Stalling

Back in the day I said something about not being able to find my camera, which is why I haven't really posted. I found it, not terribly long after, but was just lazy for a while. Today, I thought, shoot! Let me upload some cute pictures! And now I don't know where my usb cord is to download the pictures. Oops. Buuut I'll look. Maybe I'll find some time to upload them on Monday, when my hubby is home from work.

I don't have any photographic evidence yet, but baby is starting to crawl! Watch out apartment, we won't know what hit us... so far, she really only crawls a couple inches before forgetting what she needs to move next and falling over, but she did figure out that if she's on her hands and knees, she can sort of back up until she's sitting up. Cool trick, baby girl!

Other fun news: my parents are up for the weekend. Literally just the weekend; my dad doesn't get time off, so they drove up today and are leaving Monday morning (after breakfast). Fortunately we got to have dinner with them tonight, as they made excellent time. At first baby was a little serious and standoffish, but luckily she warmed up quickly and was very smiley! Yay baby girl!

So, remember when I used to let my baby cry it out? Well... umm... I don't really do that any more. Occasionally during nap times, and if I know she's so super tired that she'll fall right to sleep. Anyway, last night was not a good night. I'll often get up a time or two, feed her for a few minutes, and she'll go right back to sleep. I'm okay with that. Last night, though, she did not want to be put down, so in frustration I let her cry for a little while until I was calm enough to deal with her some more. By then... she was super awake. Sigh. And she'd gotten up twice before that. At least the night before was pretty good! We have good nights and not-so-good nights. Unfortunately, last night was not one of the good ones. Fortunately, she's been a pretty awesome baby today.

Also. Penzeys spices. Mmm. I wish they would come to Utah. I have no idea how my sister found out about them, as they were buried somewhere in the outskirts of Portland, but I recently found out they are in Beaverton, way easy to get to (from my old home). So I got some hand-delivered goods today! I am so excited. The cocoa smells like a chocolate bar, the cinnamon is a dream. I got some extracts, too... yummy. I think, if they came to Utah, I would get all my herbs and everything from them. I would order them online, except that I dislike shipping fees so much. If my parents didn't come up this weekend, though, I might have caved because I almost ran out of the cinnamon I had before, and I just can't go back.

For not having pictures, this turned into a really long post. That said...

The end.

Sometimes I see pictures of women cuddling with their newborns right after birth, and I get a little twinge of jealousy. It almost makes me want to get pregnant again just so I can have that moment to look forward to. Then I think of my gorgeous baby and the snuggles I get with her (and the sleep!) and the feeling goes away. Usually.

In other news, the camera is buried somewhere on our couch, which has become the semi-temporary home of things we find our baby rolling to get that we'd rather not have her chew on. So, when I find it, I should have some gems. My favorite of which is a video of baby trying to catch the sun. It's killing me to not be able to show it off.

Giggles

I recently learned that my aunt checks in on my blog every once in a while. So, if I post the same pictures here as I do on Facebook, well, at least hopefully I'll have better stories here.

Lately Baby has been super giggly. It's very fun. Most of the time I don't even try to do anything and she starts laughing, or I'll do something I've done a thousand times and she'll suddenly laugh at it. (Or I'll do something that made her laugh once a thousand times to never hear a giggle from it again. Babies.) Yesterday I was mindlessly rolling the rings to one of those stacking toys when suddenly...

Boom. Giggles galore. She also really enjoys peek-a-boo when she's in her carseat and I'm outside the car. It's fun... except that the doors are usually shut, so I can't hear the giggles. Sad day.

Another giggle video (since you can't have enough, right?): baby was happily bouncing in her little jungle-bouncer-thingy, and she was just sooo adorable that I had to go play with her. Turns out she likes my hair. :-)

I had a successful round of peek-a-boo giggles first, but Grandma pulled out the camera and then she was just intently watching the camera instead.

Also, my baby now has little baby teeth! Her two front ones decided to come at the same time. We saw them hanging out just under the gums for a little while, but now they are definitely peeking out. Not quite razor sharp, though probably only because she hasn't bitten too hard yet.

Okay, so they may be hard to see in this picture. Work with me... baby teeth are difficult to capture. Hmm. Other precious moments lately.

She has learned to clap! I have a video of that, too, but I wouldn't want blogger to have an upload heart attack, so I think two videos is enough for this particular post. I think it came about partly because I gave her two plastic bowls to bang around. She's very good at the up and down motion with her arms, so when she had a bowl in each hand, they sort of smacked each other when she banged them down. Well, that was so cool that she just kept getting more and more horizontal motion instead of just vertical, and now she loves banging everything together. She likes to clap my hands, too. And her hands, of course. I love it when she claps; it's like everything is exciting and new.

Speaking of bowls, I've finally started letting her play with everyday items these past few months. A measuring cup, a medicine spoon (she actually stole that one, and I didn't feel like I needed to take it away), and the two plastic bowls. Another toy I let her have:

Things wrapped in plastic! In this case, a granola bar. Maybe that's bad parenting, but I figure she really goes for crinkly plastic things, and this way at least I know she's contentedly munching on a granola bar wrapper instead of trying to get at some bigger plastic object. It's also handy in distracting her from trying to eat all the paper in sight... or at least placating her when I take the paper away. (Am I missing some boat? Do other parents just let their babies suck on/eat paper?)

Speaking of bad parenting. Heh. I occasionally let her fall asleep while nursing and just hold her. Especially when I'm super tired (like first thing in the morning. Yes, those are my jammies). So this is post-nursing nap, and I loved the way she fell asleep with her hands all clasped.

One more picture just for kicks. This Sunday, we played baby dress-up, as usual. And, as usual, she was adorable.

Love this baby girl.

A tale of two Emily stories

There may be more than two Emily stories, but I have two in particular to share.

I believe last time I referred to her dislike of squash. Well, Gary was feeding her yesterday evening and we decided to give it another whirl. Sooo I got the camera out. She actually ate more of it, because Gary kept trying to get it in her mouth and succeeding, and she kept making some amazing faces. I guess that's only one story because I have some sweet pictures to accompany it.

Sweet, unsuspecting Baby

Not sure what to think....

Leaning towards dislike...

Yeah, this stuff is gross.

I'm probably just a super mean mommy, but that disgusted face just gets me. I love that picture.

Another picture I love? Let me preface it with a short story.

Our naptimes are sort of in a state of flux - I tried to set naptimes, but she kept falling asleep before them, or she would be out with a babysitter away from her crib, sleep until an hour before her next naptime... things like that. Usually, though, our ten o'clock nap is pretty solid, within twenty minutes either way, she's exhausted. So, last week, I had put her in her bouncer for a while in the morning so I could do some homework, and I got up to do something maybe five minutes before her nap. Time ran away from me, and next thing I knew, it was 10:15! Whoops. I thought for sure the baby had been bouncing around and playing, but when I went to get her....

Fast asleep! She would occasionally twitch in her sleep, though, causing her to look like she was still playing. It isn't immediately obvious, but she was facing into the corner at the time. So precious. So hilarious. That's my girl!

And just a picture this time:

Happy Sunday!

Not so teeny

Well, we started pulling out the 9-month clothes this past week. My husband had pulled out a cute little outfit a little over a week ago, but it was way too summery and it was only supposed to be, umm, 50 degrees or something outside. It came out again, though, since we had a 76 degree day, and it fit like a dream. I'd looked at the 9-month sleepers about two weeks ago, asking Hubby if he thought it might fit baby, since her 6-month sleepers were getting too short in the leg, but he said, nooo, looks too long still. Out of curiosity, I put one on her a few nights ago... and it fit like a dream. That makes part of me a little sad! So I'm packing up her 6-month ones, because really, it's too short in the legs, though the onsies are still kind of okay. And I was thinking about her little tiny newborn clothes, and how ginormous I thought her 3-6 month sleeper was... my little girl is growing up.

Today she rolled on to her belly and started pushing her torso off the ground! She doesn't get real far before she starts scooting backwards, since we still have her on a slippery play mat. I had visions of her starting to scoot and crawl around... yikes. I better get ready for that, quick, because I am definitely not ready now.

And random funny story: I saw some baby foods on sale when I went to get her some oatmeal, so I decided to try a few new vegetables out. Tonight I pulled out the squash, and I thought it smelled pretty good - kind of a mix of the yummy-smelling carrots and sweet potatoes, both of which she loves. She took a bite of the squash, her eyes got kind of wide, and she opened her mouth in that adorable "feed me" kind of way that she usually does with carrots (she loooooves carrots) or foods she likes. She did this for a few bites before she looked almost like she was gagging. And boy, did she not open her mouth after a few more bites with that grossed-out face. Hah! I was totally fooled! Maybe she was too. I might try a few bites tomorrow.

Here is that adorable 9-month outfit: it has a little skirt! Also, that little grin just kills me.

A hairy situation

We had a little incident with the vacuum the other week where it was accidentally placed over a sock while the hose was being used for some detail work... and the sock got sucked up and the vacuum stopped whirring. Fortunately we're pretty sure only the belt broke. Unfortunately this belt has been a complete pain to find. Fortunately I vacuumed possibly the day before this incident. Unfortunately, baby has been pulling out increasing amounts of my hair. Today she even started pulling it out with her toes (as I nibble on her tummy after diaper changes). Gross. Hair everywhere. Even worse, we have baby on the floor a lot. Hair all over baby's toys, play mat, you name it, there's probably a stray hair or two to be found on it. 

On a completely different note, two papers and one essay test is all that stands between me and (temporary) freedom. I haven't completely decided yet if I'm going to do my last class(es) independent study or during the summer term - if I can get a high enough score on the physical science exam, I could keep the credit hours and take my other class free with a scholarship. Even if I don't take physical science, I could still potentially get leftover pell grant money to help pay for tuition. If I can stand to be in 2+ hours of class a few times a week. Oh, this baby. So... I might still do the course independent study. Just so I don't have to commit to class hours and due dates. 

Also. I don't exactly know where my camera cord is so I haven't downloaded many new pictures since my last update. And the pictures I've been taking haven't been super high quality. But what is this blog with out my cute baby? So here's one I took of an outfit I especially enjoyed. Overalls that were too long and a smidgeon too small around baby's adorable chubby gut. Which is a shame - I may not put her in those cute overalls ever again.

PS. I only really put those bows on her head for church and pictures. Occasionally events like wedding receptions. I find they don't stay on her head well enough during daily activities, especially with nursing. So I put it on her head and then took it off shortly after the picture. :-)

Giggling

I have a confession: I love my little baby. (Surprise!) No, that isn't my confession... but I loved that my baby was little and squishy, and back when she first started smiling, I occasionally wished that once she started to laugh, she would just stay that age forever. I take it back, though. It's so fun to see her talking and rolling and getting strong and sitting up and eating baby food... She's a pretty fun kid.

Also, I started doing (more) regular naps in the crib (thanks, Kandra, for the encouragement). She doesn't usually sleep very long, but she does sleep three times a day, so that's something. I figure as we get more used to nap time, she'll sleep longer than half an hour. Tonight I was a total sucker and let her sleep while I held her, and she slept at least an hour not long before bedtime. She stayed up a tiny bit longer than usual, but went right to sleep (or if she didn't, she didn't make much noise). Poor little tired baby.

In other news, I only have one more class period to attend this semester. Hooray! Unfortunately, I have two papers due in the next week, one on Wednesday and the other Friday. They shouldn't be too bad, I just have to crank them out. And, as I was discussing with another mother today, at this point I just want to pass. So I would like to make them excellent papers (especially one of them), I just also only really care about passing. The other mother told me, mostly jokingly, "D's get degrees." It's probably a good thing that these two papers are essentially a third of my grade in each class, or I would be sorely tempted not to do them. Ten percent? Pssh, I could totally take off ten percent of my grade. Thirty percent plus, though, that is waaay too much to just blow off.

But I just want to play with my baaaaaby. (And maybe use my extra time to clean the house instead of procrastinate my homework.)

Our little piggyback shorty. 

(She hit dad on the head, which is why his expression looks like that. All the other pictures were blurry.)

I discovered she likes to sleep on her side, like she's nursing. Though... in this picture... I put her down like that. Still cute.

She reached for my plate when I was done.

Though she later got frustrated when she tried to eat it and it wouldn't bend to her will.

Sleep training

So I've made an attempt at letting baby girl "cry it out" lately, because I don't know why she keeps waking up, and I can only assume it's because she is so used to being held and loved by us. I really wish I knew what was the problem, because that would be easier to fix. Since I don't, though, I just decided to try my hand at sleep training.

Here at BYU, most of the professors are big on attachment theory. Thus, I'm rather fond of it myself. So I never imagined using a cry it out technique, because I wouldn't want my baby to feel like I wouldn't be there for her. Turns out I was just making assumptions about what Ferber's cry it out method was, because he very reasonably points out that it isn't beneficial for either the parent or the child to suddenly withdraw all comfort at bedtime/throughout the night.

So, here's a basic sum-up from what I've learned/read about Ferber's technique in the past few days:

- The idea is to help baby learn to fall asleep on her own. So I put her down awake.
- When I walk away, she usually cries. I have a plan, though, of how long I wait before going back to check on her.
- I check on her and comfort her briefly without picking her up. Mostly I reassure myself that she's okay.
- Each night I wait a little longer before checking on her, and also throughout the night, I'll check on her after longer time periods (at first I waited five minutes, then seven, then ten. Now I'll usually wait eight minutes, or even longer if she stops for a minute).

By now, we're doing pretty good. She isn't waking up every hour or two, which is SO nice. She was still super tired tonight, but we've also had some changing bedtimes lately which I'm sure doesn't help. I think I'm supposed to use the same method for nap times, I just haven't been very good about having a "set" nap time.

I think one of the hardest things for me (aside from, you know, letting her cry) is that I secretly really love holding my sleeping baby. Which might be why I have such a hard time with naps... I let her nurse herself to sleep and just snuggle her for a while. Yeah... I'm so good at consistency.

It's that time again...

Time for a procrastination blog post! Yes, I am working on an assignment. I just finished a good chunk of it, and I'm pretty excited by how it's turning out. So, the logical conclusion is to take that energy and write a blog post, right? I thought so, too.

Baby girl and I had a couple adventures yesterday - we weren't at home very much. I had to take her to campus for my class, but it all worked out. (She even made some new friends in my second class!) And then we headed up to Taylorsville for a wedding reception after class. We didn't get back until I think... 8:30? I was hoping to get her to bed between 8:30 and 9, but since she slept most/all of the way up to Taylorsville and at least half the way back, I wasn't sure I'd be doing either of us any favors by trying to get her back to sleep right away. So she went to bed at 10, and went down with hardly a peep. Only up once last night to eat. (My thoughts on Ferber's sleep-training method should be coming soon...) Got up about the same time she usually does, between 7:30 and 8.

Mostly I told that story because tonight she was sitting with her dad (so I could do my homework) and she started falling asleep at 8! Actually, I started her little solid food meal around 6:45, and between making little batches of oatmeal and feeding her somewhat distracted self, Gary wasn't finished until 7:30 or so, after which he bathed her. Because she was gross. I nursed her after, and I could tell she was about to doze off, so I stopped nursing and sat her up and bounced her a bit. It was cute, though, watching her nodding off in Hubby's arms.

She did wake up about an hour later, but we let her cry for a bit, and she's back to sleep now. Poor, tired little girl. She was a pretty busy girl today, too, and so didn't get prime napping time. Hopefully she'll still sleep until 7:30 or 8... that's my only concern, really.

Oh, and happy 6 months to my little angel baby.

Who by the way likes to sit up on her own these days. We took her to Texas Roadhouse tonight and at one point I had her sitting on the bench of the booth next to me. It was super precious, because she's so little, but I had this funny moment where I realized she would be sitting next to me (or dad) in a booth for a long time, and mostly not as small as she is now.

Oh boy, I love being a mom.

Carrot Face

I have a little baby who absolutely loves carrots. I've had her get pretty enthusiastic about her cereal, but never any of the fruits and veggies. She kept reaching for more! Now, a certain amount got on her bib, face, hands, and pants... but I think maybe even with all the smearing, she ate double of anything else she's tried (cereal excluded). Here I was wondering if she just wasn't really into solids yet, and I just wasn't giving her the right ones! Right when I opened it, even I thought they smelled delicious, almost like pumpkin. I kept checking the label to make sure they were really carrots, and only carrots. I want whatever carrots Gerber uses. Seriously.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of her carroty face. I especially wish I'd captured the moment that she got a little glob on her eyelashes. Cute.

In other news, even though we still haven't figured out sleep, she keeps me going with her smiles. I thought as I was wiping carrot off her face just now that taking care of Baby is definitely my favorite part of the day. Cleaning the house, going through school, and everything else probably has more noticeable reward, but this little girl is my favorite.