It is 4:26am right now and I am so done.
I am so done with her sleeping problems. How does a baby that slept like an angel suddenly start waking up every hour?!?!? Granted it has been a progression - she started just waking up right after we put her to sleep, then she started waking up once or twice in the middle of the night. Tonight I have gotten 40 minutes of sleep on the floor in her room because she has been up the whole stinkin night. And I'm done.
This all started once she started eating solids. Could just be a coincidence... But that night was the beginning of my nightmare. It's weird - I don't know why that would affect her sleep.
But I'm not running in there to give her the pacifier anymore - she just drops it and I have to sit there and hold it in her mouth until she falls asleep. That's not doing anyone any good.
So now I am sitting here listening to her scream. I'm going in to check on her a let her know I'm still here - that whole method. I knew it was only a matter of time before we had to do this and I was hoping to wait, but I can't take anymore. So I started with letting her cry 1 minute, then 2, 4, 6, and now I'm on 8...
My parents used this method on me and it supposedly cured me in a night - it would be nice if we had similar success, but I am not that hopeful.
I feel like a bad parent, but something has to be done. She needs to learn to put herself to sleep - she was able to do it before, she can do it again. She just doesn't want to :(
And now its been 8 minutes and she's stopped crying - do I dare go in a check on her? Maybe I'll get an hour and a half of sleep before she wakes up for the day...
Sorry if this post is badly worded or there are lots of typos - I'm a little sleep deprived :)
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Random Mommy Ramblings
Random Mommy Ramble #1
We have bought a lot of baby music for Aurora. She LOVES it. She totally knows the difference between our music and hers. I've gotta say that some of it is pretty good, but some is really awful. If anyone is wondering - I don't recommend Baby Genius. Baby Eistein is pretty good, but Disney (of course) is the best. But a lot of this has to do with the editing of traditional lyrics and the repurposing of melodies. I'm sorry, but please do not use the melody of "When the Saints go Marching in" and write words about Tempo the Tiger. The song doesn't even make sense! And how does "Three Blind Mice" go? Yeah - "she cut of their tails with a carving knife," NOT "she stepped on their tails and dropped her knife." Also Animal Fair - it goes "the monkey, he got drunk," NOT "you ought to have seen the monk." And don't even get me started on Kukubara. Really - little kids songs are not about the best things, but why are we rewriting songs that have been around for so long? Little kids have no idea what they are singing about anyway :) But as a parent it annoys me that I don't know the songs that I used to! Not with them changing... Yeah, I know - stupid thing to be annoyed about, but when you spend as much of your day listening to it as I do it starts to get to you :)
Random Mommy Ramble #2
You know you're a mommy when:
1) Your baby girl has fallen asleep in the back seat of the car and you are still jamming out to Wheels on the Bus anyway.
2) You text your husband about poop.
Random Mommy Ramble #3
The progression of the mommy look: When Aurora was first born I used to at least shower every day. Even if that was the only productive thing I did each day at least I showered. My hair didn't always get done, but it was clean. Then I started showering every other day, but only if I'd done my hair the day before. Then I started showering every other day regardless of whether I'd done my hair the day before. Now, I will easily go 3 days without a shower and my hair is whatever. But I will say that I am much happier now that I've stopped worrying about what I look like. I have better things to do and I've come to terms with that :)
We have bought a lot of baby music for Aurora. She LOVES it. She totally knows the difference between our music and hers. I've gotta say that some of it is pretty good, but some is really awful. If anyone is wondering - I don't recommend Baby Genius. Baby Eistein is pretty good, but Disney (of course) is the best. But a lot of this has to do with the editing of traditional lyrics and the repurposing of melodies. I'm sorry, but please do not use the melody of "When the Saints go Marching in" and write words about Tempo the Tiger. The song doesn't even make sense! And how does "Three Blind Mice" go? Yeah - "she cut of their tails with a carving knife," NOT "she stepped on their tails and dropped her knife." Also Animal Fair - it goes "the monkey, he got drunk," NOT "you ought to have seen the monk." And don't even get me started on Kukubara. Really - little kids songs are not about the best things, but why are we rewriting songs that have been around for so long? Little kids have no idea what they are singing about anyway :) But as a parent it annoys me that I don't know the songs that I used to! Not with them changing... Yeah, I know - stupid thing to be annoyed about, but when you spend as much of your day listening to it as I do it starts to get to you :)
Random Mommy Ramble #2
You know you're a mommy when:
1) Your baby girl has fallen asleep in the back seat of the car and you are still jamming out to Wheels on the Bus anyway.
2) You text your husband about poop.
Random Mommy Ramble #3
The progression of the mommy look: When Aurora was first born I used to at least shower every day. Even if that was the only productive thing I did each day at least I showered. My hair didn't always get done, but it was clean. Then I started showering every other day, but only if I'd done my hair the day before. Then I started showering every other day regardless of whether I'd done my hair the day before. Now, I will easily go 3 days without a shower and my hair is whatever. But I will say that I am much happier now that I've stopped worrying about what I look like. I have better things to do and I've come to terms with that :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
4 Generations
Nick and I are really lucky that we have grown up with all of our grandparents being a part of our lives. When we got married in 2005 we had ALL of our grandparents at our wedding.
Aurora is very lucky that she has so many great-grandparents as a part of her life. Unfortunately in 2009 Nick and I both lost a grandpa and it will forever sadden me that she didn't get to meet them. They were both real characters and I know they would have adored her.
But she has met all of her great-grandmothers, and this weekend we were able to get a 4 generation picture with her and all of her grandmas and great-grandmas. Such a rare opportunity and this is a picture I will always treasure...
Aurora is very lucky that she has so many great-grandparents as a part of her life. Unfortunately in 2009 Nick and I both lost a grandpa and it will forever sadden me that she didn't get to meet them. They were both real characters and I know they would have adored her.
But she has met all of her great-grandmothers, and this weekend we were able to get a 4 generation picture with her and all of her grandmas and great-grandmas. Such a rare opportunity and this is a picture I will always treasure...
Friday, June 17, 2011
The Official Roll Over
So as many of you may remember, Aurora rolled over a couple of times very early on. I thought that was the start of her moving and rolling all over the place, but it turned out to be a few time thing and that was it. I think she got too fat :) and then it was too much work and she didn't feel like it.
Well, on Wednesday she rolled over for real!!!!!! From her back to tummy. And ever since that is all she wants to do - she has rolled over 6 or more times each day. She usually rolls to her left, but she's rolled to the right a few times. It's pretty cute :) She gets really proud of herself and its nice because now she is spending more time on her tummy. But it doesn't take too long for her to get frustrated and she can't figure out how to roll to her back yet.
It the solid food world she is having a great time with her rice cereal and oatmeal. She eats so much! The doctor said to expect her to eat 1-2 teaspoons, but she gobbles up 2 tablespoons or more most of the time. But why am I surprised really - she's always been a good eater.
Lately Aurora has been blowing rasberries - hilarious! Not so funny when she has a mouth-full of food, but at least the messes haven't been too big yet.
In the battle of wills department - I think we were battling the wrong thing. We tried taking the pacifier away for a week and things only got worse. The screaming at night didn't get better and the daytime was hard because she really likes the pacifier. So we gave the pacifier back and have adjusted her bedtime so she goes to sleep 1/2 hour later and so far it looks like that might be doing the trick... 3 days and she's been a pretty good sleeper...
The past week she has been giggling some. The first time I was blowing rasberries on her neck - she seems to really like that. She's most giggly at night for some reason, but that's good because that's when Nick is home. Tonight I was walking like a sumo wrestler and that got some giggles. It is the cutest thing ever!!!!!
Aurora has discovered her feet and she is trying to figure out how to get them in her mouth. Especially when she is having her diaper changed - she grabs her feet and tries to pull them towards her mouth. I'm sure she will get them in there soon :)
Well, on Wednesday she rolled over for real!!!!!! From her back to tummy. And ever since that is all she wants to do - she has rolled over 6 or more times each day. She usually rolls to her left, but she's rolled to the right a few times. It's pretty cute :) She gets really proud of herself and its nice because now she is spending more time on her tummy. But it doesn't take too long for her to get frustrated and she can't figure out how to roll to her back yet.
It the solid food world she is having a great time with her rice cereal and oatmeal. She eats so much! The doctor said to expect her to eat 1-2 teaspoons, but she gobbles up 2 tablespoons or more most of the time. But why am I surprised really - she's always been a good eater.
Lately Aurora has been blowing rasberries - hilarious! Not so funny when she has a mouth-full of food, but at least the messes haven't been too big yet.
In the battle of wills department - I think we were battling the wrong thing. We tried taking the pacifier away for a week and things only got worse. The screaming at night didn't get better and the daytime was hard because she really likes the pacifier. So we gave the pacifier back and have adjusted her bedtime so she goes to sleep 1/2 hour later and so far it looks like that might be doing the trick... 3 days and she's been a pretty good sleeper...
The past week she has been giggling some. The first time I was blowing rasberries on her neck - she seems to really like that. She's most giggly at night for some reason, but that's good because that's when Nick is home. Tonight I was walking like a sumo wrestler and that got some giggles. It is the cutest thing ever!!!!!
Aurora has discovered her feet and she is trying to figure out how to get them in her mouth. Especially when she is having her diaper changed - she grabs her feet and tries to pull them towards her mouth. I'm sure she will get them in there soon :)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
A Battle of Wills
And I won.
But only because I can bounce longer than Aurora can scream. Bouncing takes way less energy than screaming. Too bad she doesn't know that...
Aurora used to be great at going to bed. She would get up in the middle of the night to eat sometimes, but she was really good about bed time and falling asleep right away. Starting around 10 weeks we could put her in her crib partly awake and she would go to sleep. But the last 2-3 weeks she has been fighting sleep. She will only go to sleep with her binky (which she never used to need) and then she would wake up and cry every time she dropped it. That meant that getting her to bed took about 2 hours. We kept having to run in there and give her the binky.
It was getting hard - I was sick of it. So last night we battled it out and oh my gosh it was AWFUL. She screamed for 40 minutes - I was holding her the whole time and trying to calm her down, but she wanted her binky. She was SO mad at me. She kept squirming and hitting me which might have been funny if I didn't feel so bad about it. I hate depriving her of what she wants, but I know it will be better for all of us in the long run... So finally she wore herself out. I was so ready to give in so many times, but I knew that it would all be a waste then.
And tonight - she went right to bed. I put her in her crib with no binky at 7:30 and not a sound since (yes- she's still breathing - I checked) but its 9:30. So I think maybe it was worth it... I'll have to remember this for the future...
But only because I can bounce longer than Aurora can scream. Bouncing takes way less energy than screaming. Too bad she doesn't know that...
Aurora used to be great at going to bed. She would get up in the middle of the night to eat sometimes, but she was really good about bed time and falling asleep right away. Starting around 10 weeks we could put her in her crib partly awake and she would go to sleep. But the last 2-3 weeks she has been fighting sleep. She will only go to sleep with her binky (which she never used to need) and then she would wake up and cry every time she dropped it. That meant that getting her to bed took about 2 hours. We kept having to run in there and give her the binky.
It was getting hard - I was sick of it. So last night we battled it out and oh my gosh it was AWFUL. She screamed for 40 minutes - I was holding her the whole time and trying to calm her down, but she wanted her binky. She was SO mad at me. She kept squirming and hitting me which might have been funny if I didn't feel so bad about it. I hate depriving her of what she wants, but I know it will be better for all of us in the long run... So finally she wore herself out. I was so ready to give in so many times, but I knew that it would all be a waste then.
And tonight - she went right to bed. I put her in her crib with no binky at 7:30 and not a sound since (yes- she's still breathing - I checked) but its 9:30. So I think maybe it was worth it... I'll have to remember this for the future...
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Waterbug
My little waterbug ladybug :) Yes, I know this makes us rule breakers. Oh, well. We really didn't think the doctor's reasons to stay out of the pool were very good, so we took Aurora swimming this weekend. We get the no sunscreen rule though, so we weren't in long, but she had a blast!
Friday, June 3, 2011
4 Months
Yeah - I know what they say - time flies. Wow though, it really does. I can't believe Aurora is 4 months old already!!!!
Her 4 month check up went well. We got an official weigh in and I have to say that I was surprised - she was smaller than I thought. She's still a chunker :) at 15lbs 4 oz, but I was expecting 16lbs or more. That puts her in the 83 percentile on the NORMAL scale - not the premie scale. So she is all caught up. She is also long - in the 78 percentile at 25 inches. That means she has grown half a foot since she was born!
Aurora had a good check-up. She's healthy and developmentally she is on track. The doctor confirmed that she is teething (yeah, the sudden fits of screaming told me that started a few weeks ago), but unfortuntely those teeth aren't anywhere near breaking through the gums. The few places that I thought I saw teeth coming in are actually cysts. Weird, but apparently that is totally normal and they aren't painful for her. Apparently we shouldn't be expecting to see any teeth for about another month, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel them...
I was a little disappointed that the doctor said no to swimming and sunscreen - he said not until 6 months which kind of puts a damper on our summer plans, but I guess there will be lots of time for all that stuff in the future.
Aurora also got her second round of shots and that was no fun. It was a little funny though - she screamed just as loudly when the doctor checked her ears as she did when she got the shots. It's like she has two levels of emotion - happy and screaming. She doesn't get kind of unhappy, she gets pissed. She is a very opinionated baby. So honestly I didn't feel as bad for her with the shots (not that I didn't feel bad at all - it just didn't make me cry this time), because her scream level didn't change between something that didn't cause her pain and something that did. She did look extremely shocked about the shots though - she got this look on her face like, "holy cow what is happening to me?????" She calmed down really fast once I picked her up and didn't seem to have issues the rest of the day - no extra fussing or fever, so that was nice.
On the up side the doctor did say yes to solids! We started rice cereal today and Aurora loved it. She was very eager to eat and even though she ended up getting more of it on her bib than in her mouth she loved chewing on the spoon and was very excited to try. I had so much fun feeding her. It is definitely more work, more messy, and more time consuming than breast feeding, but it is so FUN to do something new. And as she tries more and more foods it will be so cool to see what she likes and doesn't like.
Her 4 month check up went well. We got an official weigh in and I have to say that I was surprised - she was smaller than I thought. She's still a chunker :) at 15lbs 4 oz, but I was expecting 16lbs or more. That puts her in the 83 percentile on the NORMAL scale - not the premie scale. So she is all caught up. She is also long - in the 78 percentile at 25 inches. That means she has grown half a foot since she was born!
Aurora had a good check-up. She's healthy and developmentally she is on track. The doctor confirmed that she is teething (yeah, the sudden fits of screaming told me that started a few weeks ago), but unfortuntely those teeth aren't anywhere near breaking through the gums. The few places that I thought I saw teeth coming in are actually cysts. Weird, but apparently that is totally normal and they aren't painful for her. Apparently we shouldn't be expecting to see any teeth for about another month, but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel them...
I was a little disappointed that the doctor said no to swimming and sunscreen - he said not until 6 months which kind of puts a damper on our summer plans, but I guess there will be lots of time for all that stuff in the future.
Aurora also got her second round of shots and that was no fun. It was a little funny though - she screamed just as loudly when the doctor checked her ears as she did when she got the shots. It's like she has two levels of emotion - happy and screaming. She doesn't get kind of unhappy, she gets pissed. She is a very opinionated baby. So honestly I didn't feel as bad for her with the shots (not that I didn't feel bad at all - it just didn't make me cry this time), because her scream level didn't change between something that didn't cause her pain and something that did. She did look extremely shocked about the shots though - she got this look on her face like, "holy cow what is happening to me?????" She calmed down really fast once I picked her up and didn't seem to have issues the rest of the day - no extra fussing or fever, so that was nice.
On the up side the doctor did say yes to solids! We started rice cereal today and Aurora loved it. She was very eager to eat and even though she ended up getting more of it on her bib than in her mouth she loved chewing on the spoon and was very excited to try. I had so much fun feeding her. It is definitely more work, more messy, and more time consuming than breast feeding, but it is so FUN to do something new. And as she tries more and more foods it will be so cool to see what she likes and doesn't like.
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