Happy Valentines Day! (late)

Noel has been sleeping so great this week. Two nights ago she woke up once at 1230, and last night she woke up at 5 AM but fussed just a little bit and went back to sleep.

I read this book "Good Night Sleep Tight" that gives tips/techniques to get them to sleep better, all WITHOUT them having to "cry it out". She seems much better rested during the day, and she's taking regular naps.

We gave her some sweet potato mixed in with her rice cereal last night, and she LOVED it. She ate a lot of it too - it surprised me!

I did a late Valentines Day shoot with Noel this morning - I'm still not too great with my camera, but you have to start somewhere, right? Here are some pics from this morning:

Gettin sleepy!

YAY!

Noel slept through the night for the first time EVER.

I put her down at 730 pm or so, like always. She didn't wake up at 11 like she usually does, OR at 4:00.

I woke her up at 5:00 for a "dream feeding" and placed her right back in her crib, asleep. She slept until 630 this morning!!!

She has really figured out how to roll over pretty well...every morning she's on her tummy. I took her bumper off the bed since she's getting her face up against it at night. I'm going to try to find a mesh one that is "breathable". I dont want her arms and legs getting stuck outside the crib, which is what happened this morning.

Jumpin' fool

Mom and Dad came up again this weekend, to visit. They were supposed to come up for Presidents Day (today) since it is a daycare holiday. But Tim ended up having the day off, so they came up for Saturday and Sunday.

One of mom's co-workers wanted to get rid of her "Jumperoo" so she gave it to mom to bring up to us. We are really blessed that so many people have given us so many toys/gadgets for Noel. I bought the doorway jumper, but other than that, and her activity mat, all of her big toys have been given to us. We really appreciate it!

Noel LOOOVVES to jump. I need to take a video of her jumping to upload it. It is sooo cute.

Mom commented on how much she has changed since she saw her last, which was only 4 weeks ago. She can now sit unassisted for a few seconds. She kind of props herself up like a little tripod. She still hasn't mastered rolling over, but she can def. get onto her side quickly.

Every night when I put her to bed, she rolls over on her side, and sticks her thumb in her mouth. I've tried giving her a paci, but she usually won't take it. Oh well, you win some you lose some.

As for her sleep, we're still working on it. This book I'm reading emphasizes consistency and routine. I need to come up with a daily course of action that will remain consistent at daycare and also at home--feeding times, and nap times. I think Miss Holly generally plays it by ear everyday, as far as her naps and feedings. I think a more structured routine will help her sleep better at night, as well as me responding the same to her everytime she wakes up. That's going to be hard, since I drive 45 minutes to and from daycare everyday. If anyone has any ideas on how to do this, I'm open to suggestions.

She generally wakes up sometime between the hours of 11-1, and once at 4. Most nights it'll take me 20 minutes to get her back in her bed and quiet.

Cereal is still going pretty well, I'm giving her a tablespoon of cereal/night or so.

Beautiful day!

Today was absolutely beautiful!! Tim has been working all day, but Noel and I made some soup (that I have to take to work this week), and we even managed to get outside a bit to enjoy the beautiful weather! While I chopped up the peppers to go in the soup, Noel seemed interested, so I gave her a large piece of one, to play with. She liked it!


I think it was a good change of scenery for her...she LOVED it.

And earlier today, when I was putting laundry away, she was bouncing around in her 'johnny jump-up' thing. I was about to move her to a different doorway, and when I turned around, she had fallen asleep in it! Every so often, I'd hear a little bounce...she was even bouncing in her sleep! Hahaha

First taste of cereal!

Noel's had a bit of a reaction to the vaccines this time around...her temperature got up to 103 this afternoon! I gave her some tylenol and have been holding her a bit more than usual. I think her little legs hurt too!

So we tried some cereal this afternoon, right before a normal feeding time. She was interested in the spoon more than the cereal I think...and I'm pretty sure she spit out about 90% of it...but we're just getting her used to it. It wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be for some reason, but I guess it's because the cereal is really runny and doesn't have much flavor. She'll probably have more of a reaction to vegetables and fruits!

Num Yummy!

In other news, I just put Noel down, trying the new "method". I usually give her a bath, give her a massage with lotion, read her a story, feed her, burp her, then put her in her crib with music playing.

By the time I put her down, she is pretty much passed out. So tonight, I fed her first, then bath, lotion, story, and placed her in her bed. I "tucked" her in, kissed her good night, and left her alone. No pacifier or music. It was SO HARD for me to do that. I guess I just want to comfort/love her as much as she needs me to, and I don't feel comfortable leaving her to cry.

The doctor's point was that we can't expect her to wake in the middle of the night and be able to put herself back to sleep, if when we're putting her down, we basically do all of the work for her.

It makes sense I guess.

Anyway, I left the room and braced myself for the worst. I came downstairs with the monitor and over the next few minutes, she fussed a little bit...then...SILENCE. She's sound asleep. Hmph.

Probably the fact that she isn't feeling well and didn't take good naps today worked in my favor, though. I'm hoping that she'll start sleeping through the night soon. The doctor said that it'll only take 4 days maximum.

It's going to be an easy few days if it was as easy as tonight's bedtime was! I'm trying not to count my eggs before they hatch though :)

4 month Dr Visit

Yesterday was Noel's 4 month appointment with the pediatrician. I had an entire page of questions to ask Dr Shower...who was the doctor that visited us in the hospital!

Anyway, here are Noel's stats:
13 lbs 0.1 oz - 25th percentile
24.5 in - 50th percentile
16.25 cm head circumference - 50th percentile

She had to have 2 shots in each leg, and also drink one which is the rotateq vaccine. It kills me to see her scream like that! They have 4 vaccines at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Acckkkk.

It seems like she's been a little bit more fussy than she was at 2 months. She was running a little bit of a fever too, so I gave her some tylenol before bed last night. The doctor recommended putting her down at night without ANY pacifier, music, or anything. Just her, her bed, and nothing else.

She said that I should basically let her cry it out for a few nights. I don't feel comfortable doing this basically because I've read that it can break the bond between parent and child. She learns that we're not here for her.

I've thought about changing the bedtime routine a little bit to make sure that she's awake when I put her down...right now, as soon as I feed her, she passes right out and I put her down. So when she wakes up I will comfort her w/o getting her out of her bed, and without feeding her...and see if she'll go to sleep on her own.

This has been the most challenging part of being a parent so far! The doctor said that doing the cry it out method for 3 nights will make her sleep through every night. That sounds SO appealing. I ordered a book called 'Good night Sleep tight' but I haven't received it yet...it's supposed to help you get your baby to sleep WITHOUT crying so much.

We were cleared to start solids, so Noel will be trying her first taste of cereal soon!

Here is a picture taken after her appointment yesterday: