Sleep

Okay, so those of you that know me know that when it comes to sleep, I am a bit of a fanatic. The one thing I cannot stand is an overtired child, especially my own. I find that this is when a lot of behavior problems occur and my children especially struggle when they are tired. Now, this doesn't mean that I won't occasionally skip a nap or stay out late for something special, but in general, I protect my kids sleep with my life.

When my children are napping, my house is generally quiet. There is often the general noise of a household, but I don't let the bigger kids play upstairs, I usually send them to the basement. Zachary often gets to watch a movie during Alyssa's naptime.

Today I am stressing out big time! I have repairmen here who I desperately need here. I have not had a washing machine for over a week and a half and they are here to fix it. However, I know that Alyssa is not going to get the nap she needs. Add on that I can feel a tooth getting ready to pop through, so she hasn't been sleeping as well, and I am preparing myself for one cranky child for the next couple of days. This makes me so sad because Alyssa has always been such a happy girl and I find myself just wanting to cuddle her so that she isn't so cranky. Well, that's not working so well. Did I forget to mention that she pulls up and is constantly letting go and standing on her own for 5-6 seconds at a time? This means that even cranky she wants down and wants me to sit by her while she does this and then cries when she falls.

Last night she was up three times crying. One time she cried for 10 minutes, but the other two times, it was a couple of cries and she went back to sleep. I know that this is not helping her situation either.

Ah, this too shall pass!
B

Alyssa Update-8 Months

Since our beautiful baby girl is going to be eight months old tomorrow, I think I will skip seven months and go right to eight. So much has happened these last few weeks, I don't even know where to start! I guess that the big milestone is crawling. The video that I posted below shows the progression over the last month of her getting to crawling. She has been crawling for about the last two weeks. Then just a few days ago, I found her like this:

She still can't pull up on the couch or things like that, but I know that it is not far away. Her crawling is very purposeful. She doesn't just crawl to explore, she only crawls if she thinks it will get her somewhere that she can stand up. I don't know if this means she will be a early walker or not, but she definitely knows what she wants. She often crawls to me and reaches for my hands so that she can pull up. She does it pretty easily with me compensating for her balance! You can also see in the video that she has started to bang toys together as well. Soon she'll be clapping! If you listen closely (not to me of course-yuck!) you can hear her babble some too. She likes the gutteral sounds--you'll hear guh, guh, guh.
She is a very good eater. She especially loves finger food. Here she is starting to hold her own sippy cup as well. She still has cereal for breakfast, yogurt for lunch, and fruits & vegetables for dinner. Someday she will start to grow hair, although she leaves hats on her head and lets me put cute headbands in, so I am hopeful that she will leave bows and barettes in as well!

Alyssa continues to be a very go with the flow kind of girl. However, my hubby has agreed to work from home Mondays and Fridays so that I don't have to wake her from her afternoon nap at 2:45 to go get all the boys. I also have a neighbor who is in 6th grade who comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays when she gets off the bus from middle school at 3:20 so that I don't have to wake her then either. Both situations have helped me be more at peace with everything. I was feeling so cruel constantly waking her up. This photo is from Wednesday when I have to wake her up twice, once for gymnastics in the morning and then to get everyone from school in the afternoon. I still swaddle her for naps and here I even took the swaddle off and she was still sleeping. She is so peaceful, I hate to have to wake her, even if it is just one day a week.

The video is about three minutes long. I tried to keep it short. I am hoping to post another video soon of Zachary making her laugh. It makes me laugh to watch it. I hope you get the same reaction.

Alyssa still loves her pacifier. We are getting better about not having to go in at night and give it to her, but we still do if we have to. I am already dreading th day that we have to take it away from her. She also still loves her little pink blanket. For those of you who know what I am talking about, we haven't lost it yet! I was given some fabric to make more, but just haven't called the right people yet.

All in all, I continue to be in disbelief at what a good baby she is. She is still a peanut, but developmentally is right where she needs to be. I said to my hubby the other day that it is all going too fast. She is no longer an infant, now she is just a baby. While is some respects, that's great, some parts of babyhood can't go fast enough, others I would like to linger around for a bit. It just seems like we are always in a rush. For example, on Wednesdays, her day literally goes like this: wake up, nurse, play while mommy dresses, high chair for breakfast, dress her, stroller, bed, car seat, maybe play for a little while, nurse, car seat, lunch, car seat, drop Zachary at school, car seat, bed, car seat, pick Zachary up, car seat, pick boys up, car seat, bottle, play a little, dinner, nurse, bed. For the most part, she just does it, but I always feel for her. I know that she will get her time, but I guess these are the pitfalls of being a youngest!

I love you Alyssa Diane!

B

Happy Birthday Zachary!

Well, here it is, a whole nother year has gone by. The little boy who at this time last year was my "baby," has now been replaced and has become a big boy four year old! Happy Birthday Zachary!

ZACHARY

Age: 4

Personality: Lovable, Happy, Independent, Stubborn-When you have your heart set on something, you have to get it, everyone else, beware!

Favorites:

Food: Anything that you consider a snack--even PB&J can be a snack if we eat it at a different time or away from the table, chocolate milk, ice cream, cake, peas, bananas, pasta, meatballs

These are pictures from Zachary's birthday dinner at the train restaurant. There are two sort of close to us-he really doesn't care which one we go to, so long as we go!

TV Shows: Dinosaur Train, Thomas, Sid the Science Kid

Movies: Awesome Trains, ABC Trains

Toys: Thomas trains, GeoTrax, Matchbox cars, Big Wheel

Games: Hi Ho Cherrio, The Number Game, I Spy

Dear Zachary,

You seem so grown up to me. I can hardly believe that you are four already. You have learned so many new things this year. You can count to 20 without skipping any numbers, you are starting to learn all the sounds that go with your letters, and you can almost ride your bike by yourself! You are as stubborn as your mom, so it's no wonder that we butt heads sometimes (er, often!). You continually surprise me at how fast you can learn something. You recently moved to a booster seat in the car and you can already buckle your own seat belt. You really didn't know hardly any letter sounds and now that you have been in school for a month you are not only learning them quickly, but you can remember them when I ask you about them. You are starting to have friends and it is a joy to watch you play with them. You can be so considerate in making sure that your friend has enough toys to play with (however, as long as they are not the ones you want!). You have a very special relationship with your brothers-I can tell you love them very much. I love how you always want to hug and kiss Alyssa before she goes to bed. I love to hear you say, "Good night! I love you!" She really loves you too. You have become the brother that can really make her laugh. You two will be very close as you grow up. You still love trains-not sure how long it will last, but for now other interests are few. I can't wait to see what happens in the next year--just know I'll be watching and loving you every minute of it!

Love,
Mommy

B

That Mom

Today I became "That Mom." You know, the mom that everyone is always looking at and talking about. The mom that I swore I'd never be, and yet, no one in my family is any worse for the wear, in fact, some are even better off! Let me show you...

First of all, today was Wednesday. That means that school starts 10 minutes later so that the staff can have a full hour before school of professional development time. I don't mind, I just don't always remember to send them later and we wind up wating outside the doors, and waiting with five-year-old boys is never good.

So, therefore, we don't get home from walking them to school until almost 9:30. By the time I get Alyssa settled down and down for her nap, it is almost 9:45. At 10:45 when it is time to take Zachary to gymnastics, just 5 minutes down the road at the community center, she is still sound asleep. I don't have the heart to wake her up for a ten minute adventure, after which we would be right back home. Enter my wonderful neighbor. I call her and she agrees to "babysit." This means that she gets my monitor and if Alyssa wakes up, she will use my garage code to get in my house and get her up. Then they will go back to her house until I come home. To me, this is a much better solution to a sleeping baby than waking her up for little reason. So, Alyssa stays asleep and I end up still having to wake her up at 11:40 to go and pick Zachary up. Alyssa got almost another full hour of nap this morning. Yet, the idea still makes me feel like, "that mom."

Then after gymnastics, Zachary, Alyssa, and I head to the Burger King by his school so that he can get a quick bite to eat and be at school on time. Since Alyssa had just woken up, I figured that I would nurse her there and then give her lunch at home after we dropped Zachary off. Well, Alyssa wasn't so sold on that plan. She wanted to eat, since the rest of us were eating and I hadn't brought any of her food. So, then again, I became, "that mom." I was finished, so I sat Alyssa on the table with her legs hanging off, facing me (I was right there, she wasn't going anywhere) and started giving her bites of french fries. That's right. I gave my seven-month-old daughter french fries. It totally worked too because she never moved and just kept right on eating. I think I gave her 4 or 5 fries in total. She couldn't get the bites in her mouth fast enough. It was actually kind of fun to watch her. Then we took Zachary to school and I brought her home and I did give her some yogurt and what not.

So, all in all, Alyssa actually benefitted from me being "that mom" and now I can completely understand why moms do many of the things they do. If you had asked me why 5 years ago, I would have just shrugged and shaken my head. I am learning--do what's best for your family, even if it means you have to become "that mom."
B

Alyssa Update-Six Months

Okay, so again, I know that she's going to be seven months tomorrow, but I didn't want six months to slip away--yet another thing that's getting away from me!

Anyway, Alyssa continues to be a very happy, very flexible baby. I am always amazed by the way that she can get herself from one nap to the next to bedtime given the confines of our schedule. She can't go down until about 9:30, after I get the boys dropped off at school, and she has to be up from her second nap by 3:15, and 2:45 on days when Zachary has school so I can get everyone. Then on Tuesday and Thursday nights, she has to get an early bath and then hang out at Jacob and Kyle's soccer game. This means that she cannot go to bed until at least 7:30. And through it all, she is rarely fussy and just loves to see all her brothers.

Kyle continues to be the one who can get the biggest belly laughs out of her. However, she has started to take a real liking to Zachary-since he is now the only one home with her all day. She loves to watch him run from place to place-especially if it if right past her.

She started sitting right before she turned six months and by now I would say she is a pretty proficient sitter. She has also started to try and get on her hands and knees. Look for a video soon. I'm not sure how much time I have until she is crawling.

Just in the last couple of days she has started babbling, so I'm not sure if we would consider her doing this at seven months, but it is so cute. She just talks to all her toys and it certainly sounds like she has something important to say.

Right after she turned six months we again started letting her cry at night (not going in and giving her the pacifier) and this time it worked great! She now goes down between 7 and 7:30 and sleeps until about 6:30 or later--one day as late as 8:15! We still do hear her cry at night every once in awhile, but it's gotten so much better. She will only cry for a few minutes and in the morning I often find her with a pacifier in her mouth-and not the same one she went to bed with! She is taking two great naps a day and I really couldn't be happier with her sleep.

She has also started eating three meals a day. Her breakfast is some kind of cereal-rice, millet, oatmeal, etc. mixes with some avocado. Her lunch consists of yogurt with fruit mixed in-usually pears or bananas. Her dinner is usually two vegetables or a fruit and a vegetable, whatever we have on hand. She loves her food and can get cheerios and puffs in her mouth all by herself. I can't wait until she can expand her food choices a little more!

Here are a couple of pictures from her last four weeks. She seems to be changing so much by the day!

B

Bouncing Baby Girl

So, we just got a new computer and we're hoping that the videos will load better now. Thought we'd try it on this. A six month post is coming, but here is something to keep you coming back!

B

Alyssa Update-Five Months

Wow, I can't believe that she is already five months old. She all of the sudden seems less like a baby. She is starting to sit on her own and today rolled over for the first time. See the video below. It's not a great video, but it gives you the gist.

Alyssa is really becoming very intertwined with her world. She especially loves her brothers. Kyle can really make her laugh, but all of them can definitely make her smile. She usually takes one two hour nap a day, and sometimes more than one. We aren't doing much better at night yet, she is still up anywhere from 1-6 times to put her pacifier back in. I am wondering how that will change now that she is rolling over.

She can consistenly get toys into her mouth, and her hands are always in there. She drools like a madwoman. My mom thinks there are teeth coming soon, but none of the boys had teeth until at least 8 months, so I'm not holding my breath.

She has wonderful smiles and you can tell that she is proud of herself just to be alive and be able to do all the things she can do.

She went to her first Cubs' game in the middle of June and luckily the Cubs won, because she did not particularly enjoy it. She cried every time the crowd clapped and cheered, and since we went to a Cubs-Sox game, that was pretty much every batter. She did finally go to sleep, but I think we'll wait awhile before she goes again.