Chronicles of Cry It Out - Day Three

This brings us to last night. Charlie had been in so much pain during the day that we were worried about putting her down, but we knew that if we weren't consistant, the last two nights would be for naught. So, we put her down when her eyes started getting droopy, and the crying started immediately. We hunkered down on the couch and listened carefully to her cries, worried that she was in pain. There were a lot of breaks in her cries, and we didn't know if that was because she was so sleepy, or if she was just catching her breath, but it worried us. So, 20 minutes into it, Tim went in to give her more gas drops. We knew this would work her up, but we were so concerned that she was in pain. Sure enough, this made her furious, that he would have the audacity to come in and leave again without her. So, her cries amped up for a few minutes, but subsided again pretty quickly. Even with the interruption, she cried less than 45 minutes before falling asleep. Progress! She woke at midnight, and I fed her and put her back down. She fussed a little, so I gave her her pacifier and she calmed down. At two she was up again. I fed her, rocked her and put her back down (asleep), but she woke up screaming a few minutes later. I didn't know what to do, if I should let her cry herself to sleep, or just go get her. It didn't seem fair for Tim to be woken up by crying in the middle of the night, since he's working a 12 hour day today, so I went and got her, and she spent the rest of the night next to me. Her pain seems to have subsided, and she was pretty chipper this morning. She's now napping in her crib. We'll see what happens tonight. I'm hoping for twenty minutes of fussing...I'll let you know.

Chronicles of Cry It Out - Day Two

I'd read that the first night, on average, takes an hour. The second night, 45 minutes. The third night, 30 minutes, etc. Lies. Cry it out is very stressful for all involved, and on this night I had to handle it on my own. So, I put me sleepy but awake baby in her crib. kissed her and said all the mushy mom things, and resolutely walked out of the room. To silence. The silence lasted about two minutes, and as I curled up on the couch hugging the monitor as a surrogate Charlie, I listened to the angry, angry screams coming from my tiny girl. After a few minutes, these gave way to furious mumblings. She was grumbling all her emotions out in baby talk, which was actually pretty hilarious to listen too. This continued for several minutes, then turned back into angry screaming. Then to sobbing. Then to screaming, then to grumbling, and one last burst of screaming. The peaceful, blissful slumber. The whole process took an hour and ten minutes, and again, it sucked. Tim came home at the tail end of it, and feeling sympathetic, he treated me to two cheeseburgers and french fries from McDonalds, which helped melt the tension a bit. She slept until 4 am, when I fed her and put her back down. Then she woke up at 5 am, ready to start the day. I couldn't convince her to go back to sleep with any amount of feeding or rocking, so eventually she and I laid down on the couch and napped together until 9:30 when I woke up. Not ideal, but I couldn't handle a five'o'clock wake up time. The rest of the day was rough. She was a gem at church, letting Daddy hold her the whole time, napping on his shoulder (she's been pretty mean to Tim lately, making it clear that she'd prefer I hold her, breaking both of our hearts.) When we got home, I fed her and we played for a bit before we all took super long naps. (Hers in her crib, lasting almost two hours - she averages 15-45 minutes usually.) Then the pain came in to play. We've started Charlie on solids, and they've been unkind to her little digestive tract. It all came to a head after her nap, and she was experiencing a LOT of pain as she tried to get things moving. Eventually I called a nurses consulting line and was told to give her baby pear juice and prunes. She liked the juice a lot, but hardly touched the pureed prunes, I think more so because she didn't want to eat when she was in pain, less because...well, they're prunes. We also gave her liberal amounts of gas drops, which she loves. She sucks on that little dropper as long as we'll let her, getting every little drop of strawberry flavored goodness. But still, the rest of the day was punctuated with her tiny scrunched up face and pathetic cries, and lots of belly rubs, a warm bath, and diaper changes...anything we could think of to help her discomfort. So with this rough day, we were geared up for a rough night.

Chronicles of Cry It Out - Day 1

Well, we did it. We bit the bullet. We had attempted CIO in the past, but it seemed like pointless torture for all three of us, because, really, we had quite a good little sleeper on our hands. She'd drift off to sleep while we snuggled her, transition smoothly into her crib, and sleep the night away. It was wonderful, it was easy, and who cares if she can't soothe herself? Then everything changed. She started waking up anywhere from one to FIVE times a night. As this progressed and my exhaustion worsened, I'd give up and bring her into bed with me. At least this way I could feed her without having to totally wake up. Well...she got pretty used to the comfort of having me so close. She stopped napping in her crib, demanding to be snuggled, or at least laying next to me for the duration of the nap. If I had to use the restroom, do laundry or get some food, the nap was over. When we put her down at night (asleep), she would wake up within the hour, refusing to go down again in her crib. But, if I just set her next to me, she'd fall asleep in minutes, without a fuss or whine. Slippery slope. Two weeks went by with baby in our bed. Tim was kicked out, cause there's just not room for all three of us. I would wake up, paranoid that she'd accidentally been covered by loose bedding and was in danger (never happened, but paranoia runs deep for new moms). This had to stop. So, Friday night, Tim and I had a plan. Charlie would be put in her crib and the first sign of drowsiness, and we'd listen over the monitor, set as low as possible, while playing Monopoly with a friend. It took an hour and ten minutes for our girl to stop screaming, and if it hadn't been for that game, I wouldn't have made it. Distractions help oh-so-much. When she finally stopped crying, I immediately went in to check on her (I had been peeking periodically from the door, but standing over her provides much more reassurance.) She was sleeping so peacefully, breathing slowly and deeply. She woke up two hours later, and I fed her and put her back down. She cried for fifteen minutes and was out until morning. The next day, she greeted me with a grin, didn't panic if I left the room, played on her own more than usual, and took longer naps in her crib. The process sucked, but it looked to be promising.

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

Before Charlie was born, her Papa went to Vegas. There he was able to enjoy In'N'Out, making me insanely jealous, but he did bring us back a onesie. here she is, sporting a delicious #1. But, since it's still acting like winter round these parts, this was not sufficient for her to wear alone, so I put this sweater over it:

This was found on the Old Navy clearance rack for 1/2 off of it's clearance price of $5.00 - yeah, $2.50 for a knit cowl neck sweater...awesome. She's wearing it with her H&M jeans from Alison and Jason, and some Carters socks.

We have not had the smiley-est morning around here (someone has been opting to go to bed between 11:30 and 1:00 the last several nights, and is all the grumpier for it-we're working on it.) so, the pictures are not quite as cheery as usual, but cute none the less.

Made By Me Monday

Tim and I have these amazing knit stockings we got at Cost Plus the first year we were married. I really wanted to find a similar one for Charlie, but the only one they had with the same color scheme was about a foot longer than ours. So, rather than buy one we didn't completely love, I made a temporary stocking to give us some time to find a great one. At three months old she didn't really care anyway :) I had bought Christmas fabric the year before to make pillow covers, so I pulled out the remnants from one of them as well as remnants of a pink minky fabric from a baby blanket I made and used our existing stockings to make a template. Foolishly, I cut the stocking shapes incorrectly, so the better image is on the back side of it...oops. Oh well. I really doubt this could hold much, since I hand stitched the whole thing, and the minky stuff is almost like batting. I think a lot of weight might rip the whole thing apart, so it's purely decorative. But, for Charlie's first Christmas, I think it worked. Plus, it was free!

I Heart Faces: Best Face - March

This weeks challenge is a people's choice. Submit your favorite picture from March and then vote for your favorites. I picked Charlotte's St. Patty's picture, because it's very March-y, and I spent far too long making that mask to only post it once :)

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

Today is a jammie day in our house. This week has been so busy, and it's starting to show in Charlie's fragile temperament, so we're staying in today and focusing on napping. You may have noticed a lack of Made By Me Monday...well, I had a good reason. Tim, who is now working 65+ hour weeks, took Monday off to spend with his girls. We window shopped, we took Charlie to her 6 month well check (he did the comforting after the shots, which was sweet.) We even super splurged and ate out for lunch. Then the three of us snuggled on the couch and watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It was so wonderful. Anyway, back to business. Charlie is wearing a snug sleeper from Gymboree with Parisian elephants on it, (what else would it be?). Elephants riding bikes past delicatessens, elephants in hot air balloons, elephants admiring the Eiffel Tower...it's so cute. And it was about five bucks.

so we're off to rest and play a bit, have a great day!

Six months

From this tiny thing...

to this larger tiny thing.

Love, love, love.

I Heart Faces Challenge...Slice of Life

This weeks photo challenge is a slice of life. Basically any photo (with a human face in it) that represents you life. Since the majority of my time is spent trying to capture every funny little thing Charlotte does, I thought this shot was perfect. I went to check on her while napping one day, only to find her pacifier precariously perched on top of her head. It's never happened again, and I still don't know how it got there, but this has become one of my favorite pictures of my quirky little girl.

Join in the fun by clicking here!

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

Today Charlie is wearing :
A floral peasant top her Auntie Laura brought over (among many other things) the day we found out we were having a girl. It's from Old Navy.

Hot pink skinny pants from Carters, part of a tunic set she got for Christmas from Nana and Grandpa.

And Carter's socks, also a gift.

She is exactly a week away from being six months old! I find this completely unbelievable, but considering the leaps and bounds she's making developmentally I probably shouldn't.

She is currently

• rolling everywhere, this is no longer just between me and her, she'll now roll for anyone
• very interested in and very jealous of my food. the other day she rolled over four times to get as close as possible to my plate (I was eating on the floor to keep her company)
• grabbing things out of my hands, and holding things that are heavier than she's used to with ease
• eating oatmeal
• in the throws of teething...I expect a tooth any time now
• preferring standing to pretty much anything else
• when laying on her belly she sticks her bum in the air, plants her face on the floor and shoves herself forward
• sucking her thumb rather than her whole hand

Made By Me Monday

Easter was a huge deal in my house when I was growing up. A lot of planning went into the outfits, particularly my mom's and mine. Every year we would go to the craft store together and pick out two dress patterns and one fabric, and my mom would proceed to make us coordinating dresses. And, of course, I would get an Easter bonnet.

So, this year as I wander through stores and see all the Easter items, I'm tempted by every tiny hat and frilly dress. To put an end to the temptation, I decided to make a bunny hat for Charlie.

Then Tim called and told me one of his co-workers was having a baby shower, so I tried out a bear hat.

I had to adapt the ear patterns a little to meet my level of know how, so they're not as polished as you might find at Baby Gap, but I think they're cute just the same.

Here's Charlie modeling the bunny hat (which barely fits her. I need to switch to larger needles.) The bear hat is too tiny for her big head, so no modelling was done for that one.

All she's missing is a pot of gold and mug of guiness

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

Today Charlie is wearing one of my favorites.

Her onesie:

was a gift from our friends Amy and Frank. It's Baby Gap, and I love that it's three quarter sleeve - rare in a baby outfit. The little strawberries are so fun in hot pink and navy blue, and it's so soft and snuggly.

The skirt is Osh Kosh, (also a gift) part of a three piece set (knit sweater, skirt and striped leggings.) It's so sweet with it's fuchsia belt and knit flowers.

The leg warmers are Circo, and are so ridiculously soft. They were $3.99.

Lately Charlie is:

• So happy. She grins and smiles at everything and nothing. Except strangers. Those she's grown a bit wary of.
• Obsessed with her feet. She is most often seen trying to eat them while kicking, resulting in a battle of the wills between foot and mouth.
• Playing her own version of peek-a-boo, where she buries her head in whatever is near (generally my shoulder), then looks up with a shy grin and waits for a reaction.
• Startling herself with the loudness of her squeals.
• Very interested in whatever I'm eating or drinking, attempting to grab whatever cup I'm holding (making coffee drinking much more interesting and dangerous) and fussing when I eat.
• Eating rice cereal. This has been fairly successful, but she eats the most when it comes from this spoon.
• Learning to put her pacifier in her mouth by herself...usually upside down.
• Sitting unsupported for about a minute.
• Headbutting everyone she comes in contact with.
• Rounding a corner in sleep regression...from being up five times a night to once or twice.
• The cutest snuggle bug ever.

Remember these?

This is what Charlie is reminding me of today. Everytime I hold her in my lap, she wraps her arms and legs around my arm. Only, she doesn't face out like these guys, she chews on my "bicep" and pinches my skin to bits between her tiny fingers. What an odd phase :)

Made By Me Monday

For Christmas, my friend Laura spoiled me with crafty goodness. I found this owl puppet pattern by Sara Lucas in the goodies and thought it would make a good friend for Charlotte.
I chose completely different colors for Charlie's owl because the fall colors seemed a bit dull to me.

Once I saw how dark the body was, I decided to make this the boy owl, and have a girl owl in process, with light grey and white "feathers", and a pink belly.

It turned out pretty cute, considering I had to learn a lot of the techniques as I went. And Charlie seems to like it (most of the time).