8 Month Sleep Regression

On the downside, Isabella can't seem to stay away from a good sleep regression.  On the upside, she at least waits until I'm on breaks from school for the really bad ones and let me tell you this 8 month one has been a doozy!

It started the night after my final assignment for the semester was submitted.  She woke up crying.  I let her cry for awhile but it wasn't stopping so I went in.  Thus begins our journey through nighttime wakeups, falling asleep if held and only staying asleep if held (her crib is clearly filled with burning lava that only she can see and therefore cannot enter safely), early wakeups (I am ok with wakeups after 5, so that tells you how ridiculously early these early wakeups are), and the occasional napping revolt.

It appears we have a hybrid leap, compounded by some good old -fashioned separation anxiety.  Since she was experiencing separation anxiety during the day, I didn't want to make things worse by doing CIO at night.  This led to some crappy and uncomfortable nights for me either sleeping in the glider or (once I got smarter) sleeping with her in the bed in the office (so J.T. could sleep for work the next day).  She does not believe in personal space so when we sleep in the bed it is with me holding her in the crook of my arm...tots comfortable;).

The separation anxiety seems to be easing up some, so we may revert back to CIO in the coming days.  All I know is that I resume classes on the 8th so we need to have this thing figured out.  Until then I remain jacked up on caffeine, have resumed my 7-8pm bedtime, and on occasion walk though life in a fog. 

Mothers who work outside of the home, you are my heroes.  I can function taking care of tiny people in my home with this amount of sleep, I could not function with the professional world effectively on this level of sleep.  God bless you!

Operation Organization

My attempt at doing a better job of "keeping house" has gone less than swimmingly.  I think one reason for this is the amount of STUFF we have around this place.  Usually each summer I do a major deep cleaning and purging session.  This summer it did NOT happen.  In fact, thinking back to last summer with all we had going on on the IVF front I think I only half a$$ed it last year too.  That means that in addition to a whole new person and a new home "business" and all of the stuff that comes with it, we also had two years of clutter that had been just kinda tidied and shuffled around to various nooks and corners of the house.

There are several what I will call bottlenecks which then slow down the whole getting the house straightened up process.  There are also some what FlyLady would call "hot spots".  The two biggest offenders on these fronts are the desk we moved from the office into the bedroom when we made the nursery and the garage.

Took care of the desk by once and for all cleaning it up and then getting rid of it.  I never worked at it, rather it was a place for me to pile stuff.  If it's not there I can't pile stuff on it!  Posted it and the chair on my neighborhood Facebook page and they both disappeared quickly.

Reinforcements had to be called in for the garage and I had talked to my dad about helping me.  He ended up doing the whole thing almost all by himself.  It looks awesome.  I wish I had taken a before picture because the after is just incredible.  Before we could pull both our cars in the garage AND could get in and out of them, but that was about it.  Now you can move around the whole garage and it feels so much better!

I also took a load to Goodwill and the recycling center and have another load ready to go sitting on the sunporch.

I also have uncovered a love for things that fold up and can be put away and things that serve more than one purpose.  Some of my favorites include:

Dog crate for travel that can be folded flat.

Laundry baskets that can be folded flat and stored under our armoire.

An ottoman that stores toys AND can be folded flat if needed!

A Very Merry Christmas

 

                                  

Panic Mode

This is like my 8th year of college and for the first time was presented the unique opportunity of not holding a steady job (or two!) outside of my home.  For the first time ever I can focus on my schoolwork without other distractions...ha, ha, yeah right!  By about October though I did manage to find a groove where I could read and write while the babies played and got used to being interrupted whenevs and learned to jump back in when I could. 

Often times things looked like this:

Here I was watching a stats tutorial while the kids played.  

Yesterday, however, was a different story.  

Yesterday, my classmate dropped her daughter off and commented that she was so glad that our Globalization class was over and that her paper was finished.  I told her I envied her because I was going to get mine in under the wire at midnight tonight.  It was then that she informed me it was due at noon, not midnight.  Dam* you am/pm!!!!  

It was currently 9am and I only had 8 pages of this 15 page (minimum) monstrosity in ROUGH draft form.  I also had 4 kids who would need naps, diaper changes, and food during these next 3 hours.  Cue a panic I hadn't felt this semester and thank god wouldn't feel again since this was my final assignment.

The kids, unfortunately channeled my stress and the "big" kids squabbled over toys for literally the first time ever and the babies suddenly turned into needy little critters.  I didn't hit the noon deadline, but somehow managed to get the whole thing done and submitted by 2.  

I texted JT and he asked "Does this prof accept late work?".  Heck if I knew so I went back and re-read the syllabus and surely he very clearly stated he does not:(.

Fortunately, this man is my advisor and I have been a solid student all semester so when I sent an apology email requesting an exception it was accepted.  Phew!    

Thank goodness it is winer break!

8 Months

Standing Proud

This is a picture I took of Isabella before I turned around to wash bottles at the sink:

This is the picture I got to take when I turned back around:

We have been practicing having her stand since she was 3/4 months old and over the last few weeks began putting her up to things like the couch and the activity table to practice standing.  This is the first time she did it all by herself.  #dontblink

Meeting Santa

I had originally said that I wasn't in favor of taking Isabella to see Santa this year.  This was primarily because she has no clue as to what is going on and also because there was a 50/50 chance the experience would make her cry for no good reason.  However, I changed my mind when my mother-in-law and J.T.s aunt were coming in for the weekend and we needed to find something to entertain them with.  As a side note, his other aunt and cousin also came along which my MIL didn't mention in advance, but they weren't staying with us so I guess it doesn't matter.

As luck would have it, my MIL brought along a super cute Christmas outfit that appropriately enough said "Santa Baby".  So we changed her into her outfit and headed out.  "Fortunately" it was super cold and the santa we were going to see was at an outside shopping center (though Santa himself was inside a cute little "house").   The line was super short and very quick.

Isabella didn't smile, but fortunately she didn't cry either.

Afterwards we went out for dinner.  With one exception her whole life, Isabella has done a good job in restaurants.  She likes the people and as long as I am prepared with a steady stream of toys to chuck at her and some food if she's hungry, she is all set.

While Isabella is not much of a smiler in pictures these days (she is too busy with the things she wants to do I guess), she has become a fan of the selfie.  She is such a little ham!

  

There They Are!

Isabella started drooling and chewing on everything in sight at 3 months.  We assumed she would start teething early...we were wrong.  She was pretty fussy off and on for a couple of days and it seemed like she was brewing a second cold.  I randomly put my finger in her mouth and could feel two teeth starting to skim the surface of her lower gums.  It took a few weeks for them to come in fully and the little stinker won't let me get a good shot, but they are definitely there. 

Once they popped through the fussiness cleared.  Though now that we have officially started teething it has dawned on me all of the very many things that people blame on teething.  Fussiness, fevers, runny noses, biting, the list goes on.  If only babies could talk and tell us what is really going on...

"6 month" appointment

Yeah, so Isabella is about 7.5 months old and we just did her 6 month appointment today.  Between child care and the pediatrician's schedule this is the earliest we could come up with.  Technically we were scheduled for one last week but the doctor went out of town so here we are.

Our giant baby continues to hover around 90th% for height and is now around 80th% for weight.  Her giant head seems to be averaging out and is now around 60th%.  She handled the first shot like a champ, but shot number two burns according to the nurse and Isabella could totally tell:(.  I declined the flu shot (I'm not getting one either).  I am in total support of vaccines that prevent diseases which may lead to substantial harm or death.  I am less inclined for the vaccines that alleviate discomfort.  I really have only gotten flu shots in the past couple years because of J.T.s immune system being weak due to his Chron's medications and my working with an extremely germ infested school population. Skipping the flu shot might be a mistake, but only time will tell.

The only 6 month benchmark Isabella is missing is the use of consonants.  She is a total chatter monkey, but little girl still loves her some pterodactyl screams and uses vowels for days.  We keep trying. Though I think someday she is going to think that "mamadadabyebye" is some crazy word for which she needs to learn the meaning. 

We got the green light to attempt to wean off of the Nexium.   Which is good on two fronts.  First her digestive system is hopefully maturing and her reflux is not an extended issue.  Second, that stuff comes with a $75 copay for a 30 day supply.  It was worth its weight in gold, but it would be nice to have that money back if possible.

We left with a scheduled 9 month appointment while she is still 9 months old...back on track!

So Much to be Thankful For

And Just Like That...

we have a little girl who can sit up by herself!

For the last couple of weeks she could sit up with the Boppy:

And then today..."Look ma, no hands!"

It is amazing how quickly these milestones come and it is equally amazing watching them master these skills I used to totally take for granted with older kids:).

Teacher Brain

Sometimes I miss using my teacher brain.  As a principal when I go this hankering I would pull small groups or offer to write lesson plans for grade levels.  In this new setting I turn to Pinterest and we try different projects/ideas for sensory, fine and gross motor they have on there.  Here are today's highlights:

Fine Motor:  Ring "Toss"

Sensory:  Playing with grass

Sensory:  "Painting" in a bag

Fine Motor:  Feed the Turkey

Fine Motor:  Shape Eater

Perfect Record Shattered

Besides the reflux and the colic, Isabella has been a super healthy baby.  She has now succumbed to her first cold, followed up by her first (double) ear infection.  Poor baby:(.

The runny nose started a week ago, followed up by congestion.  We took our first go at the Nose Frida, which our little weirdo actually seems to like (she smiles and laughs so I guess it works!).  We also got a humidifier for her room.  It stinks that these things are basically the only things we can do for babies this age.  Fortunately, she never ran a fever and she remained in pretty good spirits and ate well (though she wanted nothing to do with solids).  She rested well overall though nighttime wake ups cropped back up a few times.

A week later the cold symptoms were still lingering and last night she couldn't be calmed even when held.   This led me to call the doctor this morning.  When we took her in at the end of the day, poor baby had a double ear infection!

The antibiotic should clear things up quickly though for some reason she does not love the bubble gum goodness the way I did back in the day.  The only way she will take it for now is mixed with formula-gag!  But the good news is we are on the road to recovery.

7 Months

This is what 7 months looks like!

Hey, what's this sign doing here?

Cool, everyone look at my sign!

Land of Crickets Adoption Update

Our renewed contract expires at the beginning of December, so the time has come to request another extension.  There was a brief glimmer of hope about a month ago when our month status update informed us that we needed to send more profiles, but that has been it.  Below is our written request:

"Good afternoon~

As per our last communication regarding our contract, it is set to expire on December 2.  Despite following all recommendations set forth by Land of Crickets (LOC) we have not been contacted in any way as related to a potential match in the 2 years and 5 months our profile has been live with LOC.

When we signed on with LOC we were told as long as we followed LOCs recommendations our contract would be extended until a match that fit within our criteria was made.  Then when God blessed us with a pregnancy after 6 long years of infertility (including an desolate 2 year adoption wait with LOC) a section of the contract was cited that spoke to a change in our family structure that was going to lead to termination of our contract as it suggests that such a change may result in less opportunity for match.

However, within 2 months of completion of our revised profile reflecting our new family dynamic our hearts skipped a beat because for the first time in years the dreaded words "Adequate Supply of Profiles" were finally replaced with "Additional profiles needed".  Despite the concern about our family being less desirable to expectant mothers it would appear that this is not the case and as such once again are making a request for extension.

We are thankful for the 6 month extension we were provided, as it helped to show us that there is still hope for our little family.   As a result we once again request a 6 month renewal of our contract.

One of the reasons we selected a Christian based organization is that we wanted to be viewed as a family and not merely a financial asset on a spreadsheet.  Financially, we are sure it makes sense to remove our family to allow for a new infusion of cash a new family would provide.  However, we selected your organization because, as Christians, we believed that, as long as we did what was asked of us, you would do what you said. 

Please continue to view us as a family--a family waiting to be complete through the gift of adoption."

Our request was immediately approved.  So our adoption wait continues...

Temporary Solution and Language Barrier

A classmate of mine asked me about providing childcare for her newly minted 2 year daughter.  The classmate was diagnosed with breast cancer last winter and was about to start radiation.  Her mother had been staying with them, but had to go to Norway as my classmate's identical twin sister was newly diagnosed as well and needed help with her two small children.  I couldn't say no, so for the next 5 weeks we have added G to our little group for half the day.

My classmate is originally from Poland and speaks only Polish to her daughter at home (as did her mother).  My classmate's husband speaks in Spanish to their daughter at home.  Added to this, G had only ever been in the care of her parents or grandmother, and her mom said she is very shy.  Sooo this was going to prove to be interesting.

I had read somewhere that for kiddos with separation issues it was better for them to feel like they were the ones leaving versus the ones being left.  To that end, I met G and her mom in the driveway.  She let me pick her up and bring her inside, but she totally looked shellshocked.  She sat near the entrance to the playroom for about an hour just watching the other kids play.  She started moving toward them slowly but surely and as time passed became more comfortable.

Needless to say my Polish is non-existent so I had to rely on my ancient high school/college Spanish to communicate with G.  We also watched her favorite Spanish speaking cartoons (Leo and Tom) which helped me recall some Spanish.  The first couple of days were tough, but with the help of Google translator I began to develop a steady stream of words to communicate with her.  For words I wasn't going to use often I didn't bother to look them up and just said them in English.  I also spoke mostly in English to the other kids.  As a result over time G's English improved.  It also became clear that this was one smart little girl as she made connections and solved puzzles that I thought were pretty advanced for someone who just turned 2.   She will begin traditional day care in January and I think she will flourish.

I also came to realize that the changes of me being fluent in multiple languages is slim.  I had to translate in my head by thinking of the English word and then converting it Spanish.  Also there were times that I spoke to my English speaking kiddos in Spanish without realizing it until they looked at me like a had two heads.  Good thing living abroad in a non-English speaking country is not on my bucket list.  I suspect it would go poorly...

The Absent Minded Wannabe Professor

I have a lot going on and even under the best circumstances I tend to do thinks quickly, multi-task and my mind is often on something other than the task at hand.  That being said my, what I guess can best be described as absentmindedness, is getting out of control.

Saturday morning we were going to take a family photo so I went to get my lipstick out of my wallet.  Wait a minute...where is my wallet?  After scouring everywhere and recruiting a search party without success it became evident that it was not with me.  In thinking back the last time I knew I had it was when we stopped at a gas station where I went into the bathroom to change Isabella.  It took all three of us (my brother who rode with us, not Isabella:) to piece together the name/location of the gas station where we stopped.  However, low and behold, when I called they in fact had it!  Phew!  During the search I froze my credit cards, but had a terrible pit in my stomach because all of the cash my child care family's had paid that week was in there--ugh.

To my surprise all of the cash was present when we stopped to pickup my wallet on the way home.  There are honest strangers among us!  However, one of my credit cards and my debit card was missing.  As the gas station employee politely pointed out, it would be weird for someone to take cards but leave the cash.  He was right, but where in the world were those cards?!?

God bless the ability to track card use from your phone.  The last place I used my debit card was at the parking garage at school, so when we got home and unpacked the card I searched the card and, wouldn't you know, it had somehow gotten stuck under the car mat.  I had last used the credit card almost a WEEK before at a gas station down the street.  I didn't have much faith that it would still be there, but once again the honesty of strangers persevered as when I went into inquire they had it!

Morals of the story?

Moral #1--There are good people out there.

Moral #2--I have GOT to get my s*!$ together!!!

Our First Thanksgiving

It's a bit early I know.  About 10 years ago my moms family began celebrating thanksgiving the weekend before the big days in the mountains in Maryland.  Each year with different obligations of different family members it keeps getting pushed earlier and earlier and this year it wound up on the first weekend of November.

It was a nice visit with everyone but we actually ended up missing Thanksgiving dinner Saturday.  Well not missing it exactly but we had to eat before everyone else so that Isabella could go back and go to bed.   Dinner time had to fall somewhere between Isabella's early bedtime and the end of my cousin's son's hockey tournament an hour away.  We made it work:).

Observation...With the exception of my older brother my siblings and cousins are like stair steps when it comes to age so it's funny how our kids all ended up in different age groups.  We have the high school set, the middle school set, the elementary set and then Isabella representing the preschool crowd.  There is no intermingling of cousins within age groups, only siblings.  If and when my younger brother ever has kids I suspect we will have yet another age group.  I wonder if that is becoming more common with people waiting until later to have children and then others having children at more "traditional ages".

Not sure what actual Thanksgiving will look like.  I will invite my brother and my inlaws, but don't know for sure what their plans are.  So far we usually end up with at least one of them in attendance.

Halloween

J.T. picked her costume and made her props.  I just added the hair bow.  I think he did a great job. 

It was fun going trick or treating with friends from the neighborhood.  I thought Isabella would get a kick out of all the kids in costume but she really just treated it like a normal, everyday walk through the neighborhood:).

Best.Birthday.Gift.Ever.

Isabella slept trough the night!!!!  6:45pm-4:45am.  Yeah, we gotta work on that 4:45, but the important part is that I got 8 solid hours of sleep.

39 is going to be a good year...I can feel it:).

A New Addition

When I cut H loose from childcare in August it left me with a bit of a dilemma.  There was a particular figure I had worked out to allow our family budget to work.  Without a full time kiddo to take his place I run short.  Unfortunately now that school is in full swing and after experimenting with two full timers (plus the part timers) I didn't know if adding another full time kid was such a great idea.

I looked into other means of making money, but they all led to dead ends.

As I was working on my take home stats midterm an answer seemed to appear.  Through the neighbor next door app I got connected with a neighbor who was looking for care for their 16 month old 2-3 days a week.

So not a baby and not full time-yay!  So far she naps, is a good listener and seems content to play in our playroom or on the sunporch.   Seems like a keeper to me:).

Still running a bit short in the budget department.  Time to look for things to slash I guess-no fun:(.

6 months

Happy Half Birthday, Sweet Girl!  The many faces of Isabella at 6 months:).

6 month Sleep Regression

So my daughter seems to think participation in all sleep regressions is a requirement. We are currently experiencing what seems to be the 6 month sleep regression. We sleep trained at the 4 month regression and it worked within a week or so. Those same strategies are no longer effective.

She has continued to need to eat at least once-twice a night since then but had been eating and going
back to sleep without any fuss. The overnight feeding is done in the dark with no talking and have tried both no diaper and diaper changes (prior to this spell we had no diaper change overnight). We use white noise, a sleep sack, and she sleeps in a crib in her own room.

She will now only stay asleep after the overnight feeding if held and today has begun revolting against her naps. Co-sleeping is not an option for us though I did try sleeping on the floor of her room last night. She would still only go to sleep if I was holding her on the floor.  Punk!

Send survival tips and wine!

On the Road Again

We made another trek to PA this weekend.  A college roommate is turning 40 at the end of the month and her sisters were throwing her a party.  It was an all day event scouring local vineyards and capped
off with dinner.  It was a blast visiting the with old friends and meeting some new people who are special to her.

My brother traveled with us again since JT had to stay behind due to work.  The good traveler streak continued.  Though this time we traveled up at night.  Well we left at around 5, drove for a bit, ate, changed her into her pajamas and she fell asleep around her normal bedtime.  She did a great job in the car; however, once we got to my parents it was a different story.  The whole production of getting of the car and going into the house along with being plopped into a pack n' play in a strange room did not make for a smooth transition.  After about an hour of trying to get her to sleep around 2 am, she and I ended up sleeping the rest of the night in the recliner downstairs.  Not the most comfortable thing but it at least allowed us to get some sleep.

We actually ended up in the recliner the next night as well.  Google tells me there is a 6 month sleep regression.  I am REALLY hoping it is the traveling that has her jacked up and NOT another regression. 

The birthday bash was a day long event, so it was the longest I had been away from Isabella.  I may have gotten a bit teary upon leaving but only checked in with my family once.  They were visiting a brewery and were hanging out on its patio so all was well;).  My mom put her to sleep without much trouble and the little stinker slept without trouble until 4am.  My mom was quite proud of herself!

The trip back was uneventful though we have learned that the car has to stay in motion when Isabella is asleep or she may wake up.  We hit a backup on the highway so took an alternate route to keep her asleep.  It was funny watching my brother try to keep the car in constant motion with red lights. 

Our Tiny Extrovert

In addition to being our vegetable lover, it also appears Isabella is going to be the family extrovert.  JT solidly lives in camp introvert.  I hover in the middle and with age am swinging more toward team introvert.  But not Isabella.  No sir she LOVES people.  She loves when we go out to the store or restaurant and watch people.  She loves playing with mommy and daddy.  She especially loves when she comes down from a nap and there are kids in the living room.  She gets the biggest grin on her face.  She especially likes it when I put her in a jumper or something facing A.  They will "talk" to each other.  It is absolutely adorable!  One time though she laid a pterodactyl scream on him...he cried but recovered quickly:).

Baby Food

We introduced oatmeal way back in mid-August.  She liked it but had a hard time keeping it in her mouth!  With everything else going on frankly I did not have the time to mess with the mess so it's only been within the last week or so we've given it another shot.  While still messy, she has a much better idea as to how to keep a large portion of the food in her mouth so we began the foray into vegetables.  Avocado seemed like a bland enough stating point.  Fortunately a friend had given me an extra emulsifier she had because when I took out our food processor I realized it had bit it.  The emulsifier was awesome!  In less than 30 minutes I had made avocados, sweet potatoes and green beans.  I also used one of those steamable bags of frozen green beans so it made things
way easier.  She likes everything so far.  Maybe she will be our little vegetable lover:).

Formula Change

Now that we are "on the other side" of the whole colic/reflux nightmare we are rethinking the use of the soy formula.  It was not a bad idea when we weren't sure what was going in but research shows a correlation between more soy in the diet and increased estrogen.  Since we didn't have a clear cut dairy allergy we thought we should try to reintroduce dairy before an allergy develops through lack of exposure.  We got the green light from the doctor who didn't really provide much guidance as to how to make the change so I turned to the internet for assistance.  What bubbled to the surface was transitioning to a sensitive formula and doing a mixture of the soy plus the new formula gradually shifting the ration until it was completely new formula.  I jumped the fun a bit at first doing 1/4 new on day one and then moving to 1/2 new on day 2.  That did not go well.  So slowed things down and will make the ratio switch once a week.  This has worked much better and has gone well so far.

5 Months

Working at Full Steam

I have not actively sought a replacement for H's child care slot (honestly I don't know if I WANT another full time kiddo), but my part timers have now started.  There is B who is 3.  His dad is a teacher and mom is a nurse who works part time overnight at the local children's hospital.  He also attends preschool, so he is only here 1-3 days a week for either 90 minutes (if he has school) or about 4 hours (if he doesn't).  He's a sweet kiddo and likes hanging out with the babies.

There is also a pair of siblings K & K who are 3 months and 3 years.  They only come on Fridays and K3 will only come a few times a month if at all since dad is a firefighter and can rest while keeping an eye on her at home when he is off.  Another pair of sweeties.

Classes are in full swing too.  So far I am juggling everything pretty well.  It helps that Isabella is only waking up once or twice just long enough to eat so I am getting a decent amount of rest.  We shall see how this continues as the semester becomes more intense.  I think I envisioned more simultaneous naps than we are actually getting.  I swear there are days when Isabella and AJ must have a secret meeting and work out a schedule to ensure at least one of them is awake during the whole day-silly babies!

Saturday School

Classes started this past week.  I am taking four which is more than the suggested three recommended for full time students, but I don't really have a choice.  There are two core classes that are only offered in the spring PLUS they only offer the comprehensive exam (comps) required to begin your dissertation in the spring.  These two pieces mean that following their recommendation the fastest you can finish the program is 4 years BUT there is a big lag in the middle, so I'm going at an accelerated rate so we will see how that goes.


In addition to one online class and two traditional classes that meet on Monday and Wednesday evenings, I am also taking a Saturday class that meets once a month for 8 hours.  I did this last fall too and it was too much with working outside of the home too...it was like a 6 day work week.  Hoping this fall is not quite as much.  Unfortunately it is with a professor that I don't love, but whatcha gonna do?

Actually this prof earned some brownie points with all of us because after going over the syllabus, she let us leave!  This is a woman who routinely kept us until 4:00 even when she told us she would let us leave early last fall.  J.T. was at home with Isabella so I took a little advantage of this newly found "free time" to work outside on my assignments and treat myself to lunch.  I still got home early, but just not quite as early as I could have:).  It allowed for some daddy-daughter bonding time!

I did miss Isabella though and looked at her pics and videos a couple time for study breaks.  God bless technology, what did we ever do without it!

On a Roll

Isabella has been turning onto her side for a while now so rolling was bound to happen any day and....I missed it!  She was on her back on the activity mat, I left the room and when I came back she was on her tummy.  While I'm excited for this little trick it has caused some anxiety in the-you guessed it-sleep department. 

Turns out our girl is a tummy sleeper and when we lay her on her back in her crib she rolls on to her tummy, curls her hands and legs under her (butt in the air) and passes out.  This wouldn't be a problem EXCEPT she spent the first few days sleeping with her face IN the mattress (insert smack my head emoticon). 

After a few sleepless nights watching her in the monitor.  Discussions and google searches with moms who said their kid did it and survived AND a near miss of spending $200 on a breathable baby mattress.  We are out of the woods and she now puts her head sideways to sleep.  Phew!

She has slowly become a little rolling machine. This baby is on the move! In both pictures I had set her on her back on the activity mat head at top, feet toward the aqua piano on the bottom. The first pic is clearly a roll over. Pic 2...multiple rolls? Roll plus army crawl? Roll plus the puppies pushing her (ha, ha)?

Couldn't Make it Work

Well poor little H didn't work out:(.  Little boy could NOT learn to take a nap.  Over the course of two weeks he would only really sleep if held or in the stroller.  If I laid him down for a nap he would cry for the full 30 minutes I let him go.  Listening to your own kid cry is bad enough.  Having another kid cry for that length of time is such an added burden.  I tried darkening the room, lightening the room, sleeping away from everyone, sleeping near everyone, various sources/kinds of white noise,  lovey, paci, modified the timing, CIO, timed checks, and the list goes on.  NOTHING worked!

Also, while his parents repeatedly told me his lack of napping wasn't impacting his night time sleep or his disposition in the evenings at home, he was so fussy/whiny at my house by like lunch time.   In my defense, he got home in the evening around 5 napped/ate and went to bed around 6:30 soooo their time with him in the evening was limited. 

The lack of sleep was not good for him and it was not good for our little tribe, so today was his last day.  His parents had two weeks to find care, but they were able to find an alternative quickly so we all decided that sooner was better than later.  We parted on good terms and I hope his next sitter finds the magic formula for getting this sweet boy the rest he needs.

CIO

The good news?  Isabella is on her way to only waking up twice to eat.  The bad news?  We had to use CIO along with all of the other pieces we had in place to make that happen.

CIO actually started by accident.  J.T. does bedtime and the first wake up or two on Saturday nights so I can get some extra sleep.  Well last Saturday he wasn't feeling the best and had to use the bathroom and had to leave her in her crib crying (I wear headphones with music playing in order to not wake up on these nights, so I missed all of it).  After 15 minutes she conked out.  We successfully replicated this at bedtime over this past week with some to minimal crying (no longer than 10/15 minutes).

Middle of the night wake ups were a bit more inconsistent,  but again the crying ends up being not much more than on and of fussy crying (no real heart wrenching sobs) and usually cut off in less than 20 minutes.

Still haven't had more than 4-6 solid hours of sleep since April 11, BUT we are getting there!

4 Months

Isabella's doctor always said parents can't be to blame for the symptoms of colic.  She said by that same logic parents can also not be credited for the sunshine that follows.  Dang, I would love to take credit for the sweet and sunny disposition our baby girl has grown into over the last month.  She is all smiles, laughter and babbles.  She does well when we go out.  She likes watching the other babies who come to our house.  While the sun shines, so does she.  Nighttime continues to be its own struggle, but even at night if you hold her she doesn't really get upset.

Today we tried oatmeal.  She was funny to watch, but seemed to take to it as well as any first time eater does I suppose (wearing more of it than she likely consumed!).

Love this sweet girl!