In a New Room

AJU5 moved into what will be the office last night. It took her a little longer to stop crying and sleep last night, but after that she seemed to be fine. I ended up spending most of the night on the floor with her (the room is empty except for her pack-n-play, egg crate thing to sleep on, pillows, and blankets). AJU1 will be out of town Wednesday and Thursday nights, so we will try some sleep training then. My first goal is to get her to sleep for 3 hours at a time. I will close the doors to both rooms, so I shouldn't hear her too much. The alarms will be set at three hour increments so I can get up and go into the office and wait for her to wake up (if she isn't already awake). Once she gets that down, we will increase to 4 hours. Hopefully we can get to 5-6 hours by Thanksgiving!

Part of me things that she is waking up to pee. She seems to be slightly wet when I get her out of bed. Unfortunately, she won't go back to sleep for more than an hour unless she nurses first (I have tried on two separate occasions to let her cry it out). So, it is a no-win situation. If I let her nurse, she is going to have to pee. If I don't let her, she cries for almost an hour, falls asleep for about an hour, and then cries again for an hour.

Any suggestions or thoughts?

Bad Mom?

Last night I was talking with a 6 year old as I watched her, her 2 year old brother, and AJU5 in the nursery at church. They are not regular attendees, but they had been to Sunday morning service aa few times. The 6 year old was talking to me and told me she hopes I will be a good mom unlike her mom. She told me how her mom yells at them and occasionally cusses around them. By the conversation, I don't think the mom is abusive; I just think she isn't a good mom. Actually, last night was the first time I had ever seen her mom. Normally their dad brings them (he was there too), and he seems to take a lot of the lead in the parenting. Their grandfather and uncle are members of the church and a really nice. The grandfather is always so happy around AJU5 and the other little ones of teh church. So, they are good roll models for the kids.

If you are the praying type, please pray for this family. There are actually three kids, with an older brother probably about 10-13 years old. I pray for a stong family - that one day the girl (6 yr old) will say she has a good mom.

Carpet Pics!

Carpet!

We now have carpet upstairs. It is so nice to not have to wear slippers up and down the stairs anymore. I was also able to install a gate at the end of the hall so AJU5 could play some without me stressing too much as to what she was getting into. Downstairs we still have two rooms (family and half bath) left to do though. So, it looks like another month at least of heavy work. Maybe we will get it done by the 1 year anniversary of buying the house???

I was going to add two pictures, but it won't let me :( Maybe I will just put them in a new post...

Product Review - Meal Time

Playtex My First Sippy Cups
These are okay. The spout isn't as soft as many others, so it can be a challenge to get a lot out of it for a little one. We are going to use these as a second transition - before we go to the standard sippy cups.

Munchkin Mighty Grip Training Cup
This is a better first sippy in my opinion. It has a silicon top, which is a lot like a bottle top. Even though AJU5 didn't use a bottle much, she is drinking out of this a lot better than the Playtex. I bought these at Babies-r-Us yesterday since they didn't have the Munchkin ones - they are very similar and have a cap to keep the spout, etc clean.

Kiddopotamus Timy Diner Placemat
This worked pretty well today when we went out to eat. AJU5 was able to pull it off - but only by lifting the edge. That meant that the food just got moved to the middle of the mat - not a problem at all! The tray in front worked well as well, although she is sort of short in the standard restaurant high chair...

A First...

I had my annual exam this morning. That means AJU5 was still in her pj's come lunch time because AJU1 didn't think about changing her. So, I let her eat in just her diaper since she got avocado. After lunch it was bath time. Everything was going normally. I was splashing in the tub (with my feet) and making her laugh uncontrollably. A few times I was afraid she might be crying because of the gasping she was doing (but they were just laughs like her mommy's). I heard AJU1 upstairs, so I went to see where he was (poke my head out the door). When I came back, I saw it...

IT...

Her first pooping in the bathtub...

Luckily it was easy to clean and she was about done with playing anyways. AJU1 came and got her out of the tub while I washed it out. I still need to disinfect the toys though...

In other news, I am down to 150 lbs. My goal is 140, although I haven't weighed that in YEARS. Hopefully I will get there before we are ready to try for number 2 though.

Potpourri...

AJU5 did something for the first time today - she pulled herself up on her walker! It was even on tile - which surprised me even more. She normally just plays with all of the toys on it unless I stand her up and then cheer her on to walk. Last night I moved it to the kitchen/dining room so she had more length to cruise on. So this morning while I was on the couch reading and hoping my stomach would settle (which it now has - stupid PMS I think...), she stood up and started to cruise on her own. I did have to help her when she got stuck on the highchair and then at the end of the road, but she enjoyed and seemed very happy.

Last night she did get steak. She seemed to like it. She ate as much of that as she did the chicken before. She also got some broccoli, waffle fry, and of course Cheerios to top her off. I was surprised to see how many Cheerios she had eaten after everything else. It is nice that she can eat almost everything we do though!

Also, I started a second blog. Read the first post to see what it is about (and why I created a second blog).

Now to stop procrastinating and to get my reading done for my class tonight.

9 Months...

AJU5 turned 9 months old yesterday. She didn't get steak because I guess i didn't make it clear to AJU1 that I wanted to go out to eat (he thought I was going to cook steak...). But, she will get it tonight when I do cook it (we had left over pizza yesterday).

It is hard to believe that she has been out of me as long as she was in me. The days a flying by faster than I imagined. The nights aren't though. She woke up at least 7 times between 8:30 and 3:00 last night. Then she insisted on sleeping ON me the rest of the evening. She won't take a snuggly to sleep with. Her comfort item(s) are her pacifiers. I put her down with at least two - one in her mouth and one in her hand. If I can find more, she gets one in each hand. The others I put to the side so I can find them easily when she wakes up. Tomorrow night I am going to let her cry a bit more I think. AJU1 will be out of town with work, so I don't have to worry about him not getting enough sleep.

She is asleep now, so I should get some work done I guess...

Food 0 Lots of New Adventures!

So, AJU5 is allowed to eat most things these days. The doctor even told us to feed her table food as long as it wasn't one of the allergy risks. So, yesterday she had chicken for the first time. She seems to at least not mind it. It is sometimes hard for her to swallow because I have to leave the pieces bg enough so she can pick them up. This results in pieces of sucked-on chicken popping out of her mouth occasionally. She has also become a big fan of Cheerios. She will eat them anytime, anywhere. I think they are her favorite these days. My mom bought a container of them from Target that is about the size of a water bottle and is easy to refill. I have refilled it twice now in two weeks!

Another thing I have learned is she likes to have what she (thinks) we are having. If I eat it, she will at least try it. So, giving her what we are having is really helping her eat more. We also think her top teeth might be popping through (she won't let me check) - so this might be helping the appetite as well. Tonight she had a chuck of chicken (about 1/2 in by 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch), two slices of avocado, some pizza crust, and about 20 Cheerios. Maybe she will start sleeping better!

Tomorrow - Steak (if we go out to lunch...)

Storytime!

Today we went to storytime at our library. They have one class for 0-35 months and another for 3-5 year olds. There is no storytime during the summer, so last week was actually the first possible week we could go (during the spring we were at work during storytime). But, she was sick then, so that meant today was the first time we went. It was supposed to be 30 minutes, but the "teacher" was done in 15 minutes. I think she is new at it, so I am not worried. The next 20 minutes were left for us to talk and the kids to play. AJU5 did great with the other kids. She did try to take their toys occassionally, but I could redirect her quickly. When others tried to take hers, she would hold on if she was really into the toy. Otherwise she would just give it up and get another one.

It is all moms and grandmas (or at least it was today), and the kids range from 7 months to about 2 1/2. The older ones tend to have a younger sibling there or on the way. Although I didn't talk to the mommies too much, it was nice to be around other moms with young kids. They all seemed really nice. Some obviously knew each other from the spring (or longer), but that is fine. The two grandmas and I were all first-timers. Hopefully next week goes just as well!

Wordless Wednesday - Playing with Cousin G

9 Month Doctor's Appointment (5 days early)

So today AJU5 had her doctor's appointment. We actually saw a different doctor in the practice than we normally see, and I liked her better. I am pretty sure we will see this doctor again in December. She made sure to ask what questions I had (not if I had questions - but what questions I had) and was more than willing to give her advice without being pushy. She also explained things a lot more than the other doctor did, which I really liked. She didn't have any shots today - just a prick for her iron check (which she scored a 12.5 on!).

Here are her stats:
16 lbs 8.75 oz
27 1/2 inches long
46 cm head circumference

She is falling down the growth chart, but the doctor isn't worried. She showed me the chart and explained that genetics don't show up until 6-9 months on the chart. Since AJU5's cousins are all small, it made sense to me before she even showed me the chart. Her weight has gone from 82nd percentile at birth to 65th at 2 months, 51st at 4 months and 49th a six months to 14th now. Her height has gone from 77th to 82nd to 85th to 71st and now to 51st. Her head has always been around 90th percentile! The big advantage of not having a large baby - she still fits in the infant carrier seat (Graco SnugRide). There is a very good chance she won't have to go to a convertible seat after all!

We also talked about her sleeping. She likes to wake up every few hours to nurse - and it isn't just to nurse for a minute or two. She goes for 10 minutes some times (which is a full feeding for her). The plan now is to keep getting her to go down on her own at night. When we move her to her own room in a few weeks, we will try the Ferber method/crying it out. But, with her in our room right now, it really isn't an option (no other room has a door installed, so we can't move her yet). Luckily last night was a little better than the past few!

Labor Day Weekend Pics

First boat ride (in my arms with my dad and sister J)-
MR, JR, and JM are about to all be pulled behind the boat

First Swing Time

Tricycle Time (and supporting one of her favorite college teams)

Eating Dinner with the Cousins (minus 2)
From L to R: GR (19m), AJU5 (8.5m), MR (6.5 yr), Jr (3.5 yr), and JM (8.5 yr)

Feeling Better

AJU5 is finally feeling better, but now her teeth are really bothering her. She is chewing on her pacifiers, etc as much as possible. Luckily, she is starting to eat more again. Tonight she actually ate 2.5 baby carrots, some peach, and some pizza crust. I had only been able to get her to eat Cheerios, bread, and rice all week (I did sneak in some carrots witht he rice though).

On top of that, the past two days we have had 1-2 hour naps together in the recliner. Hopefully she will sleep better at night too - but I am not betting on that one!

Hopefully tomorrow I can get a few pictures from last weekend up!

Sick...

AJU5 got sick. I am guessing it is her 19 month old cousin who is to blame. She had a 101.7 fever this morning, but is now down to 99.1 with some Tylonel. The pictures is from Monday (with my sister K and her son J - who was playing asleep). AJU5 has wanted to be held almost 24-7 since the middle of the night on Sunday/Monday. This afternoon she has been a little more independent, but she still isn't eating much (luckily she is nursing regularly, so I am not worried there). Hopefully she will be back to normal her soon and I can post some more pictures from the weekend!

Getting ready...

Tomorrow AJU5 and I head to my parents - without my husband who is still on his work trip (and hence won't get to go with us). We will be flying Southwest and have to change planes once (both flights are short - 1 hr 40 minutes and then a 50 minutes flight - so hopefully she will do well. We flew Southwest to my inlaws in May, so she does have experience.

One advantage of flying Southwest - she can have her own seat as long as the flights aren't full. I got up early this morning and checked in, so we are A21 on both flights. That means we can get good seats!

What I am not looking forward to is managing all of our stuff! We will have one bag checked, her umbrella stroller, he car seat, and the diaper bag. If not everything fits in the diaper bag, we might end up with another bag of food as well. Luckily I can loop the car seat on to the stroller if she is in it...

Well, I better go start packing my stuff. I already packed 2/3 of her stuff...

Wordless Wednesday - Dishwasher

WW

Independent, but

AJU5 has decided that spoons are for little babies and is demanding to feed herself! Unfortunately, that means all of the food I made a few weeks ago is going uneaten. Luckily, I still had baby carrots in the fridge and had just bought grapes when this happened. We tried green beans last night, but there weren't as big of a hit. I think it is mainly a texture issue - stringy, etc. So, today we are heading to the store to try and find more options. I bought this on Saturday to try, but she don't like it. She sucked on it some the first time, but she wouldn't even try to eat it this morning. Oh well...

Now for the but...
If I leave her in a room, she cries and tries to crawl after me. I think she has officially hit the separation anxiety stage. She will explore some on her own, but she always comes back to find me, especially when we aren't home (at home, she knows where to find me most of the time so she is more adventurous).

Now if only I could get her to sleep for more than 3 hours at night without eating...

Pictures from Snow White/Princess Party on Saturday:

(eating carrots and grapes - E trying to give her a cheeto too)

(With the birthday girl and Snow White)

Big Bath!

Now that AJU5's bathroom is done, she is using the bath tub in there. She had figured out houw to climb in and out of her little tub (while empty) and was splashing out of the tub too much to continue to use it. The first attempt was last Sunday, when these three pictures were taken. She was happy until the end when she went to grab a toy and did a face plant. It probably didn't help that she was tired (look at those sleepy eyes in the last picture!). AJU1 commented that she might be too little, but I was going to give it another try. Tuesday's bath (and Friday's) contained no cries! She likes it as long as I am in the tub. I think it is a security issue for her still after the face plant.

The towel a friend made for her. It was her first time using it! It swallows her, but it keeps her warmer and me drier. So, I plan on using it most of the time!

Grapes and Park!

Sorry I have been deliquent in posting. AJU5 is about to cut her two top teeth, so my alone computer time is very limited. Also, AJU1 left this morning for a work trip, so I have been spending a lot of time with him as well.

We tried grapes this week - and she loves them! She now is starting to refuse to be fed with a spoon. So, I am having to give her lots of grapes and avocado. The second picture is what she did with the avocado one day...

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the park yesterday. We only spent 15 minutes there, but she had fun on the steps. It was too hot for the slides, so we will have to go back earlier in the day for that. It was our first time to play on the playground. No one else was there (school is back in session here already), so it was nice.

Today we have a birthday party to go to. Hopefully, I will get a good picture of AJU5 with Snow White!