Monday, September 28, 2009

Crying it Out?

So, Nicole is now in her very own room! Matt and I are very excited for this because we were not getting good sleep when we woke up everytime she moved around in her bed. Nicole also cries and laughs in her sleep, which woke me up too. Nicole does not seem to notice the change, which is a good thing I figure.

Now that she is a big girl in her own room and everything I really really want an easier bedtime. She fights sleep like nothing else! I can tell when she gets sleepy because she starts to get all whiny. But, she does not actually want to go to sleep. She wants to nurse and play and fuss until she is so exhausted that she crashes. It is a fight every night and I hate it! So, I decided to try the Ferber method of crying it out.

I have to say right now that it is extremely difficult to sit and listen to your child cry and not go and pick her up! Matt and I had tried to let her cry it out a few times and we always caved because she does this uncontrollable crying that just breaks my heart! Then I would give in and nurse her or rock her to sleep. But, I can't do that forever and I'm becoming very exasperated with bedtime.

I think that is also good to mention that Nicole suddenly does not want her pacifier anymore. She used to take a pacifier and love it and it would calm her. Now she turns her head, seals her lips, and gets really mad at us if we even offer the pacifier. This makes things very difficult because I relied upon the pacifier to help put her to sleep and to put her back to sleep when she wakes up in the middle of the night. I would just pop the pacifier back in her mouth when she woke up and she would go back to sleep. I can no longer do this. I am hoping that this is a phase for her.

In conclusion, Matt and I finally successfully accomplished the Ferber method last night. I read up on it beforehand so I knew exactly what to do. We put her in bed, she cried and Matt went in after five minutes to check on her. The hardest part is not picking her up because she so obviously wants to be picked up. Then, Matt left and intended to go back in after ten minutes, but she had cried herself to sleep before then. It worked! This is not to say it will work again or that it will be so short of an amount of time next time. But, I was relieved that it worked for one night at least.

I didn't like to send Matt in without me, but because I am her food source I only exasperate the situation at bed time. She loves to nurse until she falls asleep and would just stay there forever if she had her way.

I will try this method again and hopefully bedtime will get easier soon.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Baby Showered!

Last Saturday, Lisa and I threw a baby shower for our college friend Dixie Annah. Known to most as Dixie Dixon, though she is married now and has a new last name. Annah was my first roommate in college in Hawaii. I never thought then that she would ever end up living here in Utah. She and a lot of my Hawaii friends criticized me for being too "Utah" back in the day. But, I am glad that she is so close by now and expecting her first baby, a boy.

Marie and I spent Friday baking for the shower. We made chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese and chocolate chip dollup in them. And, we made my favorite ginger cookies. I got the recipe for the cupcakes from Momma Ashton's blog and the cookies from Momma Kimball. I am a recipe thief!

Matt made this delicious apple pie Saturday morning with the apples from my parent's tree.

I think the hardest part of baking all these goods was not sampling too many. Marie and I had a few cookies and split a cupcake, but didn't eat any more than that. And I didn't have any pie until the party. It is difficult to bake and not eat! But, I ended up having more than enough and gave some cupcakes away at the end of the party.
Lisa, my coconspirator in the party, planned all the party games and they were great! The turnout for the party was a little bit of a let down, but we had enough people to play games.
Annah got some presents and she seemed to enjoy herself even though she is 9 months pregnant. She is handling her pregnancy a lot better than I handled mine. I recall a lot of complaining on my part near the end... or throughout the whole thing. I would have to go back and read blog entries to verify though. It is all very vague to me now.
My Nicoley was very good at the party and during the day when I was baking and cleaning up a storm. She just sat in her high chair and observed it all. She loves to sit in her high chair with her feet up on the little tray and just watch Mommy cook. She is such a silly girl!
Her new favorite game is to throw things on the ground. I put toys up on her highchair and she throws them on the ground. Repeat until crazy.
She has also started to make a little question noise. She makes a noise that goes higher at the end like she is asking a question. It is so cute! She also likes to growl at Daddy, this is also just too cute! I think everything she does is cute though, so my opinion is very biased. She can now sit up on her own on the floor. She will sometimes topple over as she goes for a toy, but for the most part she does really well.

She has also started shaking her head in a 'no.' So, we ask her questions like, "can you say Ma Ma?" and she shakes her head 'no.' It is a riot! But, I have as of yet to capture it on camera. She still goes still when the camcorder is on.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Hair Cut

Okay, pretend that this picture is right side up. My computer was fighting with me and I lost. So, Marie had work off last Friday and she came over to my house to help me bake lots of stuff and cut my hair.

Nicoley loves to grab and pull hair, and, with mine being so long, she would get her little fingers tangled in my hair and only pull harder trying to get them free. It was beyond time for a haircut.

My lovely sister Marie cut off 11 inches for me and it feels great! My head is so light I feel free from my heavy hair. Now it is a lot more difficult for Nicole to grab and it looks super cute. Thanks Marie!

I'm going to find out how to donate the 11 inches that I cut off, but in the mean time I thought that Nicole might like a little more hair. Strangely, she didn't seem to like my hair once it was no longer attached to my head.

But, I still have a happy and healthy little fatty for a baby. Even if she does have only fine little blonde hairs.
She is my brown eyed, blond hair little baby and I love her!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Tired and just Tired

So, I've been trying to get Nicole into a new schedule. She is really a fatty baby, so I've been trying to soothe her in other ways than nursing when she gets upset. This makes naptime difficult because she always gets fussy and always wants to nurse herself to sleep. But, I've been trying different methods to get her off of this habbit.

I try to cuddle her and put her pacifier in to make her think she is nursing when she is really not. This sometimes works. I try rocking her in the rocking chair, this almost never works. I've tried putting her in her bed and turning on the mobile and letting her put herself to sleep, this never works! She will just cry and cry and keep on crying until I come and get her. But, I've never let it go longer than 20 minutes because I can't handle it.

Lastly, the thing that usually works, but of course is the most labor intensive for me, is holding her in my arms and rocking her back and forth until she falls asleep. This works really well, but I hate it! I get really tired and she is fairly squirming when she is trying to fall asleep. Oye!

Naps have become very unfun for me, but I know that she needs them during the day or she will only get more upset. She is always a happier baby when she wakes up from her nap. Maybe this is just a phase and she will grow out of it. I can only hope.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Rice Cerealed

Originally, Matt and I thought that we would wait until six months to feed Nicole solid foods. But, she recently became very interested in what we were doing with our spoons and forks. She would stare and stare when we ate dinner. So, I tried her out on a little ice cream from my spoon while I was eating and she seemed really excited about it. So, we started feeding her rice cereal.

At first she didn't like it, like everything she tastes that isn't milk. But, then she got really excited about the spoon. Sometimes she gets too excited and knocks the spoon right out of my hand. That is how she ends up with rice cereal hair.

Ultimately, it is good for her to practice eating something a little more solid and using a spoon. Then, when she is six months, we will try her on foods that are a little more flavourful than rice cereal, which I hear is really bland though I have not tasted it.

Eating time is definitely a challenge because she is always wanting to grab the spoon and sometimes refuses to open her mouth. I think this time when she is nursing will be the easiest mealtimes that I will ever have with her. I should enjoy it while it lasts.