the bible says.In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul writes about not associating with sexually immoral people--"not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral...In that case you would have to leave this world...What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside."From this passage I take that it is not my responsibility to worry about what I perceive to be the poor decisions or sins of people in this world we live in. If someone doesn't currently have the hope of Jesus, or if they live a high-risk lifestyle (even if it is just ONE time), I think Paul would say for us to not concern ourselves with that. Every morning when I wake up I have a clean slate and my goal is to not sin, but EVERYDAY I fall short. In my view, my sin is no different/better/easier to forgive than someone living an immoral lifestyle. The only difference is that by God's grace and through Christ's sacrifice I can know the hope that is Jesus, His unconditional love and forgiveness for my sin.So, if we're not supposed to judge someone who is a sinner and happens to be an AIDS patient and is considered "outside the church" in that he is not a believer in Christ, then what should we be thinking about him? Well, we know from the Bible that we're to love him as ourselves. We know that the greatest commandment is to love God and love others. We know he has a disease and that he is suffering. I think we love him, strive to meet his needs and hopefully make his life better and easier by showing him God's love.There are all sorts of medical conditions we have today that are the result of unhealthful behavior: heart disease and adult onset diabetes from having a poor diet and not exercising, lung cancer from smoking, liver disease from drinking too much alcohol. Yet nothing quite gets people fired up about "making poor choices" like HIV and AIDS. I don't think sexual sin is somehow "worse" in God's eyes than other sins. In fact, when Paul is talking in 1 Corinthians 5 about the "church people" not to associate with, he also lists the "greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler."It was brought to my attention that the financial burden of those with HIV/AIDS is a huge strain that affects not just those who are suffering. The insurance companies get stuck with the expensive bills for individuals who have HIV/AIDS and the cost is then passed on to you and me in the form of higher rates. This is absolutely true….but what of the other insurance costs that we have to pay for due to other people's poor decisions? The obese person who chooses not to diet or exercise and gets a gastric bypass procedure done. The woman who chooses to get pregnant and have a baby when she can not afford health care. The former alcoholic who destroys his liver and gets a transplant. All of these costs are passed onto the American public through taxes and insurance increases and affect all of us but they seem to be more easily forgiven. Is it that most of us know and love someone who is obese, or someone who depended on the health care system to have a child so it's easier to forgive them for the rates that we pay in abundance on their behalf? Maybe since most of us don't know anyone with HIV/AIDS it is easier to condemn them and feel cheated at having to tow the line for them. I don't claim to know everything, or to be immune from judgmental thoughts, but I believe that if every Christian had a son, daughter or other relative who was suffering from HIV/AIDS there would be a lot more compassion for the cause.It saddens me to see the state that the world is in and how we as humans behave. I feel that as a Christian myself I need to be more forgiving of people even when they make decisions that I do not agree with. Our pastor told us a couple weeks ago that we need to love the sinner and not the sin. I believe that this can often times be a hard decision to make and that it can be difficult to distinguish between the two. I need to remind myself that we are all sinners and there is no distinction between sins in the eyes of God and that no matter what the sin, we need to show people that they are valuable and worth something and made in the image of a God who loves them. -
The first supper
Current mood:Normally when Dan and I eat dinner it is totally on the fly and when we can shovel food into our mouths in between baby care. Because little miss Madeline seems to enjoy staying up later and later, we have not had a nice quiet dinner at the table for some time. Typically this is how our dinner event goes: Dan holds the baby and plays with her while I make dinner, once dinner is complete, I take baby and nurse her while Dan eats dinner. Then we switch back and Dan rocks baby while I eat dinner.....and sometimes the dishes are done post dinner.....sometimes.chipper
Maddie has started to show a real interest in sitting up on her own and although she can not do it unassisted as of yet, she really tries hard. So, Dan thought that it might be a good idea to try her in the high chair for dinner time. I made linguini with clam sauce and garlic bread and salad and I set the table and we strapped the little miss in. It worked beautifully! She had some toys to play with and her hands to suck on and it was a really good experience! We were able to eat dinner at the table as a family. There was no crying or fussing and if nothing else it was good entertainment watching our baby in her high chair for the first time. Plus, getting her used to the high chair will make it an easier transition to when we start her on solids. Hooray for babies sitting in high chairs and hooray for my husband and I enjoying a nice quiet dinner!
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I'm getting old!
Current mood:I am so very careful when walking around the house to be very quiet so that our floors don't creak while Madeline is sleeping. I even know which areas of the floor creak in every room and have created a path that I use. I just went in to check on my sleeping baby and took my non-creaky path to her crib.....peered over to make sure that all was well.....and when I turned around to take my pathway back, my ankle cracked. This is not the first time a body part has cracked in recent weeks.....I also have cracking knees. I can be as quiet as is humanly possible, but I can't control when a joint of mine is going to crack loudly. Is this a sign of early arthritis? Man I'm getting old!melancholy
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mononucleosis anyone?
Current mood:This year is the Christmas that was not. We were all packed and ready to go to Charlotte to spend Christmas with Dan's family when we got a phone call with news that our brother in law has mono. I made the decision that I was not going to expose Maddie or myself to the infection and so Dan is on the road making the three and a half hour drive to Charlotte by himself and I am at home with a sleeping baby and only my thoughts to keep me company.sad
I had mono when I was 18 and was severly ill for two months. Sometimes people get mono and only feel overly tired, but not me....I got every single symptom that exists and my mom seriously thought that I was going to die. I remember sitting on the couch on my 19th birthday with tonsils the size of golf balls and not being able to swallow, sobbing because I was in so much pain and hating the fact that I was spending my birthday sick with mono. There are mixed reports on if you can get mono more than once, but my doctor told me that I could and the thought of getting mono again scares me enough that I believe him. I had a really hard time making the decision not to go with my husband to Charlotte and the thought of my baby getting sick worries me, but more than anything I am afraid of me getting sick. How ever would I care for my precious baby if I were as sick as I was when I had mono?
I was really looking forward to some holiday cheer this weekend since I haven't really gotten into the spirit this season thus far. I even painted my toe nails a festive red and took the time to blow dry my hair in the attempt to look like I don't have an infant. I feel really bad that Maddie and I won't be there.....I was excited to see what everyone thought of the presents that Dan and I picked out for them and Maddie has some new baby tricks that she wanted to show off. Christmas is supposed to be about family and this year it is going to be just another day. I'm not feeling sorry for myself because this was my decision, but the whole situation sucks and I regret having to make the decision at all. In a perfect world there would be healthy relatives, full bellies, (I'm missing the much anticipated Christmas eve dinner) wrapping paper strewn all around and the peacefulness that comes while lounging around after the festivities are over. Since the world is far from perfect......I'm just here with my thoughts and some beer in the fridge that momentarily will be consumed.
My thoughts are with my family in Charlotte and my family in California. I pray that Lane is feeling better and getting over the evil mono. God bless us every one! MERRY CHRISTMAS.
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Alien baby
Current mood:I don't know what happened to my child, but last night was way too easy. Dan and I seriously thought that she was replaced by an alien baby. She took an hour long nap from 4:30-5:30 and the rest of the evening went really smoothly. No crying, no fussing and especially no screaming. She nursed and sat in my lap and was calm. We took her for a drive anyway just to make sure that she feel asleep, but I honestly think it was mostly because we were so used to having to do it. Maybe she is turning over a new leaf, or maybe it was just a one night repreive.....what ever the reason, we enjoyed having a night off. I'm starting to think that she just goes through phases.....who knows what causes them, but we had a couple of weeks worth of crying and fussing in the evenings when she was about 6 weeks old......then it went away, and now it is back.....so following the trend, maybe it gonna go away again since it's now been a couple of weeks. Keep your fingers crossed!surprised
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Happy weekend
Current mood:We went for another car ride last night to get baby to bed. She gets so tired by the end of the day but she just will not go to sleep. Even when we rock her and hold her.....as soon as we lay her down....BAM awake! It's nice though being able to see all of the Christmas lights up around town when we go for our rides, and Dan and I have both agreed that it gives us some nice time together to just talk and drive. It will not be as pretty once Christmas is over and all the lights come down.tired
So, I woke up this morning and freaked out! I realized that Maddie never woke up in the middle of the night to nurse and had been asleep for almost 12 hours!! I actually went in and checked to make sure she was still alive.....it really scared me! She was still alive and still asleep but making sucking motions with her mouth in her sleep, so I woke her up and nursed her. How the girl is able to sleep that long without nursing is beyond me.....is that normal at 3 months?
We had another first last night.....Madeline had her first bottle of breast milk and Daddy got to feed her for the first time! I have been trying to pump recently which has not been going all that well....I think my pump is evil, but I got enough for her to have a bottle. Dan loved the experience and was really happy that he got to bond with her while feeding her and although I was excited as well, it was also sad. I actually cried. I know....pathetic. It was just the first time in over 3 months that I was not feeding her. I think there have just been too many major changes in the past few weeks and I got sad over them all yesterday. Dan understood though because he is the greatest husband ever! So the bottle feeding went pretty well but it is something that Maddie is going to have to work on......the whole new nipple thing has got her perplexed. But on a good note after we got her to sleep I tried pumping again and got 4.5 ounces! That felt fantastic and I am now thinking that my pump is only partially evil. This was a pretty big weekend and I am exhausted. Maybe the little one will be a good napper today and Mommy can catch a few more zzz's.
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Goodbye co-sleeper
Current mood:Today we took down the arms reach co-sleeper. Maddie started sleeping in her own bed over a week ago and we thought that we should keep up the co-sleeper that is attached to our bed for a little while just in case we needed it. We haven't used it once since we transitioned her to her crib. I felt sad taking it down for some reason....I guess it is just a visual reminder that my baby is growing up and moving her out of our room was a pretty big step. I honestly thought that we would use the co-sleeper for longer, but I think it's healthier for her to be in her own room at 3 months. On a positive note, I now have oodles of space to get in and out of bed! That was a draw back of the co-sleeper.....I had to crawl into bed from the end of the bed and my bed side table was not very usable. Yeah for space!
The strange sleep schedule is still in effect. Friday night Madeline put up a fight and went to bed around 10:30 but not until we drove around Smithfield for about an hour to soothe her to sleep. Now last night, she went to sleep at 5:00 and we thought she was just going to take a cat nap and were very surprised when she never woke up from her cat nap. This threw the feeding and waking schedule off, but I think that 5:00 is better for her than 10:30. Hopefully things will level off and she will be happy going down around 7:00......that would work well for us!
Weirdness.....my husband lies to me in his sleep. We'll wake up because Maddie is hollering to be fed and Dan will go in and get her and bring her to me.......I make small talk and ask him how he has been sleeping and he tells me that he hasn't fallen asleep yet and then promptly falls back to sleep and begins snoring. I wonder why he feels the need to lie to me about not getting sleep while he is still pretty much asleep. Weirdo.
Goodbye co-sleeper
Oh, the glorious space!
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Hair club for women?
Current mood:One of the best symptoms of pregnancy is that a woman's hair stops falling out. My hair got thick and shiny and I didn't have to deal with hair in the shower drain, or hair in my brush. Many people told me that once I had my baby all of the hair that had not fallen out during my pregnancy would start coming off my head in masses. After I had Madeline my hair started to fall out again, but minimally and I thought that I was one of the lucky few that wasn't going to become a hairless shedding wonder. I was wrong. It took me a little longer than some (3 months) but I am offically losing my hair. It is coming off in gigantic clumps and has already clogged our shower drain completely once! My hair is the longest that it has been in a while so that does not help with the sheer volume of hair, but man is it coming out. I feel like a sick dog who is molting! I wonder when the hair loss will be complete and I will go back to a normal amount of shedding like I did pre-pregnancy? Until then.....does anyone know if they have a hair club for women?curious
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Much better all around
Current mood:Today I abandoned my new nap system for Madeline in hopes that she would sleep longer and better and catch up on some zzz's that were preventing her from going to bed at night. I rocked her until she fell asleep, held her for 15-20 minutes longer and then and only then did I put her in her crib. She got a couple hours more sleep during the day today than the last week or so. Couple that with all the sleep from last night and today was a better day all around. She fussed a little bit this evening, but was asleep by 8:40 and in her crib by 9:15. So, so, so much better than last night. Man the girl was tired last night......so tired that she could not unwind enough to actually got to sleep. I want to get her on a nap schedule during the day, but I am going to wait until she is a lttile older and can handle the transition period better. Hopefully in the future she won't get so over exhausted and freak out like she did the last couple of nights. We are both in better spirits and very thankful that we did not have an encore of last night. Aahhh.....the sweet sound of a sleeping baby. (no sound that is) -
Morning bliss
Current mood:Yikes, what a night we had last night! Maddie pushed both Dan and I to the very edge of our patience. I feel so bad for her when she has bad nights like that. There really isn't anything that we can do because we've tried everything and she just seems to need to cry. We finally got her to sleep around 10:00 and she slept fine in her crib for 8 hours, woke up to nurse and then slept another 4 hours. She is a sleeping champ once she gets to sleep, but something has been going on the last few days and she just doesn't want to actually go to sleep. Hopefully this is just a mini phase and she will get over it soon.....hopefully. I feel better today and well rested and I think that Madeline does too. Keep us in your prayers.optimistic
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I can not HANDLE the screaming anymore!
Current mood:We are so frusterated!!! And I do mean WE. Dan is currently walking around in Maddie's pitch black room while she is screaming we are struggling for the third night in a row to get her to go to sleep. She sleeps like a champ normally, but for the last 3 days it has been nearly impossible to get her to actually go to bed. All she wants to do is cry and scream. We've rocked her, we've given her a warm soothing bath, we've walked around the house with her, I've nursed her, we've changed her diaper, I've sung to her, Dan has hummed while holding her, I've read her stories and all she wants to do is CRY & SCREAM!!!!! I really don't know what is going on but the poor girl is exhausted, we are exhausted and all she wants to do is cry. I really don't think it would make a difference if we just put her in her crib and let her have a screaming fit, because that's what she has been doing since 6:00 this evening and we've been holding her and trying to soothe her the whole time. Big lot of good that is doing. I know it's because she's tired but we can't make her sleep. If we can't get this sorted out in the next week or so, I think we may just stay home for the holidays because no one wants to hear a baby SCREAMING for 4 hours a night every night.....including me. We need help.....I wonder if we could hire and pay someone to handle her at night.....anyone interested?frustrated
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The transition
Current mood:Last night was a first.....possibly a mistake but a first none the less. Dan and I put Maddie in her crib in her own room for the very first time. We were able to get into our own beds without tip-toeing and using our stealthy quiet skills. I thought that it would be easier to transition her to her own room now rather than waiting until she was older and the battle that would surely come. I also thought that it might be better for everyone involved if she was in the other room since we wake her up with tossing and turning in bed and she keeps me awake with her loud sleeping. I can't say for certain whether this whole process is working yet because it has only been one night, but I feel like we are starting all over again with a newborn. Both Dan and I are extremely sleep deprived and cranky.....well, I certainly am cranky......Dan's at work, so I don't know about him. It wasn't that she didn't sleep, but it was REALLY hard (4 hours) getting her to bed. She would fall asleep in our arms while we rocked her and then as soon as she was put in her crib...BAM....awake. Finally sleep stuck around 9:30 and then she was up at 1:30. I fed her even though that was WAY too early for her to need to eat in the middle of the night, but I figured that she is in a new environment and maybe she was having a hard time dealing. She slept until about 6:30 and I fed her again.....also, way too early and then put her back in her crib which is when the pacifier battle began. She was still tired, but every time that paci fell out she fussed and couldn't get back to sleep. My precious husband got up every time and went in and stuck the paci back in. She eventually fell asleep and woke up again at 8:00. I let her stay in her crib for 15 minutes playing around and finally dragged my butt out of bed and here I am.....exhausted and cranky.cranky
We knew that this was not going to be an easy task and knew that we would lose sleep during this transition.....I guess we had just gotten so used to having a good nights sleep for the past few weeks that we forgot what it felt like to not have that rest. And on a side note.....whoever invented crib mobiles was an idiot. We are trying to get Maddie to go down for naps and bed at night while she is still awake so that she can learn to fall asleep on her own. How can we expect a baby to fall asleep on their own when we put a mobile in their crib with bright colors and fun shapes that is so much more exciting to look at then going to sleep. I promptly took the mobile down this morning. Waste of money if you ask me......good thing I didn't buy it with my own money! Ha.
I think that it would be really easy to cave and go back to the way things were, but I really do feel like we will be better off going through this all now rather than waiting. So, sleepless nights are inevitably in my future......I'll keep you posted. If anyone has any better ideas, or suggestions from the way they did this transition please feel free to inform us......I'm open to suggestions.
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3 months
Current mood:Today Maddie cake is officially 3 months old. I can't believe how fast time has flown by and how big she is getting! She is no longer the blob that I brought home from the hospital and now has her own personality and knows how to do tricks…..much like a circus performer! Ringling Bros. here we come! Haha. My baby is smiling tons and laughing which is more of a cackle than a giggle and is able to hold her own toys. It's amazing how much they learn in the first few months and I have loved watching her as she discovers everything! Objects/toys are now starting to go into the mouth to be tasted and I know that from now on it will be impossible to keep things out of her mouth……bring on the germs and drool. We went over to a friends house last night who have a baby that is one month younger than Maddie and it really made us realize what a fantastic child we have. I've heard that from 3 to 6 months is the baby honeymoon phase where they are sleeping more, interacting more and not moble yet. I'm excited for the next 3 months to see what else she learns and what else she teaches me. Check out my girl in action below! Peace love and babies.Click on the link: -
Bah Humbug
Current mood:Normally I am the queen of Christmas. I love Christmas trees, stockings, wrapping paper, candy canes, shopping for the perfect presents, carols and deccorating. This year however I am just not into it. We put our tree up and deccorated the house, but I wasn't even sure if I wanted to do that. We're not putting lights up outside and our house is starting to stand out on the street. I have barely started Christmas shopping and I already wish that I was done. A majority of what we are going to get will be purchased on line because I just don't have the patience to deal with the crowds. What has happened to me? Tonight I went out solo and tried to do some shopping and after an hour and a half of bad customer service, a 20 minute wait in line while some dumb ass split his purchase into 4 different transactions, and almost getting hit in an overcrowded parking lot I told Dan that I am done and I'm not leaving the house again until Christmas is over. It's near impossible to shop with Maddie because we are working on a nap schedule and when we do go out she gets cranky and does not like sleeping in her car seat......so I get to hear her scream by the end of the outing. And leaving her at home with Dan works, but since I am her food source I have a very limited amount of time. Trying to shop while feeling rushed does not make for a jolly good time. So, my Christmas money is going to be spent in retail establishments that have websites. Maybe I'll feel better about all of this next week, but as is tradition each holiday season......it only gets worse from here. Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight.blah
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My husband the accidental shoplifter
Current mood:I sent Dan to Wal-Mart this evening to pick up the Christmas cards that I ordered on-line. I chose the option of paying for them when I picked them up rather than paying on-line because sometimes Wal-Mart messes up my pictures and I like to inspect them first. I told all of this to Dan, and even told him to make sure that they were not retarded on my behalf since I would not be there to inspect. So, he gets home tonight and hands me the Christmas cards and says that he did not pay for them.....that the guy behind the counter just handed the package to him and said "here you go," and Dan proceeded to leave Wal-Mart. He forgot that I told him that I did not pay for them on-line and figured it was already taken care of. I am now in posession of stolen Christmas cards. So, for those of you lucky people who get one, they are hot off the truck......please don't report us to Wal-Mart.giggly
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The art of tip-toeing update
Current mood:Everyday I am learning more and more about my baby, and she is teaching me what she needs from me. Maddie likes to cat nap. She gets somehwhat tired and then wants to take a little snooze. Although this is okay, it doesn't really keep her rested and happy throughout the day. She needs to take longer naps and get good sleep. So, I've learned that the girl needs to get herself REALLY tired and worn out so that she will sleep for longer periods of time. Yesterday after not napping well all day, the evening was filled with a lot of fussing and her wanting to go to bed at 7:00. Dan and I played with her and did our best to keep her up until 8:00 and wouldn't you know.....she slept almost 14 hours and only woke up to nurse once. She was REALLY tired out. So, today I didn't let her cat nap when she usually does about an hour after she wakes up. Instead we played and played and played and she got herself really tired. I layed her in her bed while she was still awake, put her paci in and she fell right to sleep. No struggles, no waking up 30 minutes later.....just a good long nap. I think it's fun when I figure these kinds of things out. Those of you who already have kids are probably thinking...."Hello, I could have told you all that." but since it's my first time being a mom, I just have to learn by doing it. I love that I'm learning and I love when Maddie helps me to discover things that will better her life and our family. Although by next week everything may change.....tis life with baby. -
The art of tip toe-ing
Current mood:Maddie seems to be on a sleep srike. It started yesterday evening where I would rock her and she would fall asleep, then I would take her to our room and put her in bed. 45 minutes later she would wake up and fuss thrash around in her bed and I would get her out of bed and try the process over again. She would be all happy and smiley and laughing and want to play and I would indulge her for a little bit and then rock her back to sleep and repeat the above process. 30 minutes later she was up again and ready for play time. This happened a few times until finally at 11:00 she went to bed. Well, she woke up at 6:00 in the morning to nurse and decided it was time to be awake and play. Dan scooped her up and snuggled with her in bed and she fell back asleep and then he put her back in her bed. Today getting her to take a nap has been a nightmare. I have been trying since 10:30 this morning to get her to go down and it is now 2:30 and she still has only slept in 30 minute intervals. It would be one thing if she wasn't tired, but she clearly is tired and crabby when she is awake. I don't know whats going on. Could she not be feeling well? Could she be in a growth spurt.....does that cause a baby to not want to sleep? Could she be testing boundaries? I don't know, but for her sake and mine I hope she gets some sleep.....she is CRANKY! I just got her to go down again and man am I learing the art of tip toe-ing......I do not want to be the cause of her waking up again. Wood floors make lots of noise. Sleep baby, sleep. -
A niece is born
Current mood:My brother and his wife Robin got the gift of a new baby girl this past Friday, December 1st. Her name is Brenna Michelle and she weighed 7 pounds exactly and was 18 inches long. My mom first told me that she looks just like thier 2 and a half year old Alyssa but with lots of dark hair, but new reports are saying that she looks like Michael (my brother) when he was a baby......Alyssa looks just like Robin. Anyhoo.....She is a small little thing and her birth stats make Madeline look like a giant......she was 8 pounds 7 ounces and 22 inches long. I wish that Brenna would have come while we were in California......we missed her by 2 days......it would have been nice to hold a brand new baby. I think she's pretty cute and already looks squishy.busy
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The most beautiful ugly fake tree ever
Current mood:This evening Dan and I deccorated our Christmas tree.We decided to use my trusty old fake tree for another year because Christmas trees are so expensive and we aren't even going to be home for Christmas this year. In a couple of years when Maddie is older and into the holidays, we will get a beautiful real fir tree and our house will be filled with the fragrance of pine instead of dust and moth balls. Haha. It really is a sad old tree except for the beautiful ornaments that are adorning it from my youth and Daniel and my travels. I get an ornament from every country that he goes to and wherever we go together so that I can remember each trip. Ours is the most beautiful ugly fake tree around.....anything that comes from love is beautiful. So the tree is done, now all I have to do is get my butt in gear and start my Christmas shopping. Usually I am done before December 1st......thats what happens with an infant. The holidays started so early this year, wish me luck that there is anything left in stores. Ho-Ho-Ho.sleepy
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Free arms for nap time
Current mood:So, my precious baby has mastered the sleeping through the night task, but ever since she was about 3 weeks old, she has not done well with naps during the day. If I wanted her to sleep I would basically have to hold her and rock her the entire time because if I got her to sleep and then moved her or layed her down to sleep in her bed or the papasan chair, she would wake up and I would have to start all over again. I know.....frustrating! Well, today I rocked her for a while until she fell asleep, I got up and walked her to her bed where she promptly woke up. I set her down in her bed and put her paci in and just stood and watched her for a few seconds and then I left the room and closed the door. I turned on her monitor and she was quiet. She made a few grunting sounds and then it was quite again.....and that was over an hour ago. People.....she fell asleep on her own in her own bed without even crying! I can't believe what a big girl she is! Now this may be just a one time thing, but I am going to try this from now on and hopefully she will get the idea that when she is in her bed it is time to sleep. Imagine all the things that I can get done without Maddie attached to me all day long.....like blogging for instance. Too bad all of our dirty laundry from our trip is in our room where she is sleeping. I don't think we're at a place yet where I can rummage around in that room while she is sleeping and hope to keep her asleep. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to mess around on the internet for a while. Hooray for Maddie!
Current mood:cheerful
Hooray we are home! Yesterday was a long a
grueling day of travel, but we made it home alive. (thank you American
arlines and terrorists who decided to stay off my flight) I don't know
what it is about flying the friendly skies, but I ALWAYS end up with
major boogers in my nose after a day of flight. It's nice to be home
and booger free. Don't even get me started on the unpacking.....cause I
haven't started. This blog is going to cover the week we spent in
California....if the thought of hearing about our vacation bores your
socks off.....feel free to keep your socks on, but bare feet are always
more fun.cheerfulThanksgiving can be summed up in one word......nightmare. We got up at 3:00 in the morning and dragged ourselves to the airport. It was freezing cold and we packed so much for our first trip with the baby that I didn't think we would make it to the terminal from the park and ride. We did make it, but do you know how hard it is to get through security with a baby? The shoes have to come off, the belts have to come off, the jackets have to come off, the blanket the baby is wrapped in has to come off, the laptop has to come out, the pocket change has to come out.....it's really a circus. All that, and once we get cleared everything has to be put back without blocking others. I know we need all of these safety precautions, but man is it a pain and a half to go through all that and keep a baby happy and calm. So we get on our flight and from there things are pretty much normal. The baby was an outstanding flyer and didn't cry at all. She slept a good deal and played and overall it was uneventful. People did compliment us on how good she was and that made Dan and I very proud! We land in CA after 10 hours of traveling, exhausted with the festivities still to come. We thought we would be able to take a nap before people came over to my parents house, but Maddie was not interested in napping and the only person who could babysit while we napped was my mother the cook of all things yummy and Thanksgiving. 42 people arrived at my parents house ready to celebrate, and celebrate they did. It was so freaking loud and there were so many people there.....by 6:30 the baby had had enough and loudly screamed at the idea of being passed on to another person. I had to hole myself up in the back of the house and resort to skin to skin contact to get her calmed down and eventually to sleep. Which was not an easy task seeing as there was no where in the entire house that was quiet.....there were people everywhere. Everyone eventually left and after some musical beds (Dan slept with baby, I slept with grandma in parents bed, mom slept on couch, Dad slept on floor in bonus room) we all went to sleep, but by the time I went to bed, I had been up for 24 hours, and only had 4 hours of sleep in a 48 hour period......I was exhausted. Overall not a great idea to have a huge Thanksgiving celebration with 42 people after a long day of traveling. It was too much for Maddie. My mom says that she is never again going to host that many people for any holiday.....I don't blame her. But, on a positive note, the food was fantastic and it was nice seeing family that we hadn't seen in a while and showing off our little baby.
I did participate in some black Friday shopping with Stephie although we were smart and didn't head out until 2:00 in the afternoon and bypassed all of the crazy shoppers. Finding parking was easy and there were no huge lines to buy things. It was really nice spending time with my Stephie but also really weird because she doesn't live in OC anymore and our time was limited. I know it sounds selfish, but I'm used to seeing her whenever I want when I come into town and this trip she had other people she needed to spend time with and I didn't get my usual Stephie fix. I guess that is what happens as we grow up and move away.....hopefully she will come out here again soon and stay for a week and I can have her all to myself. I didn't buy anything great although I did find an adorable sweater with an owl on it for Maddie at Old Navy.....it's super cute!
As usual the whole family went over to Mike and Robin's (my brother and sister in law) for dinner. Mike grilled delicious steaks and Alyssa played with Madeline for a little bit. It was a nice evening of food and conversation. We tried doing a photot shoot with the cousins but it's hard enough to get one child to smile and look at the camera.....two is not possible.
Dan and I had a few opportunities to have time alone just the two of us while Grammy watched Maddie. We went out to lunch and toured some model homes that are being built across the street from my parents house. It was nice having that time to ourselves with the knowledge that our baby was safe and sound with her Grammy.
Walt's Warf was fantastic! I was pretty disapointed though because they did not have my favorite macadamia nut crusted alaskan halibut with mango avocado salsa. They are changing their menu so they have more seasonal items and so I was forced to order sword fish with a sundried tomato compote.....still pretty good, but not the same. The baby as always was a very good girl the entire time and on our traditional walk to the end of the pier, she fell asleep in the stroller. It was pretty cute.
Sunday morning we got up bright and early (not really, we'd been getting up at 7:00 all week due to the time change) and went to my parents church. The service was as usual pretty dull, but seeing as my parents go to a church with mostly older people in their 50s and 60s, it wasn't surprising. It was however tons of fun to dress Madeline up in a cute little church dress and show her off to my parents friends. She looked super cute and squishy and was a good girl in church.....not even a peep.
We took Maddie to get her hand and foot prints done in clay. There is a business in Mission Viejo who does them and they are super cute. My niece Alyssa had them done when she was a month old and my mom has a christmas ornament from it. Maddie was really good although she cried when they put her foot in the clay.....it was cold. We popped her paci in and all was well with the world. We got an ornament of her hand and her name and a plaque with her hand and foot and her name. They will get backed and glazed and colored once they dry and we should receive them before Christmas. I can't wait.....they are too cute!
Somehow we were able to squeeze decorating for Christmas in with everything else. My mom and dad put the tree up and we played Christmas music and reminised over all the old ornaments. Getting the tree decorated has always been a tradition that I did with my mom and it was really great to be able to help her this year. Maddie couldn't really help due to her fine motor skills not being developed all that well, but next time she can become part of the tradition.
I swear that California air does wonderfully for babies. Every single night Madeline slept between 8 and 9 1/2 hours straight. She would then wake up to nurse and go back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours. She was starting to sleep through the night at home, but it was sporatic......but she mastered it while we were in Cali. And I was worried that it might not stick once we came back home, but last night she slept through the night again. Fell asleep at 11:00, woke up 8 hours later to nurse at 7:00 and then went back to sleep until 10:00. Woo Hoo! I am so excited! I don't even mind that she is on California time because that means we get to sleep in every morning. I can't believe she is not even 3 months old and is sleeping through the night.....I thought it was going to take much longer, but I'll take it now!
So, we had quite an eventful vacation in California. It went by as always way too fast, but it was nice coming home. Everytime we get ready to go to CA I get excited about a month before we go, have a crazy whirlwind time there and am more than ready to come back home once our vacation is over. I miss my parents, but I love my little family being here in North Carolina. For right now I feel like this is where we belong.....well at least until we win the lottery and buy a home in San Diego.....then we might have to split our time between the two. Well, I guess that's all. It was probably everything and nothing you wanted to know about our Thanksgiving holiday.
exhausted
jubilant
