(Abby and her BFF Tatum)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Random Picture Challenge
Brittany is doing a random picture challenge, so I'm playing along by posting the 8th picture from my January folder.
Abby at the Beach
We had a beach outing yesterday with the Mitchell's. Our little sun goddess got right to work on her tan. This is her Mom's favorite beach activity too. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Tatum enjoyed some play time under the tent.
And Tyler was just hard to keep up with.
And we saw some dolphins before packing up for the day...
Ahhh, this is the life!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, I have given up on the Miracle Blanket. She just doesn't like it and I still can't get past the straight-jacket-y feeling. It may work for some, and maybe if we had used it from the get-go it would work for us, but I'm over it. The good news is, she has made it 2 nights in a row now without getting up to eat! Yay for us! She still fusses and I still pick her up and put her on me half-way through the night, but I think we might be gettin' somewhere. Finally. Keeping my fingers crossed that this continues...
Tatum enjoyed some play time under the tent.
And Tyler was just hard to keep up with.
And we saw some dolphins before packing up for the day...
Ahhh, this is the life!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news, I have given up on the Miracle Blanket. She just doesn't like it and I still can't get past the straight-jacket-y feeling. It may work for some, and maybe if we had used it from the get-go it would work for us, but I'm over it. The good news is, she has made it 2 nights in a row now without getting up to eat! Yay for us! She still fusses and I still pick her up and put her on me half-way through the night, but I think we might be gettin' somewhere. Finally. Keeping my fingers crossed that this continues...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Miracle Blanket Results
Well, the night wasn't a complete success, nor was it a complete bust. She did sleep for 5 hours straight, which was quite an accomplishment. Now if only I had gone to bed when she did, I could have had 5 hours myself! But I digress. When I picked her up to feed her at 1:30am I found that she had completely turned around. Her head was where her feet had been and her feet were up where her head started. Poor thing. She really must have been squirming around to get out of that thing. After I saw that I just didn't have it in me to put her back in it, so she slept on me the rest of the night. I find myself really struggling with the whole arms-at-her-side, straight jacket thing going on.
So now it's our 2nd night with the blanket. She fell asleep about 20 minutes ago so I wrapped her up in it and she is now resting peacefully in the PNP. I hear a little bit of squirming, but I am sure she will settle down. And I have decided that I too will go to bed right now, rather than staying up and say, oh I don't know, blogging for the next few hours.
With that said, I am off to bed. Wish us luck!
Oh, and just in case Daddy checks the blog tonight, here's a couple of pictures of our evening fun...
So now it's our 2nd night with the blanket. She fell asleep about 20 minutes ago so I wrapped her up in it and she is now resting peacefully in the PNP. I hear a little bit of squirming, but I am sure she will settle down. And I have decided that I too will go to bed right now, rather than staying up and say, oh I don't know, blogging for the next few hours.
With that said, I am off to bed. Wish us luck!
Oh, and just in case Daddy checks the blog tonight, here's a couple of pictures of our evening fun...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Operation Crib
Update:
Our Miracle Blanket arrived in the mail today! I'm not gonna lie, it does very much remind me of a straight jacket. I am having a really hard time with the fact that her hands are secured down at her sides, as she is at the point where she loves to have her hands/fingers in her mouth. Guilt aside, she is in it. I put her down in the PNP a few minutes ago, so we will see how the night progresses. She did stay up later than usual because she had a late nap, and for the first time in a while, I was able to give her a bath right before bedtime (she can only have a bath when her bag leaks, which, as luck would have it, is almost always at some rediculous hour like 5am or something.) What I am trying to say is I have the cards stacked in my favor. Up late. Bath right before bed. Miracle Blanket.
Fingers are crossed. Now...I gotta go. American Idol is on.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it's day 2 of Operation Crib. We are making strides, albeit, very small ones. Here's my thought process about the whole thing:
Abigail is a terrible sleeper. I think mostly because of her reflux. That and when she was in the hospital she often slept on her tummy (they can do that there because they are hooked up to the heart monitor at all times). My point is that she LOVES sleeping on her tummy and does so quite peacefully. The same cannot be said for her on her back. Anyhow, we have a Pack-and-Play set up in our bedroom. She spends about the first 3 hours of every night in it, sleeping on an incline and on her back. But after about 3 hours, she wakes up hysterical, gassy, and often throwing up, so I pick her up and she spends the rest of the night sleeping on her tummy, on me. Great for her! Not so much for me.
So the thing is, she is almost at the weight limit for the bassinet of the PNP, and with her going into the hospital for a while, I'm thinking we should go cold turkey and go straight to the crib after her hospital stay. I thought I would try to get her used to the crib by putting her in it for naps. Normally, she naps on her tummy on the sofa where I can watch her at all times. Today she fell asleep in my arms so I put her down in the crib and she made it about 25 minutes before she realized where she was and freaked out. So of course, now she is back sleeping out in the living room next to me.
I am sure she would do fine sleeping on her tummy all night, but the what-if-something-happens is just too much for me to bear. Not to mention I spent 7 weeks in the NICU being drilled daily on the whole "back to sleep" thing. I probably wouldn't be so neurotic about it except for the fact that someone very near and dear to me just lost her 8 week old grandson in November to SIDS. So sad.
I have been completely sleep deprived and every ounce of my body hurts because I sleep with a 13 pound baby on my chest every night. She can obviously sleep just fine without me, because she takes great naps. I don't think I've done too much damage yet. But if I don't get some sleep here pretty soon, all heck might just break loose.
As a last resort, I am anxiously awaiting a Miracle Blanket in the mail. After reading about them over at MckMama's, I thought I would give it a try. (By the by, I purchased it on eBay for about half the cost. Yay me! Oh how I do love eBay!) ML sent me a swaddling blanket with feet, which I love except that she Houdini's her way out of the swaddle in about 10 seconds flat. And I know people typically stop swaddling around 4 months, and Abby is almost 5, but her adjusted age is just barely 2 months, so I think it is ok to still swaddle???
I am at a loss. Our nights are very long. And when we don't sleep well at night...well...our days are even longer. Ugh.
Our Miracle Blanket arrived in the mail today! I'm not gonna lie, it does very much remind me of a straight jacket. I am having a really hard time with the fact that her hands are secured down at her sides, as she is at the point where she loves to have her hands/fingers in her mouth. Guilt aside, she is in it. I put her down in the PNP a few minutes ago, so we will see how the night progresses. She did stay up later than usual because she had a late nap, and for the first time in a while, I was able to give her a bath right before bedtime (she can only have a bath when her bag leaks, which, as luck would have it, is almost always at some rediculous hour like 5am or something.) What I am trying to say is I have the cards stacked in my favor. Up late. Bath right before bed. Miracle Blanket.
Fingers are crossed. Now...I gotta go. American Idol is on.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it's day 2 of Operation Crib. We are making strides, albeit, very small ones. Here's my thought process about the whole thing:
Abigail is a terrible sleeper. I think mostly because of her reflux. That and when she was in the hospital she often slept on her tummy (they can do that there because they are hooked up to the heart monitor at all times). My point is that she LOVES sleeping on her tummy and does so quite peacefully. The same cannot be said for her on her back. Anyhow, we have a Pack-and-Play set up in our bedroom. She spends about the first 3 hours of every night in it, sleeping on an incline and on her back. But after about 3 hours, she wakes up hysterical, gassy, and often throwing up, so I pick her up and she spends the rest of the night sleeping on her tummy, on me. Great for her! Not so much for me.
So the thing is, she is almost at the weight limit for the bassinet of the PNP, and with her going into the hospital for a while, I'm thinking we should go cold turkey and go straight to the crib after her hospital stay. I thought I would try to get her used to the crib by putting her in it for naps. Normally, she naps on her tummy on the sofa where I can watch her at all times. Today she fell asleep in my arms so I put her down in the crib and she made it about 25 minutes before she realized where she was and freaked out. So of course, now she is back sleeping out in the living room next to me.
I am sure she would do fine sleeping on her tummy all night, but the what-if-something-happens is just too much for me to bear. Not to mention I spent 7 weeks in the NICU being drilled daily on the whole "back to sleep" thing. I probably wouldn't be so neurotic about it except for the fact that someone very near and dear to me just lost her 8 week old grandson in November to SIDS. So sad.
I have been completely sleep deprived and every ounce of my body hurts because I sleep with a 13 pound baby on my chest every night. She can obviously sleep just fine without me, because she takes great naps. I don't think I've done too much damage yet. But if I don't get some sleep here pretty soon, all heck might just break loose.
As a last resort, I am anxiously awaiting a Miracle Blanket in the mail. After reading about them over at MckMama's, I thought I would give it a try. (By the by, I purchased it on eBay for about half the cost. Yay me! Oh how I do love eBay!) ML sent me a swaddling blanket with feet, which I love except that she Houdini's her way out of the swaddle in about 10 seconds flat. And I know people typically stop swaddling around 4 months, and Abby is almost 5, but her adjusted age is just barely 2 months, so I think it is ok to still swaddle???
I am at a loss. Our nights are very long. And when we don't sleep well at night...well...our days are even longer. Ugh.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Psssst...
(In a whisper)...Guess who is napping in her crib for the first time ever?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update.
30 seconds later...
(in my regular voice)...Guess who is not napping in her crib anymore but rather crying hysterically because she was startled awake by a camera flash?
Another. Lesson. Learned.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update.
30 seconds later...
(in my regular voice)...Guess who is not napping in her crib anymore but rather crying hysterically because she was startled awake by a camera flash?
Another. Lesson. Learned.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Just another not-so-manic Monday
Brian got home from work this morning and it was already in the 70s, , heading to the 80's, so we decided to take a walk and took Abby to the beach for the first time! First we got her dressed in an outfit that I never thought she'd be able to wear (a summer outfit in her winter size)
We started at our favorite lunch spot on Main Street.
Sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the view
Had a yummy lunch and decided since
we would enjoy a little
I mean, after all, if you
We pretended to be
Well, actually, we are Irish everyday. Then we decided to take a walk out on the pier
Watched the surfers as they waited for a wave
Finally saw one get up
Noticed a guy trying to catch dinner
And a seagull lurking
Took some random pictures
Brian and Abby met a bear
And forgot to turn the flash on for a picture of me and Abby
but somehow remembered when it was Daddy's turn
Can you see Catalina behind him?
After spending some time out on the pier, we decided to head back to
but they were closed.
And someone seemed to have had enough
Little did we know that she was faking it. We got home and she proceeded to have one of the biggest meltdowns I think I've ever seen.
Can you say overstimulated?
We started at our favorite lunch spot on Main Street.
Sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the view
Had a yummy lunch and decided since
we would enjoy a little
I mean, after all, if you
We pretended to be
Well, actually, we are Irish everyday. Then we decided to take a walk out on the pier
Watched the surfers as they waited for a wave
Finally saw one get up
Noticed a guy trying to catch dinner
And a seagull lurking
Took some random pictures
Brian and Abby met a bear
And forgot to turn the flash on for a picture of me and Abby
but somehow remembered when it was Daddy's turn
Can you see Catalina behind him?
After spending some time out on the pier, we decided to head back to
but they were closed.
And someone seemed to have had enough
Little did we know that she was faking it. We got home and she proceeded to have one of the biggest meltdowns I think I've ever seen.
Can you say overstimulated?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)