Big Girl Room

     The other day I heard Sleep Sheep over the baby monitor. I shouldn't have as it was on the shelf above her bed. I go upstairs, and she's scrambling to put it back. Busted. Grabbing for her sheep and stacking her bedding to open the window finally made Daddy decide to give her her own space. She's been sleeping throughout the night most nights and seems to be doing better alone.

     This weekend was the time. Daddy spent the morning rearranging our bedroom and her bedroom. I organized.
It was lunch and then nap time.

     She seemed impressed and confused. She went into our room and when asked where her bed was, she didn't know. She loved that she had Frozen wall decals, ALL her books, and the big chair.
     She wanted me to sit in her chair and wait for her after her book. When she was reading, I snuck out. She eventually had a 2 hour nap - I had to go wake her up around 4. She's currently up there with Daddy. Will tonight be a sleep through the night night? Will I have to stumble down the hall and over a baby gate to comfort her?

Sleeping through

     I don't want to jinx anything, but I think she's finally sleeping through the night. It's been happening for about a month. Sometimes, she will wake up and leave her bed for a cuddle, but after 1 min I tell her to go back to bed and that I'm right here. She does go back, covers herself up and goes to sleep.

     I am hoping this bodes well for when we change the dressing room back into her bedroom. The next moving challenge will be fitting the dressers and a crib into our bedroom.

Sweet dreams

      Sweet dreams my little one. You're doing well with your bed, for the most part.

      Bed time ritual is at 8pm, we start to get ready. We do bed time bum, pajamas, and neckercise. We then nurse in the big bed and wait. Around 1030-11pm, I transfer her to her bed and make sure she is cozy (but if I put a blanket on her, she wakes up). I'm not sure when she wakes, but she ends up in our bed (possibly around 2-3am). There are times when she is able to put herself back to sleep from waking, but other times no. There was even that one time she fell out of bed. Oops!
     It's a learning curve. At least she will spend all nap time in her bed -even if we nurse in the car and I have to not so gracefully roll out.

Racecar Wars

   The bed is all done and brought up to the newly rearranged bedroom. We tried it out last night and it was a no go. I pretty much figured that it wouldn't be that simple.
     I nursed her in our bed. She fell asleep. I scooped her up while humming and rocked her until we got off the bed. I laid her in bed and turned on her Glow Worm. Success...for thirty minutes. Of course, she woke up when I started to fold laundry. She rolled out of bed and stood there angrily crying. The rest of the night was spent nursing, trying to put her down, crying, daddy explaining that this is her bed and he worked hard to make it pink for her. Finally, at 10pm, agreed that nap time, diaper changes and stories will happen in her bed for the next week.

Bye bye crib!!

    It's official. The Crib Wars are over. The child has won over the adult. And it was pretty damn scary too.

     I put her in the crib tonight and she was not happy about it. Sometimes, it needs to happen. She was losing her mind and was in there maybe 5 minutes before stuff started to get thrown around. I heard a plastic thump and said "Bye bye Woody". Then, I heard a loud, yet squishy thump and crying. Her Dad and I both ran into her room. She was sitting on the floor, beside Pooh bear, crying. I picked her up and tried to calm her. She put her arms out for her dad. I passed him over and she wanted me again. I brought her to bed and nursed her to sleep.
     I really want to know how she got out. J suggests that she used the 2 blankets that were in there to get out, piled up. Good theory, only they weren't in a pile when we picked her up. It's really not cool to escape. J over exaggerates and said "this is how we get dead babies". If she landed wrong, sadly, yes.

     A friend offered us her old race car bed that's just been sitting in a closet. We have to clean it, but that's ok. I am going to spray paint it with Krylon's GLOSSY WATERMELON colour. Every little girl needs a pink race car, right?!

      Let the Car Wars begin!

Crib Wars Vol: 2

     I meant to write this lastnight, but I was too tired and then got distracted by Doctor Who on Netflix.

     We've started to attempt crib life again. I want to say that I have almost won the war, but I would be lying.
We played in the crib for about an hour yesterday..but then I had to pee. When I came back, she had thrown almost everything out and was losing her mind. We finished by having a nap in bed.
     Bed time came around and I crawled in the crib with her. 1.5 hours later, she was asleep, but I had to get out. Unfortunately, my attempt at crawling out made the vinyl crib mattress creak and she woke up. There was going to be no calming her down, so I brought her to bed with me. She eventually fell asleep clinging onto me - I Indian Jones'd her with a penguin until adult bed time.

     I love the munchkin, and I'm still wondering how someone so little can take up so much space.

All about daddy

     A friend from Saskatchewan is back in town and came for a visit today (and tomorrow). Her, Kaelynn, daddy and I took a trip out of the house together. And today was all about daddy.
     Daddy rode in the back seat of the car with her, and wasn't the one to put her in her carseat. Daddy was the one pushing her in the cart while mommy and friend looked at shorts. Daddy was the one giving her French fries when we had lunch. Daddy was the one to buy her a new toy. Daddy was the one that spent all last night pushing her in a tiny wagon.
     Instead of getting crappy take out, we hit up Dennys for a bum change and lunch. She was chair dancing and stabbing my ice cubes with my straw. Random old women came over to talk yo her, say she was a good girl, and they didn't even know a baby was in the restaurant with them. She loved her French fries and the lemon wedge from my water.
     Wal-Mart did not have the fish food my friend needed, so we stopped in at PetsMart. She was loving looking at all the fish and the HUGE cats. When our cats go to the Rainbow bridge, we're thinking about fish. She helped carry the container of fish food to the cash- tripping a few times and even putting it in the shopping baskets at the end of each aisle. When we got to the cash, she grabbed a pink raccoon dog toy and was in love with it. She laughed every time she squeezed it. Daddy forked out $2.25 in change for it, and said he would regret it later if she kept squeezing it. Unlike toys made for babies (Sophie) that she can't make squeak, she can make it squeak.
    I have a feeling she's decided to drop to one nap a day. Even though we were gogogo, there was time at 11am to nap like normal..but she didn't. She didn't nap until 6pm, and then I woke her up for late dinner. She was back asleep after playing in bed with us at 8-9pm...and now I must move her so I can snuggle in.

Bribes win battles

     I don't care what anyone says, bribes are good for babies. I sit on the floor of my daughter's room as she plays in her crib. This is a MAJOR improvement from even last night.

    Last night, she was super hyper and refusing to sleep or even settle. I brought her to the crib and she had a freak out. I sat on the floor and read to her. She started to settle down once Woody or Molly told her what to do. At about 11pm, I gave in. She came to bed, nursed, and slept til 9am.

     This afternoon, we're playing in the crib. Lights are fully on (even though they don't need to be). I brought with us a bowl of puffs (or as I call them "baby bribes"). She got upset when I went to go to the bathroom, but realized she had snacks and promptly dumped them to eat them. For the past 30-40 minutes (I've not really kept track), she's been playing by herself as I write letters, check emails, text, and take picture proof.

     This makes me a happy mama. This makes me think "maybe tonight?!"

Crib wars

     Doesn't that crib look like a super safe and comfortable place to rest?! Not for this baby. She freaks out whenever she goes near her crib.
      Today, I put her down so I could rinse out a diaper. She was in it less than 5 minutes and was losing her mind. I comforted her and kept her in there while I organized stuff to go into the garage (still in her room).
      We have tried playing in her room, playing in her crib and no such luck even getting her to sit down.

      It breaks my heart that she hates her crib so much. It's only been just recently that she will sometimes nap off me, but those naps are not as long.

Going night night

     Lastnight I decided to try the crib again. It started because she just wanted to play or nurse or do both at once.
  
     I put her in & instead of fully freaking out, she would whine. I was sitting on the floor, but if I stood, she would flip. In the end, I had to crawl out of the bedroom.
She was fine, if not whiney. Then she started to scream frantically, and I saved her.
     I wrapped her in a blanket and rocked her, while humming Christmas songs. She fell asleep in my arms. I tried to put her back in the crib. She woke up. She just stood, whining on the bars while I sat on the floor. Eventually, she fell asleep again....but she was standing. Into our bed she went.
     Mommy 0. Kaelynn 369

Sleep

     Tonight at dinner, the topic of where MY baby sleep came up. I have no idea how, but it's come up before and it's always the same thing with the same person (and with the same words).
     We live with a housemate and a sister in law. The housemate (never married, no kids, of course knows best) rambled on about how his co-workers child slept in his mom's bed until he was 2 and it took 5 years to get him into his own bed, including having a bed for mom in his room. He then goes on to say we should let her scream in her crib for 20 mins and she will pass out - after a few nights she will learn.

     1- we do not cry it out. Tried it once when she was little and just no.
     2- she will scream and cry and sweat and cry and not sleep at all.
     3- where MY baby sleeps is personal and my own business.

     She is able to fall asleep in our bed. We are able to fall asleep in our bed. I don't have to get up to feed her or cuddle her if she wakes up in a panic. I have started to try to transfer her over, but putting her in wakes her up. There are nights where we get feet in the face, sleepless nights where she just wants to play because we are in close proximity. I can't sleep on my belly, flailed out anymore because someone else is in bed...but I wouldn't change it right now. 
     Notice I am saying all this in a mommy voice?! It's because daddy has nothing to do with bedtime.I get her ready. I nurse her to sleep. I transfer her (try to).  

     Therefore, it's MY business. When the time comes to actually have her in her own bed,alone, we will figure that out.

Sound asleep

     Tonight is the first night that I've been able to get her to sleep without nursing. It was surprisingly hard, yet easy at the same time. For almost a year, she has been nursed to sleep every night and nap. After lastnight's horrible sleep, I needed to figure something out.
    Lastnight, bed time was perfect...except for the waking at midnight and then wanting to play until 2 am. Today, I was a zombie.
     Tonight, she had a mini nap (bad) and then woke up full of beans. She was jumping around the bed, making a nest, talking to the wall, harassing the cat, and trying to escape. Daddy is gone, babysitting someone else's kid, and I was left alone with this wild monkey. All evening, I was trying to nurse her down, but then she would get distracted. It was a case of "ooooh the wall. Oooh boob. Oooh ribbon on mama's housecoat. Ooooh boooooob". I was getting fed up.
     I grabbed her soft blankie and lay it down to swaddle her. She grabbed one corner, let me fold up the feet and grabbed for the other corner. Little baby burrito with her arms out. Next came the hard.part. I lay her against my chest and just held her, not letting her go. There was resistance. There was crying. There were forehead kisses and humming. Then she started to "wash her hands", suck her fingers and sing her sleepy song. Passed out without nursing. Win.
     The hard part is going to be transferring her to beside me.

6 months old

      Happy half birthday kiddo! Time feels like it has gone by so fast! You're getting bigger everyday and you're learning so much! I look at you and wonder "where did my little baby go?"
      You're able to blow raspberries, half attempting to crawl (sometimes), and always attempting to stand. You've got your moods and are now refusing to sleep in your crib, but I am taking all the baby snuggles I can get before you're "too old".

There are no signs of teeth yet, still a little tooth nub that is causing Kaelynn to eat her fists all the time. Even toothless, she is enjoying food. So far, peas, carrots and squash have gone over well. Next we have avacado and zucchini.

 

     Some favourite games are being a Baby Hat. Kaelynn is placed on top of someone's head and while bouncing, someone says babyhat over and over. Hands placed properly, once she's flipped upside down, it's a giggle fit. She's starting to use her Sophie like a teether and has been taking a soother more often. She's gotten into reading her own books and playing with flyers. She will turn the pages and help.

   On Monday, she has her 6 month shots, so her stats aren't too far behind this update. This is convient since on Saturday we are going to the zoo. I hope she enjoys it. (reminder: check Toronto weather).

 

     Today, we gave her a first taste of lemon. She loves garlic pickles, so I was unure about how she would react. Of course, I had to wait for Daddy to come home.





"She Should....."

     I like to think that we have a strong willed baby (much like I am). I like to think I am capable of asking for help if I need it. We've been going along great up until now when people want to voice their opinions on how to "help". These people have never had children, nor do they spend a large amount of time around Kaelynn.

     "she should learn to take a soother so she's not on your boob all the time"

"she should learn to self soothe"

"she should learn to sleep in her own bed"

"she should learn to use teethers"

 

     Yes, she should learn, but she is only 5.5months old. She is too busy learning more usefull things, plus trying to come to terms with painful things trying to burst through her gums. She chews on her Sophie sometimes, on frozen icepacks, and on warm teethers - all are sometimes and none are by free will.

    

     When it comes to sleeping, she is back in our bed. We put her in her crib, and sometimes she will sleep for about 2 hours and then be awake and wanting to party. At this point,there is nothing I can do to put her down - unless I want to stay awake for hours. Once brought to bed, she wants to play for a bit, but because it's dark and quiet already she's able to nurse herself to sleep. This way, it's bonding time for the whole family and we sleep (roughly) hours at a time.
     Talking with people about her sleep habits (because they asked), we got the advice to let her cry herself to sleep. Jake replied that she will cry for an hour and just keep going. "Oh, let her keep crying, eventually she will fall asleep". No thanks. Early on, we let her cry it out mainly because she was just whining and not really crying. Now with teething coming in, she SCREAMS. I can't just let her scream and be alone in her crib - if she is just whiny and rolling around, she stays.

 

      I've heard that it takes a village to raise a baby, but in the end, it's my baby. I'm the one who is there for her 24/7. Unless you're willing to care for her for about a week - to see ALL her moods- than helpful hints are not welcome.