July 26. Getting big and wearing Mommy out!

     After a VERY rough Sunday night, last night was so much better! Our Ferber method sleep training has been a lifesaver, but as the book warned, sometimes there are backslides. Sunday, Lily ran a fever and Sunday night was c'est horrible! She was up and crying so much! I was afraid that it was going to be the start of a new trend, but then last night she slept for 11 hours straight! Then she and I got up at 6:30, nursed in the recliner, and dozed until 9:00am. My sweet baby is back! Hahaha!
     She has become an ace driver in her walker! She can get around obstacles, problem solve to get around furniture, and problem solve to get toys that she wants. When she is ready to get out, she runs at us with her arms up. She is so amazing!
     She is still working on the crawling. We bought her a rubber mat to practice on; I was worried that the wood floors were too harsh. She can spin herself around and around, she can rock back and forth, she can pull her knees under herself, but just can't get anywhere. This continues to be a source of frustration for her!
     She is pulling herself into sitting position now. She has to have something to pull up on, but she can do it. She is a bit spastic when she sits and often falls over, but is getting stronger all the time.
     Her love of all things standing continues! She always wants to be standing! She still needs constant support when standing as she will fall right over! However, she seems to be fearless and wants to stand on each and every surface!
    We have also began brushing her teeth. Uh, tooth. She really likes it! I do it first, then she does it. Success!
     Unfortunately, we are not being successful everywhere. The last two weeks, she has NOT been interested in eating her baby food. She will eat her "tasty treats" (puffed cereal bites) that are made from real veggies, but doesn't want her food. She is being extremely finicky. I hope it passes.
     So, basically, I think that she is brilliant! I LOVE being home with her. Yay for Lily & Mommy!

    

July 18. Three days in.

Three days into our sleep training and Lily continues to be a rock star! She was SO ready for this! Shame on me for not doing it sooner. I suppose my baby isn't such a baby after all. I was.
     We have had three nights of sleep training. Night one was by far the hardest! She cried. I cried. Eric was strong. He "helped" me do it; made me wait out the designated minutes. I found that when she did go back to sleep on her own, I was so proud of her! Night two was amazing! I never got out of bed because she was crying. She never cried to the five minute mark. I thought - hope beyond hope - this could be working! Night three she cried to the five minute mark twice. I went in, talked to her for a moment and rubbed her head. When I left she cried for a few more moments and went back to sleep. All three nights, she has slept until the seven o'clock hour. I feel so much more human and healthy having had this much sleep!
     Other Lily news, she is a racing baby in her walker! She's had it now for nearly two weeks and is very precise with it. She can spot where she wants to go and get there! We like to set up a toy course for her in the living room. We take all of her hand sized toys and set them up around the room on the edges of furniture. She races around the room pulling the toys onto her tray and littering the floor with them. When she's all done, we set it up again! We've had to barricade the room exits when we want her confined as she is a little Houdini and can get around almost an obstacle! When one of us leaves the room, she follows! And the poor cat! Felix is an ever changing, ever exciting target! Luckily, he has only lost about a half dozen or so clumps of fur and never seems too put out by it!
     She is sitting more and more confidently. Although she cannot sit all by herself just yet, she is getting there! She is also, just in the last couple of days, trying to pull herself up into the seated and standing positions. She thinks she's big! LOL!
     Today I gave her her first air-puffed cereal bite. It was banana flavored and, apparently, pretty tasty! She is so tremendously cute!!!

July 15. Must. Sleep.

Tonight we are trying the Ferber method to sleep-train Lily. Oh boy. I am so darned tired from waking up 5-10 times a night to soothe her crying! Something must be done!
     When I went back to work in March, Lily was sleeping almost through the night. April and May were great. She woke up once a night if that. Then, summer came and the Kraken was awoken. She cries so many times per night. I am a human ping-pong ball in and out of bed all night long. After doing research and talking to other moms, we've decided to try the Ferber method. It is a "kinder" way of letting her cry it out. Eric and I are both on board and have talked about how to do it and who will do what.
     Sigh. I tired letting her "cry it out" at nap time today. I was in her room as much as the method prescribed and she cried for an hour and forty-five minutes. It was incredibly awful.

     My mom and all of my Mommy friends assure me that this will be a good thing. We'll see. Keep ya posted.
     Above pics were from our nighttime routine. Lily eating (and decorating herself with) banana and her bath! She's so beautiful!!!!!

June 26-July 2 Week 23

This week's blog will be short as I took a break from the heavy blogging while on vacation. Most notably this week:

Lily has full-on discovered her feet! She loves feet and has put them into her mouth a couple f times. Mostly, she just like to hold them both with her hands. One hand on each foot. When we put her in her footie pjs, she sometimes gets frustrated as she can't find her tiny tootsies!
     Speaking of frustration - Lily is SO mad that she can't crawl yet!!! She can get onto her tummy from her back by rolling in both directions (so smart!). She can get her legs up underneath her OR her top half off the ground by pushing up with her arms, but not both at the same time. Then, she can push off with her legs and . . . faceplants every time! She's a persistent little thing and will try over and over again, but with the same result. Eventually she gets mad and cries. Poor little one, she's learning and we are all cheering her on!
     Monday of her twenty-third week was a doozey! She was experiencing quite a bit of teething pain and diarrhea to go with it. She cried a lot and Tara came over to help out. In the afternoon, Tara and I were taking turns with her. Tara had her for awhile, and brought her to me when she needed a break. I took one whiff and said no way! bring her back with a clean diaper! She had poop seeping up the back of her onesie!
     Tara took off for the living room to change her and about two minutes later called out for me to join her. I walk in and see: Lily standing on the wood floor, butt naked, with Tara holding her by the arms and both of them standing in a puddle of pee. Poop was smeared up the entire length of the baby, including in her mullet! Poop was all over the changing pad. WTF!  I think my eyes just about bugged out of my head and I began to laugh uncontrollably! Tara began to laugh as well. Lily did not.
     Tara said that she removed the diaper and we had no wipes, Lily began to thrash about in the poop, so she wanted to get her clear of it. Then Lily began to pee, so Tara put her on the floor!
     Well. I wiped up the pee, wrapped the baby in the dirty changing pad cover, and took her upstairs to the bath tub! twenty minutes and a squeaky clean baby, Lily and I headed to her room to dress. Bundled and fresh in her towel, I leaned over her crib to grab something. So sooner than I was over the crib when Lily puked about a gallon of curdled milk into her crib! AUGH!!!!! So, in review : teething, poop in the hair (and everywhere else!), pee on the floor, curdled milk puke in the crib! Oh what a day!
     Lily had a Granny day this week so that I could go baby consignment shopping with Tara and Brittany. Mimi and Katie each spent the night once to help with the unhappy baby, and we went swimming with Nana. It was a busy and fun week. Lily had her moments, but all in all she had a good week too.
     Below are some of the edited pics from the last photo shoot!