We didn't leave the house all day long and it was quite possibly the most glorious day ever.
My mom came over and played with Emberly a little bit which motivated me to clean since my hands were child free for a few moments.
I did 6 loads of laundry... washed, dryed, folded, and put away.
I vacuumed every square inch of the upstairs of our house.
I mopped the kitchen and dining room and living room... for I believe the first time since Emberly was born.
I made the bed. (This may seem small... but it maybe gets done 20% of the time...)
I cooked lunch and did all of the dishes and wiped down the kitchen... including the sad looking cupboards spattered with food.
I fed Emberly. Solids twice as well.
I showered and got ready for the day... even though I didn't have to leave the house. Woot!
I learned how to use my new bread machine... which gave off the most wonderful aroma of baking bread all afternoon.
I picked up and put away toys, toys, clothes, shoes, toys, and more toys.
I washed diapers and stuffed and put away the load from yesterday.
I changed many diapers.
I played battle-of-the-wills with Emberly at naptime twice today. I won, but it was not easy.
I gave Emberly a bath.
I took out the trash.
I got down on my hands and knees and kept my sweet child company while she worked through tummy-time.
I had many conversations with sweet E and fast-talked my way out of several almost crying sessions.
I loved and cuddled and rocked and played with and entertained and supplied tools for entertainment while doing all of the above.
And then I tucked my sweet dumpling into bed at 6:45 because she fell asleep while I was feeding her carrots tonight. We had a big day.
But a wonerful day.
And now this mama is tired.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
6 Months
Dear World,
I am six months old today and full of life. I smile with my whole body so that everyone can see how much joy I have. My smile is pretty contagious, so I always get great smiles back.
I don't sleep too much anymore... there is too much going on that I don't want to miss! If I have to sleep, I really prefer mom or dad snuggle me up. Word on the street is that they love me a lot, but aren't so interested in snuggling for every nap. I try to wear them down though... and sometimes it works!
I have one super sharp bottom tooth in my mouth and I'm working on the next one. I put everything in my mouth that I handle. It's kinda like my way to explore the world.
I like to play with toys, especially "buzz-buzz" the bee, "Jeffrey" the giraffe, and "Ollie" the elephant. They are my favorites because they make crinkley noises when I hold them and I can fit their nose or antanea or snout in my mouth.
I also love to eat whatever mom feeds me. I have eaten rice cereal, peas, carrots, prunes, avacado, banana, and sweet potato. Rice cereal, carrots, prunes, and banana were instant hits in my book. The avacado, sweet potato, and peas took a little more convincing, but now I eat them no problem.
I am almost sitting up by myself when someone starts me out, but I still don't want to roll over. Someday I will I suppose, but people keep bringing me toys and whatever I could want, so what's the hurry?? :)
I say "da-da-da" all the time. Dad thinks I'm thinking about him and saying his name. Mom says I'm thinking about her and just saying his name. Really I'm just talking.
Auntie Kendra took some pictures of me yesterday. I wasn't really so sure about what she was doing, so I was kind of serious. But I smiled real quick every once in awhile too.
Look out world, I'm grooving faster every day!
Yours Truly,
Emberly
I am six months old today and full of life. I smile with my whole body so that everyone can see how much joy I have. My smile is pretty contagious, so I always get great smiles back.
I don't sleep too much anymore... there is too much going on that I don't want to miss! If I have to sleep, I really prefer mom or dad snuggle me up. Word on the street is that they love me a lot, but aren't so interested in snuggling for every nap. I try to wear them down though... and sometimes it works!
I have one super sharp bottom tooth in my mouth and I'm working on the next one. I put everything in my mouth that I handle. It's kinda like my way to explore the world.
I like to play with toys, especially "buzz-buzz" the bee, "Jeffrey" the giraffe, and "Ollie" the elephant. They are my favorites because they make crinkley noises when I hold them and I can fit their nose or antanea or snout in my mouth.
I also love to eat whatever mom feeds me. I have eaten rice cereal, peas, carrots, prunes, avacado, banana, and sweet potato. Rice cereal, carrots, prunes, and banana were instant hits in my book. The avacado, sweet potato, and peas took a little more convincing, but now I eat them no problem.
I am almost sitting up by myself when someone starts me out, but I still don't want to roll over. Someday I will I suppose, but people keep bringing me toys and whatever I could want, so what's the hurry?? :)
I say "da-da-da" all the time. Dad thinks I'm thinking about him and saying his name. Mom says I'm thinking about her and just saying his name. Really I'm just talking.
Auntie Kendra took some pictures of me yesterday. I wasn't really so sure about what she was doing, so I was kind of serious. But I smiled real quick every once in awhile too.
Look out world, I'm grooving faster every day!
Yours Truly,
Emberly
Thursday, February 23, 2012
It only took 6 months...
Dear Life,
It only took (almost) six months, but today Emberly had THREE naps, two of which were in her very own crib, without crying sessions, lasting 45 minutes, an hour, and 30 minutes. This, my dear friends, is a breakthrough.
What is the magical trick you may wonder? Well... my sweet dumpling is not a cry-it-out kind of baby. We've tried. Only to have her cry and cry and cry and cry and get louder and louder and more mad and more mad. Trust me. Some people say you gotta hit that point and eventually she'll wear down. Nope. It never happened. Plus it killed me a little.
BUT my oh-so-wonderful Mr. Wonderful discovered that when you lay her down and she starts to fuss, you just bounce her crib mattress with your hand a little and she just melts off to sleep. (Remember my addicted to movement-sleep in the bouncy seat for the first several months of her life baby??) Yup, she starts to wake up and you just do a little sneaky-sneak into the room, bounce that crib mattress a tiny bit more and off to sleep she goes. (Hopefully) no more long crying sessions because I'm trying to rub her little tummy or forehead or back or rock her or feed her or whatever. Those things just weren't the ticket. This is the ticket.
At least for today.
Tomorrow will probably be different.
And if it isn't, it will no doubt not work for the next child.
BUT... I will try it much earlier just in case.
Yours Truly,
Molly
It only took (almost) six months, but today Emberly had THREE naps, two of which were in her very own crib, without crying sessions, lasting 45 minutes, an hour, and 30 minutes. This, my dear friends, is a breakthrough.
What is the magical trick you may wonder? Well... my sweet dumpling is not a cry-it-out kind of baby. We've tried. Only to have her cry and cry and cry and cry and get louder and louder and more mad and more mad. Trust me. Some people say you gotta hit that point and eventually she'll wear down. Nope. It never happened. Plus it killed me a little.
BUT my oh-so-wonderful Mr. Wonderful discovered that when you lay her down and she starts to fuss, you just bounce her crib mattress with your hand a little and she just melts off to sleep. (Remember my addicted to movement-sleep in the bouncy seat for the first several months of her life baby??) Yup, she starts to wake up and you just do a little sneaky-sneak into the room, bounce that crib mattress a tiny bit more and off to sleep she goes. (Hopefully) no more long crying sessions because I'm trying to rub her little tummy or forehead or back or rock her or feed her or whatever. Those things just weren't the ticket. This is the ticket.
At least for today.
Tomorrow will probably be different.
And if it isn't, it will no doubt not work for the next child.
BUT... I will try it much earlier just in case.
Yours Truly,
Molly
Monday, February 20, 2012
Best.Day.
Dear Life,
Emberly and I had the.best.day. Yup. It was exactly what we needed - a day at home to just be together and get back into our daily routine and cuddle and play and get laundry done. LOTS and lots of laundry. It is now 9:15pm and every single piece of clothing (minus what we are wearing currently) has been washed, dryed, folded, and put away. Phew!
I decided this morning after waking up with my sweet little pumpkin 5 times last night that we needed to do something about her sleep schedule. Anything. She just won't nap and has these terrible crying fits at night lately. It is painful. For me mostly.
So today was Napping Bootcamp Day 1. She woke up at 8:15, I fed her, we played, she played while I got ready for the day, we played some more. About 10:15 she was sleeeepy again. Rubbing the eyes and fussy and in need of some rest. Soooo... I fed her, changed her diaper, and layed her in the crib. Then I went and dryed my hair so I didn't have to hear the screaming. Oh man it was torture. Well after sputtering and crying for what felt like an eternity (probably about 8 minutes) I went in and consoled her, layed her back down, and she fell asleep! Yippee! She slept a woppin' 15 minutes. When she woke up, I let her babble until she started crying again and let her cry for awhile and we just battled until I gave up and put her in the swing maybe an hour later. She slept for 25 minutes in the swing. Minor napping bootcamp failure - but maybe a step in the right direction.
Afternoon nap went MUCH better. At 1:30 she slept for an hour without any of the scream-o! I cannot even tell you another time that she has slept for an hour in her crib during the day. Seriously. It has never happened. THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING. Plus in that hour I made a pot of soup, folded laundry, stuffed the diapers, responded to some emails, made some phone calls, and even went to the bathroom completely uninterrupted! WOOT!
She was a happy sweet child the rest of the afternoon. Yay naps! I am an advocate.
Tonight we had another bedtime crying fest - but she is now asleep. I would be too after crying that hard and that long (while my mother was holding me, mind you). I found two gray hairs last week. Coincidence? I think not.
Anywho - that is our epic bedtime/naptime battle we are currently fighting with all forces. If you have magical tricks, please feel free to come try them on my child. I will be napping downstairs.
A few other things you may or may not be interested in knowing (my-o-my I am behind in blog-tracking!):
1. E got her first tooth last Sunday! (Feb. 12)
2. E purged the pacifier. They are gonzo forever. She just stopped sucking on it - she would only chew on it, and if we offered it to her when she was upset she went a little ape. SO after offering and regretting it with a "never mind, sorry we offered!" approach... we stopped offering. We're a little slow, but we caught on eventually. I'm pretty positive the transition is harder for me than it is for her. I feel a little bit like I'm learning how to soothe my almost 6 month old for the first time... and I feel completely at a loss when I'm driving and she's throwing a little "I hate the car" tantrum or being super noisy in a not noisy place. Oh well. It had to happen eventually.
3. At her 5 month appointment she was 17 lbs and 7 oz and 26 inches long which is the 90th percentile for both height and weight. Good grower, E! She also handled her shots WAY better this time around... in fact, I think she cried more when Dr. Vetter was trying to look in her ears than she did when she got her shots.
4. A long nap is 30 minutes. But we're working on that! (Read above)
5. Her food samplings include rice cereal, carrots, avocado, banana, sweet potato, and prunes! I've made all of them - except the prunes. Those are just special to help my sweet dumpling be a little more regular. Call me crazy, but feeding her "real food" is pretty fun to me. Like a new hobby. Plus she makes the best faces! :) She pretty much gobbles up everything we feed her. She just gets one little ice-cube size serving each day.
6. Bath time is still a highlight. She gets SO excited when I set her down on the rug in the bathroom and turn the water on. Oh-my-word, so excited.
7. She rolled from her back to her tummy two days ago! Now she has rolled from her tummy to her back... once. And from her back to her tummy... once. But I think we're onto something now - the wiggles are really starting to be noticeable and she is super strong and throws herself all over. Look out world - this girl is gonna be moving soon!
Ok - that's all. I must go to bed now. Tomorrow is Naptime Bootcamp Day 2.
Yours Truly,
Molly
Oh! P.S. E got to ride in the Ergo on my back for the first time last week! We went to Bismarck to help Jordan's parents with a little moving/unpacking fun (which actually was fun... I just love those organizing things - and Jordan just loves a project!). Anywho... I was working on something and we decided to try her on the back instead of the front. Yup... here it is documented in picture form:
.JPG)
Emberly and I had the.best.day. Yup. It was exactly what we needed - a day at home to just be together and get back into our daily routine and cuddle and play and get laundry done. LOTS and lots of laundry. It is now 9:15pm and every single piece of clothing (minus what we are wearing currently) has been washed, dryed, folded, and put away. Phew!
I decided this morning after waking up with my sweet little pumpkin 5 times last night that we needed to do something about her sleep schedule. Anything. She just won't nap and has these terrible crying fits at night lately. It is painful. For me mostly.
So today was Napping Bootcamp Day 1. She woke up at 8:15, I fed her, we played, she played while I got ready for the day, we played some more. About 10:15 she was sleeeepy again. Rubbing the eyes and fussy and in need of some rest. Soooo... I fed her, changed her diaper, and layed her in the crib. Then I went and dryed my hair so I didn't have to hear the screaming. Oh man it was torture. Well after sputtering and crying for what felt like an eternity (probably about 8 minutes) I went in and consoled her, layed her back down, and she fell asleep! Yippee! She slept a woppin' 15 minutes. When she woke up, I let her babble until she started crying again and let her cry for awhile and we just battled until I gave up and put her in the swing maybe an hour later. She slept for 25 minutes in the swing. Minor napping bootcamp failure - but maybe a step in the right direction.
Afternoon nap went MUCH better. At 1:30 she slept for an hour without any of the scream-o! I cannot even tell you another time that she has slept for an hour in her crib during the day. Seriously. It has never happened. THERE WAS MUCH REJOICING. Plus in that hour I made a pot of soup, folded laundry, stuffed the diapers, responded to some emails, made some phone calls, and even went to the bathroom completely uninterrupted! WOOT!
She was a happy sweet child the rest of the afternoon. Yay naps! I am an advocate.
Tonight we had another bedtime crying fest - but she is now asleep. I would be too after crying that hard and that long (while my mother was holding me, mind you). I found two gray hairs last week. Coincidence? I think not.
Anywho - that is our epic bedtime/naptime battle we are currently fighting with all forces. If you have magical tricks, please feel free to come try them on my child. I will be napping downstairs.
A few other things you may or may not be interested in knowing (my-o-my I am behind in blog-tracking!):
1. E got her first tooth last Sunday! (Feb. 12)
2. E purged the pacifier. They are gonzo forever. She just stopped sucking on it - she would only chew on it, and if we offered it to her when she was upset she went a little ape. SO after offering and regretting it with a "never mind, sorry we offered!" approach... we stopped offering. We're a little slow, but we caught on eventually. I'm pretty positive the transition is harder for me than it is for her. I feel a little bit like I'm learning how to soothe my almost 6 month old for the first time... and I feel completely at a loss when I'm driving and she's throwing a little "I hate the car" tantrum or being super noisy in a not noisy place. Oh well. It had to happen eventually.
3. At her 5 month appointment she was 17 lbs and 7 oz and 26 inches long which is the 90th percentile for both height and weight. Good grower, E! She also handled her shots WAY better this time around... in fact, I think she cried more when Dr. Vetter was trying to look in her ears than she did when she got her shots.
4. A long nap is 30 minutes. But we're working on that! (Read above)
5. Her food samplings include rice cereal, carrots, avocado, banana, sweet potato, and prunes! I've made all of them - except the prunes. Those are just special to help my sweet dumpling be a little more regular. Call me crazy, but feeding her "real food" is pretty fun to me. Like a new hobby. Plus she makes the best faces! :) She pretty much gobbles up everything we feed her. She just gets one little ice-cube size serving each day.
6. Bath time is still a highlight. She gets SO excited when I set her down on the rug in the bathroom and turn the water on. Oh-my-word, so excited.
7. She rolled from her back to her tummy two days ago! Now she has rolled from her tummy to her back... once. And from her back to her tummy... once. But I think we're onto something now - the wiggles are really starting to be noticeable and she is super strong and throws herself all over. Look out world - this girl is gonna be moving soon!
Ok - that's all. I must go to bed now. Tomorrow is Naptime Bootcamp Day 2.
Yours Truly,
Molly
Oh! P.S. E got to ride in the Ergo on my back for the first time last week! We went to Bismarck to help Jordan's parents with a little moving/unpacking fun (which actually was fun... I just love those organizing things - and Jordan just loves a project!). Anywho... I was working on something and we decided to try her on the back instead of the front. Yup... here it is documented in picture form:
.JPG)
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Diaper Lotion Potion
Dear Life,
After visiting my South Dakota bestie/former awesomest roommate of all time/cloth diapering guru friend this week, I do believe I drove the hour home with a smile on my face. You know how you just have those friends in life that really "get you?" She gets me. We had a texting conversation once I got home that went something like:
R: I'm sorry I talked about myself the whole time. I feel like I didn't get to hear enough about you.
M: Are you kidding?? I was just thinking the same thing. We must be very used to being doormats, because we don't know what to do when someone actually asks us about ourselves and listens!
Yup. She is wonderful. And her son is going to marry Emberly. When we asked him if he'd give baby Emberly a kiss, he just leaned over and gave her a smack right on the lips. It was pretty adorable. Of course we didn't quite capture that particular kiss on camera... but here is another sweet one of Dayton giving Emberly some love and sharing his kittie with her. What a little gentleman.
ANYWAY... I ordered some kissaluvs cloth wipes a few weeks ago and have used them as washcloths since they've arrived. Not as wipes. I'm not really sure why, but they scare me. I know what to do with cloth diapers... but cloth wipes? Intimidating.
But I left my cloth dipering bestie's house with a renewed enthusiasm for making wipes. She makes her own with paper towels and Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion potion. It smells heavenly. And I did the math today. Big money saver. You know how much I love a deal.
So I ordered me some Diaper Lotion Potion today, bought a pack of paper towels, and am ready to make a batch when it comes. No more Pampers for me. The homemade paper towel little buddies are for the "messy" diapers. That way they can just make their way into the garbage never to be seen again. Still cheaper than Pampers, still just as easy. I will attempt to use the cloth wipes also, just for the average diaper change. Use it once, toss it in the diaper pail with the wet diapers, wash them right up, and use them again.
Hmm. I might be convincing myself this will work...
I will let you know.
Thank goodness Sweet Bottoms Baby Boutique is speedy in their deliveries because I want to experiment!
Yours Truly,
Molly
After visiting my South Dakota bestie/former awesomest roommate of all time/cloth diapering guru friend this week, I do believe I drove the hour home with a smile on my face. You know how you just have those friends in life that really "get you?" She gets me. We had a texting conversation once I got home that went something like:
R: I'm sorry I talked about myself the whole time. I feel like I didn't get to hear enough about you.
M: Are you kidding?? I was just thinking the same thing. We must be very used to being doormats, because we don't know what to do when someone actually asks us about ourselves and listens!
Yup. She is wonderful. And her son is going to marry Emberly. When we asked him if he'd give baby Emberly a kiss, he just leaned over and gave her a smack right on the lips. It was pretty adorable. Of course we didn't quite capture that particular kiss on camera... but here is another sweet one of Dayton giving Emberly some love and sharing his kittie with her. What a little gentleman.
ANYWAY... I ordered some kissaluvs cloth wipes a few weeks ago and have used them as washcloths since they've arrived. Not as wipes. I'm not really sure why, but they scare me. I know what to do with cloth diapers... but cloth wipes? Intimidating.
But I left my cloth dipering bestie's house with a renewed enthusiasm for making wipes. She makes her own with paper towels and Kissaluvs Diaper Lotion potion. It smells heavenly. And I did the math today. Big money saver. You know how much I love a deal.
So I ordered me some Diaper Lotion Potion today, bought a pack of paper towels, and am ready to make a batch when it comes. No more Pampers for me. The homemade paper towel little buddies are for the "messy" diapers. That way they can just make their way into the garbage never to be seen again. Still cheaper than Pampers, still just as easy. I will attempt to use the cloth wipes also, just for the average diaper change. Use it once, toss it in the diaper pail with the wet diapers, wash them right up, and use them again.
Hmm. I might be convincing myself this will work...
I will let you know.
Thank goodness Sweet Bottoms Baby Boutique is speedy in their deliveries because I want to experiment!
Yours Truly,
Molly
Monday, February 6, 2012
Weekend Getaway
Jordan's weekend actually fell on a weekend... so we galavanted off to the lake for some R&R and other random adventures. Here are a few snapshots:
Teething, anyone?? Sweet girl is a non-sleeping, chew and lick everything, little monster.
Good thing we happen to love this variety of monster... or we'd be in trouble.
Snowshoe adventure day one. Yup, that's my baby-wearing lumberjack of a husband. I love him. Emberly was passed out most of the journey (see above) but woke up happy and loved looking at the trees and smiling back at grandma and grandpa behind us (see below).
Who says 5-month old bambinos are too little to go sledding?? Isn't this just the greatest thing you've ever seen? She was too little for the baby sled, so we improvised with a box. Gotta love boxes. They solve all sorts of problems.
Handsome baby-wearing husband on Snowshoe Adventure Day 2
Warming up those pink cheeks after a long walk on the lake. Yes, that's right, I was brave enough to walk on the ice. Yikes! (I just kept telling myself it was a nice open prairie.)
AND... on an unrelated note: Steamed Carrots + Magic Bullet = first tastes of carrot puree
Mmmm...
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