Sleepless and Discouraged

*Warning: This is not a "Happy Happy Joy Joy" post. If you need more positive vibes in your life, you best move on from here.*

I am absolutely, completely, utterly, and in all other ways exhausted.

Back in September, I started taking steps to improve Sophia's sleep. I put up curtains in her room to make it darker. I set up a small fan for white noise. I implemented a bedtime routine. I made sure to wake her at the same time every morning so that naps and bedtime would be the same every day. Then I finally taught her to fall asleep on her own.

I was seeing improvements. There was a light at the end of the tunnel.

But here we are, three months later, and it all seems like a complete waste. She is up at least 6 times every night. She resists sleep and has a hard time falling asleep on her own. She's back to only napping for half an hour. I honestly don't know what happened. She's regressed completely, and I feel like it's even worse than it was in September.

Sleep is all I can think about these days, but I have no idea how to make it happen. I spend every morning trying to snooze a little bit more. I spend my afternoons trying to keep an overtired baby happy. I'm barely functional. My sanity, and the state of our apartment, are slowly deteriorating.

I'm tempted, many times, to just let her scream and cry in her playpen, but I know it won't help. I've actually tried the Cry-It-Out method a couple of times, but it doesn't work. Instead of going to sleep, she works herself into a hysterical frenzy. She hiccups and coughs and can barely catch her breath. She sounds like she's going hoarse. She doesn't actually sleep longer, and when she's awake, she's clingy and fussy. Her playpen becomes a place of fear, instead of a place of rest.

Plus, we have neighbors. On the other side of Sophia's bedroom wall is a nice, young (childless) couple who shouldn't be forced to listen to that process and lose sleep too.

I'm at a loss. I honestly don't know where to go from here, except to beg God every waking moment (of which there are plenty) that He'll miraculously make Sophia sleep better.

A Random List (Because I Am SO Tired)

- Yesterday was Art's birthday. We invited his family and a whole bunch of friends to a new Japanese buffet that opened up here. Art's mom gave Sophia a deep fried squid ring, and Sophia noshed on it the whole evening. Rubbery seafood makes for great teething toys. It also makes everything smell like fish. I guess I'll have to do more baby laundry. Again.

- One of our friends gave Art a gift of homemade cookies. She's in school for engineering, but she should just forget that and open a bakery instead. She's good. So Art begged her for some cookies, and she was happy to comply. And we ate them for breakfast today. Because I'm tired and refused to make breakfast.

- Sophia is consistently up 3 times per night, at basically the same times. Did I mention I'm tired?

- We're listening to a lot of Christmas music these days (thank you, Spotify!), which makes me happy. It also makes me want to put up our Christmas tree, which makes me sad, because we have no place to put it! If we could just sell our TV, then we could put a tiny table in that place, and put the tree on that table. Anybody know anyone in this area who would like to purchase a used-but-in-great-condition flat screen TV?

- Did you know that I hate whip cream? On cakes, pies, on my Oreo milkshake from Jack In The Box.... They usually ask whether you want whip cream and a cherry on your shake, but on Monday they didn't ask me, and I forgot that whip cream on shakes is part of their SOP. My shake wasn't as enjoyable. I lead such a hard life. ;)

- Friends and church ladies keep blessing me with clothes for Sophia. (A woman at church is going to pack a bag full of hand-me-downs from her two daughters.) When our friends Wayne and Sozan showed up at Art's birthday buffet feast, Sozan handed me a long-sleeved shirt and a winter coat for Sophia. I've been fretting about how to dress her warm enough for the cold weather, because winter gear is expensive, even for babies! Another friend gave us a hat and mitts a while back, so all I have to do is find Sophia some warm shoes/boots, and she's all set!

- I love living on the 4th floor in the winter. We barely have to turn on the heat, because the 3 floors beneath us keep us warm enough.

- I'm going to end this list now, because I'm really truly tired. I'm not going to think about all the things I could and should be doing during Sophia's nap. I need a nap myself. Happy Wednesday!

Sophia's 8 Month Update

At first I thought this would be a pretty lame update, because there really hasn't been many new developments since last month. But she did have a few fun firsts, which you'll see at the end of this post.

- She's still not crawling (although I don't do nearly enough tummy time with her, so that probably has something to do with it).

- She's been teething forever, but no sign of any teeth. (Side note: I won a Facebook contest with the online cloth diaper retailer Dearest Diapers, and the prize was a gift card for the store. This store also carries Baltic amber teething necklaces, so I'm going to buy her one very soon.)

-When I was planning to write this post, I was also going to mention that she still doesn't roll over, but on Sunday, she rolled from her tummy to her back all by herself! I've tried to get her to do it again, but I guess she felt that once was enough. ;)

-She's wearing 9 month and 12 month sized clothes. We recently bought her some Christmas pajamas and a Christmas dress. I can't wait to show you pictures of her wearing them!

-She is FINALLY on a schedule! [It probably shouldn't have taken this long, but hey, you live and learn, and you know what to do differently with the next kid.] Knowing when she'll wake up, nap, and go to bed has made my life so much easier.

-I recently implemented Dr. Sears' method of teaching her to fall asleep on her own, and that has made a huge difference. I love that I don't have to nurse her to sleep anymore. She takes longer naps, and goes to bed earlier.

The only downside is that I incorrectly assumed that this would lead to fewer night wakings, but it seems she wakes up more than ever. I'm up with her anywhere from 4 to 6 times every night, and often all these wakings are between 2:00 am and 6:00 am, so that's 4 hours of sleep I'm not getting. I don't want to night wean her completely, but I don't know how to go about reducing the wakings.

Well, I do have a few ideas, but it's hard to remember them, and even harder to put them into practice when it's 3:00 am and I'm barely awake. I'll see how these next few nights go, and I'll try to remind myself to be strong, even though it's the middle of the night and I desperately want to go back to bed.

-I've been trying to give her solids twice a day, but it's hard because I can't share my breakfast with her (eggs give her eczema). I've gotten into the habit of giving her some banana in the morning instead, but I forgot that bananas cause constipation. In the past week and a half, she's only had two dirty diapers. So I cut out solids, and I just started giving her some prune juice. So hopefully we get that all cleared up soon!

-She had her first Halloween! We didn't go Trick-or-Treating, but we did dress her up in somewhat of a costume. My mom got this outfit for her.

Despite the fact that we didn't go door-to-door, Sophia still managed to score a bunch of candy, because Art's mom put together a little Halloween basket for her!

She really enjoyed the noisy packaging, and Art and I really enjoyed the candy inside. ;D

-Mari and I bought her some hair elastics, and she got her very first ponytail!

Which quickly turned into two cute little pigtails.

Which then became three...

...and then turned into four.

Our goal is to eventually make her look like Coolio, only cuter. [Please click the link. It's hilarious.]

So that's our 8 month old girl! Since I won't be posting for the rest of the week, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving on a Tuesday

I usually try to post at least once a week, but that didn't happen last week. I haven't been getting enough sleep (thanks to Sophia, but more on that in her 8 month update post, coming tomorrow!). I've been exhausted, and just trying to get through each day. No mental energy to come up with blog posts.

But, like I said, Sophia's 8 month update will go up tomorrow. And today?

Today we will be at Art's parents' house for Thanksgiving! Because of every body's schedules, it worked better to do Thanksgiving today instead of Thursday. Art's mom is hosting, but not cooking, so we're getting the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pies cooked in advance, and they're going to pick it all up in the afternoon. I've cooked entire Thanksgiving dinners in the past, and I would love to do it this year, but now that I have a baby, it's just not possible.

I'll be making the green bean casserole and candied yams there, but I've picked the most simple versions possible, so it will be quick, and easy, and stress-free. I made the spinach dip last night, so it's all ready to go.

This will definitely be one of the most laid back Thanksgivings we'll ever have. Well, it will probably be like this for the next couple of years. But believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to the day when I can spend hours and hours in the kitchen, making (nearly) every dish from scratch (with a little help). There is something so rewarding about sitting down to a Thanksgiving feast, knowing that you cooked all of it (and hopefully did a good job).

It's weird, because normally I wouldn't say that I love cooking. But when it comes to a great, big turkey dinner? I am more than happy to "slave away" at it. Of course, we can't forget that a full day of cooking helps to build up a big appetite.

And since no Thanksgiving post would be complete without giving thanks for something: I am thankful that Art pretty much has the whole week off, both from work, and school. I have no idea what we're going to do with all the free days ahead of us, but it will be nice just having him around. I'm sure Sophia will love it too. :)

Stress-Free Supper

Ever since Sophia was born, I have dreaded making dinner. It seemed like it was the one thing I could never accomplish, because it took too long.

Cleaning is no problem. I can do a little bit here, and a little bit there. If Sophia gets bored and starts fussing, I can abandon the project and come back to it later.

But meals don't work that way (rather, they don't work very well that way). So for a few months, I was barely making dinner, much to Art's displeasure. I am sorry to say that we had many arguments about it.

Then, a couple of months ago, my friend Sozan came across a blog (I'm sorry, I don't know which one, or I would link to it) where a group of moms solved their dinner dilemmas by getting together and making all their meals for the entire month. I think they must do this over the course of one weekend.

I thought this was a neat idea, but not very practical for someone with limited freezer space, living in an apartment. I'm sure these women have deep freezers where they can store all their pre-made meals.

However, Sozan had an idea to do a modified version of this that would make dinner preparations a little easier. She suggested spending several hours chopping up the vegetables that I use on a regular basis, and freezing them in Ziploc bags. My freezer may not have room for entire meals, but it definitely has room for pre-chopped veggies.

So one evening when Art had already left for his night shift, I pulled out my cutting board and a chef's knife and got to work.

And Sophia helped!

Sort of.

Mostly she just threw things on the floor.

[By the way, why do they sell celery in such large quantities? Are there people out there who actually use that much celery in a short space of time? I swear, we'll have enough to last us a year.]

Anyway, I managed to keep Sophia pretty entertained (we only had to take a couple of quick breaks). And in just a few hours I had chopped enough carrots, celery, green peppers, red peppers and onions to last a couple of months!

The payoff has been huge! Making dinner is SO easy and quick now, because I don't have to spend time chopping vegetables (that part often takes the longest). I can just pull them out of the freezer while the meat is cooking, and something like lasagna or meatloaf comes together in a snap.

So if you're a busy mom (and what mom isn't busy?!) and you're looking for ways to speed up the dinner-making process, this is one way to do it. I am able to make several healthy and delicious dinners per week, and it takes mere minutes. Art and I are much happier, and Sophia? Well, I think Sophia is working on busting out some teeth so she can partake in these yummy suppers.

Pillow Talk: Episode 3

The following conversation took place early in the morning a few days ago. Art was surprisingly wide awake, but I was really groggy and did not want to open my eyes. Art snuggled close to me and started saying silly things to get me to wake up.

Art: "You know what you need? A good morning kiss."

Me: "Hm."

Art: *Whispering* "Tonsil hockey. Tee hee!"

Me: *Mumbling* "I hate hockey."

Art: "Tonsil....reading?"

Me: "Wha...?"

Art: "I don't know. I was just trying to think of something you do like."

Me: "That doesn't even make sense. Tonsil reading....."*Snort* *I start laughing uncontrollably*

Me: "Oh, I'm so tired! That wasn't even that funny!"

Art: "....Yeah. I think you need to put on the long sleeved jacket that ties in the back. Get it? Because it's a straight jacket?"

Me: "Shhh!"

Christians Are People Too

Last Wednesday afternoon found me venting to a friend of mine, via Facebook. My opening line was as follows: "Sometimes, I get mad at Christian bloggers, and I want to slap them."

I realize how horrible that sounds, and I've since cooled off, and no longer have the urge to inflict pain on my fellow blogging Christians. But at the time, I was very angry, as well as exhausted.

The previous two nights yielded very little sleep. Sophia woke up no fewer than 12 times in 13 hours. Both nights. Her longest stretch of sleep was just shy of two hours. Sometimes, she woke up multiple times in the same hour.

Sometime during the second night, I tried to distract myself from the frustration building inside of me by composing a blog post (in my head) regarding these nightly trials. And then I realized that I would never be able to publish such a post, because it would make me look like a bad Christian.

If someone is a believer in Christ, then the consequence of that should be that they become more like Christ. This should be evident in all aspects of their life, including on their blogs. And someone who is Christ-like wouldn't so easily lose her joy, peace, and patience over something as trivial as not getting enough sleep. And if she did lose her cool, she certainly wouldn't complain about in a public forum, because then she is no longer setting a Christ-like example.

I do think it is important for Christian bloggers to censor themselves and choose their words and topics carefully. But I also think that sometimes, Christian bloggers are trying so hard to look like good Christians that they forget that they need to be human too.

As a fellow Christian blogger, I don't want my blog to become a place where all I do is rant and rave. As I put it to my friend, nobody wants to read Prairie Girl Gone Negative. But I also don't want to (inadvertently) pretend that my life is all sunshine and rainbows, so that nobody can relate to me. I don't want to turn readers away because they think I have a perfect life, and they're jealous.

This is how I felt last week. I looked at all these beautiful Christian ladies with their beautiful blogs about their wonderful lives, and I got jealous. I felt like a bad mom and a bad Christian because my life didn't look like their seemingly-perfect lives. And I hate feeling that way.

I know that the jealousy thing is something I need to work on. And I'm not saying that Christian bloggers should make a habit of airing their dirty laundry. But sometimes, a mom needs to know that she's not the only one who doesn't have a perfect, happy, sleeping-through-the-night baby. I need to know that I'm not the only Christian woman who experiences occasional moments of such intense anger and frustration, that I want to scream, and cry, and pull my hair out.

I want my blog to be a place where others find joy and encouragement, but I also want it to be a place where people find relief because they know that they are not the only imperfect Christians/humans out there. It's a delicate balance that won't be easy to maintain. But that is my goal. And I hope that I can find other Christian blogs that offer both sides as well.

Don't worry, I'm not going to dump my entire blogroll and go in search of a completely new set of blogs. I also don't believe that my assessment of other Christian bloggers was entirely accurate. My exhaustion was causing me to overreact. It was short-lived and I have since become more rational and realistic.

Also, both Sophia and I have been sleeping much better since those two awful nights. I figured out what the problem was: her room was too cold! It was a simple solution of dressing her a little warmer at night. And now I feel silly for getting so upset. But all's well that ends well.

Anyway, these are the thoughts that have been swirling around my brain this past week. Also, kuddos to two real-life friends of mine (Kat and Mandi) who had the courage to blog about some less-than-stellar recent experiences.

In conclusion: I'm so thankful that God is always good because sometimes life isn't. And there is no shame in admitting that.

Sophia's 7 Month Update

Sophia is officially over half way to her first birthday!

I have no idea how much she weighs, but she wears 9 month clothing now, and most of it is snug on her. I'm planning on buying her a few things in preparation for winter, and I'm going to skip right to the 12 month sizes.

She's very talkative, and has lots of different syllables and sounds. No actual words yet, but she often sounds like she's saying "Dada" or "Daddy", so I've been trying to encourage her to say it, and hopefully associate the word with her dad.

She can sit upright on her own, and hardly falls down anymore.

When she does fall over, she's getting good at putting her elbow out to brace herself so she doesn't ht her head. Sometimes, she even manages to twist mid-fall and roll onto her stomach! Clever girl.

Both of her grandmas, and my friend, bought her some new clothes, including this adorable outfit, with a matching bib. Check out the cute ruffles on her bum!

She wore it when she had her third date with Zachary.

I think he was impressed.

She still doesn't sleep through the night, but for the most part, she's only been waking up once. Unfortunately, she has a bad habit of turning that one middle-of-the-night waking into a playtime. I'm not sure how to prevent this, but I'm going to keep trying with consistently waking her up at the same time every day, and making sure she takes proper naps.

She finally had her dedication October 16th. Here she is before church.

The dedication was pretty simple. First, our pastor gave us three tips for raising Godly children: pray with them, let them see us do our devotions, and look for those teachable moments where we can show how God's Word applies to the situation.

Second, Art said a prayer for our family.

Finally, our pastor anointed Sophia with oil and prayed for us.

And gave Sophia a rose!

[Side note: I didn't realize how short the pants were on her dedication outfit. Once I got her dressed, I realized that she looked kind of like a pirate!]

She's still not crawling or scooting, but during her tummy time this morning, I observed her pushing herself ever so slightly backwards! So we'll keep working on that.

We're discovering more ways to make her laugh, and I maintain that as she gets older, life with a baby gets easier and better.

Oh, Didn't I Tell You?

I took a bit of a hiatus.

See, two weeks ago, I had a really busy week. But it was a good busy (and you will rarely hear me say that. In general, I hate being busy). It was full of cleaning and making dinners or dinner prep, making baby food, running errands, and laundering everything. I was incredibly productive and it felt good.

Then last week, I decided to take it easy. Waaaaaaay easy. I did as little as possible, and it was wonderful.

The weather around here has been alternating between beautiful fall days, and rainy fall days. On the rainy days, all I did was relax and drink tea. On the sunny days, all we did was sit outside and play and read.

It's been nice just to slow down, and do a whole lot of nothing.

Side note: for those wondering if I solved the ammonia problem, the soak-the-diapers-in-the-bathtub method worked!

Next time (if there is a next time), I will just do that one first.

Anyway, I plan to get back into the blogging thing. I've got a bunch of posts planned for the next couple of weeks, including Sophia's seven month update.

Stay tuned, and happy Monday!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I've set this post to publish late Friday morning, but when I started writing it, it was past midnight, and when I finished, it was nearly 1:30 am.

My bedtime has long since come and gone (and then some), I am tired, and I so wish I was asleep right now. But I am still up because Sophia is having "staying-asleep issues" again. And also gas. I'm thinking maybe her tummy hurts a little bit?

Normally, by this point, I would be way past the end of my rope, but tonight, my spirits are high. Why, you ask?

Well, it might be because I finally got my hands (and mouth) on some chocolate. [I was so desperate for a fix that I resorted to eating chocolate chips straight from the bag, which is really too bad because I was going to use them to bake cookies today, and now I don't have enough].

Or maybe I'm in such a surprisingly good mood thanks to a little blog called Rants From Mommyland.*

A while back, they did a three-part series on the funny things that kids say. The posts are quite literally causing me to laugh out loud (but not too loud, lest I wake Sophia). And the comments that follow each post? A goldmine of funny.

Here is one such comment:

My husband, when he cooks for himself, uses a lot of hot sauce, tuna, and whatever else he finds in the fridge or pantry. One day he was making himself lunch, and our 6yo daughter said: "Daddy, sometimes when you cook it smells bad to little children. I'm one of those children."

Please, do yourself a favor and kick off the weekend with heaping dose of humorous kid-speak.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

*Warning: This blog is not always PG. Especially these posts, which contain swearing (mostly accidental), potty humor, and anatomy "lessons."

A Follow-Up to Yesterday's Post

After I published the post below, I put up a notification on Facebook about it, because some of my friends (who do not have blogs of their own) read my blog. My friend Libby left this comment (on Facebook), and I thought it was important to address it:

"For those of us unaccustomed to these things [the world of cloth diapering and ammonia problems], can you explain what that is and why it's a bad thing? Besides the smell?"

Libby, I'm glad you asked, because now I get to play Teacher and give you all a mini science lesson on pee! I sure know how to kick off the weekend, don't I? Nothin' but fun times around here...

Anyway.

The reason humans urinate and defecate is to rid the body of waste. The components of waste are toxic, and if the body did not have a method of getting rid of these toxins, our bodies would be greatly harmed, and we would die.

One of the toxins that needs to be eliminated is nitrogen. When nitrogen bonds with hydrogen, Ammonia is created. Since peeing out straight ammonia would damage the urethra, it is converted into Urea, and that is where we get urine from.

So, a baby urinates into a diaper. That diaper needs to be cleaned. How do you clean something? You use water and soap to break down the substances so they can be eliminated.

When the urine in a cloth diaper is broken down, ammonia is released. If the diaper is not properly cleaned, the ammonia can be left behind.

Ammonia is caustic (or corrosive). It irritates and burns skin. Ammonia in a diaper will quickly cause an extremely painful red and blistering diaper rash.

So that's why I'm attacking the ammonia problem like a crazy mad woman. I need to save my baby's bum!

Callie wanted to know if ammonia will ruin cloth diapers. No, ammonia will not ruin cloth diapers. And remember, not only is the ammonia issue solvable, it's preventable! Rinse well for happy diapers and happier baby bottoms.

A Is For Ammonia

So you know how I said that cloth diapers aren't really that much work? Well, it's true most of the time.

But then there are times when it's a lot of work. Like this week? We are battling the dreaded ammonia. [Which is still preferable to the very, very dreaded yeast problem. Dear Jesus, please protect us from yeast. I don't want to have to quit cloth diapering.]

A couple of days ago, I opened up the diaper pail to begin a load of diaper laundry, and the smell just hit me. My nostrils were burning, my eyes starting watering, my head started hurting...I thought to myself, "Oh, THAT'S what ammonia smells like." I had read descriptions of it, but when you actually encounter it? It is awful and unmistakable.

[Also, if you've ever dyed your hair, you've already encountered the horrible odor. It is a smell you do not want coming out of your diapers!]

Thankfully, I was prepared for this situation. During one my (many) baby showers, someone gifted me with Rockin Green's Ammonia Bouncer, designed to get rid of "the stinkies." So I busted out the detergent, read the directions, and did my usual laundry routine (cold rinse, hot wash with detergent, cold rinse), with an extra hot ammonia-bouncing wash thrown in there. Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

The next day, every time I changed Sophia's diaper, the ammonia smell was there. Faint, but present. So I decided to do two things:

1. Say a prayer of thanks that Sophia's bum wasn't flaming red (although it's getting there - poor girl!).

2. Kick into high gear. Pull out all the stops. Beat. This. Ammonia. DOWN.

New wash routine: cold rinse, hot wash with ammonia bouncer with three pots of boiling water added in, hot wash with detergent, warm wash with baking soda and vinegar, and finally, three cold rinses. I wish I could sun dry the diapers, but I don't have the time, and it's raining, and apartment policy states that our decks are not to be used to dry laundry.

And the above routine? I get to do it twice! Because I can only wash half of Sophia's diapers at a time. Otherwise she wouldn't have any diapers to wear.

So Plan A didn't totally work, Plan B is still in process, but if the ammonia still isn't gone, I have a Plan C: put Sophia in disposables for a couple of days, and soak every last diaper, cover, insert, wipe, and wet bag in a bathtub full of hot water, plus boiling water from the stove, plus a few scoops of ammonia bouncer, and leave it over night. Then toss them in the washer and rinse, rinse, rinse. [This seemed to work for Autumn Beck, who writes AllAboutClothDiapers.com.]

And if Plan C doesn't work? I'm not even going there. Dear Sweet Lord in Heaven, please let one of these plans work. We cannot afford disposables. Many women before have battled ammonia and won. Be gracious unto me and unto Sophia's diapers. Amen.

So for those who are currently cloth diapering or will cloth diaper, you may be wondering if there is a way to avoid ammonia problems altogether. According to one mom, who commented on Autumn's get-rid-of-ammonia post, the key is more water. Spray or rinse every single diaper as soon as it comes off your baby's bum (yes, even the pee diapers). Add an extra rinse at the end of your laundry routine.

[You could also add a sprinkle of Funk Rock Ammonia Bouncer to every pre-wash, if you can afford it. According to the Rockin Green website, one bag will last you about two months.]

I am definitely going to start doing more rinsing. Yes, it's a little more time, and a little more work, but I am more than happy to add these (relatively easy) extra steps to my routine if it means keeping Sophia in cloth diapers, and keeping ammonia OUT. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

But until I've eliminated the stinkies for good, the next couple of days will find me spending a lot of quality time with my washing machine, and Sophia's bum spending a lot of quality time with the fresh air around her.

Ah, the Mommy life.

Sophia's 6 Month Update

Wow. My baby is six months already! How has half a year passed? I didn't used to feel like time was flying by, but now I do!

So here's what's new with my not-so-little girl:

1. She's sitting up unsupported (for the most part). She's still wobbly, but she's getting really good at finding her balance. Most of the time I try to sit by her to catch her in case she decides to topple over, or I place pillows or blankets around her. However, if I have her on our bed, then I just let her lean and fall which ever way she will go, to get her to practice balancing and righting herself into a proper back-laying or tummy laying position when she flops to one side.

2. She finally got a Bumbo, and she loves it! The bouncy seat just isn't cutting it anymore, because it reclines, but she wants to be more upright. I love that I can just plunk her in it anywhere, and as long as I attach the tray and give her a bunch of toys, and as long as she can see me, she's pretty happy! Of course, she also loves to throw those toys around, so I am constantly picking them up and giving them back to her. It's good way to ensure that I still spend plenty of time playing with her.

3. She's talking. A lot. No decipherable words yet, but I still love to listen to it. It sounds like "bwa bwa bwa, ya ya ya." And then I ask her, "Can you say 'Mama'?" And she just grins and carries on with her babbling.

4. She definitely leans towards and/or reaches for the things she wants. And when she can't grasp those things, she whines. It's funny that you don't have to teach kids to whine and complain, they just seem to know how to do it! Of course, that makes me wonder just many times Art and I have demonstrated impatience and frustration in front of her. I shouldn't just assume that she doesn't notice these things. It's got me thinking that I need to practice being more joyful. It would do us both good!

The first person who can tell me what she's watching here on YouTube gets 100 internet points.

5. She eats solid food nearly every day now. New foods that she tried are chicken, carrots, mango, and pumpkin cookies (so much for not giving her sugar!). She LOVED the carrots. And I think she enjoyed the mango too, but then my doctor told me that mangoes tend to be a common allergy for babies, so I'm not allowed to feed that to her, which makes me sad.

I've started mashing foods and freezing them, so that I have small portions to give her every day. Right now it's just carrots and bananas, but I'm going to try to do sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and apples. And maybe peas.

She also tried drinking from a cup not too long ago. She always watches intently when I drink from my water bottle, so I put a tiny bit in a cup and let her experiment with sipping. She did alright. I should probably let her try more often. I bet she could be a pro at it in no time.

6. She weighs over 16 pounds now; she's almost tripled her birth weight!

7. She chews on everything. And she's starting to bite me when she nurses. It makes me wonder if she's going to cut her first tooth soon. My first breastfeeding goal is to make it past those first teeth, and we are rapidly approaching that test. I feel like if I can survive her cutting teeth, then I'll have no worries nursing her well past her first birthday. [One year of breastfeeding doesn't seem nearly long enough, but two years seems too long, so I'm thinking maybe 18 months? But we'll see. Maybe it will be longer, maybe it will be shorter.]

8. She is no longer sleeping through the night. In fact, in a few short weeks she has gone from one night waking to four or five! I'm not sure if it's a growth spurt, or teething, but I'm going to give it a couple of more weeks, and if nothing changes, then I'm going start implementing the sleep training methods to get her to sleep more during the night.

9. Speaking of sleep training, her naptimes have improved a lot! I put up curtains in her room to make it darker, and I put a fan in there for white noise. I've also started waking her at the same time every morning, and waking her early enough for her to have a decent bedtime. I think all these things are helping her nap better. I've also implemented a bedtime routine (yes, believe it or not, I did not used to have a nighttime ritual). I think it's helping her go to bed earlier than she used to, which is good. But yikes, the rest of the night? Not so good.

I don't know if it's this age, or if it's because she's napping better and has more consistency in her from day to day, but in general she's a much happier baby.

10. She still can't roll over yet, but she tries. She rolls from her back to her side, and sometimes during tummy time, she looks like she might roll from her stomach to her back. She also has the crawling motions down, she just needs to figure out how to put them together. She either moves her arms or her legs, but not both at the same time.

Here she is surfing the internet for the first time. She seemed pretty engrossed by the political blogs.

It's so exciting to see her grow and develop in so many different ways. Part of me is anxious for her to show some mobility, but at the same time, I'm afraid of all the things she's going to get into once she can get around. We need more elevated surfaces around here... :)

Have a great weekend!

Our Summer Vacation to Manitoba

At the end of August, my mom flew the three of us out to the Canadian prairies to visit my family. My sister had a new baby, and my cousin was about to get married, so it was a good time to take a trip east.

Here are the highlights:

Sophia went on her first plane ride (and she did alright. She was fussier on the flight there than on the flight back).

Sophia met a lot of family for the first time, including her Babba (my dad),

...her great-grandparents,

...her Auntie Elleah (my sister),

...and her cousins.

We got a lot of slurpees,

... went to a wedding,

...played some new games,

...and just enjoyed being together again.

(We also enjoyed snuggling with our new niece, Haley.)

There was so much more that happened in that short week, but I was too busy loving every minute of it to take a lot of pictures (a bunch of these pictures were stolen from my sister). We have tentative plans to go there again in December. If it works out, I'll get to have a white Christmas!

And Just Like That, Three Weeks Flew By

I feel like half my posts begin with my apologizing for not blogging. Someone commented a while ago that it's my blog, so I can post as often or as little as I want to. Plus, I have a baby. So I refuse to feel guilty about it.

Anyway, here's a recap of the last three weeks.

We took a trip to Manitoba to visit family.


















We took advantage of the hot weather (that has now ended) and went swimming in the Stillaguamish river.

I've been trying to finish watching Alias. I loved that show when it was on, but only watched a couple of seasons. I started watching it again, then got away from it for a while, but I'm so close, and I really want to know how it ends.

I've been searching out doula blogs to read. I seriously can't get enough of the subject of childbirth. Which is a post all its own (and that post is coming soon).

I've been reading the No Cry sleep training books, and starting to implement some of those ideas. I can see a couple of improvements so far. More on that in Sophia's six month post.

I've just been living life, trying to be more organized,
but also trying to relax more. I hate running errands every day. Single people and childless married people have no idea what a gong show it is to do even the simplest thing, like going to the bank, when you have a baby.

And all this relaxing means we're taking more time to play and just have fun.