You are SUPER loud. Like lighting up my whole house, not to mention literally shaking it with the volume of your thunder. Pretty pretty princess please do not wake my angelic baby who is currently dreaming peacefully on her tummy while sucking her thumb.
Love,
Sar
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
5 Months Old
She celebrated by sleeping from 7:30 pm - 8:00 am and cooperating during church even though she didn't really get much of a morning nap. I honestly cannot tell you where the past five months have gone. They have absolutely flown! When did my little girl get so big, and why is time moving so fast?! It's late, so I'll get on to the stats.
Weight/Length: I'm sure you're not surprised to read that I have NO idea. The problem is that I always write these blogs at night after Lilly goes to bed, and I can't very well go wake her up to weigh and measure her. If I remember tomorrow (doubtful), I'll check her stats. I will say that I think she's going to be pretty tall. It may not look like it, but Dan and I have both noticed that she's thinning out some because she's gotten pretty long. Also, people who we don't know that see her in public always think she's several months older than she is - my big, chunky girl!
Sleep: I can't say enough how blessed we've been with this child and her sleeping habits. On a typical night, Lilly sleeps somewhere between 11-12 hours - her longest night has been 13, but that's not an every night occurrence. Even with the sleep training we did (read: cry it out) to transition her out of the swaddle, which I still need to blog about (sorry), she never cried when we put her to bed - just woke up during the middle of the night a few times. It really only took two nights before she was sleeping through the night again. For a few nights after that, she was waking up at 5:30, eating, and going right back to sleep until 8:00 or 8:30, and then it went back to normal. This week, before she fully got the hang of rolling over, we had a few more of the 5:30-then-eat-and-right-back-to-sleep mornings, but we seem to be back to normal now. I can't complain about 5:30, though - since she normally goes to bed around 7:30, that's a solid 10 hours, and I am very thankful that she sleeps through the night. She is also taking two naps each day. They vary in length depending on how long she slept the night before, but they are typically close to 2 hours each. I try not to let her nap much longer than 2-2.5 hours at each nap during the day so that she'll still be tired at night, and I also try not to let naps go past 4:00 or 4:30 pm. Homegirl is a WILD woman in her sleep - she moves and scoots all around and changes positions frequently. Until recently, she was sleeping on her back and her side. Now that she has good control over rolling both ways, for the past few days we've put her down on her back and she's immediately flipped over to her stomach to sleep. Like mother, like daughter! She also is still going strong sucking that thumb - again, like mother like daughter. She mostly does this when she's getting tired or going to sleep, but sometimes she'll just suck her thumb for the fun of it as well.
Feeding: Lilly is still breast feeding like a champ, and eating about every 3 hours during the day (unless she's sleeping, in which case she'll go longer). We also started her on solids this month, and she's really gotten the hang of eating from a spoon. For now, she gets solids once each day after a feeding (Normally her last "full" feeding of the day, around 5:30 or so, in order to fill up that little tummy. I nurse her again right before bed, around 7:00, but she never eats as much at that feeding - we're just topping her off to tide her over until morning!). So far, she's had rice cereal, which she hated, and bananas and avocados, both of which she loved. Up next she's going to try pears, sweet potatoes and butternut squash. After I've introduced a few more solid foods and we have a variety, I might increase feedings to twice/day - a fruit in the morning and a veggie in the evening. So far, I've made all of her food.
Firsts This Month: Rolling over - she can go both ways now, should she choose to do so. She's much better at rolling from her back to her stomach. I know that she can roll from her stomach to her back - I've seen her do it when she thought no one was watching - but a lot of the times if she rolls onto her stomach and doesn't want to be there, she'll fuss until we help her turn back over. First time eating solids. First slumber party with grandparents (Mommy and Daddy were at a wedding). I'm sure there are more that I'm not remembering, but those are the big ones.
Developments: I feel like Lilly changes every day. As mentioned above, she's rolling over both ways, eating solids, and sucking her thumb. Her hand-eye coordination is improving, and she's starting to figure out what her hands do. She used to bat at her toys, then graduated to grabbing them last month, but now it's like she realizes what she's doing - she will grab a toy and put it straight to her mouth to chew on it. She's "standing up" a lot more, with our help of course. She's learning to hold her weight up with her legs and is straightening them out and "standing" a lot more than she used to. She can also sit up a lot better. She's not quite to the point where she can do it on her own, but she's close - she doesn't require as much support as she used to.
Likes: Water of any kind. She prefers it to be warm, but we learned from her first dip in the pool that she likes splashing enough that she'll tolerate cold water, too. Baths, snuggles, sucking her thumb, the stroller/walks/baby k'tan, eating, avocados, bananas, music, dancing, laughing, rolling over, talking, tummy time, Layla, the fan, the bumbo seat, summer infant super seat (this one is MUCH better than the bumbo for babies with chubby legs like L, but the bumbo seat is a little higher in the back so there's slightly more support when they don't have good head control), Daddy, Layla, Sophie the giraffe, oball, her lovie, being outside and being naked. Proof:
Dislikes: Being cold, having her clothes changed, being hungry, not getting your attention the minute she demands it, putting on sunscreen, being bored.
What I'm Thankful For: The blessing that is Lilly, and a husband who is not only very hands-on but who helps out with anything and everything, in regards to parenting and otherwise.
What I'm Looking Forward To: MY LITTLE SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED THIS WEEKEND! We are SO excited to celebrate with her, to spend the weekend with all of our family and friends, for Josh to become an Eaker (wink!) and to FINALLY be related to Tracy! ;-)
Next Pediatrician Appointment: July 25. The pediatrician's office called last week to confirm her 6-month appointment for tomorrow, June 25. Thanks to Jen keeping me on my toes about dates, I realized that she is only 5 months old, so we called to reschedule for next month.
How Mommy's Doing: Fabulously! Having some trouble with body image. I wasn't quite at my ideal weight pre-pregnancy, and now I've lost all of my pregnancy pounds but my weight is just distributed differently and I feel gross. I don't want to do any crazy diets because I've done a lot of reading on how it affects milk supply, so really I just need to focus on eating better. My problem is in my will power, and the fact that I'd rather eat chocolate than just about anything else any day of the week. :-)
This post is long as usual, and it's time for this Mama to go to bed! I'll leave you with WAY too many pictures of Lilly from the past few days - I can't ever narrow them down!
Having a very serious early morning conversation with Daddy:
The facial expressions!!!:
Yesterday, we set her kiddie pool up in the back yard and she and Daddy had a pool date. They had the best time - she absolutely loved it! Probably because she got to be naked AND outside, but whatever.
Yet again, the expressions!!!:
Hope you all had a great weekend!
Sarah
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Roly Poly
LG has conquered a pretty big milestone as of late: she can now roll over. And she rolls over a LOT, and with great speed. A few weeks back, I mentioned that she rolled, but until this past weekend I hadn't seen her do it since the first time. She has done it quite few times for Carney, but never for me. And even when she rolled for Dan and I that first time, it was a long process - she camped out on her side for the longest time, then got everything over except one arm, then finally figured the arm out and by that time was bored with the whole ordeal and demanded to be introduced to a new and less boring activity. Carney kept telling me that L had gotten the hang of it, but she never showed us. This past weekend, she really got the hang of it, and now she is a rolling machine! I caught it on video for your viewing pleasure:
The problem we were having, at least up until today, is that Lilly couldn't figure out how to roll back onto her back after getting to her stomach. Guess what that means? It means that for the past few nights, she's rolled over in her sleep and then gotten mad and woken us up to fix it for her. The first night this happened (Monday), we just flipped her back on her back and let her fuss for a few minutes (read: less than five) until she fell back to sleep. I have been wondering if she'd be a stomach sleeper once she learned to roll, mainly because prior to rolling she would roll up onto her side a lot, and she likes to sleep that way. After that first night, I got to thinking that probably she should learn to roll back over on her own, so on Tuesday night when she woke up on her stomach and mad, I let her fuss for a while until eventually she fell back asleep on her stomach. Then I didn't sleep for checking the monitor every 30 seconds to make sure she hadn't suffocated while sleeping that way. Sigh. The life of a worry wart.
Lilly hasn't woken up overnight since Tuesday night, but for the past two mornings she has woken up at 6 am (way earlier than normal) on her stomach and mad. Even though it's much earlier than she typically wakes up, at that point I feel like I can't let her "cry it out" anymore because it's morning and really by 6 a.m. it's been 11+ hours since she's eaten. So, I've gotten up, fed her, and within 15 minutes she's back asleep and stays that way until we wake her up sometime between 8:00 and 8:30 like usual.
Today when I picked her up, Carney told me that if she previously didn't know how to roll from stomach to back, she does now, because she saw L do it today. Tonight, Lilly demonstrated to me that she does, indeed, know how (although I wasn't quick enough to catch it on video for you, sorry bout it!). Here's to hoping that she puts that knowledge to use and rolls herself back over so Mommy and Daddy can sleep past 6 tomorrow. :-)
Happy Thursday!
Sarah
The problem we were having, at least up until today, is that Lilly couldn't figure out how to roll back onto her back after getting to her stomach. Guess what that means? It means that for the past few nights, she's rolled over in her sleep and then gotten mad and woken us up to fix it for her. The first night this happened (Monday), we just flipped her back on her back and let her fuss for a few minutes (read: less than five) until she fell back to sleep. I have been wondering if she'd be a stomach sleeper once she learned to roll, mainly because prior to rolling she would roll up onto her side a lot, and she likes to sleep that way. After that first night, I got to thinking that probably she should learn to roll back over on her own, so on Tuesday night when she woke up on her stomach and mad, I let her fuss for a while until eventually she fell back asleep on her stomach. Then I didn't sleep for checking the monitor every 30 seconds to make sure she hadn't suffocated while sleeping that way. Sigh. The life of a worry wart.
Lilly hasn't woken up overnight since Tuesday night, but for the past two mornings she has woken up at 6 am (way earlier than normal) on her stomach and mad. Even though it's much earlier than she typically wakes up, at that point I feel like I can't let her "cry it out" anymore because it's morning and really by 6 a.m. it's been 11+ hours since she's eaten. So, I've gotten up, fed her, and within 15 minutes she's back asleep and stays that way until we wake her up sometime between 8:00 and 8:30 like usual.
Today when I picked her up, Carney told me that if she previously didn't know how to roll from stomach to back, she does now, because she saw L do it today. Tonight, Lilly demonstrated to me that she does, indeed, know how (although I wasn't quick enough to catch it on video for you, sorry bout it!). Here's to hoping that she puts that knowledge to use and rolls herself back over so Mommy and Daddy can sleep past 6 tomorrow. :-)
Happy Thursday!
Sarah
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
P00P
If any one ever would have told me that I'd be so concerned with the bowel movements of another human being, I wouldn't have believed them. Who knew that a lot of things baby are measured by poop? How often, what color, what consistency/texture, are there little seeds in it (if breast feeding), etc. - all of these things are important to keep track of. When baby is brand spanking new from the womb, the hospital will keep track of it for you. When you take baby home, it's super important to keep a journal, because the pediatrician will ask you about it to determine whether baby's organs are functioning properly. I know the hospital gave us a sheet to use, and we made copies and used those for the first several weeks.
After the first month, the pediatrician told me that I didn't have to keep a journal anymore. I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out that I still keep one anyway. Not only is it perfectly in compliance with my OCD tendencies, but honestly I have so much going on in a day that a lot of times I truly can't remember everything that I should. For example, from one feeding to the next, three hours later, I normally can't remember which breast Lilly nursed on first at the last feeding (important because she should start on the other breast for the next feeding). So, I journal. I write down diaper changes, sleeping (naps and bed time), nursing, bottle feeding, and I even keep track of how much I pump and when. A little overboard, maybe, but it is good not only in helping me remember things, but it's also a good tool to communicate with the nanny - I drop it off with her every day to fill out so that I can see how the day went when I pick L up. If your child is enrolled in daycare, I think they normally give you daily report cards anyway, so this is the best of both worlds. I also write Carney notes so that she can see whether we had a rough night, or if Lilly seems gassy or fussy, or if she's on any medicine when I gave it to her last, etc. etc. Any old journal will do - even a plain notebook - but I've used a few already and my favorite so far is called Baby's Eat, Sleep and Poop Journal:
The main thing I like about this journal is the page layout. It's set up in a way so that you don't go through it as quickly because you fill in your own dates and times, they aren't pre-determined. I went through two journals that were divided up by hours of the day and was annoyed at how quickly I went through them before I discovered this one:
Anyway, I digress. I didn't mean to get on the subject of journaling, but my nerdy side loves stuff like that. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we started L on solids recently. She hated rice cereal, so after a week we went ahead and started her on bananas, which she loved. We did that for about a week and then decided to introduce her to avocados. She wasn't too sure about them at first...
...but in the end she decided that she loved them and we couldn't get the spoon to her mouth fast enough for her satisfaction!
Lilly is loving trying new things and has really gotten the hang of solids. She opens her mouth when she sees the spoon coming, but we will have to work on her smacking for sure. ;-) The only problem we're having is - you guessed it - poo-related. Homegirl is constipated.
Before we started solids, she mostly went #2 every day. Since we started them, she will go like 6 days (no joke) without going. It doesn't really seem to bother her until the day that she does have to go, and then she's a little fussy, extra gassy, and super uncomfortable (think red-faced and lots of pushing/straining). In the meantime, during the 5 days leading up to poo-day, she has terrible gas. I find myself wondering how something so foul can come out of something so small. Most of the time I'm POSITIVE she has had yet another of her world-famous epic blowouts all over my clothes, but then I check her diaper and am shocked to find that there's nothing there.
I called the doctor the first time this happened, and they assured me that this is normal, and that babies will sometimes go a week without going. I keep thinking to myself that this can't be normal, although I guess it makes sense since Lilly's system is trying to get used to something new. The doctor said that they are more concerned with the consistency - at this point, since she is only eating solids once/day to learn how to eat, Lilly's bowel movements should still be runny (TMI alert!). If her bowel movements are the consistency of adult poops (harder, not runny), then that's cause for concern and we should bring her in immediately because it means something isn't working right. I know that rice cereal can cause constipation for sure. I read that bananas are used for both - they can both help go #2 and not go #2. So far, in our case, they have only done the latter. Today was day 3 of avocados, so we have one more day before we will introduce anything new.
The doctor suggested that we give Lilly one ounce of water 2x/day in between feedings to help move things along, but that isn't working at all. Through talking to girlfriends (although none of mine have had the problem to the extent that Lilly has - their children have only gone 2-3 days max) and research, I found out that switching up fruits/veggies (read: moving onto something new) also helps ease constipation. However, you're only supposed to feed them one item for four days before trying something new to make sure they don't have any food allergies to whatever you've been feeding them (one more day for us with avocados). I am not comfortable giving Lilly juice yet unless the doctor gives me the OK, and prunes aren't on the list of foods her doctor gave us for her to start out with. I think we are going to try pears next, because I read that those might help. The only other thing I've read is to help her exercise her legs and massage her tummy, both of which I've been doing - along with using a lot of gas drops. Mommy friends, do you have any other advice that I haven't thought of or tried? Like I said, it doesn't seem to bother L until the day she's going to use the bathroom, but then I feel so terrible for her because I know it can't be comfortable.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Happy hump day - one day closer to the weekend!
Sarah
After the first month, the pediatrician told me that I didn't have to keep a journal anymore. I'm sure you'll be shocked to find out that I still keep one anyway. Not only is it perfectly in compliance with my OCD tendencies, but honestly I have so much going on in a day that a lot of times I truly can't remember everything that I should. For example, from one feeding to the next, three hours later, I normally can't remember which breast Lilly nursed on first at the last feeding (important because she should start on the other breast for the next feeding). So, I journal. I write down diaper changes, sleeping (naps and bed time), nursing, bottle feeding, and I even keep track of how much I pump and when. A little overboard, maybe, but it is good not only in helping me remember things, but it's also a good tool to communicate with the nanny - I drop it off with her every day to fill out so that I can see how the day went when I pick L up. If your child is enrolled in daycare, I think they normally give you daily report cards anyway, so this is the best of both worlds. I also write Carney notes so that she can see whether we had a rough night, or if Lilly seems gassy or fussy, or if she's on any medicine when I gave it to her last, etc. etc. Any old journal will do - even a plain notebook - but I've used a few already and my favorite so far is called Baby's Eat, Sleep and Poop Journal:
The main thing I like about this journal is the page layout. It's set up in a way so that you don't go through it as quickly because you fill in your own dates and times, they aren't pre-determined. I went through two journals that were divided up by hours of the day and was annoyed at how quickly I went through them before I discovered this one:
Anyway, I digress. I didn't mean to get on the subject of journaling, but my nerdy side loves stuff like that. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we started L on solids recently. She hated rice cereal, so after a week we went ahead and started her on bananas, which she loved. We did that for about a week and then decided to introduce her to avocados. She wasn't too sure about them at first...
...but in the end she decided that she loved them and we couldn't get the spoon to her mouth fast enough for her satisfaction!
Lilly is loving trying new things and has really gotten the hang of solids. She opens her mouth when she sees the spoon coming, but we will have to work on her smacking for sure. ;-) The only problem we're having is - you guessed it - poo-related. Homegirl is constipated.
Before we started solids, she mostly went #2 every day. Since we started them, she will go like 6 days (no joke) without going. It doesn't really seem to bother her until the day that she does have to go, and then she's a little fussy, extra gassy, and super uncomfortable (think red-faced and lots of pushing/straining). In the meantime, during the 5 days leading up to poo-day, she has terrible gas. I find myself wondering how something so foul can come out of something so small. Most of the time I'm POSITIVE she has had yet another of her world-famous epic blowouts all over my clothes, but then I check her diaper and am shocked to find that there's nothing there.
I called the doctor the first time this happened, and they assured me that this is normal, and that babies will sometimes go a week without going. I keep thinking to myself that this can't be normal, although I guess it makes sense since Lilly's system is trying to get used to something new. The doctor said that they are more concerned with the consistency - at this point, since she is only eating solids once/day to learn how to eat, Lilly's bowel movements should still be runny (TMI alert!). If her bowel movements are the consistency of adult poops (harder, not runny), then that's cause for concern and we should bring her in immediately because it means something isn't working right. I know that rice cereal can cause constipation for sure. I read that bananas are used for both - they can both help go #2 and not go #2. So far, in our case, they have only done the latter. Today was day 3 of avocados, so we have one more day before we will introduce anything new.
The doctor suggested that we give Lilly one ounce of water 2x/day in between feedings to help move things along, but that isn't working at all. Through talking to girlfriends (although none of mine have had the problem to the extent that Lilly has - their children have only gone 2-3 days max) and research, I found out that switching up fruits/veggies (read: moving onto something new) also helps ease constipation. However, you're only supposed to feed them one item for four days before trying something new to make sure they don't have any food allergies to whatever you've been feeding them (one more day for us with avocados). I am not comfortable giving Lilly juice yet unless the doctor gives me the OK, and prunes aren't on the list of foods her doctor gave us for her to start out with. I think we are going to try pears next, because I read that those might help. The only other thing I've read is to help her exercise her legs and massage her tummy, both of which I've been doing - along with using a lot of gas drops. Mommy friends, do you have any other advice that I haven't thought of or tried? Like I said, it doesn't seem to bother L until the day she's going to use the bathroom, but then I feel so terrible for her because I know it can't be comfortable.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Happy hump day - one day closer to the weekend!
Sarah
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Father's Day Fail
It's been so long since I've blogged that I wondered if I'd remember how! Going back to work has made my days a lot busier. Trying to find a balance and manage my time well is a full-time job in itself! In conjunction with that, we are smack dab in the middle of session (aka Dan's busy time), so a lot of times I've been in charge of both drop off and pick up for Lilly as well as single parenting until she goes to bed. Admittedly, it's only 2 hours after the workday is over (2.5 max) because she goes to bed at 7:30 normally, but then there's always dinner to cook and preparations to be made for the next day (washing bottles and pump parts, putting together clean bottles and pump parts for the following day, doing laundry, packing lunch, etc.). Honestly I have just been so exhausted after all of the aforementioned activity that all I want to do is go to bed!
I have lots to catch up on, but I thought I'd start with Father's Day. I was pregnant last year on Father's Day, but we hadn't told anyone yet. Still, I got Dan a gift and was so excited about it. This year was even more special because it was his first real Father's Day - that is, we have an actual baby instead of a fetus. :-)
In my head, I had really good intentions of a lovely day. I'd cook him breakfast, we'd do whatever he wanted to do, maybe take the baby to the park and have a picnic, open his lovely and oh-so-thoughtful gift and I'd make whatever he wanted for dinner. In reality, we were out of town yet again (not a single weekend in town so far since May due to weddings and wedding-related activities for my little sis!), so his first Father's Day was not quite the fairytale I envisioned.
Fail #1: we spent most of the day in the car. Our wedding this past weekend was outside of Statesville (it was so beautiful and we had so much fun, aside from one small disaster which I will blog about later in the week - congrats to Bek & Kyle, we love you!), so Lilly and I headed to Charlotte on Friday. Dan was in DC for work at the end of last week, so on Saturday I picked Dan up at the airport and we went straight to Statesville to check into our hotel. So, on Sunday morning, we drove from Statesville to Charlotte, packed Lilly up and hopped in the car to head home. We made a stop for a couple of hours in Asheboro to see my grandparents and to wish Papa a happy father's day and a happy belated birthday. By the time we got home, it was 4:00. We unpacked the car, let Lilly rest for a little bit outside of the car seat, and then took a family trip to the grocery store to stock up for the week. Not quite a picnic in the park, right?
To make matters worse, we couldn't decide what we wanted for dinner, even though I kept telling Dan I would make whatever he wanted and that he should choose. In the end he decided on hot dogs, which meant he cooked while I got Lilly to bed. Fail #2.
The biggest fail yet of all was the gift. What you have to understand about Dan is that he's pretty hard to shop for. He doesn't normally want a whole lot, and what he does want, he gets for himself. I have been rather proud of myself over our 8 years of being together at my ability to surprise him, and I consider myself to be a good gift giver. I would say that since we've been married, for whatever reason he's been harder to shop for. Still, I was excited about this gift. Last year for Dan's birthday, his parents got him a golf lesson at the Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte. He plays golf a lot for work, so it was the perfect gift. He finally remembered to take his certificate with us a few weeks ago when we were in Charlotte for Katy & Josh's couples shower, so he booked a lesson and he LOVED it. He talked about that lesson and how effective it was for days. He said he would love to have another, and that they also have this program where the instructor will play 9 holes with you, and he thought that sounded super cool. So, sneaky wife that I am, I got him a gift certificate so that he could choose whether he wanted another lesson or to play 9 holes. Fail #3: he was super disappointed with this gift.
In Dan's defense, he tried really hard not to seem disappointed, but I know him well enough that I was able to tell. I think it was partially due to the fact that the golf lesson is in Charlotte, and while we love my family we are currently super burnt out on traveling, so that may have played into it as well. It was probably also partially due to the fact that we were both exhausted. Either way, I apologized profusely for ruining his first father's day and went to hide in the bathroom so I could cry in peace.
Dan will probably be super annoyed with me for writing this post. He keeps insisting that he loved his first father's day, and I genuinely think that he did, I think it's more that it wasn't what I wanted it to be for him. Next year, I vow to be a little more prepared. Like I said, I had big plans for the day, and it just so happened that nothing worked out. It happens. We went with it. The bright side? He loved the card I got him. Next year, I will plan better and knock his socks off!
Hope you're having a great week so far...almost hump day!
Sarah
I have lots to catch up on, but I thought I'd start with Father's Day. I was pregnant last year on Father's Day, but we hadn't told anyone yet. Still, I got Dan a gift and was so excited about it. This year was even more special because it was his first real Father's Day - that is, we have an actual baby instead of a fetus. :-)
In my head, I had really good intentions of a lovely day. I'd cook him breakfast, we'd do whatever he wanted to do, maybe take the baby to the park and have a picnic, open his lovely and oh-so-thoughtful gift and I'd make whatever he wanted for dinner. In reality, we were out of town yet again (not a single weekend in town so far since May due to weddings and wedding-related activities for my little sis!), so his first Father's Day was not quite the fairytale I envisioned.
Fail #1: we spent most of the day in the car. Our wedding this past weekend was outside of Statesville (it was so beautiful and we had so much fun, aside from one small disaster which I will blog about later in the week - congrats to Bek & Kyle, we love you!), so Lilly and I headed to Charlotte on Friday. Dan was in DC for work at the end of last week, so on Saturday I picked Dan up at the airport and we went straight to Statesville to check into our hotel. So, on Sunday morning, we drove from Statesville to Charlotte, packed Lilly up and hopped in the car to head home. We made a stop for a couple of hours in Asheboro to see my grandparents and to wish Papa a happy father's day and a happy belated birthday. By the time we got home, it was 4:00. We unpacked the car, let Lilly rest for a little bit outside of the car seat, and then took a family trip to the grocery store to stock up for the week. Not quite a picnic in the park, right?
To make matters worse, we couldn't decide what we wanted for dinner, even though I kept telling Dan I would make whatever he wanted and that he should choose. In the end he decided on hot dogs, which meant he cooked while I got Lilly to bed. Fail #2.
The biggest fail yet of all was the gift. What you have to understand about Dan is that he's pretty hard to shop for. He doesn't normally want a whole lot, and what he does want, he gets for himself. I have been rather proud of myself over our 8 years of being together at my ability to surprise him, and I consider myself to be a good gift giver. I would say that since we've been married, for whatever reason he's been harder to shop for. Still, I was excited about this gift. Last year for Dan's birthday, his parents got him a golf lesson at the Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte. He plays golf a lot for work, so it was the perfect gift. He finally remembered to take his certificate with us a few weeks ago when we were in Charlotte for Katy & Josh's couples shower, so he booked a lesson and he LOVED it. He talked about that lesson and how effective it was for days. He said he would love to have another, and that they also have this program where the instructor will play 9 holes with you, and he thought that sounded super cool. So, sneaky wife that I am, I got him a gift certificate so that he could choose whether he wanted another lesson or to play 9 holes. Fail #3: he was super disappointed with this gift.
In Dan's defense, he tried really hard not to seem disappointed, but I know him well enough that I was able to tell. I think it was partially due to the fact that the golf lesson is in Charlotte, and while we love my family we are currently super burnt out on traveling, so that may have played into it as well. It was probably also partially due to the fact that we were both exhausted. Either way, I apologized profusely for ruining his first father's day and went to hide in the bathroom so I could cry in peace.
Dan will probably be super annoyed with me for writing this post. He keeps insisting that he loved his first father's day, and I genuinely think that he did, I think it's more that it wasn't what I wanted it to be for him. Next year, I vow to be a little more prepared. Like I said, I had big plans for the day, and it just so happened that nothing worked out. It happens. We went with it. The bright side? He loved the card I got him. Next year, I will plan better and knock his socks off!
Hope you're having a great week so far...almost hump day!
Sarah
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Happy First Father's Day!
I wanted to take a minute today to wish Prince Danny the happiest father's day.
Dan: Words cannot do justice to the love and appreciation I have for you. I thank God every day for leading me to you, my perfect match. I fall more in love with you every day, and love watching our daughter do the same. Happy first Father's day. We love you!
Dan: Words cannot do justice to the love and appreciation I have for you. I thank God every day for leading me to you, my perfect match. I fall more in love with you every day, and love watching our daughter do the same. Happy first Father's day. We love you!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Blog Hiatus
Hey friends. Did ya miss me? Just dropping in to say that we're still alive! This week has been SO. BUSY. that I have not had the energy to do a whole lot. I will be back soon - I'm sure you're waiting with baited breath. In the mean time, I'll leave you with my new favorite picture of the adorableness that is Lilly Bean. Hope you've had a great week - happy (almost) Friday!
Sarah
Sarah
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Thumb Sucker
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a thumb sucker. Lilly keeps taking her paci out and throwing it in order to suck her thumb. I originally wasn't sure I wanted her to do this - I feel like the paci would and easier habit to break than the thumb since it's attached. My mom reminded me that I've been wanting her to learn to self-soothe with all of this sleep training, so I shouldn't complain. She's right, I suppose. And I have to admit that it's pretty darn cute.
Happy Thursday!
Sarah
Happy Thursday!
Sarah
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
My Heart.
I walked upstairs to this tonight...
...and all was right with the world. I love these two more than I could ever express.
And just in case you wanted some cuteness overload, here are some photos from earlier in the evening of my girl hamming it up, courtesy of Auntie Meagan:
Happy Hump Day!
Sarah
...and all was right with the world. I love these two more than I could ever express.
And just in case you wanted some cuteness overload, here are some photos from earlier in the evening of my girl hamming it up, courtesy of Auntie Meagan:
Happy Hump Day!
Sarah
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Reflections
Yesterday was a trying day for me. I think it was actually one of the harder ones I've had in a while, when my daughter was taking her sweet time learning how to nurse. ;-) The issue at hand was the aforementioned sleep training that's currently taking place in the Baum household (People keep asking me what I mean by this, I just mean learning to sleep without the swaddle, which has also involved some crying it out. More on this later.). For the sake of brevity, I will go into the details of all things sleep training, as well as our results, in a later post - this one is more about how I was feeling.
If you've been following along with us throughout our journey, you'll know that I have a compulsive need to research things to death (remember the stroller? among other things!). I've said it before, and I'll say it again: researching things somehow makes me feel more comfortable with my situation, no matter what it is. Researching all things pregnancy and birth somehow made me feel a little better about what was going to happen, even though I knew there was no way I could possibly ever be fully prepared. I guess it's like a coping mechanism. The downside to this is, not only am I OCD and a perfectionist, but I sometimes have a tendency to take things way too literally and way too seriously. It's a problem.
I started doing some reading on the Ferber method, which is the method we've been using for sleep training (again, more on this later). I bought the book on Sunday night and started reading because I had a few questions that weren't easily answered on the internet and wanted to make sure I was correctly implementing a few things. Long story short, by Monday morning I was in quite a state. I'm sure it was a combination of being tired, feeling guilty for letting Lilly cry, worrying, etc. but I essentially created this huge deal in my head and convinced myself that Lilly was sleeping all wrong according to this book. It got a little out of control. There were tears.
I should tell you that reflecting back over the past few days since we started this (Saturday naps were the first day, it is now Tuesday and - knock on wood - she's got it down pat), sleep training has not been so bad. I will be the first to admit that I have been spoiled by the fact that she has been sleeping through the night since she was 4 or 5 weeks old, and maybe that's why this whole ordeal has been so hard for me and I've been so down on myself, I'm not really sure. Letting Lilly cry was obviously the hardest part for me, and the hardest part for her has been getting used to sleeping without her swaddle. Every night we've done this so far, she's gone to bed as usual without any tears and she's slept for 10-11 hours with only a few early morning disruptions. She got the hang of it very quickly. As a result, for a few days, her naps have been a little "off," but it was to be expected, because this is something different. The fact that it's gone so well is also kind of remarkable considering she's fighting off a cold as well.
My Mom called at some point on Monday to ask how Lilly was doing and I burst into tears. This was right after Dan called to ask if I was okay, because he said I'd seemed frazzled when I spoke with him earlier in the day (to which I responded that I was indeed frazzled as well as questioning my mothering abilities). Anyway, Mom brought up a good point. She told me that we've been very lucky so far, and that because I'm a perfectionist and Lilly has made most things (not breastfeeding, at least until she was 3 months old) so easy on us, when something doesn't go perfectly like I envisioned it in my head, I am extra hard on myself about it and then obsess over what I'm doing wrong when in reality both of us are just learning something new. I think I truly expected her to get the hang of sleeping without her swaddle immediately and without any tears, which is an impossibly high standard considering that's the only thing she's ever known. When she didn't go to sleep sans swaddle with no tears on the very first try, I was literally beating myself up over what I was doing wrong. I hated that my baby girl was crying, and while I knew deep down that there was nothing wrong and she wasn't hurt, it was still hard to endure crying that seemed unnecessary from a child who is happy a good majority of the time (Please don't misunderstand, I am not saying we never have bad days, I just mean that in general she is a very happy and easygoing baby, and we do realize that we're fortunate.).
So, I guess I'm trying to say that I need to have a little more faith in myself, and trust in my abilities as a mother. My SIL, Andrea, said it best yesterday when she told me that books are there to use as a guide, but in the end you have to trust your instinct and do what you think is best for your family, and that may not always be exactly what the books tell you to do. Being a perfectionist by nature sent me into a total tizzy over the past few days, and looking back now I realize that it was such wasted energy. I need to make a conscious effort to stop being a worry wart over every single teeny little insignificant detail.
Lilly teaches Dan and me something new every day. Being a parent definitely isn't easy, but it is the most rewarding job I've ever had. My promise to myself, and my promise to Lilly, is to stop being so hard on us. I have a healthy, super happy, super beautiful baby who loves me, and we are doing just fine.
Sarah
If you've been following along with us throughout our journey, you'll know that I have a compulsive need to research things to death (remember the stroller? among other things!). I've said it before, and I'll say it again: researching things somehow makes me feel more comfortable with my situation, no matter what it is. Researching all things pregnancy and birth somehow made me feel a little better about what was going to happen, even though I knew there was no way I could possibly ever be fully prepared. I guess it's like a coping mechanism. The downside to this is, not only am I OCD and a perfectionist, but I sometimes have a tendency to take things way too literally and way too seriously. It's a problem.
I started doing some reading on the Ferber method, which is the method we've been using for sleep training (again, more on this later). I bought the book on Sunday night and started reading because I had a few questions that weren't easily answered on the internet and wanted to make sure I was correctly implementing a few things. Long story short, by Monday morning I was in quite a state. I'm sure it was a combination of being tired, feeling guilty for letting Lilly cry, worrying, etc. but I essentially created this huge deal in my head and convinced myself that Lilly was sleeping all wrong according to this book. It got a little out of control. There were tears.
I should tell you that reflecting back over the past few days since we started this (Saturday naps were the first day, it is now Tuesday and - knock on wood - she's got it down pat), sleep training has not been so bad. I will be the first to admit that I have been spoiled by the fact that she has been sleeping through the night since she was 4 or 5 weeks old, and maybe that's why this whole ordeal has been so hard for me and I've been so down on myself, I'm not really sure. Letting Lilly cry was obviously the hardest part for me, and the hardest part for her has been getting used to sleeping without her swaddle. Every night we've done this so far, she's gone to bed as usual without any tears and she's slept for 10-11 hours with only a few early morning disruptions. She got the hang of it very quickly. As a result, for a few days, her naps have been a little "off," but it was to be expected, because this is something different. The fact that it's gone so well is also kind of remarkable considering she's fighting off a cold as well.
My Mom called at some point on Monday to ask how Lilly was doing and I burst into tears. This was right after Dan called to ask if I was okay, because he said I'd seemed frazzled when I spoke with him earlier in the day (to which I responded that I was indeed frazzled as well as questioning my mothering abilities). Anyway, Mom brought up a good point. She told me that we've been very lucky so far, and that because I'm a perfectionist and Lilly has made most things (not breastfeeding, at least until she was 3 months old) so easy on us, when something doesn't go perfectly like I envisioned it in my head, I am extra hard on myself about it and then obsess over what I'm doing wrong when in reality both of us are just learning something new. I think I truly expected her to get the hang of sleeping without her swaddle immediately and without any tears, which is an impossibly high standard considering that's the only thing she's ever known. When she didn't go to sleep sans swaddle with no tears on the very first try, I was literally beating myself up over what I was doing wrong. I hated that my baby girl was crying, and while I knew deep down that there was nothing wrong and she wasn't hurt, it was still hard to endure crying that seemed unnecessary from a child who is happy a good majority of the time (Please don't misunderstand, I am not saying we never have bad days, I just mean that in general she is a very happy and easygoing baby, and we do realize that we're fortunate.).
So, I guess I'm trying to say that I need to have a little more faith in myself, and trust in my abilities as a mother. My SIL, Andrea, said it best yesterday when she told me that books are there to use as a guide, but in the end you have to trust your instinct and do what you think is best for your family, and that may not always be exactly what the books tell you to do. Being a perfectionist by nature sent me into a total tizzy over the past few days, and looking back now I realize that it was such wasted energy. I need to make a conscious effort to stop being a worry wart over every single teeny little insignificant detail.
Lilly teaches Dan and me something new every day. Being a parent definitely isn't easy, but it is the most rewarding job I've ever had. My promise to myself, and my promise to Lilly, is to stop being so hard on us. I have a healthy, super happy, super beautiful baby who loves me, and we are doing just fine.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Solids
Last night we reached a very important milestone: Lilly tried solids for the first time! It went a little something like this:
As you can see, Lilly did not love the rice cereal at first. We gave it to her after she nursed, because at this stage you only use solids as a supplement, not to replace a meal/breast feeding session. Also, I read that if you try to feed babies rice cereal prior to their bottle, you typically can't spoon it into their mouths fast enough for their liking (or at least as fast as they're used to getting milk via bottle or breast), so they get frustrated. Due to the fact that we tried it after she nursed, she didn't eat very much rice cereal - maybe only 4-5 bites. At first, she wasn't really even opening her mouth, but by the last couple of bites she had the hang of it. We chose to do this after her last feeding of the day but before bath and bed time, so that we could clean up the mess it made and also in hopes that it would tide her over since she's been waking up some due to quitting the swaddle cold turkey/sleep training. We made it with breast milk according to the instructions on the box, but it was still SO runny that it was pretty much like feeding L liquid using a spoon. I'm not sure I blame her for all of the funny faces, because it smelled gross. :-)
I took a video to document this momentous occasion and for your viewing pleasure. I was only able to get the first couple of bites because I have over 1,000 photos and videos of Lilly and Layla stored on my phone and so I ran out of storage space and couldn't capture her entire meal. Either way, the video is pretty hilarious:
We tried there whole ordeal again tonight and it went much more smoothly. She still made a face every time I put it in her mouth, but it didn't stop her from eating it...she's gotta keep the chunk in her thigh somehow, ha! I at least left a little gap between nursing and rice cereal tonight, though - I nursed her around 6:25 when she would have eaten anyway and then gave her rice cereal after her before she was full/bored/over it. Let's hope it sticks with her and there are no wake ups until after 7:00 a.m.! :-)
Happy Tuesday!
Sarah
As you can see, Lilly did not love the rice cereal at first. We gave it to her after she nursed, because at this stage you only use solids as a supplement, not to replace a meal/breast feeding session. Also, I read that if you try to feed babies rice cereal prior to their bottle, you typically can't spoon it into their mouths fast enough for their liking (or at least as fast as they're used to getting milk via bottle or breast), so they get frustrated. Due to the fact that we tried it after she nursed, she didn't eat very much rice cereal - maybe only 4-5 bites. At first, she wasn't really even opening her mouth, but by the last couple of bites she had the hang of it. We chose to do this after her last feeding of the day but before bath and bed time, so that we could clean up the mess it made and also in hopes that it would tide her over since she's been waking up some due to quitting the swaddle cold turkey/sleep training. We made it with breast milk according to the instructions on the box, but it was still SO runny that it was pretty much like feeding L liquid using a spoon. I'm not sure I blame her for all of the funny faces, because it smelled gross. :-)
I took a video to document this momentous occasion and for your viewing pleasure. I was only able to get the first couple of bites because I have over 1,000 photos and videos of Lilly and Layla stored on my phone and so I ran out of storage space and couldn't capture her entire meal. Either way, the video is pretty hilarious:
We tried there whole ordeal again tonight and it went much more smoothly. She still made a face every time I put it in her mouth, but it didn't stop her from eating it...she's gotta keep the chunk in her thigh somehow, ha! I at least left a little gap between nursing and rice cereal tonight, though - I nursed her around 6:25 when she would have eaten anyway and then gave her rice cereal after her before she was full/bored/over it. Let's hope it sticks with her and there are no wake ups until after 7:00 a.m.! :-)
Happy Tuesday!
Sarah
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