Sleeping Schedule Update

We have been doing the cry method with Sophia now for almost two weeks. She still cries when I first lay her down because she sees that I'm going to leave her, however, she now knows how to soothe herself and does so by rolling onto her side and snuggling with her blanket. She usually sleeps for about 5 hours, then wakes up to be fed, then goes back to sleep in her bassinet. She is adjusting nicely to the schedule and reading her 'sleepy signs' is a lot easier for me than it used to be. This schedule is heavenly, because Jeff and I now have some time in the evening for ourselves and Sophia is now getting the right amount of sleep and seems to be more content and happy through out the day. I'm so glad we chose to start at this age and not wait until she was older, despite her pediatrician's advice. I think every child is different. Sophia now sleeps better and so do we. Thanks to "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child".

Learning so much!

I can't believe how much Sophia has learned in the last few weeks! She is almost 6 months now and is accomplishing so much. She has a play center with a rotating chair that spins 360 degrees with stuff to play with. Her favorite part of it at this point are the balls that she puts in a cup and then tips the cup up so that the balls go down the slide and come out the other end. She loves this chair and will play in in for close to an hour. It stimulates her brain in many ways and has really begun to increase her hand eye coordination. It also plays music and makes different sounds when she pushes the buttons or pulls on a little lever. The only time she fusses in her chair is when she has thrown the balls on the ground and can't get them. Then I go over and hand all the balls back to her and she's a happy little camper once again. Her latest discovery on this chair is that it has a secret little compartment that she likes to open and close. Well, I wanted to see if she would find something if it put it in there. So I took one of the balls and put it in there and closed it while she wasn't looking. When I came back, the compartment was open and she had the ball in her hand. I was so proud of her little discovery!

Photo Opp...

I love to take pictures, so every chance I get I like to set Sophia up somewhere and snap a few pictures. These are a few of the latest.

New Introduction...

Sophia is now around 5 1/2 months old, so we thought we'd introduce her to rice cereal and see how she liked it. We only mixed up a little bit to see how her tummy would handle this new food. As we spooned it into her mouth, she wanted to help. She would grab the spoon and try to help me feed her. It was so cute. I thought the rice cereal would end up everywhere and that she was going to have more on her face than in her mouth. Actually, she was really good about opening her mouth and closing her lips around the spoon so that the cereal wouldn't spill everywhere. She seemed to love it and kept on wanting more! Her tummy seemed to handle the rice cereal just fine and she now looks forward to it every evening.

The light at the end of the tunnel?

        So last night when it came to bed time for Sophia, I nursed her, rocked her until she was rubbing her eyes and seemed groggy and then gently laid her in her bassinet. I put the baby monitor on and quietly walked out of the room and closed the door. Out in the living-room I watched her on the monitor slowly getting restless and fidgety. As time went on and I did not respond, she seemed to get more upset and cry. Then her cry turned into a scream and this went on for quite some time. I so badly wanted to go in there, pick her up and nurse her back to sleep, but I knew if I did this, it would only hinder her sleep schedule that we are trying to set for her. So against my very instinct, I sat there heartbroken, letting my baby girl cry. After an excruciating 40 minutes of her crying, she finally found her fist and began sucking on it to soothe herself to sleep. Never have I been so relieved. Listening to your child cry and holding yourself back from comforting them, is probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I know in the long run it will be worth it for both me and her. 

     I want to be consistent when it comes to nap time and bed time, so this morning I did the same routine. I nursed her, rocked her and when she started to rub her eyes and her eyelids started closing I laid her in her bassinet and went in the bathroom to take a shower. Her bassinet is in our room, and the bathroom is our master bathroom, so as I took my shower I could hear her going through the same crying phases; first she played a little and then realized I wasn't coming to grab her so she started to fuss a bit. Then the fussiness turned into crying, but she never got to the screaming stage. She just continued to lightly cry and fuss a bit. Then after about fifteen minutes, I couldn't hear here anymore, so I got out of the shower and peeked my head around the door to see what she was doing. She had her little fist up to her mouth and had fallen asleep. I felt another sense of relief. I'm hoping that if we stick to this routine, her crying time before bed will get less and less until she doesn't cry at all.  Man, it is hard and takes alot of determination, but if this schedule can help her to get better sleep at night and for Jeff and I as well, then we'll all better rested and have more energy for the day. So keep your fingers crossed that we're moving in the right direction :-) Time will only tell.

       

Bad Habits

      When I first used to put Sophia to sleep, I would rock her to sleep and lay her in her bassinet. As she got older and the lack of sleep began to ware on me with having to work four days a week, I began to nurse her to bed which usually resulted in both of us falling asleep. For the first few weeks this was nice because she always went to bed when we did and we got to snuggle together. But as she has gotten older, and much bigger, I am trying my hardest to get her back into her bassinet. Not that I don't still enjoy snuggling with her, but her little legs are much stronger these days and while she nurses, she fidgets and kicks me in the stomach by accident. She also likes to sprawl out at night and by morning Jeff and I are on the very edges of the bed and she's pretty much taken our bed from us.LOL. Oh, the power little ones have over us. 

      The first night I nursed her to sleep in bed and then got up to lay her in her bassinet. Her eyes popped open wide and she looked at me as if to say, "Mom, what do you think you are doing?" So, then we tried the rocking chair and finally she fell back to sleep, so I tried once again to put her in her bassinet. Nope, she wasn't having it, so once again, back to the rocking chair. When she awoke again when I tried for the third time to lay her down, I thought, okay, she's sleepy enough, I'm just going to let her cry it out and she'll fall asleep. Little did I know, that she has quite the determination. She began to cry and fuss, but then every so often she'd seem to stop and look as if she was finally giving in, and then her head would pop up, and out would come a yell for Mom and Dad. Finally, Jeff couldn't take it any more and and went to go grab her, I told him, "she has to learn to cry herself to sleep, she'll get tired of crying and fall asleep." LOL. So, I was wrong. She continued to cry and scream and get herself all worked up to where Jeff was about to cry and so I finally told him to go get her and I nursed her back to sleep and once again she slept with us in our bed.

       I have tried for the last four nights to lay her in her bassinet and every time she wakes up. I'm not sure if it's because we've trained her with sleeping in our bed or what, but eventually it's going to have to change, because our queen size bed seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

       We love our little girl with all our hearts, but a good nights sleep just sounds so nice right now. I guess I'm just going to have to be as determined to get her into her bassinet, as she is to stay out of it.

     

Ten tiny Toes

These little feet with ten tiny toes
the paths they will walk
the Lord only knows

Will they follow my footsteps
and walk in my shoes
or will they step off the path
and follow their muse

I know they may stumble
or even worse fall
but my hand will be there to
guide them through it all

These little feet, so precious so new
I look at them wondering
What God will have them do

Will they travel the world
in a pair of worn sneakers
or pirouette across the floor
in a grand ol' theater

Wherever they take her
these two little feet
I pray early in life
Her Savior she'll meet

I pray that she follows
in HIs footsteps, not mine
and leaves a trail behind her
with a light that will shine

Still no teeth...

So I was hoping by now Sophia would have a few choppers, but as of this moment she is still all gums. She covers all of her bibs in drool and is chewing and sucking on her fingers and everything in sight, but has yet to cut a tooth. I keep on thinking, a few more days and we'll see a little tooth pop through, but it never comes. You never, know she could still have a while to go before she gets any teeth. We'll have to just wait and see.

Makes a Splash!

With the weather being in the 90's on Saturday,  we went to my grandpa's house to cool off in their pool.  We thought we would take this opportunity to introduce Sophia to swimming. We already knew she loved her baths, but we wanted to introduce her to a bit cooler water and in a bigger volume. Very slowly we dipped her toes into the cool water, and then up to her knees, and finally up to her waist to see how she reacted. She loved it, so we put her into her Winnie the Pooh floaty chair and Jeff pushed her around in the pool. She smiled and loved being in the pool with daddy. We knew she loved water, but were surprised that the cold water didn't bother her. I can't wait to get her into swimming classes and see how much she enjoys it.

Little Beach Comber

          We headed down to Seaside for the 4th of July and stayed in a little condo not far from the beach. Thankfully the weather was nice, so on our first day we took Sophia for a walk into town. She loved all the sights and took it all in.We grabbed some lunch and on the way back before we knew it, Sophia was all tuckered out. 

       The next night (fourth of July), we took her into town for dinner and then we bundled all up and took her on the beach to watch the big fireworks show. She was so amazed at the light s and colors, but about 15 minutes into the show, she conked out. I guess we wore her out from all the excitement that day. So needless to say, her first 4th of July was pretty uneventful, we had alot of fun, just our little family and enjoyed every minute with our little girl! 

       We enjoyed ourselves so much, we were hesitant to come back. We hope to take her back to the beach again and hopefully next time it will be hot enough to take her on the beach and put her little toes in the sand.

        

Growing like a weed!

     Well, reluctantly I took Sophia to her 2nd doctor appointment for another set of shots, not my favorite thing to do. She now weighs a whopping 16 lbs. and is 27 inches long! I can't keep this girl in any of her clothes! She shot up since her last appointment, so much that the doctor couldn't believe it. She is now wearing 6 month clothing. She is also ahead for her age on what she can do, such as awareness and being able to roll from back to tummy, and almost being able to sit up on her own. That was exciting to hear.

     Surprisingly when the time came to get her shots, she cried for a moment at the initial poke and then once I picked her up, she stopped. What a relief! Last time she cried for ten minutes and it was so hard for me to see and hear her in pain. 

      I asked the doctor about rice cereal, just because Sophia still feeds almost every 2-3 hours, just as if she was a newborn. So I was thinking if I fed her rice cereal, it may make it to where she wouldn't need to feed so often. Unfortunately, the doctor said to hold off with cereal until 6 months and that the reason she was feeding so often if because she is now sleeping through the night and is waking up super hungry. I can't wait to start feeding her solids, though, because I'm curious to see what she's going to like and dislike. It's just another area I'm excited to explore with her.

      I can't believe how fast she is growing! I feel like I leave her for a few hours and she grows another few inches. People try to tell you how fast kids grow up, but you never really understand until you have a child of your own. With how big her feet and hands are, I'm pretty sure she's going to be taller than her mommy, but then again 5' 2" isn't exactly tall.LOL. 

    So all in all, her appointment went good and I now have 2 more months before the next set of shots. Ouch! I'm sure it will fly by.