Valentine's Day Parent Style

Also known as "What happened to my baby?"

The day started out great. Aubrey woke up happy at her normal time, we played for a while, dressed in a cute v-day outfit, took pictures. Then she didn't really want to eat her breakfast and started getting fussy. After some more playing I got her to take a nap, a good 1.5 hours. Still very typical day. Then we went and had a nice lunch with Bill near his work, came home, Aubrey ate a big lunch and we played for a while longer. She was so cute, she tried to put a pacifier in my mouth! She recently learned how to pick one up and put it in her own mouth, then she tried to put it in my mouth, it was adorable. After a nice afternoon nap, Bill came home with dinner and we opened cards and presents and enjoyed dinner with Aubrey on our laps.

I started getting her ready for bed around 7:30pm. Read a book, get in jammies, etc. with the goal of getting her to sleep around 8pm. Bill and were going to enjoy some wine and cheesecake and watch a movie once she was asleep. Now typically she has been sleeping from about 8:30pm to 7:30am with one waking to eat around 4am. Last night, I would put her down and she would start crying. Pick her up, she would be almost instantly soothed and falling right back to sleep, put her back down, instant crying. This went on until 1 am! Now before this I was not an advocate of letting babies cry it out, but that is because I had such a good sleeper. We tried everything last night. Tylenol and oragel for teething pain, swaddling, unswaddling, pacifier, extra nursing, humidifier, stuffed animal in the bed, and she was having none of it. So finally we gave up and just put her in her crib to cry and she cried until about 2am and then slept until 7am. That was the longest hour ever! I just sat on the end of the bed, "Bill, am I doing the right thing? I feel like a horrible mother. What if she needs something and just can't tell me." As Bill pointed out it probably was a combination of her developing separation anxiety, learning that when she cries I come, and possible teething pain. We also figured that nothing really was wrong with her because as soon as we picked her up she would go to sleep.

So that was our "romantic" Valentines evening. And I still feel so upset about letting her cry last night, probably partly because I only had four hours of sleep. I think I'll be crying it out too tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day from our little sweetheart

stripey cuteness

"To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It's a platitude." ~John McCain

I think that quote is a good summary of what many people are forgetting as they are getting swept up in Obamania. Not that I am too happy that McCain is the apparent Republican nominee, but I did like what he said here.

Yesterday we bought Dexter his first dogbed. Well, not his first, we bought him one when we brought him home, but he thought it was just a big toy and he ran around with it in his mouth instead of laying on it. Since he is almost two now we decided to give it another go and see if he is mature enough to not eat his bed. He LOVES it! I gave it to him at 2pm yesterday and he did not get off of it until Bill got home around 7pm. Anyway, I wanted to take a picture of him enjoying his pillow, but he really didn't want his photo taken. See picture below.

"Can't you let a poor guy get some rest without making the flash go off in his eyes?"

Some bits of news

Aubrey has sprouted fangs! Her top teeth have come in, not the two in the middle, but the two on the other side of those. Well, her left one is out, her right almost coming out. Now I understand the past week of major sleep regression--I thought I had a newborn again! She was up four or five times a night and not napping! Last night was finally better, I think she is back to her once waking at four a.m. now. I feel like a new woman with sleep again. :) I have a handout from my pediatrician that says: "For most children, teething is painless. Teething occasionally causes mild gum pain, which doesn't interfere with sleep....Teething does not cause sleep problems, diarrhea, diaper rash..." Uh-huh, whatever! Apparently the doctor who wrote this didn't have a child who was a bad teether. I think Aubrey must be ultra sensitive or something.

I have been having fun making baby food! All she has started on so far are sweet potatoes, but I have been steaming and food processoring and freezing away! So far she gags on the sweet potatoes, but I think it will just take her a while to get used to the new flavor--all that has gone in that mouth to eat prior to this has been milk and rice cereal, both very mild.

Tomorrow we are getting new carpet in the main level and in the basement. One day a couple weeks ago I got a very unexpected check in the mail from the U.S. Treasury. With some detective work we figured out it was for a pension plan from my old job that I didn't qualify for because I didn't quite make the five year mark. Money had been automatically deposited there, which they refunded me. So the grand total of the work for the carpet came out to about $150 less than the check--exactly what we needed for our new vaccuum! What amazing evidence of God working in and blessing our lives. Oh, and the new vaccuum is amazing. I don't think I realized how poorly the old one was working until I got this new one--Eureka!

We also purchased a bigger car seat for Aubrey. We don't need it quite yet, but Britax has a sale in February, so we got the car seat we wanted for about $60 off. Our big baby is less than an inch away from growing out of her current carseat lengthwise.

Big Frog, Little Frog

Three Weeks

Six Months

Six Month Stats

Our girl is growing!

19lbs 2 oz--95th percentile

27inches tall--90th percentile

head circ. is 90th percentile too (no wonder I am having trouble fitting things over her head!)

The Doctor says she looks great and is right on track for developments. He said it is time to start babyproofing the house: she should be crawling within two months!