The Evolution of Sleep

When Little Miss was a wee one, she pretty much slept anywhere.  At night, she slept next to our bed in a co-sleeper:

(Remember when we had to sleep downstairs temporarily while the air conditioning was broken?) During the day, she slept in my arms or her swing, but mainly in her bouncy chair:

Last fall, around 6 or 7 months, we transitioned her to her crib in her own room:

That worked well for a while.  She continued to sleep in her crib through the move and was pretty successful.  Then we hit a major sleep regression and Little Miss required lots of 'visits' in the middle of the night.  Unfortunately, instead of taking 5-10 mins to put her back down, she was falling asleep on us in the chair and then waking up every time we transferred her back to her crib.  It could sometimes take up to 2 hours to get her back down.  Clearly we needed a different approach, and sleep training wasn't our answer. I asked my mama friends and one of them had this brilliant solution.  Take the mattress out of the crib.  When Butterbean wakes up, lay next to her and comfort her and then roll away once she's asleep.  We tried it and it's worked out really nicely.  Sometimes she just wants to touch our face or put her hand in our hair and then she goes back to sleep pretty quickly.  We can then get up and go back to bed.  Sometimes, she's a bit harder to get back down.  More than once, hubs and I have fallen asleep cuddled up with her on her little crib mattress and woken up with her asleep beside us.  Then we can roll away and go back to bed.  Either way, we're not sitting in a chair and then praying that she won't wake up at the transfer.  It makes everyone happier.  At night, she's pretty good about just crying for us and doesn't crawl off the mattress.  She actually wants help going back to sleep.  During the day it's a breeze to nurse her down and then lay her on the mattress.  It's actually a lot easier on my back now that I don't have to bend over the crib rail to lay her down.  Here she is snuggled up during a nap:

We've been doing this for a few months now and we're happy with it.  We've considered getting a twin mattress just so it'll be more comfortable for us, but we're still just toying with the idea.  We're at 1-2 wakeups a night, which we're pretty comfortable with (although we know molars are around the corner and there will be more).  I'm not sure when we'll actually decide to convert her crib to a toddler bed and have her sleep in there, or if we'll go straight to a big girl bed, but that will probably be our next step.  In the meantime I've realized that one can never have too many photos of a sleeping baby.

My Little Fashionista

At our old house, I became friends with the neighbor two doors down.  She had a daughter 4 years old and came over one day with some clothes that she told me she couldn't bear to give away.  She wanted Little Miss to have them so that hopefully she would be able to see them again on another little girl.  It was really sweet.  And then we moved.  The clothes were all really big at the time, so I put them in a bin and didn't think much of them.  Last week I actually went through the bin and found this shirt.  It was pretty cute and was perfect for the chillier morning we were having.  Before we went to coffee I dressed her in the shirt and snapped this picture:

But, wait- there's more!  When we go to coffee, the babies often crawl around on a very dirty, very cold cement floor.  I didn't want her bare legs touching that, so I added some leggings.  The whole look was very cute.  This is the sort of picture that we'll look at when she's much older and I'm sure she'll criticize me for putting her in all the different patterns, but I think is very endearing right now.  The smile just adds to the look:

She got lots of compliments on the outfit at coffee and I was able to just slip off the filthy leggings when we left and it had warmed up.  I must admit that I'm in love with dressing my little girl.  I only wish it were so fun to dress myself.

Draft Day

My dad wasn't into sports at all, so I didn't grow up with that influence in my house.  Hubs really isn't that into sports, either.  I adored the Titans, but when no one around me really cared, I started to spend my Sunday afternoons paddling on the river and I lost interest in the team.  Across town at my uncle's house it was the opposite story.  He had season tickets to the Bears and the Bulls and would also go to other sporting events.  He doesn't just enjoy watching the games, he studies them and can explain different plays and strategies.  And the off season isn't just for rest- he studies the potential players coming up in the drafts or in trades in anticipation of what might happen in the new season.  He brought his draft book down with him and decided to get it out with Little Miss:

Apparently she enjoyed turning the pages and going through the book with him.  According to Uncle Mike, she's really interested in tight ends.  Aren't we all, Sugar Pop, aren't we all...

Playing House

After the birthday party Grandma, Aunty Judy and Uncle Mike stayed with us to visit for a few days.  They offered to babysit at different times.  I've definitely learned to take people up on their offer when they volunteer to watch the baby.  I was out and about when I received this series of pictures via text.

Apparently, Uncle Mike was trying to model how to go though the door for Anna.  I'm sure she watched him in amusement as she does it all the time.  It was a really fun picture and I really appreciate the lengths that he went to play with her.  Maybe there was other motivation, because the above pics were followed by this one:

Any play session that ends in cuddles is a good one.

Don't Be Square

We lucked out that it was a gorgeous day for Tater Tot's birthday party.  We were able to slip to the square across the street from our house and grab a few adorable pictures of Little Miss.  

Isn't she just so beautiful?  Because we had people visiting, we were also able to get a whole family shot in.

We were looking right into the sun, so we weren't able to get one of Little Miss looking.  What is it about being outside that just makes pictures look so much better?

TGIF- The 'My, How She's Grown' Edition

I've been getting really nostalgic for my tiny little baby.  I just completed my last monthly photo of Little Miss.  It ended just in time because this past month she got really wiggly and didn't want to sit still for the picture.  She was all over the place and I had to eventually move the sticker to her back because she was climbing all over the chair.  In the end I think that we finished with the perfect photo.  

THEN (1 Month Old):

 

NOW: 

Happy 1 Year Birthday, Butterbean!

My sweet baby is one year old. She's still affectionate- loves to cuddle and adores having raspberries blown on her. My darling girl is definitely making the transition to toddler-hood and I'm not happy about it one bit. I love how independent she is, she's pretty good at listening to instructions and handles redirection well.
This month was a big one. We had Mamaw come stay with us, as well as her aunt, uncle and cousins, Grandma, and Aunty Judy and Uncle Mike. We hosted a play date to celebrate her birthday and while she was slow to warm up with so many children in the house and taking over her toys, she did eventually join in all the games. She learned so many things this month. I was surprised at how many things I added to her new skills column. A few weeks ago she was happily crawling all over the house. Then, she began standing on her own, and now she's walking all over with a walker, happy as a clam. I'm sure she'll be walking soon. Not sure what'll be next, perhaps talking?
Well, we had a Dr visit and lots to report, so we'll move to the numbers, shall we?

By the Numbers:
April
Weight- 23 lbs 12 oz, 93rd percentile
Height- 31.25 in, 98th percentile
Head Circumference- 18.5 in, 94th percentile
Clothes Size- 18 mo
# oz drunk/day- 4 6 oz bottles, only 2 oz of formula in each bottle until our last canister runs out, then all almond milk
# teeth- 8! The 8th tooth finally popped through at the beginning of the month. Next up, molars, but hopefully not for a while
Road Trips- 0, but lots of people came to visit:)
Foods Tried- applesauce in a pouch, red grapes, Cheerios, lasagne, grapefruit, eggplant, BIRTHDAY CAKE/ICE CREAM!!
Favorite things- her y bike walker, Huckleberry
New Skill- WALKING WITH A WALKER!!, turning the pages in books at the correct time, stacking blocks 2 high, holding and drinking from her sippy cup
Biggest Challenge- getting her to be comfortable in new situations. Whenever we're out she's pretty much glued to my legs.
Biggest Success- She's really starting to listen and follow commands.
Sweetest Thing- We have Little Miss' mattress on the floor. It makes it easier for us to get her back to sleep at night. She's now learned how to open her bedroom door. In the morning, she crawls off her mattress, opens her door and crawls into my bedroom for cuddles and nursing before we officially get up and start our day.
Huckleberry- That girl loves her dog. She gets a huge smile on her face when she sees him and often laughs. She crawls over to him and pets him often. One of her favorite things to do is be near me as I throw Huck a ball or toy for him to fetch. She watches me throw it, waits for him to get it, and then claps and bounces excitedly as I scream 'yay' and he brings it back. She's now holding the ball out to him. If he takes it from her hand she gets ridiculously excited. She tries throwing it for him to fetch, but it mostly just falls in front of her and he doesn't understand what the game is supposed to be so he doesn't usually get the ball. She doesn't seem to hold it against him.
Animal Impersonation- fish- She makes a really cute shape with her mouth where she puts her top teeth over her bottom lip and holds down and releases. It both looks and sounds like a fish. I've tried asking her to do it on command, but I haven't had any luck yet.