Wordless Wednesday - Drinking and Driving?

Sunday...

Our church had a cook out on Sunday. So, we were at church for about 7 hours (we skipped evening service because we were so tired already). AJU5 had a lot of fun though. During Sunday School, she happily (and nicely) played with E who is 9 months older than her. Then, during service she napped in my arms. She was hungry before the food was ready, so that lead to some cries, but she survived with snacks until I could get her some chicken (we had cheerios and raisins with us). She got to play with grass, eat outside while listening to music, and play with all of the toys in the classroom with Daddy.

Then, last night she slept like a champ -well, sort of. I didn't have to get up for about 8 hours. SHe did whimper a few times, but it never lasted long enough (or was loud enough) to warrant me getting her. Sarah asked how 8 hours of sleep feels - well, I haven't gotten that yet. She has us trained to wake up at night. But 8 hours in bed is great! I didn't sleep great last night because I had a nap when we got home from church, but I am not dragging too much today.

AJU5 is also getting better at "sharing" and stacking. She will give us toys and try to put her stackers in a pile sometimes! It is great to see her play grow!

Saturday...

We went for a 6 hour hike on Saturday... all uphill (well, there are some flat spots, but it is generally all uphill). Then we had a game night with friends (he went with us, she is 8 months pregnant and was at work...). It was a long but great day!

Before we started off - AJU5 fell asleep as I was waiting for the guys to get back from dropping the car off at the destination.


At the "throne" - the place we take a picture each time (it is an annual hike for us).


Eating on the trail...


Diaper Change Time...


Asleep on the "flat" part.

Eight Hours - What????

That is right - AJU5 slept for 8 hours straight last night! She went down at 6:30ish and then work up between 9 and 9:30. I got her up, let her say hi to her daddy (who was home from his trip), and let her nurse. I didn't her from her for over 4 hours. Some time between 1 and 4 (I don't remember what the clock said - I was sleepy), I heard her cry. I got up and went to her door. But, she was already quiet again (we are right next door - so it must have just been a need to find the paci cry). I then didn't remember anything until 6 this morning! That meant I also didn't hear my husband get up, etc. (he leaves for work before 6). Although 6 is still an hour and a half before she normally gets up, I let her come into the room with me. She played and laid in bed with me (off an on between the bed and playing) until 7 when she demanded breakfast (30minutes to an hour earlier than normal). She has already had lunch - again early - and is down for her second nap. Hopefully she will sleep well tonight! We have a busy day tomorrow and Sunday, so I would prefer both of us to be in good moods!

Last Night (and a little of this morning)

So, we had class at church last night. I thought AJU5 would fall asleep in the car on the way there because she was so tired. But, she didn't. Then I tried to get her to go to sleep at 7:30 (class starts at 6:30), and she refused. She woudn't even rest her head on my shoulder while I held her standing up. So, we gave up and went back to sit down next to AJU1. Then, at 8:30, she was getting cranky just sitting with us, so I tried to get her to fall asleep by rocking her standing up. Then I noticed she smelled bad. So, we went back to the kid's room to change her. It was just gas... but while we were back there she started to play (happily) with the toys. So, I just let her play until the end of class. She fell asleep int he car ont he way home, and I was able to get her into the bed without much of a fuss. Then, 2 hours later she was awake. So, I let her nurse (she hadn't done this since 7:30ish), gave her some gas drops, and got her back to sleep. Then, she woke up an hour later screaming like a banshee. So, I got up to calm her down, let her nurse a little (because nothing else was calming her down), and went back to bed. Thirty minutes later, she was screaming AGAIN. So, I tired to walk around with her to get her to calm down. It didn't work, so AJU1 came to give it a try. He wasn't successful either. Eventually, I decided to try and see if she would sleep with us (she hasn't wanted to sleep with me since we started to train her to sleep in her bed). After some nursing-for-comfort-only, she fell asleep on my arm. She slept for about three hours like this. Only two problems though... at the two hour mark, my arm was hurting and I woke up to hear my computer playing kids music (for church tonight). I had the CD in, so when I computer woke itself up it started to play it! So, I had to slip my arm out from under her, go and turn off the music, and then go back to bed. Then she woke up less than an hour later. So, after some nursing, she fell asleep for an hour. Then more crying... sleep for less than an hour... crying... I eventually gave up at 6:45 and took her to her room to play. I laid on the floor (where there are two body pillows and a blanket) dosing in and out for 45 minutes. Then I thought she was sleepy, so I put her to bed. After about 5 inutes, I realized she wasn't going to sleep, so I went to the bathroom, etc, and then got her up for breakfast. She has had about a 30 minutes nap since breakfast...

We think the crankiness is either the result of a nightmare or teeth (she has three teeth now - and the other top one might be coming in). She also has a stuffed up nose (like I do) to add to the mix (nice weather change to do that to us...). Hopefully she will sleep better tonight. AJU1 is on a business trip tonight, so I am alone in dealing with her if she doesn't sleep well...

CRIB!

AJU5 is now sleeping a a crib. We do have one issue with it though - the pacifiers are getting thrown overboard. This means she cries when she can't find one. So, I am off today to get bumpers for the crib in hopes they will keep the pacifiers in... Saturday night she didn't sleep well, but she was off schedule all day (lunch and afternoon nap were totally off schedule!). But, last night she did well. She went for almost 5 hours and then 2 hours and then 5 hours. I bet if I had looked at the clock at the 2 hour one and let her cry she would have gone longer.

As for finding a babysitter - ours all go to church somewhere on Wednesday nights. Sunday nights she normally does okay because she gets her naps and food later due to morning church. She normally has dinner during evening service, and we normally get home by 7:15. Tuesdays are are pain, but we will be over with those in December (I am not going to take the class in the spring). So, it is just Wednesday nights that can be hard. Service tends to run late and she has had dinner before we go (she does get snacks at church though)... My current hope is to get her on a 7:00pm bedtime schedule, so then that won't be so bad either.

We are slowly starting the weaning process. She is now getting a sippy of milk (mine). I will run out of it this week (I just pumped occasionally April-June), and then I am going to use the free formula we got when she was born. I calculated that we have enough for one 6-oz serving a day until she turns 1 (and gets cow's milk). Then we will try for two sippy cups of milk, etc. Hopefully we can get to totally weaned by 18 months... but I am not too stressed over it (it isn't that bad, etc).

Now to go shopping!

Rambling Again...

Yesterday I bought AJU5 a crib mattress. I ended up going with the Simmons Faraway Dream Ultra from Baby Depot (Burlington Coat Factory). It was only $59.99, so I hope it is a decent mattress. Target didn't have any Simmons mattresses at our store, and Babies-r-Us was expensive. I haven't been able to find anything out about this exact mattress, so hopefully it is as good as the other Simmons mattresses commented on (thanks for the suggestions!).

We should get the crib today or tomorrow, so I will have infor about her sleeping then.

When I first read on Becca's blog that Charlies's bed time was 6:30, I was shocked! I thought that was SO early. I thought why is he going to bed so early? No AJU5 seems to want to go to bed between 6:30 and 7.... The only problem is that we have church until 7ish two nights a week (Tuesdays we are out way past her bedtime, but we won't go there). The other thing on my mind is what are we going to do at Thanksgiving when we are west one time zone? Will she adjust like we do (we will be there one week) or will she want to go to bed around 5:30? I wish I could get her to go to bed at 7:30, but then she doesn't sleep as well. So, early bed time it is 4 days a week...

Got to go chase AJU5 downt he hall and see if hubby needs help witht eh window removal (and replacement later)...

Ramblings... A Post of Many Topics...

Topic One - First Experience Teaching Little Kids...
Last night I took the leap of faith and started teaching the kids on Wednesday nights at our church. We had just been letting them play, but since I was having to go back their with AJU5 (she isn't big enough to play on her own with other kids yet), the pastor and I thought we might as well do some lessons. We are using the Veggie Tales Connections material, which is pretty good. It is meant for larger groups than ours, but it hasn't been hard to adapt to our church. Last night I had a 6.5 year old, a 5 yr old, a 3.5 yr old, a 19 month old that didn't really participate at all, AJU5, and a 12 year old helper. It went pretty good when AJU5 was happy. But, there were the cranky times that were hard...

Topic Two - Not Getting Baby to Bed When She is Tired...
The last two nights have been hard. Tuesday nights we have class at church until a little after 9. I try to get AJU5 to sleep on the floor with her blankets and pillow, but she isn't too keen on this. This week she slept for about 30 minutes and then was a total cranky-pants until we got home and her into bed. She then decided to only sleep for 3 hours at a time...
Last night we got home from church around 7:30 - which is when she is normally getting into bed. AJU1 was installing baseboards in her room (he didn't get home from work early enough to go to church). So, she didn't get to go to bed until a little after 8. She then woke up every two hours (10, 12, and 2). At 2:30, she was screaming again. This time AJU1 went and laid down on the floor with her. Eventually she fell asleep and he was able to put her into her bed. She did sleep from then until about 7 though luckily! We don't have any late nights planned until Sunday (get home around 7/7:30), so hopefully that will help her sleep better!

Topic Three - Houdini!
AJU5 managed to work her way out of the belt on her high chair last night. Our friends have an extra booster seat (the very portable kind that we actually use at church), so they are going to give it to us. Hopefully this will keep her in her seat when I am trying to cook dinner while she has a snack! I did not enjoy turning to see how she was doing and seeing her standing up!

Topic Four - AJU5's Room!
Her room is almost done - well, in terms of remodeling at least. As I mentioned earlier, AJU1 got the baseboards installed last night. I still need to go around and fill the holes and touch up a little paint on the wall. AJU1 also has to install a valence board over her closet doors to cover up the metal track. The board needs one more coat of poly (to be applied tonight), cut to length, and installed. We should be able to get it in by Friday morning at the latest (he has this Friday off).

Topic Five - Cold Weather
It was supposedly in the upper 40's when we left for the library story time today. So, I put AJU5 in a light weight jacket, hat, mittens, and put a blanket over her for the walk, Once we got to the corner, I realized it was warm enough for her not to have her mittens (she didn't like them anyways - she couldn't pick up anything!). On the way home, I just put her jacket on her. It is so hard to know what to put her in these days... I want to keep her warm but I don't want her to sweat as well. My body is weird with temperatures, so it isn't always a good gauge. Now I can't wait for the day when she can tell me she is cold or hot!

Topic Six - Warning: Some People May Find This Gross!
AJU5 loves raisins. The only problem is she doesn't seem to really digest them. They come out looking like raisins! Have you had this experience? I don't think it is a big issue, but it sure does look funny!

Paci Wars - Well, Sort of...

AJU5 is becoming more and more opinionated and smart. At night, when she gets up to nurse, I normally try to grab a pacifier out of her bed in the process. My goal is to put it in while I am carrying her to her bed. Well, she won't take it anymore! She keeps her lips closed and even moves her head away from it. The problem is that once I lay her down she screams without the paci. So, I have to put it in quickly. I think she is almost ready to give it up completely - but she isn't quite there yet. She only gets them in bed or when we are out of the house. There are a few of her non-favorite ones floating around, but she normally only plays with these and doesn't use them for more than a minute. The pacifier no longer works as a stop-gap if she is hungry - she does the same thing she does when I put her in bed. So, as soon as she stops screaming when I put her down at night and waking with a paci in her mouth (sometimes not the one she started with even), then it will go away completely.

In other news, last night started off weird. She went down 30 minutes to an hour before normal due to extreme crankiness and sleepiness. She woke up about 3 hours later, right as my husband and I were getting in bed. She started the very made screams, so I went and let her nurse. She then slept for 6 hours followed by 3 hours. Technically, she only woke me up once! I am not actually sure if she woke me up that time or if I woke up first because 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep - I haven't had that in over a year!

Finally, she is 10 months old today. It is hard to believe she is already 10 months old. This year is just flying by. There are only two more months before she turns a year old. I have started to think of what to get her for her birthday and what to put on the list for Christmas, but if you have any big winners of things for a one year old who should be walking by then, let me know (she walks with one hand now...)

Trying for 4 - Takes 1 and 2

So, Friday night we started to make AJU5 go 4 hours at night without us getting her. Friday didn't start out well, with her crying after only 3 hours. But, she didn't get too upset when we made her wait for an hour. She then made if 3.5 hours or so. The 30 minutes of crying off an on was hard, but she made it. Then she went for about two hours and wanted to be awake.

Last night she did a little better to begin with - waking just before 4 hours. Then she went for over 5 hours! Now, if she can keep that up... We did move my computer out of her room yesterday. It is kind of loud, so maybe that helped. Her fan makes some noise, but it is a better sound than my computer I think.

We are finally getting her a crib here soon. Our friends were gifted with a barely used one when they thought they would need two. But, they moved the 18 (almost 19) month old into a toddler bed instead of keeping her in a crib (they have an almost 1 month old now too). So, I just need to buy a crib mattress. Do you have any suggestions for a relatively inexpensive one? I don't want to spend over $75 on it, but I want it to last and be fairly comfortable (remember, she has been sleeping in a pack n' play all her life basically, so it doesn't have to be too soft).

Late Night...

We were out until almost 9 last night at Lowe's, where we spent too much money... Luckily we did get a lot of stuff - 5 doors, shelving for 3 closets, a weedwacker, cabinets, and a utility sink. AJU5 fell asleep in my arms around her bedtime, but she woke back up as our friend was loading the big things into his truck. Well, I think she woke up because I sat down on the tailgate to rest actually. Luckily, she was fairly happy at this point (although sleepy) and didn't cry until she was put in her car seat (and then when we got home). She slept like she has been the last few nights - at least 2.5 hours at a time. But, she was up early this morning and is now napping. Tonight we start the 4 hour sleeping...

Oh - Bug Story...
There was a big bug on my car when we got to it int he parking lot last night. It was crawling on the roof and jumping when I shut the doors. Somehow it managed to stay attached to the car on the ride home - which include about 4 miles on a 50 mph road. Unfortunately, he jumped off before I could get his picture... I did get a picture of AJU5 in her car seat though - because she was all smiles for the camera at that point (but cried as soon as i put it away).

I hear a voice in her room - so I better go get her out of bed (although she does sound content at this point)...

Chapped Lips...

We had story time again today at our library. Shortly after we got there I noticed AJU5 had a little bit of blood on her lip. After closer inspection, I realized that her top lip was chapped and cracked. Unfortunately I didn't have any chap stick on me. But, I took care of it when we got home. She now has her own chap stick that I plan on putting on daily.

She also had fun walking around the library pushing the stroller. There are times when I have to help her, but she walks just fine. She is now even willing to walk one-handed when she is in the mood. Unfortunately it is not so easy for me to walk so slow and bow-legged to let her walk. But, I will keep doing it because she enjoys it and gives her exercises!

Now back to grading - my least favorite part of teaching!

Tooth #3!

Tooth #3 has finally poked through! It is the top left one. Now, we are just waiting on the top right one. Then I might have a happy baby again!

Baby Time-Out and Other Odds and Ends

So, AJU5 is getting cranky more and more often. She shows signs of being tired, and nothing I do makes her happy - well, other than standing up and holding her which wears me out! So, I put her in her bed and shut the door for a few minutes. If I hear her playing (and not upset), I will go get her. Other times, she falls asleep. But, it seems to be working. I didn't realize time-outs would work this young!

Now, to catch up on her sleeping. Saturday night/Sunday morning she went for almost 6 hours! Then, Sunday night/Monday morning it was a struggle to get her to do 3 hours at a time. Last night was better. I let her nurse around 10, although it had only been 2.5 hours (but we were trying to go to sleep and she had been crying for a while). Then she did 2 four hour stretches. Tonight will be a challenge. We have class at church until 9:15ish, and most of the time she refuses to sleep there. So, we will see how she does.

She did do something for the first time yesterday though. We had gone to my work to see everyone. She had two rings in her hands (one in each) and we were walking around. She let go of my hand and walked with only one hand. She had refused to do this before - sitting down whenever I let go of her one hand.

Finally, AJU1 made a big mistake this morning - he took AJU5's lunch instead of his. Luckily the food items were almost identical. The problem is the quantities. So, he will be hungry when he gets home!

Trying for 3 hours - Takes 2 and 3

Thursday night wans't as good as Wednesday night - but still I am not complaining. AJU5 went to bed a little later than she had wanted (because we weren't home until 7:30), and I think that hurt her. She was up just before 10:30 and then again at 1:30. From there, she slept until 5:15 and got up around 7. All in all, it wasn't bad.

Last night she went down just after 7. We (AJU1 and I) heard her cry around 8:45, but we did nothing. She was awake again around 11. Then she cried again around 1, but since it hadn't been 3 hours, I let her go. She eventually went back asleep and slept until 3. Then she slept until 7 (when we got up).

The plan is to keep with the 3 hours for the week. Next Friday we will go for 4 hours each time. I know she can go 4 hours without nursing, so it is just a matter of training her to do so.

In other (silly AJU5) news, she decided to eat dinner last night with a plate from the door knob (the part that goes around the latch on the door) in her hand. It didn't slow her down any though. She ate all the chicken I had set aside for her plus a bunch of green beans. She was just shoveling it in last night - as soon as she got one piece in her mouth , her hand was picking up the next piece. It is amazing how much and how fast this little one can eat!

Trying for 3 hours - Take 1

5:50-7:00 Dinner and church. Dinner consists of fries, hamburger bun, hamburger meat, and raisins (great meal - I know...)
7:05 Nurse
7:15 Diaper Change and Pajama Time
7:20 In Bed
9:15 I head down stairs to stain some trim, etc. I think I hear her upstairs, but I don't do anything.
10:05 Head upstairs and check on her - she is starting to wake up
10:10 Nurse
10:15 Back in Bed and asleep!
11:00 hour Hear her a few times but don't get up
1:30 Check on her - she is waking again so I go and get her up and let her nurse
1:40 Back in bed!
4:30 I wake up - listen and hear nothing so fall back asleep
5:30 Same as 4:30
6:15 She is crying so I go in and let her nurse and lay down together
6:45 I move back to my bed because she is too squirmy to sleep with
7:15 I hear her up but I let her play
7:30 I get up

Wow - she did great! tonight we will try it again!

Wordless Wednesday - Take 2!

Wordless Wednesday - Our Current Sleeping Arrangment

This will one day be the office, but for now, it is where she sleeps and where I have slept about 90% of the time...

Stairs and other ramblings

So, I think I have scared AJU5. Last Wednesday, I let her try to go down the stairs alone. She had mastered the two stairs into the living room about two months ago. She did fine for the first 4-5 stairs. But, then she decided to try and sit up on the stair. Well, it wasn't wide enough. So she tumbled a little bit (I was in front of her, so it was only 2 steps and her head didn't hit anything). Now she won't even try to crawl down the steps. I keep trying to get her to do a few (because, well, eventually she does have to learn), but she just sits there and reaches out to me. This doesn't mean we don't have to be careful around the top of them though. She likes to crawl close to the edge, and the sitting down thing could definitely happen again. Luckily, she is a master at going up. The only issue we have had is wanting to stop and play with the railing. This morning was the first time she had noticed it actually. But, both times she had crawled up, she has tried to stand up at the railing. The first time she actually tried to hold on to the posts and step up. I had to move her to the other side and eventually up a few steps so she would forget about it. The second time, she didn't notice it until she was on the last of the curved steps. So, I just had to move her over and up one step to get her to go to the top.

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AJU5 doesn't have any obvious words yet, but she does do a lot of dadadada, da, dad, and even dad-dee. So, I have been coachging her to say more mamamama, etc. Well, this morning she did it once. Since then, it has been all dadadada... I keep telling her when she does this that Daddy is at work (or something similar) so that eventually she will learn what she is say. I think part of the reason she doesn't have words is because we don't use common nouns a lot. She doesn't take a bottle, and the sippy just comes out once a day. She eats what we eat - meat, veggie, grain/potato - so those words are kind of big. We do say book quite a bit (and she does love her books), but that would be about it other than paci (which she only gets in bed or out of the house), sleepy, dirty, and diaper. Luckily she is a talker none-the-less, so I am not worried one bit.

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Finally, Frema is closing on her house today. In honor of this, here is a picture of me the day we closed on this house - 4 weeks before AJU5 was born. It also shows how the stairs looked when we bought the place -with the wide railing and mauve carpet!

Bad Mommy???

The story:
So, AJU5 was in what I thought was a perfect position for a picture (a position she gets into regularly actually), so I ran downstairs to get the camera. Needless to say, she wasn't in the position anymore when I got back. So, we played and I worked. Then, she started to get cranky. I realized it was about lunch time, so I tired to coax her back into the position before we ate. Well, I ended up bumping her head. I looked at it right after, and I thought it was just a basic bump like she does to herself all of the time. I was also trying to finish grading an assignment, so I tried to get the picture one more time because the last time she was in the position she laughed and smiled. Well, all she did was cry (see picture 1 - holding on to the keyboard tray from under the desk). Then I got her out and saw the side of her head (see picture 2). In the process of getting her out (since she was so upset), she also bumped her face under her eye - something I noticed at the end of lunch... Now she is napping. Hopefully she will look better when she wakes up!

Side note: Husband's hurting of head was on the other side and was more of a scratch about 5 minutes after the incident - but both were caused by the keyboard tray.


And Finally, congratulations are in order for the Academomia family which welcomed Baby Wesley into the world on Sunday!