Sleeping Days

I became nostalgic when I came across this picture recently...it's of my beautiful sleeping baby...intense nostalgia because she has stopped napping all together.  It's not a new game and it's certainly not funny!  She snagged a cold, popped a tooth, became pacifier-less and has decided to strike this awfulness with a no-nap-sit-in.

We ditched the pacifiers since it's impossible for these bimbas to breathe through their noses with a cold, and the pacifiers keep them from being able to sleep well - since they're so accustomed to it.  We're on day 8 right now...she doesn't seem to mind missing them as much as the general jackhammering it's done to her schedule.

Dave thinks she looks big in this shot...probably just the angle.  :)

Don't tell her, but she's got a good chance of winning this fight!

Walking, Talking & Teeth!!!

I've been getting really bad about updating recently.  Partly because we're almost ready to launch Dave's photo blog, Facebook page and a host of other things keeping us swamped...which is really exciting! 

We also were blessed with an insurgency of Slaugenhoups! From all points, Alaska, Maryland, and Clarion County. Very fun.

And...the purpose of this blog...to track our sweet baby girl's first year...has lots of updating to do!  We are finally walking (Well, Ellie took her first steps at Erin Vanderbeck's parents' house on September 25th.  She took a few steps toward Erin's cracker).  Shocking, right?

At breakfast last week, Ellie was eyeing up Killian (the dog) in the dining room while she sat perched in her high chair.  She blurted out as clearly as an adult would say it, "Doggie". Dave and I looked at each other and tried to replicate it, but she was entirely consumed by her breakfast at that point. The "Hi" and "Hey"s are back regularly too.

Finally!!!!!!! a tooth! After a very restless night in the pack 'n' play in Aunt Molly and Uncle Michael's house, I felt a pointy part on her lower left gum.  After months of applying the 'she must be teething' label to a bad night's sleep, we finally made it!  We can stop saving for dentures. Dave can stop losing bets to me about when a tooth will pop. And yes, she walked before she had teeth.

Clearly, I owe better posts on all of these things, since they're all such a big deal in kid terms, but I need to grab some photos too.

Hope everyone's doing well and enjoying fall! 

Overdue

Wow - sorry for the overdue posting here - I'm going to have to make it short, since Ellie's on her way up from a nap. 

I realized it's been almost a month since I last posted!  Crazy. Quick synopsis of the big things that have come and gone:

• Trip to Germany and Austria (basically the reason I went missing on the blog for a month). Lots of funny stories from this trip that deserve their own post.
• Baby play dates that get so much better each week!  Because the 'play' date actually involves 'playing.'
• Dave has been shooting a LOT. So there's lots of post production that I need to get on - thus, my time normally spent blogging went toward my 'other job'. Which I enjoy just as much, albeit keeping me away from my fun social avenues. :(
• Switching rooms around in the house so that Ellie now has almost an entire room to be safe and play in.  I'm sure the commitment to the kid is much to Annie's chagrin, but it's nice that I can be in the kitchen and keep an eye on her destruction.
• David has been super Dad.  He took on watching Ellie all day yesterday from awakening to nearly  sleeping - he was exhausted when I got home and said, "I don't know how you do it every day." (HUGE GRIN HERE)
• She's started sleeping through the night!
• Nana visited and saved Mama on a few occasions.
• Oh yea, and we're pregnant!

All of these items deserve their own post, so I'll have to get on that!

Glad to be back!

xoxo

Sleep Regressions and Transgressions

I was talking to a friend of mine who's 10th child is 14-months-old now.  She described herself as a perpetual optimist with her example being, "What, teething keeps them up at night? I don't remember." She's so lovely that we laughed it up.  I declared my sister, Annie, to be in the same memory loss camp. 

About 2-3 weeks ago, Elizabeth had roseola.  I didn't know it at the time.  I excused the initial high fever as teething.  Finally Heather diagnosed her and we confirmed it with the pediatrician later that day.  Incredibly high fever (average of 104.9 degrees); fever breaks and a rash appears to spread all over her tiny body.  My niece had the same thing, around 8 months, and Annie said, "Oh yea, I should've realized that it was roseola." Humph.

With the high fever, I was terrified that I was going to not watch her carefully enough, so I rationalized pulling her into bed with us.  Bad move in hindsight.  I should have just stayed in her bedroom and slept on the floor.  But when they're sick, you put everything on hold and it doesn't matter. You do whatever you need to do to survive.   Well, she got better health-wise, but lost her better sleep habits winding up with me doing whatever we all could to get some sleep and respite. 

You have to undo what you do to get through it all.  And so there were some tough nights there - we called in back up, Nana Slaugenhoup, to the rescue.  And she gave me some much needed rest.  She was wonderful - nearly throwing me out of the house.  I got a haircut and joined a gym.  I felt bright eyed once she was ready to leave.  Sad to see her go, and Ellie misses her for sure! 

Tiny Cherub

These were quick shots from when she was supposed to be sleeping, I found her like this.

Sleep Update

We're not sleeping through the night, but we do wake up only once - I feed her once and we all go back to sleep.  This is a thankful reprieve since she was waking 6-7 times a night for a week there...but it was clearly teething.  Wow, it was crazy, because we couldn't figure out how to make it better.  And when you're in the thick of it, as usual, it never feels like it's going to get better.   But, as usual, it does.  So we're going to just enjoy this pattern of good sleep while it lasts...until the next disruption. ;)

Lesson: don't try to fight it.

Teaser!

We don't dare talk about it.

We've become as superstitious as hockey players refusing to shave their beards during the playoffs.

If you kid sleeps through the night suddenly, you don't tell anyone, for fear of taking for granted that it might never happen again.

That great nighttime storm two nights ago provided our first full night of uninterrupted sleep. Around 5:45 I ran down the hall to her room, Dave must've heard me scurry and followed. I gently touched her shoulder, didn't feel anything. I tried her arm, and still no discernable movement, so I began pocking her to evoke some sort of response as my panic started. Dave shouted in as much of a whisper as he could, "what are you doing?! Don't do that!"

I couldn't help it! And fortunately she didn't wake up until after I hopped out of the shower.

She made it through her first night alive; she can do it again. Just have to make sure we don't talk about it.

"We make plans and God laughs."

Week 17

Tricks: She's suddenly clutching everything and wants to get her hands and mouth on just about everything she sees. She regularly bounces on our legs, laughs at the dogs (and only sometimes at us.) She's still trucking down the crawl track. Ellie loves petting Killian, practicing sitting up, and showing off her grins.

Life: Wow, time is really starting to fly!

And we're flying to Italy this weekend, so wish us luck! I recognize that her routine will wind up slightly 'off' with the 5 hour time difference. I cannot wait for Ellie to see some of the paintings in the Vatican.

As for this week, the weather has warmed up and so we threw the windows open throughout the day and night. I think that the outdoor lullaby isn't as sweet as she's used to, so she's begin waking a bit more often at night. In contrast with my former self, I'm sure she'll work it out.

But for now, I find myself typing this on my phone as I'm sitting in the car hoping she can extend her nap and catch up on some much needed sleep!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sleep patterns

Some things that new mothers are told seem crazy and wind up true. When I used to accuse Elizabeth of being on Beijing time zone, I was told that they eventually switch their days and nights around to reflect their parents'. And that it did.

The latest example of this: that babies self regulate their sleep cycles. With our attempts to start an earlier bedtime, I have to be honest and say that we didn't do anything differently except make sure we get a bigger overnight diaper and change her clothes while she's still awake. She has started shaving time off her old 10:30 bedtime to where we are now, with her fast asleep since 8:30 tonight. And she's done this all on her own.

Lesson: start believing in the nutty things other parents tell you.

Crib Days

Great night in her own crib!(Yes, she had still been in the pack n' play in our room) But she had longer stretches between feedings and everthing-great work E!

Nap-time

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The 45 Minute Intruder and Pacifiers

Last night, I told David that I'm going to make a bonfire of the pacifiers today.  He took one look at me, squeezed tightly and sympathetically said, "you've lost it." 

And that I have...I rounded up all of the pacifiers (including the new ones we just bought this past weekend) and hid them in a basket in the nursery.  Reason being, our beautiful, sweet, previously good sleeping baby has become a paci-junkie.  She slept in her pack-n-play last night and woke up 3 times to eat between 8pm and 7am (not too bad actually).  However, she also woke up 3 times (45 minutes after she falls asleep almost to the minute!) searching for that pacifier that fell out midway through her sleep pattern.  Without this interim pacifier fix, she wouldn't return to sleep, and at 3am, who am I to reason with her that it's completely unnecessary. 

She used to be an angelic sleeper. I could put her down before she was completely asleep. I wouldn't need to rock, walk, or sing her to sleep.  She'd just go right down.  Now, she needs a pacifier to fall asleep.

So, here are the new rules for pacifier usage (right from the paci-nazi's keyboard):
-church
-airplanes
-out of the house to calm upset crying (family houses are excluded)

The old pacifier rules that are no longer allowable:
-to extend between feedings
-car rides
-pain from gas/cramps/bloating/migraines/broken limbs, etc. (this treatment has been resolved with the miracle juice - see prior posting)

Why it's hard to leave for work...

Dave sent me a text including this picture (that he snapped early one morning right before he left) with the words, "it's so hard to leave you two." We couldn't do this without him.  He's my constant; our protector. He makes all of this possible, with God's guidance.  We wouldn't be able to raise our daughter the way we want without his hard work and the small sacrifices on both of our parts.  Small, because of the gigantic gift being able to stay home and raise her provides.

Thank you dearest, sweet husband.  We love you so much.

Caption: It was nearly an all-nighter - this is what recovery mode looks like.

Lamest New Year's Eve Ever

After 2 days of battling a cold, I looked at the clock and realized it was seven o'clock on New Years Eve. My husband was home looking a little bored. We hadn't really talked about what we'd like to do to ring in the New Year, but I'm sure that neither of us imagined we'd be sitting on a couch, (me, not having showered in 3 days) ready to fall asleep at any moment.

So here's a recap of the night: leftovers for dinner (eaten separately), a half shower, put the baby to sleep in her bed (1st successful attempt lasted for about 2 hours) followed by the vow to David that we will never have such a lame New Years Eve again as we both fell asleep on the couch (not together)...yes, completely lame.

Lesson: I have back-up plans for next year already in place. :)