A Little Tough Love

Nora's sleeping habits had been better at 4 weeks than at 9-10 months.  She was consistently getting up in the middle of the night.  To make a long story shorter...I woke up 5 times in a night, fed her each time (why, I know why did I do that) and she went back to bed.  Usually it was 1-2 or 2-3 times I would do this and it "seemed" easiest to nurse her to sleep so I could get back to sleep. (not like I can actually fall asleep before I hit the pillow or anything!)  I had myself convinced that it was a good idea until that 5th time that last night in early January.  After talking with Jake we decided a little lost sleep a few times would make up for the long periods of sleep that we could gain if she would sleep through the night like she did from 4 weeks-4 months and 5-8 months. 

Our plan: feed her 6-8 ounces before bed time and only feed her after 8-9 hours of sleep (so around 5 am).  When she woke up and cried we would let her cry for 20 minutes then hold her until she went back to sleep & put her down & do this until the 5 am feeding time. 

Night #1: She woke up at 1-consistent with what she had done. After 20 minutes crying and 20 minutes of holding her she was back to sleep and didn't wake up until 5:30 am.  Progress...

Night #2: She woke up again around 1-Jake held her for 15 minutes and she was in bed & didn't wake up until 7 am. More progress...

Night #3 She slept until 8 (12 hours) and then woke up.  Holy cow..it works!

From then until now which has been about a month she has gone to bed and not gotten up until after the 5 am feeding.  She does some nights wake up crying, but has learned we are not getting up to get her.  Of course I get up and listen through her door for a minute, but what new Mommy wouldn't. 

Now, if I could just sleep through the night myself! I've been having problems with this for a while now which has led me to a Diet Mountain Dew addiction-that doesn't make it any better. I try to cut myself off before 4 pm so it doesn't keep me up at night (LOL, officially old!).

We are thankful she is enjoying good night time sleep again after a little rough patch that I blame solely our parenting for that time being. 

All about Jake

Read the last 15 posts (or more) and I'm sure you won't miss the name Nora in any of them, but Jake & I get lost in the excitement we have for raising a sweet little girl.  So this one is about Jake. 

Recently, he joined a basketball league with my brother-in-law John. They have had 2 games; lost one, won the other and after a while of not playing I'm excited to announce that he is OK with no injuries.  He did bump up the cardio at the gym the week before to kind of "get him in shape" since most of the guys playing with him have college basketball experience.  Downfall to basketball...they have really late games-this week 9:45 pm start...in Greenwood.  This means a late night after the game, but it gives him a chance to get away and do something he enjoys. 

Still as handy as ever! Doing projects around the house that I'm sure he would rather not do like rearranging pictures or touching up nail holes from rearranging pictures.  Lately, we've been working on a huge-over-arching-project that entails cleaning out the loft to make a "play room" for Nora and in the process cleaning out the spare room to fit my craft stuff & all the junk from the loft.  Needless to say, we are having a garage sale in May. 

Emerging on the cooking front. I asked him to give me ideas for dinner meals because after thinking about food all day, teaching others about food all day, then coming home to cook....its the last thing I want to think about.  So, he whipped up chicken cordon bleu last week and has some kind of Mexican steak something planned this week or next.  The only downfall to this is getting random stuff we don't already have in the pantry to make the recipes he picks out..like adobe peppers that were $$ at the store for a little can. 

Best Daddy ever. Playing with Nora and reading to her are my favorite things to watch.  Melts my heart all over again to see him soft and gentle with her.  (we are still working on voice tone-sometimes she is overly sensitive to it and cries.)  She squeals as he says "I'm going to get you..." as she tries to run, but with too much excitement takes a tumble. She loves him and is so excited to see him when he gets home from work. She has started noticing the garage door opening when I say "Daddy's home!" so now when she hears it she pauses and then crawls/walks to find him. 

Not too much new going on, but I feel like he isn't a part of my blogging now, so this one is for you Hun (since I know you are reading this from work!). 

More & More...and Some Randoms about Nora

Just a quick (read, long winded update on nothing) update on a few things: Nora now has a total of 7 teeth! Three happened to be popping through at the end of last week.  This morning she was grinding the top with the bottom....eww talk about nails on a chalkboard. 

Yesterday, I forgot my pump at home and Jake was off work so they dropped it off while they were out running errands and we had a chance to weigh Nora at my work.  Even though she was fully clothed (she isn't at the doctors office) it would be closer to the last weigh in at her 9 month appointment in December.  She is now 20 pounds (with clothes) and it sure feels like it.  We are in the market for the next step up car seat and that may be what we do in our "spare" time tomorrow. 

Speaking of "spare" time, it is used much more wisely now days compared to pre-baby.  Now, we clean, cook, shower, grocery shop, etc in our "spare" time where that was not something we would have done before. 

Today I realized that we sweep the kitchen floor more than we used to and that we need to start mopping the floor wayyyy more than we used to.  My bare feet almost stick like cement when I walk near her high chair. She feels the need to feed Jersey now, so on the floor food flies! The dishwasher gets a work out everyday compared to every 4-5 days when we were just a 2 person family.  It's a little monotonous to empty, fill, empty fill... but I'd rather do that (Jake empties, I fill) than wash each dish by hand (because I'm anal and have to clean the sink before I would wash dishes).  Other things we do more now: eat at home because it's just easier and we stay home in general more often than we used to for the same reasons.  Nora doesn't want to be held or couped up anymore and sometimes it's easier to stay home and play with her here rather than chasing her everywhere as she gets in to and disrupts a lot of things! She's curious and we love that, but it also is exhausting making sure she's not going to break anything or hurt herself. 

OK, enough on that.  Things are different, but an AWESOME different and we love it.  As I type I hear her beating on her drum that is speaking Spanish and "singing" along to it.  "Bailamos, Cantamos, Jugamos el tambor...." haha!

Nora {10 Months}

I know, I know a little late on this one! She is 2 weeks from being 11 months & I'm finally getting a moment to type up the last months highlights.  I love using this as a scrapbook sort of baby book of "what's happening" each month because otherwise I think I would forget and it wouldn't ever be put in a book for us to remember when she's older.  Here goes for the 10 month update:

She doesn't have another doctor appointment until her 12 month appointment, but these are my estimations on weight and length.  Mostly based on the clothes she wears, how much she was at 9 months, of course my expert opinion-LOL. 

Weight: ~19.5 pounds

Length: ~30 inches

Shoe size: 3 or 4 depending on the shoes

Clothing size: mostly 9-12 months or 12 month clothes.  The 9 month clothes are too short in the arms/legs, although they fit her well through the body.  I sense a problem that will not go away for a long time.  Sorry sweet baby, mommy has that problem too!  Looks like Gap long & leans are what she will be wearing in high school.  These were the only jeans that really fit me, but they are pretty expensive so I only had 2 pairs!

Food: We are down to 3 nursing times throughout the day and on average 1 at night.  This has been really nice because planning for trips out of the house are much easier now that I don't have to scope out a place to feed her.  I'm pro breastfeeding, but not into whipping it out in public if I don't have too!  For breakfast she likes to still be fed & loves oatmeal with fruit and cinnamon.  This is the only time she likes to be fed, otherwise, it's "give me the food Mom, and I'll shove it in myself" (or feed Jersey, whichever is more fun! & because of this, Jersey is sent to her cage during meal times.)  She loves everything we have given her so far & this month she had some new foods: spaghetti, scrambled eggs with spinach, cottage cheese, yogurt, and potatoes.  We continue to explore foods learning day in and day out what works and what doesn't.  For example, we had fajitas the other night & she was so interested that I cut up the peppers in really fine pieces and let her try them...bad idea because then she wanted more and more and more.  Fast forward to the next day...they were all in her poopy diaper just as they went in.  Her GI is not ready for that yet!

Teeth: We are now in the 4 teeth fan club.  We broke through 2 on the top this month including the front right & the one just to the right of that one. These seemed to be little harder than the middle bottom two that came in at 6 months.  So, teethers, rags, Tylenol, baby oragel it is and has been for a while now to help soothe that pain. 

Sleep: We are on almost all days getting 2 naps in still. There are a few days where she decides not to take one and on those days I call her "No Nap Nora"-usually it's because we are out running around or doing something to mess up her routine. She likes routine & so do I so I try to stick to it as much as possible. When she naps, its my break time! Sleep has been a little disrupted because of her new teeth, but that's all a part of the process!

Personality: This is showing more and more.  She is full of laughs & giggles and loves exploring the house-well her portion of the house (see picture below).  She thinks she is funny when she does something she knows she shouldn't be doing & it's hard for me not to laugh at her! She looks at me like "hmm...look what I'm doing..." gives a cute little laugh and continues doing what she's not supposed to do...like playing with the gate, the dog bowl, the night light, etc. 

I could go on and on, but I'll spare you the million words about this past month...here are some pictures. 

Loves Uncle Alex now!

Saying bye to the Dimitt's who visited NYE!

Doing her hair with my blow dryer...always into something!

The Mommarazzi is on the loose again...it was warmer out & I just love that coat.

Two things I love about this pic: #1 her love for her baby doll, #2 I finally got a picture with her tongue out...she does this all the time (thanks to the Standeford/Waltz side in her)

Baby Gate $100...psshh...look what my mom does to me for FREE!

10 Month Photo shoot...she ate my sign!

And..I couldn't get a picture with her looking at the camera to save my life!