Nap Fail

Cambry is a great baby, but that doesn't mean she is never difficult. I mostly write about the good things, because that is what I want to focus on and be thankful for. But then again if I have another baby and look back on my old posts I want to be reminded that yes, sometimes babies are challenging and that is normal.

So just thought I would document a current example. Right now I have been trying to get little one to take a nap for the past hour and a half or so.

8:30 AM ish - She seems tired already. It is early for a nap, but then again it is not like we are on a schedule, so every day is different. Yawning. Rubbing eyes. I read her a story. I sing her a song. I rock her a minute. I stand up and sway her. She falls asleep on my shoulder after several minutes. I lay her in her crib and leave. Suddenly wide awake. Moving around. Kicking. Off and on fussing.

I fix coffee and start doing my bible study, while watching her on the monitor. She is doing gymnastics and fuss-whining. I let her be hoping she falls asleep.

She will not stop. I go in and check her. She has a dirty diaper. I change it and put her back down. She continues fussing. She is fixated on the sound machine and keeps scooting over to the corner of the crib that it is near just to look at it and try to get out. More whining.

Legs flailing all about. By now it has been a while since she has eaten, so I give in a feed her hoping that will put her to sleep. It does...until I lay her back in the crib. Suddenly wide awake again. More break dancing and cry-whining.

Wait a while then check her again. Pick her up. Read story, sing song. She is tired. Lay her down. Waaaaaa. Aaaaaaaa.

Um, I think we are approaching 2 hours now. Give in and just let her play? Keep her in crib and try to teach her to fall asleep? I JUST NEVER KNOW. I think I am about to go get her. She looks like an angry squirming turtle. Where is the parenting handbook?

Sleeping Baby

Don't you just love when babies sleep with their bum sticking up? It is too cute for words.

Sweet Moments

The quality of this picture is terrible, but I just had to capture this moment. Cambry hasn't done this in a long time it seems. Sweet little thing was playing with some kitchen utensils in the playroom and she seemed so sleepy. It was late in the afternoon so I didn't expect her to nap but I thought at least we could go in her nursery and have some quiet time. I sat in the rocker and turned on her sound machine. She was still sucking on this big plastic whisk. She would momentarily lay her head on me but then get back up. We kept rocking and I was humming and she finally just went to sleep...still holding onto the whisk. It's moments like these I sure do treasure.

Here are a few other random updates on her.

- I think she is done with the paci. She only takes it at nap time, but hasn't wanted it lately. It has been several weeks so I have sort of put them away and she doesn't seem to miss it.

- She is still inch-worming. So close to crawling!

- I think she likes strawberries! At least she likes sucking on one and eating little bits off it when I hold it to her mouth.

- She likes drinking water out of a cup (while I hold it). She hasn't figured out a sippy cup but has sucked through a straw a few times. Just bought the sippy cups with straws but didn't realize they are spill proof so it is really hard to get the water out. She hasn't figured those out yet.

- I think she is transitioning to 2 naps a day instead of 3. Timing is still unpredictable.

- Here is a picture of her scrunchie face which she still likes to do fairly often.

So Lucky

There are times,

when I am in the middle of doing something,

and Cambry wakes up from her nap.

And I think,

man,

I wish she would have slept just a little bit longer.

But then I go in her room,

and see this.

My heart melts.

And I realize,

I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Baby in a Basket

Toys are fun and all, but sometimes other things are just way more fun.

Things like baskets.

You can dump them over, lick them, try to crawl in them, hide in them, or go on "basket rides".

Anniversary Pictures

I saw this cute idea on Young House Love website to take a picture each anniversary. I think this is such a sweet idea and a fun way to see your family grow/change.

Source: younghouselove.com via Jana on Pinterest

I tried to dig up old pictures from our anniversaries but we didn't always take one or they aren't very good.

Here is a picture from our honeymoon in Hawaii. Aww, newlyweds.

This is on our first anniversary. We stayed at a cute Bed and Breakfast just outside of Houston.

I could not find a single picture from our second anniversary.  We went to Austin and stayed at Barton Springs. I could not even find a picture from the spring of 2010. This is the closest I could find - it is from Tracy's wedding in October 2010.

This was from our 3rd anniversary (gotta love the self portrait). We celebrated a bit late (in April) by going to Austin for a Joe Purdy concert. I was in my first trimester and nauseous.

For our 4th anniversary the Attaways came over and babysat while we enjoyed a nice dinner. We didn't take a picture, but this one was taken in February, so it is close enough.

Going forward I definitely want to try to take a picture each anniversary. I also think it would be cute to take a picture each Christmas and somehow incorporate it into your Christmas decor.

The Hubs and I

I feel like all I blog about lately is Cambry. I suppose that is normal since parenting is a 24/7 job so obviously it is a huge focus and consumes so much time and energy and thought. I can't even remember what I used to blog about before I got pregnant. I should go back and read some old posts.

Anyway, I thought I should document a little about Greg and I, what we have been up to lately. It is nice that Cambry goes down early so we can enjoy evenings together one on one time.

Once a week we have our Bible study where either the girls meet, the guys meet, or we have big group social. Also, for the past couple of months Greg and had been spending one night a week watching a series by Matt Chandler on Phillipians. It was so so good. It was a 12 week series with each session about 30 minutes. We need to find a new series to start because we both really enjoyed it.

Other nights we sometimes work on a house project. Lately we have been doing stuff for the play room like hanging pictures or painting the bookshelf. That bookshelf has been a nightmare, but that's another post for another day. I am so close to just throwing it in the trash and going to IKEA.

Besides that we usually just relax or watch TV, or do something on the computer. We have been watching Parenthood lately.

I love weekends when Greg is home and we have family time. Usually at night we will just hang out and maybe watch a movie. But I tell you, finding a decent movie is so hard! We will literally spend 30 minutes looking up movies, then reading reviews and looking up the reason for the rating, etc. We generally don't watch R rated movies unless we have looked into it and feel the content is appropriate. After spending all that time we usually just give up and decide that it is getting late (um, perhaps 9:30, WAY too late to start a movie, ha!). So we just settle for watching a TV show. If anyone has good movie suggestions please share!

On Saturdays we like going out and about as a family. For some reason just doing something as simple as going to the grocery store is way more fun when we are all together. We like going shopping, or going to brunch or lunch, or doing other little errands. However, it seems like lately our weekends have been full of other things that have been keeping us busy and we haven't really done that in a while.

That's about it for us. We really should go on a date night soon, it has been too long! And we also should take a picture of just us. I don't even have one to put with this post. We have taken about a zillion pictures of Cambry, but hardly any of us.

Waco Weekend

This past weekend we went to Waco to spend time with Greg's family. It is so nice that his sister's family lives there too and his brother and SIL live only 30 minutes away. So whenever we visit we get to see everyone.

We went swimming on Saturday in Michelle's parent's pool, which is beautiful. It felt great in the water and was really nice to have some sunshine since we have had a week of rain in Houston and it looks like another whole week coming up. Hollyn had a blast. She has taken swim lessons and is really great in the water. Cambry enjoyed the pool time too. Look at this adorable bikini. It was Hollyn's, which Jill had let me borrow, but had gotten hidden behind a basket until I found it recently. She won't be able to wear it for much longer but she sure does look cute.

After a while in the pool Cambry took a short snooze on the swing next to Pops.

Pops entertained the girls with his guitar.

That evening we celebrated Mimi's upcoming 89th birthday. Look how sweet she is. And here she is so happy to have 2 great grandchildren with her. I hope I get to see my great grand children. Cambry and her kids better have kids sooner than I did if that is going to happen!

Cambry doesn't usually nap much when we are in Waco because there is so much excitement she doesn't want to miss anything. Well she made up for it on Sunday. We drive back to Houston in time to be at church for youth class, and she took a 2.5 hour nap in the car. We took her with us to class instead of putting her in the nursery since she was still congested (she seemed to be feeling better though). She fell asleep minutes after getting her in the car to go home and stayed asleep for 3 hours! Sweet little thing was exhausted. We all had a good family weekend.

Monthly Photos: Month 7

Sweet little one is 7 months old! It seems as though not too much has changed this past month. Still super fun and happy. She has mastered sitting without assistance, but will still tump over occasionally. She has her 2 bottom teeth but no others have come through yet.

Size: Last week when she was sick the doctor weighed her at 19 lbs. 10 oz. She wears 9-12 month clothes mostly, and size 3 in disposable diapers.

Likes: Getting out and about, being around people/babies, morning walks, her jumperoo, sleeping on her tummy (with her hiney in the air - it is the cutest thing), baths, putting everything in her mouth, and dogs (she will squeal with delight when we carry her and chase one of our family member's dogs around the house).

Dislikes: Bottles (we have pretty much given up), all food including rice cereal, various baby foods, homemade purees, small bits of fruit for her to pick up herself, etc. I have tried letting her bite off some of my banana, or gnaw on a slice of apple - she immediately realizes it is food and will not put it in her mouth! The closest she has come to liking something was while holding a (peeled) grape or a strawberry and letting her kind of suck on it. Although when we gave her a tiny piece to put in her mouth she acted like she was being gagged/tortured. But hey, she is clearly getting enough milk (see thighs) so I'm not worried. We are taking it easy on the food and will maybe try again in a few weeks.

Working On: Crawling - she likes to get her legs going and can move around by pivoting and scooting, but hasn't crawled yet. I have been trying to teach her the sign for milk for the past month or so. She can do the movement with her hand but hasn't figured out that it means milk yet. I also say "mama" and "dada" to her a lot, but she hasn't made any attempts to say it yet.

Eating: Still 100% milk since she is not interested in food. She nurses about 7-8 times a day including once at night.


Sleeping: Her bedtime routine is working out great. Goes down between 7 and 7:30 with usually no crying (sometimes a few minutes of fussing). Most nights she wakes up once to eat around 3 or 4 am. She usually wakes up around 6:15 or 6:30am. She takes about 3 naps a day and they always vary in length. Lately her first is approx 45min-1hr, her second is 1-1.5 hrs, and her third is about 30 min.

And as I say every month, she is not on a schedule, but that seems to be working for both of us. A schedule would be nice in knowing when she is going to nap so I could better plan play dates, doctor appointments, etc, but I do like that she can kind of just go with the flow. I have had it suggested to wake her up at the same time every day to help get on a schedule, but I just can't bring myself to wake up that early. She already gets up fairly early, and sometimes even gets up in the 5's. When she does that, I feed her and put her back down because that is just too early. She will usually sleep until about 7 something when that happens and I enjoy the extra sleep. Anyway, I am fine with how things are now, and we will see if they change in the future.

I feel like this past month has flown by. On one hand I can't believe she is already 7 months old, but on the other it feels like we have had her for so much longer! She is so sweet and happy and so much fun. I think she gets cuter all the time. I still kiss her dozens of times a day. Even after she goes to bed I look at the monitor a million times just to see her cute sleeping positions. Babies are such a joy.

Sick Day

When I was a kid, if my sister or I got sick we would get the royal treatment. My parents were so sweet and compassionate towards us. My mom would line the couch with comforters and a couple pillows for us to lay on all day. We would get our meals served to us on a tray on the couch. My mom would buy us crossword puzzle books or a magazine or rent a movie. It was so nice you almost didn't want to get better, ha!

Cambry is sick today so we are just hanging out at home on this rainy Wednesday. She had a fever yesterday and this morning, but it seems to be gone now. Last night she was very restless. She had a runny nose and a cough. We went to the doctor this morning and she has little red blisters in the back of her throat which they said indicates a virus.

She seems to be doing better already than she was last night, and even though she is a little fussy I am still getting smiles. As for her royal treatment, I am holding and rocking and reading to her more, and letting her nurse as often as she wants...which is all the time! I even let her sit on my lap and watch some of her Praise Baby DVD, which up to this point I have only let her listen to.

I am thankful that it is nothing serious and that I get to stay home and love on my baby.

Family Weekend

This weekend we got to see both sides of our family. Kyler turned 2 on Sunday so we had planned to drive to Dallas on Saturday and stay for his family party on Sunday. Then last minute we decided to drive to Waco Friday evening and stay the night so we could break up the long drive to Dallas. Greg's parents were sweet to let us come last minute and we enjoyed our visit even though it was short.

Saturday morning we drove into Dallas. We met our friends Matt and Emily and their 2 sweet kids for lunch. We hadn't seen them in so long so it was fun to catch up.

The Kimmels weren't getting back from their NY trip until evening so we walked around the mall and got Cold Stone ice cream. Yum. I have been craving some cake batter ice cream since I was pregnant with Cambry. They closed all the Cold Stones in Houston (although I think there are still some on the outskirts in the Woodlands, Sugarland, etc) so I can never get it. It was such a treat!

That evening we had fun chatting with my parents and the Kimmels. Sunday we celebrated Kyler turning 2. What a cute, sweet boy! I think he had a great day.