Addicted?!?!

Ok, I know these aren't the best quality pictures, but I couldn't resist sharing them...

So, what do you think, is she addicted or what, lol?!?!

Pretty soon, I may be calling up these guys for help!...

http://www.aetv.com/intervention/index.jsp

Seriously, I am not that concerned about the paci use, I just think these pictures are funny!

21 Months...

Rosalyn turned 21 months yesterday! Hard to believe she is nearly two years old!


Here are a few pictures of her that I took this evening...She was not very cooperative (as usual!).

Sitting on the coffee table...I have given up on keeping her off of it.

Watching Dora and wishing I would stop snapping pictures of her!

Serious Face

Finally, a smile (even if it is a fake! I tricked her into saying "please.")

Not a great picture, but it shows how long her hair is growing!

Here are a few facts about Rosalyn at 21 months...

Growth: She has not grown any over the past 3 months. I think it is the combination of toddler food pickiness and constant motion during her waking hours. She is holding steady at 27 lb (68%) and 32 inches (24%). I am not worried since I know she is eating healthy food (when she chooses to eat) and she still has plenty of chub to work with! She is wearing size 5 diapers and 24 month clothes. She wears a size 6 shoe.

Eating: See above! She is sometimes a great eater, totally cleaning her plate. Other times, she eats practically nothing all day long. She still drinks 16-24 oz whole milk/day. She is able to a fork/spoon fairly well and is able to drink from a regular cup (no lid or straw). However, she still uses her fingers to eat and her sippy cup to drink most of the time. Her favorite foods now are: fruit of any type, bread of any type, cheese of any type, and carrots. She basically refuses to eat meat at this stage in her life. I am sure this pickiness is normal for her age.

Sleeping: Ros is sleeping in her toddler bed fairly well now. She rarely ever cries when I lay her down for nap or bedtime. When she does fuss, it is just for a minute. She is rarely waking in the middle of the night. Our only real sleep issue at this time is that she is waking up super early (as in 5:30 am) regardless of her bedtime. Hopefully, we can get this kink smoothed out soon or I am going to need to stock up on coffee! She sleeps 9-11 hours/night and takes a 1-2 hour nap each day.

Speech: Rosalyn is talking all the time now. She says so many words on a regular basis that I've lost count. She is starting to put words together more often (hold me, open it, I see, I do it, etc). She "sings" lots of songs. She can recognize and say a few letters, numbers, colors, and shapes.

Motor: She loves to color, play with blocks, run, jump, and climb! In her opinion, there is nothing too big to climb up and/or over.. She is quite a daredevil and has given us lots of scares lately.

Other stuff: She loves to play outside with her bubbles, ball, swing, slide, or baby pool. She also loves to "hide" from us...she will run to another room and get behind/under a bed or door and wait for us to come in so that she can jump out! She is also teething viciously right now and it is not fun for her at all...it can contribute to some grouchiness at times!

She is such a sweet, funny little girl and I love her so much. She is the joy of my life.

Memorial Day 2009

Today, we had a fun little family get-together at our house for Memorial Day!

My Mom & Dad, Jason, Alan & Kelsey, Jessica & Diego, and Mark & Barbie (+Brannon) came over. My dad cooked on the grill (steaks, chicken, ribs, etc) and we made some delish side dishes and desserts also. We had lots of yummy food and enjoyed watching the babies play in the wading pool in our backyard.

Below are some pictures of Rosalyn (21 months) and Brannon (7 months)...

A few pictures from this week....

Rosalyn on her "baby leash" at the zoo. It worked quite well and she didn't seem to mind at all! In fact, she acted happier because she had 36 inches of freedom! She loved the "soo" (zoo) and seeing the "dwafs" and "e-fots" (giraffes and elephants)!

Getting ready to slide into her baby pool in our backyard! She loves to swim!

All I can say about this picture is that I guess she was hungry. I left her alone for a minute while starting some laundry and I came back to find her sitting in the floor eating bread. I am still not sure how she got it off the kitchen counter! Silly girl!

Sleeping is much better :)

Just wanted to update that bedtime and sleeping in general is much, much better at our house these days! I feel human again after sleeping more than 2 hours at a time...Rosalyn has gone to bed and down for naps easily and slept all night for several days now. Thankfully, she seems to be back to her normal bedtime/naptime routine.


I will admit that I had to use the cry-it-out method which I am not really a fan of (most people who know me know this). However, Rosalyn truly left me no choice. Believe me, I tried every single trick in the world to help her sleep and adjust to her new bed. My only other option besides letting her cry-it-out was to lose my mind and I am not kidding! She went from sleeping 11-13 hours straight/night in her crib + a 2-3 hour/nap to 6-8 divided hours/night in her toddler bed + no nap. I decided that since she is a toddler (not a baby) and I know that she is perfectly capable of self-soothing and sleeping well (she has been putting herself to sleep--no rocking--since she was just weeks old and has always been a good sleeper) that I needed to give the cry-it-out method a try.


So, the first night I followed our normal routine and put her to bed as usual. I left her door open with a baby gate in place to keep her in and a nightlight on. I came in the living room and waited while she screamed so loud that I thought the neighbors might call CPS on me. It was not easy for me to just sit here while she wailed for me, but I was strong. The only thing that helped me is that I know her cries and what they mean...this was definitely not a hungry/thirsty, sad, cold/hot, uncomfortable, scared, lonely, or sick cry...it was an I-am-mad-at-the world cry! I intentionally had to wait for a night that Jason was at work because he is much softer than I am and he would have never lasted!


She cried for 40 minutes the first night, 10 minutes (mostly just whining) the second night, and 0 minutes the third night. She slept all night without a peep each of those nights and also slept until around 8 am each morning. We are now on the third night of no crying and no night waking. She also resumed her normal naps with no drama. It has been wonderful and I feel like I have my sweet baby back! She was (understandably) a grouchy miserable little girl functioning on so little sleep!


Now, with all of that being said, I cannot imagine ever doing cry-it-out with a baby younger than 18 months...I think that learning to self soothe is important even at that age, but not as important as learning that the world is a safe, happy place and that mom is going to respond quickly and efficiently to your needs (even just emotional needs). With our strong routines and letting her fall asleep on her own, Rosalyn was able to learn to self soothe anyway as a very young baby and put herself to sleep with no crying-it-out (up to this point, anyway). After the past two weeks, however, I will never say never.


Even though I wouldn't do it with a younger baby, I can say honestly that doing the cry-it-out method with my almost 21 month old wasn't that bad and definitely worth it to have my happy, well-rested baby back!


It might seem like I have written a novel about a mundane topic, but it was a big deal for us!

Happy Birthday, Pop!!!!

Today is my dad's 51st birthday! I am cooking him a birthday lunch this afternoon (meatloaf, butterbeans, and apple dumplings...his requests!) and then my parents are babysitting so Jason and I can attend a wedding tonight.


Happy Birthday! You are the best Daddy and Pop in the world...We love you so much!


Here are a few pictures of Rosalyn and Pop together...

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Here is another picture of Rosalyn asleep in her swing a couple of days ago. She has been so sleep deprived from her lack of nighttime sleep (a whole different post, lol!) that she's been falling asleep anywhere she gets still. It is hilarious! Crazy girl!

Mother's Day

This is one of my favorite quotes about motherhood...


"Making the decision to have a child is momentous...It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body"


So true!


As happy and grateful as I am this year--my 3rd Mother's Day if you count when I was pregnant--I have a bit of a heavy heart and I've been praying all day for the women out there with empty arms as the result of infertility. I have not forgotten how harsh and stinging infertility feels, especially on days like Mother's Day. Please join me in praying for those waiting and praying for a baby.


We had a great day today. We went out to eat with Jason's family at Spaghetti Warehouse. My parents were out of town, so we wished my mom a happy mother's day over the phone. Jason and Rosalyn got me sweet cards, Reese's peanut butter cups, and a subscription to a magazine I wanted. I also let Rosalyn color the mat for a cute picture of her I wanted to frame...it turned out great. We ended up making 4x6 for all the grandmothers as well for their gifts.


Here are a few pictures of the day...

Family

She pretty much refused to cooperate with picture taking.

Silly Girl!

Mother's Day 2008

Finally...

First, a few pictures!!!

We have been busy and I just haven't found time to update this week.

I would like to say that Rosalyn has adjusted wonderfully to her toddler bed and is sleeping 12 marvelous hours a night with no crying or night waking...except that I would be lying. Big time lying, not just a little white lie. Needless to say, it has been a rough transition for both of us. She has been waking multiple times per night crying and refusing to go back to sleep under any circumstances. I have tried everything I know of. I have laid on a pallet on the floor near her bed for endless hours and until all my bones ached. Thursday night I only slept for about 2-3 hours, divided into 20-30 minute segments...it was miserable and reminded me of her first couple of weeks at home when she was a newborn. I was a total zombie at work on Friday. I have considered putting her back in the crib, but she has demonstrated over and over that she can quickly climb right out of it! I am afraid she is going to break neck or limb if she falls out! I have also considered buying a crib tent, but I am too afraid she may somehow strangle herself trying to get out. I also think she would be freaked out by it in general. So, I guess the only option is to keep trying the toddler bed! If tonight turns out horribly, I will probably face my fears and just put her back in the crib with or without a crib tent.

Otherwise, not much going on at our house! Rosalyn is growing so much and so fast. She is talking all the time now...she says about 150 words on a daily basis and it seems like she learns a few more each day. She is starting to put two words together (open it, hold me, etc). It is so much fun to see her learning!

Big Girl Bed...

Due to Rosalyn's newest trick (climbing out of her crib at 1 am), we have had to move on to a toddler bed. We bought the new bed and bedding last night and Jason got it put together this morning. She took a long nap in it this afternoon with no problems, so hopefully tonight will be just as easy!

EDITED TO ADD: Tonight was definitely not easy breezy like naptime today! I had to spend 45 minutes in Rosalyn's room laying her back down in bed and comforting her until she finally drifted off to sleep! Hoping tomorrow will be better! I cannot imagine having to suddenly deal with sleep issues now after 20 months of near perfect sleeping!

Here are two pictures from naptime today...

Rosalyn is still improving! She is nearly 100% better :)


Yesterday, R and I went to the mall to eat lunch and find a birthday gift for a friend. Upon arriving, I realized that I had forgotten to put the stroller in the car! I had my BabyHawk Mei Tai carrier, which I still use regularly, but I wasn't sure that would work for more than little bit. I also forgot the "baby leash." So...I decided to be brave and just let her walk holding my hand. Guess what? She was sooo good. I was shocked. I fully expected her to run from me and refuse to cooperate, terrorizing the mall until either we were asked to leave by security or I left voluntarily in tears!! However, she was just the opposite. She walked right beside me holding my hand nearly the entire time. She didn't even run away one time! She smiled nicely and told everyone we saw "hi." She ate nearly all of her Chick-Fil-A lunch and then helped me look for the gift. We only had one near fit...we passed the Build A Bear store and she wanted to go in (we didn't). She let go of my hand and laid in the floor whining and gave a couple of halfhearted kicks. I just stood there looking at her like "Are you done yet?". She quickly hopped up, grabbed my hand, and we kept on walking like nothing happened. I did see a few observers chuckling at our little scene!


Today, we mostly stayed home. We did venture out this evening for a quick Wal-Mart run. I am helping with a bridal shower tomorrow and needed the stuff to make spinach-artichoke dip...yum!


I have been extra germ-cautious due to the stupid swine flu. I am sure that any observers at Wal-Mart this evening thought I for sure had severe OCD with the way I scrubbed down the buggy with sanitizer and baby wipes before putting Rosalyn in it!


I will try to post again tomorrow or Sunday.