On My Toes

My sweet girl loves to keep me guessing. I mean it's flattering to hear she misses me. It's also nice to cuddle with her, but at 2:30 and 4:30 in the morning... Is it necessary, Claire?

C and I went to the store today, the last day of January and its 60 degrees out, and she was a doll. I made dinner while she took an hour nap. Then I threw out dinner because the cheese was bad. Boy did that make me mad. So after bath time in which C was sitting up in with my assistance she's now soundly sleeping in my arms as I rock her to Rockabye Baby journey (a must have cd).

Hoping for at least 6 straight hours.

Sleep, Rolls, & Sweet Potatoes

Sweet baby Claire is not such a baby anymore, well I guess she's still a baby, but no longer a cute, little, teeny, tiny newborn. She's growing up fast.

This week she slept through the night: every. single. night. Wow! And kwhy did I feel so very tired today at work? Am I not used to this much sleep? This morning she did wake up at 3:45 am and went back down until 6:00 am. But she was quite cranky tonight, so she's in bed already; 45 minutes before she usually goes to bed.

This afternoon we tried sweet potatoes, the first food with the exception of some avocado two weeks ago and the obvious rice cereal (which she's been taking for a couple weeks). She loved them. That yummy orange mush barely made it all over her face because she was so enthralled with the taste. She was talking mmmmmmmmm-mmmmmmm the entire time we were eating. I started her with some cereal with water and she was fussy and not really having it so I decided what the heck, let's try something else. She seems completely ready to eat solids, she brings the spoon to her face, she opens up and says "mmmm". So I dug in for her. She seriously loved them. We'll probably do some tomorrow afternoon too!

Since she was still pretty fussy after a brief afternoon cat nap I decided to start her bedtime routine early. She's having so much fun in her bath nowadays. Today was the first time she's rolled over in the tub. Whatttt? Rolled over in the tub, yep, that's what she did. Head up, above the water, trying to play with the tag on the bath tub mat. She's just so independent in the bath. She loves it.

Now I am off to sell some of her diapers as I need some paypal money for a few wool covers for the spring/summer for our little miss Claire!

9 hours, what?

Claire slept last night for 9.5 hours straight!! Well at least I didn't hear her wake. Tim said she woke up at 11 and he hushed her back to bed (without picking her up, go daddy!!!!!!!). She was a doll baby at daycare. Miss N said she rocked. She was happy, she slept really well, and she only ate two bottles which was odd, but she sucked down 6 ounces at one feeding. We went grocery shopping and she was a sweet girl the entire trip. I love that sweet face more than life itself.

Tonight we even had a chance to eat dinner together. Claire napped for about 40 minutes which allowed me to make the yummiest Mexican Shepard's Pie ever. I've never had it before and it was delish!

2:44am - 3:50 am

Claire was up. Up and crying. Up and fussing. Up and screaming. Up and rolling over. I told myself I would NOT pick her up. I went it after 15 minutes around 3 am and gave her the paci, let her hold my hand and she calmed down for a second and back to crying/screaming. I left the room. It was so very hard, but I knew it was the night to do it because it's Sunday today and I didn't NEED to be 100% refreshed. So at 2:15ish I went back in again, this time to flip her back to her back and give her the paci. Screams were louder and harder to calm down, so I left. by 2:45 she was almost calmed down and it took me one more time to just stick the paci in her mouth for her to fall out completely.

It was so very hard to listen to her.

I knew I could comfort her quickly, and I didn't. What a terrible, selfish mom.

I tried to wake Tim after the third time, when I thought she down (oops) for good to tell him how proud of myself I was, but he grumbled and rolled the other way.

At 5:30 am she woke crying...of course now I would feed her. She was thrilled, happy to see me, happy I picked her up, just happy!

She nursed and played in my arms a little...then went back to bed, without a fight!

As she woke at 7:30 for the day with the biggest smile! It melted my heart. I brought her in our bed, only to have daddy roll over and say,"Claire, you were so good last night." What??? I think he meant,"Mom."

Miracle at 1011

I am thrilled that last night a miracle took place at our house. Literally over the past two months Claire has been waking 3-4 times a night and over Christmas break when we traveled sometimes more, and last night she FINALLY only woke up once. Once! I put her down at 8:30 pm after Green Bay lost and she woke up at 2:47 am. What?!?! Yes I repeat 2:47 am, that is just over 6 hours of sleep in a row. Luckily I went to bed at 9:30 which means I got about 5 hours straight sleep...in 60 days, holy cow! She nursed for nearly 5 minutes because at 2:52 am she was out again until 6:30ish.


You never realize how much you appreciate sleep and take it for granted until you don't have it anymore at your own leisure. I however would never trade sleep in for my sweet girl, ever. It stinks now, but she's learning and will one day sleep straight for more than 6 hours :)

Today is a HAPPY day in our house!


Even the boys are happy!

New Year's Resolution

In 2012...

Tim and I are going to try and go on an envelope budget system. He isn't completely on board yet, as I haven't quite read up on it, YET, but I am being positive we may be able to save money this way.

I am also vowing to menu plan each week instead of eating out all the time.

That is all.

End of 2011

Today is New Year's Day and I realized on my last day of break, I badly need to update the blog. It's been a while (I think a month and a half) and boy has quite a lot changed in the past month and half!

We put an offer in on a house at the beginning of November and quickly tried to soar through the short sale process with much luck and help from our lender and Realtor we were able to close on December 8th! We were thrilled, to say the least. We now live in lovely Frederick County and are very happy with our new home, our fabulous yard, and the changes we've begun to make to the home.

Claire turned 4 months over my blogging hiatus and man has she changed! Here are her 4 month stats:





Weight: 12 lbs 0 ounces
Height: 24.75 inches
Milestones:
Loves to stand with support,
sits with support,
talks up a storm (loud and noisy),
loves her exersaucer and jumparoo, although it's hard for her to touch the ground,
puts everything in her mouth,
chews nonstop on mine or daddy's hand,
loves daycare with Miss N,
but also loves when mommy picks her up!

Claire is a bundle of happiness and smiles. She really only cries now when she is hungry, tired, or dirty. She is such a fun little baby.

We spent Christmas up in Buffalo this year and it will probably be a Christmas Tim's mom will always remember as all her kids were home including her baby granddaughter, C!

We had a really nice time and enjoyed seeing the entire family. We were so thankful that Uncle Donny gave us Sabres tickets for Christmas and we got to see them crush the Caps.

Once we got home and actually we were really surprised by how well Claire did in the car ride both up and back from Buffalo! She slept nearly the entire car ride on the way up (we left a 5 pm and arrived around midnight). She got up once to eat at 9:15 pm. On the way back we left early in the morning at about 7:30 am. She talked to herself for about 30 minutes before passing out. She slept until about 10:45 when I fed her and then screamed for 15 minutes before falling back asleep until about 2 where we had to stop again to feed! She really was a very good girl!

Wednesday we did Christmas with my family! It was a nice evening with a great dinner and Claire got soooo many gifts. She actually loves them too! She's been trying to sit by herself now while playing with some of her toys.





Because she's been getting up 3-4 times a night since I went back to work I finally came to the tough decision of giving Claire some rice cereal. My mom kept telling me to try it and I really wanted to try and exclusively breastfeed for 6 months like the AAP recommends, but honestly after her 4 month appointment Dr. S said I could start it whenever I felt she was ready. Given the fact she is always putting things in her mouth, she can sit supported, and she seemed way more hungry, eating 3-4 times in the middle of the night, I caved. Yesterday we fed her some rice cereal (completely watered down) and she LOVED it after the initial what the heck is this face! Today she kept opening her mouth and pulling my hand towards her mouth for the spoon to enter:) I now know we made a good decision.

I will probably wait until 6 months before I start any other solids (at least that's my thought for now).