Naps. (seeking advice)

Adelaide has been napping in her crib for a couple of months now. I figured I should get her used to sleeping in a crib since that's what she'll have to do when she goes to day care.

The only thing is, it's becoming a pain putting her down. See, what we've been doing when she's tired is taking her in her room, closing the blinds, turning on the air filter (which creates white noise and makes it so that I can actually DO stuff around the house and not worry about waking her up), giving her the pacifier, and then cradle-hold her while bouncing on an exercise ball. This was fine two months ago. This girl is upwards of 16 pounds now, and only growing, while my muscles are not. She's getting heavy!

Plus, now that's she's way more aware of her surroundings, she's arching her back and fighting naptime. (This "awareness" is also making breastfeeding more challenging, as she constantly wants to look around... especially when her daddy's in the room, and definitely if he's talking.)

[waking up.]

I've tried just laying her down in the crib and laying my hand on her without looking at her or talking to her, but then she starts "playing" - kicking her legs and flapping her arms. Like she's getting a second wind. Exasperating for me, to say the least, when all I want is a desperate 30 minutes to get something to eat or start some laundry.

And I've tried leaving the room, but then she'll play for a few minutes and then whimper and then cry and cry and cry, and I just can't do that. Crying-it-out doesn't seem right to me.


So we've been trying this out: let her stay up for longer periods so she's more tired when we start the bouncing routine. This has been working a bit, but I can't bounce her forever. So I'm trying to research and think outside our little box.

How to put her down without making her cry-it-out, and without such a physical routine from us? Any advice mamas? I'd love to hear what worked for you, and any advice you've got. I'm going to read The No-Cry Sleep Solution, but other than that I'm at a loss.

Love: rompers, outside, cats.

Rompers are so cute! This cute one is from JCPenney. It was on sale and I had a $10 off $10 coupon, so I paid only $2.50 for it. I love a good bargain!

Adelaide is now sitting up! WHAT?!?!?! When did she get so grown up? She looks so much older holding herself up. And she self-corrects a lot of her wobbles too... though sometimes she does a face-plant or leans just a little too far to the side to straighten back up.

It's amazing how quickly she's developing! One day I'll be helping her steady herself, and the next she's up for a few seconds, and the next for minutes, and now she's pretty awesome at it. *sigh*


Do you see all those incredibly sweet rolls and wrinkles? I LOVE THEM! Chubby cheeks, chubby arms, chubby thighs, chubby ankles, chubby feet and hands. Adorable.

We like to hang out in the yard. And now that it's getting nicer, we're spreading out blankets and laying out in the shade of the big tree out front. We listen to the leaves rustling, the neighborhood dogs barking, the windchimes.


Adelaide just loves our cats. They tolerate her pretty well too. I'm thankful for that. She always reaches out for them, and even squeals when she sees them. She's already an animal-lover like her mama. :)

Cassiey (pictured below) is the only cat that doesn't mind the grabbing and tugging. She even purrs. Any attention is good attention as far as Cassiey is concerned. She's always been that way, and I think she'll be a good friend to Adelaide.


The weather has been nasty for the past week. Lots of rain and cold temps, but hopefully it'll brighten up soon so we can lay out some more. It's a wonderful way to spend some of our days!

I hope you're enjoying your spring and spending some time outside as well!

Just chillin'.

These pictures was taking about a month ago, but I think it's so cute! This little rocking chair is on our front porch, in between two grown-up chairs. Just waiting for a little butt to sit in it. She looks so chill, doesn't she? :)


This rocking chair has been around for a long time. It was mine when I was a little girl, and it was red. Then my moma painted it blue for my brother Michael, who's three years younger than me. Then she painted it pink and put my sister's name in hot pink on the top for Rachel, who is ten years younger than me.

And when I was pregnant, during one of the many visits my mother made to help me prepare for this little girl, she painted it teal for Adelaide.

And now Adelaide can sit in it! (Kind of.)

A back so small...

Dear Adelaide,

Tonight I rubbed your back while you nursed yourself to sleep. You were curled into me, your legs tucked against my thighs, your arms tucked against my stomach. You make little noises when you swallow, noises that sound content which in turn make me feel so content.

I rubbed your back, so small. I marvel at how small you are. But I know that through years of playing in the yard with your dad, gardening with me, biking with friends, bending over building sand castles at the beach, hiking and camping and yes, even cleaning your room, your back will grow and become the back of a woman. A strong back holding you up tall, holding memories and experiences of life.

You will grow up. You are growing up. And in moments like the beautiful one I savored tonight, I remember that and my heart swells a bit. For the sweet little chunky baby that you are now, the spirited little girl that I know you will be, and the strong smart woman that you will become many years from now.

I am honored to have created that little back, and I will rub it as you drift off to sleep for as many years as you will let me.

Love,
your momma

My Mother's Day (the broken bathroom part)

Ok, this is the last part of my Mother's Day weekend... I meant to post this yesterday, but blogger has been down, so here you go today.

Sunday (Mother's Day) was a fussy day for Adelaide. She didn't sleep well Saturday night, and she cried, fussed and grumped all Sunday morning. She had a difficult time going down for a nap, so I finally decided to lay down with her and sleep a bit with her. (This usually works to get a good, long nap from her... and I appreciate the extra sleep too!)

After about an hour or so, I woke up to the sound of water. When Kevin soaks a skin to head up a drum, he uses a big tub in our master bathroom (one of those large gray tubs you can find at Walmart), and he uses the shower to slowly fill it up. That's what I thought I was hearing as I slowly woke up. But then I realized it was much too loud to be that. So I got out of bed, and peeked into our main bathroom in the hallway and saw a stream of water spraying down from the ceiling, with a quarter-inch of water on the floor already. It was so loud!


So I ran outside where Kevin was mowing the lawn, ran up to him waving my arms. I said "There's a leak in the bathroom! Turn off the water! It's spritzing!!!"


After shutting off the water and inspecting the ceiling/attic space, and not finding anything, I went to turn on the water for five seconds so Kevin could see where it was coming from.

This is the culprit:


A busted hose from the back of the toilet, that was spraying ("spritzing"... haha) toward the ceiling incredibly forcefully, soaking everything and making a huge mess.


As Kevin was cleaning up the water on the floor and all the gunk from the ceiling (while I kept Adelaide happy by holding her), we decided that we'd go ahead and redo the bathroom. This will include smoothing out the rest of the ceiling, taking down the wallpaper that the previous owners just painted over, repainting, and touching up the vanity area. I'll probably get new artwork and accessories as well. We hope to keep this under $100. Of course, I wish we could afford a total room redo, but that will just have to wait for another time.

So that was my first mother's day! Sorry it took so long for me to get it all out there to you. Time flies when you have a baby around and lots of other stuff going on. It's supposed to be warm here, but rainy all weekend, so I don't know what all we'll do. Probably just rent some movies and hang out at home. Oh, and catch up on blog-reading while Kevin helps take care of the baby! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

My Mother's Day (the frozen yogurt part)

Yesterday I shared the botanical gardens part of my Mother's Day weekend. Now time for the frozen yogurt part. Yoforia was having a buy-one-get-one-free-for-a-mom special so we popped in for some sweetness.

We brought along the Bumbo for Adelaide to sit in, our first time taking it out with us. Let's just say it was GREAT being able to actually eat my very delicious and slightly (read: very) unhealthy yogurt treat. Previously I'd be balancing her in my arms and manage to eat a spoonful every few minutes. Instead I scarfed down that frozen goodness, and it was goooood.

We, of course, took lots of pictures. At one point, a lady approached and offered to take a couple pictures for us. We looked pretty awkward, I'm sure, trying to squeeze us all into a shot while Kevin held the camera out. (Note to self: figure out how to use remote!) But I like the goofy shots as well as the good ones. Mostly I love looking at my little girl, the reason I was able to get a free yogurt. Love you Adelaide!


Next up: the broken bathroom part.

My Mother's Day. (the botanical gardens part)

Saturday Kevin treated me to a day (really, more like a couple of hours) at the local botanical gardens. I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I might want to go there for mom's day, but up until Friday evening I didn't know that's what he'd planned. It was my first visit and although it ended up being much smaller than I'd imagined it was so lovely to spend my day among beautiful flowers and sweet smells with my two favorite people.


We waited to leave until Adelaide needed a nap so she'd sleep on the 45-minute drive there. She was out in five minutes and got a good nap in. When we got there, I wrapped her up in the Moby, put her on sunhat which is much too big for her, and off we went.


Moms got in free (me! yay!), and so did babies. And before heading off into the sun we rubbed little Adelaide's chubby pale arms and legs and face with baby sunscreen.


Kevin took loads of pictures of all the flowers. And loads of me and Adelaide. I got a few shots of them as well, but not many as I wore her for most of the visit.


She got lots of adoring looks from the other moms there, and even from another baby who was 5 months old. He squealed at her a lot and his dad tsk-tsk'ed him for flirting so young!


At one point I had to nurse her so we thought we found a nice pretty-secluded bench. I didn't have anything really to cover up with, and didn't really want to as it was warm, so I was thankful that not too many people walked by. I'm still nervous nursing in public though I'm getting a lot more comfortable with it each time I do. One woman smiled at me as she walked by, so that was a confidence booster!


Anyhow, it was mostly private, and Adelaide had just gotten latched on, when a horse-drawn carriage full of people came clomping by. Apparently we were at the end of the gardens and that was the turn-around for the carraiges! I took Adelaide off for a moment as I'm sure that's not really what the people signed up for! She enjoyed watching the horses go by - her first horse sighting!


I can see this being a tradition. Kevin and I kept picturing Adelaide throughout the years, of how she'd enjoy the gardens. There were a few water features for the kids to run through, and Kevin mentioned that when she's old enough we could bring colored pencils and a drawing pad to sketch the flowers. She's already our little nature girl and I hope she loves art too!


It was so much fun spending the day with my two loves. This is the best season of my life yet! I hope you all had a wonderful mother's day as well!