Mommy Frustration - Not Sleeping!

Baby K was weaned completely about 3-4 weeks ago, and prior to that, was only nursing before bed, for a 3-4 weeks. She has been very good about going to bed and nap time with a milk bottle, a little rocking and then into the bed. I mean, I was so happy that I could get her to bed in 10 minutes flat and then have an hour or two before I went to bed to do laundry, clean the kitchen, surf FB, or even brainlessly watch TV, which is a very rare treat, believe me! I just treasure the hour to myself (when I don't fall asleep rocking her). I was really thinking... heck yeah - the multi-faceted life of a working mom can resume. I might actually get my life (and house) back together.

Think again! All of a sudden, at 16 1/2 months.... SHE DOESN'T WANT TO GO TO SLEEP! She acts like she never had a bedtime/nap time ritual, which is driving me crazy. Oh, sure she'll take a bottle, and her eyes get heavy, but when she's done, she wants to show me new tricks. She kisses me, tries new words, wants her babies from the crib, then puts them back in the crib, wants to give them the bottle, jump up and down, climb up and down in the rocker... ANYTHING but settle down and go to sleep. She'll tuck her babies in, cover them up, and pat their back - exactly how I put her down - but she won't lay down herself. She becomes the wiggliest worm there is!

So - I've tried just leaving her in the crib with the hopes that she'll settle down herself... Oh no! What do I see on the baby monitor... one little monkey jumping on the bed. It makes me laugh but yeah... not so much. Then, on some nights, she'll poop. So on go the lights, out come the wet wipes, and the whole procedure just reinforces her thought that she should be up playing, not sleeping. We start the entire ritual over again on those nights. Fun.

Oh sure, she naps regularly at school, but not at home. I'm about to ask her teacher, "How do I put my child to bed?!" Yesterday - no nap at all, oh until 4:00pm! She just wants to play and play, and totally fusses and thrashes when I try to rock or sway her. Here it is, 2:00pm, and once again, no nap for today. I tried for about an hour (falling asleep myself), then gave up and listened to "uh-oh.... woooooo.... brrrrrrrrrrlllll.... bay-beee... roo-roo" and the like.

This is bringing on a totally new kind of exhaustion - one I thought was gone when I stopped breastfeeding. I have read it's common w/ toddlers, but really!? I'm just wondering if anyone I know went through this. What did you do? Of course, if you are one of those that your baby fell asleep on their own and slept through the night at 6 months, and you never had a sleep problem again, keep that joyous tidbit to yourself, please. I can hear your laughing at me from here.

VOTW - We caught her winking!

7/27/10 - We caught her winking!

Not only is she waving at strangers when they are not looking at her but tonight we saw her winking! We couldn't believe it, so I turned on the video and winked at her, and this is what happened! Towards the end, she looks like she's just twitching her eyes, but I promise, she's trying to wink! I don't even know who taught her how to wink - I love it! I'll have to get more of her, but this was the first day we've seen the wave then wink wink wink combo!

VOTW - on Sunday

Because I just blogged about her and her box-cart, and because Mom is coming to town this week & we will probably be busy packing! This was taken last Saturday, 3/6/10. And, as I posted previously, this was the first time she stood unassisted and picked something up. I just know she's going to walk soon! Oh boy! Enjoy!

Been so long...

Oh, I know it's been forever since I've posted, but I just haven't taken the time to do so. To say I don't have it is true, but I need to make the time to share Baby K with you!

She's almost eleven months, OMG, and my is she growing! As I sit and watch her empty and refill her diaper bag, I am just so grateful that this wonderful little being is in our lives! Just yesterday she started putting the strap of the diaper bag over her head. I'm just amazed at all she does. Every little thing is worth journaling about and I'm trying to jot things down daily.

Here's more that she's doing now:

• Shaking her head (and shoulders, too) "No". Speaking of "No", when she's into something, and she hears that word, she right away drops what she's doing. Sometimes, though, she doesn't, and she just takes off crawling away from me... FAST. I'm only laughing on the inside, though!
• Making the sign for dog and saying "Doh" when she is focusing on one of the dogs.
• Standing on her own, and even lifting her empty box-cart with no support!
• Pushing empty diaper boxes through the house, filling them with whatever she finds. We ended up getting her a shopping cart for this, and she just has a blast! Right now in her box-cart is a box of Girl Scout cookies, dental floss, a gift wrap bow, and a small stuffed animal. In her pink shopping cart is a plastic turkey.
• Holding the phone to her ear and talking. When she first picks it up she mumbles, a two syllable "yo-oo" (hello). She doesn't do it with her play cell phone, only a real cell phone.
• Bounces, jumps, dances (not quite sure which) up and down when she is singing and clapping or when she's just very excited. I have been waiting for her to start dancing, so this made me very happy!
• "Motorboats" with her mouth on mommy's arm, chest, tummy - wherever. We weren't doing that on her tummy, so she may have picked that up from school.
• Kisses! Kisses! Kisses! Okay - so they are opened mouth and a little sloppy, but they bring a smile to her face, which makes me smile all the way through.
• "Puts on" clothes (and sunglasses and hats) by putting them up over her head. Sometimes she misses & they go right behind her, but it's so enjoyable to watch her do it over and over again, and I love watching her sit with a pair of pants resting on her head as she giggles with joy because she did it!
• Waves from her wrist now, instead of just her fingers. In fact she waves when you start to say "Let's go bye-bye."
• She enjoys feeding her self with the spoon. When I fill it up, she takes it right to her mouth. When she's cleaned it off - she puts it back in the bowl. She's also drinking milk from a sippy cup with her meals. When she's done, she stacks the glass in the bowl, too.
• As far as walking, she's been creeping along for quite a while, and she's getting bolder about reaching for things when she's standing and getting further up on her knees from the ground. She knows there's more she can do, but she's not quite ready to go out on that limb yet. It's just a matter of time, I know.

We fought thrush for over a month, and as of today, we have not seen symptoms for over 7 days! Thank God! I do not wish a resistant case of thrush on my worst enemy! With the added worry, the missed time at work, the dr. appts, the extra boiling and laundry, and the frustration when it kept coming back, it was a nightmare. Oh my! Ours lasted so long, due to a combination of not getting the right treatment for both of us at the same time, and the amount of stress I'm under. She & I were passing it back & forth. I pray we have it beat, but I'm terrified to stop the treatment!

Stress? What stress? Oh, besides lack of sleep, (still) trying to learn how to do it all with a career and family, and fighting the thrush, we were notified on February 25th that the owners of our rent house wanted to sell and would not be renewing our lease that ends 3/31. So we are moving from our rent house after 6 years! Thankfully, we found a place that we like a lot, and we are starting a new chapter in our lives. We are looking forward to it. Pray we get the house we want. In other news, I've been taking part in a Bible study group at the church, Beginnings. It's amazing, and each week I feel it's speaking directly to me. I'm going to join the church and we will get Baby K baptized there, hopefully on the weekend of her birthday. Daddy has had some good jobs come in, so he's been busy, but with paying customers - both individual and commercial. He landed a nice commercial account, and they are pleased with his work, so that's an answer to our prayers. So, even with all the stress, we are doing well, and very happy.

Now, here are some pictures so you can see miss Baby K in almost real life! I'll post more soon!


3/6/10 - Pushing her box-cart around the house, playing "pick up". She's fast with that thing!


3/9/10 - Her new pink shopping cart - Daddy's idea, of course! I was good with the diaper boxes, lol!


3/14/10 - Wearing the diaper bag, emptying the contents, closely examining each thing as she removes it, of course! You can see by the looks of the living room, she likes to "empty" things! Here, she's pausing to wave at mommy!



3/14/10 - Lifting the diaper bag, as if she forgot she already had it "on". Look how strong she is, heh heh. She's really trying hard! You can also see she is "wearing" her pink sweater, tastefully, over her right shoulder.



3/14/10 - Look mommy - I found some clothes that I can play with!


3/14/10 - Here she is after she "put on" her pink sweater... LOVE IT!!

VOTW Wednesday - Multi-tasking Baby

Hi everyone! This video was taken earlier in the month, 3 weeks ago. She has no interest in babydolls, stuffed animals, rattles or baby teethers...NO! Give her a remote control, a cell phone, or a laptop, and she's totally happy. She started grabbing for the laptop early...hmmm, wonder why?! Yeah, okay, she sees it a lot. Well, she does enjoy watching videos of herself. She just gets so quiet, like she wants to study that baby on the big screen....

Enjoy this multi-tasking baby, and pay no attention to my annoying voice!

VOTW Wednesday

Yeah, so I missed last week. Sorry - it won't happen again! I just couldn't find the BEST video of her last week. They were too long or showed too much of me (not fit for internet - trust me!) or something!

But for this week - here's a great one!

3 days before she turns 6 months, and she's ALMOST crawling! Each day she is getting closer and closer! Just Monday she was pulling herself along the floor with her arms, and Tuesday she was up rocking on her knees when I picked her up at school! She's almost there! Oh - and do not pay attention to her outfit. It was pieced together at school from odds and ends in her diaper bag. Yeah, that won't happen again, trust me - only matching "second string" outfits from now on! Even her teacher made a comment that they really didn't know what to put on - there were so many colors!!! (Love you Miss Kim!)



Enjoy your VOTW! Love, Mom of Baby K!

VOTW Wednesday - Part 2

I had to resort back to embedding from YouTube. Uploading to Blogger was ridiculous!

Continued from yesterday....The next one was taken last night at her last changing before bed. I was kissing her tummy & telling her she smelled like baby, and she was cracking up. She was actually laughing more before I got the camera. She has become QUITE ticklish. She giggles at the slightest thing touching her tummy, and even her neck. She LOVES to laugh. I have more video of her laughing, but I'm in it, covered in spitup and my hair's all raggedy, so yeah, that's not getting published. The camera is all over the place in this one, because I kept bending down to kiss her or sniff her tummy to make her laugh and couldn't exactly hold the camera still. Plus - I had my Creative Memories conference call on in the background. Sorry!