Things are moving so fast!

I can't believe how, what seems all of the sudden, my baby isn't an infant anymore!

1. We have the sleeping thing down I think. Three nights in a row of Jammies/Story/Milk/Sleep/No Peep.  She even slept ALL NIGHT from 8pm to 7am last night! What a milestone!
2. Madison's newest thing is that she plays Patty Cake all on her own now.  You just have to start singing it and she starts smiling and clapping. My Mom has been playing it with her hands for a long time now but just last night she started clapping on her own and she does the "roll'm up" part too.  She loves the clapping and it is just another reminder of how she is coming into her own.

People are stupid:

The people who say "The laundry can wait" have never let it wait and had 50 loads to do in one weekend because EVERYONE in the house is out of underwear, towels, sheets etc!

Madison signed FROG!

I can't believe it but I know it happened! I was reading one of Madison's favorite stories "Five Little Puppies" (She likes the fuzzy puppies that disappear as the story progresses) and I have been pointing out and signing "Duck" "Frog" "Bug" "Butterfly" "Bee" "Dog" "Kitty" "Mouse" at each page.  She really likes the sign for Frog (Darting your tongue in and out) and after I did it and turned the page she started making a clicking sound with her mouth and then tried to turn the page back. I signed "Where's the Frog?" and pointed to the Frog and she stuck her tongue in and out!  YIPPPPEEEEE! It was very fun!

PS- 

She went down without a peep tonight. So far so good. I was worried me picking her up last night was step back but we will play it day by day and any day she does it is a good day (night) for me!

"Cry it out" Night #4

Holy Cow, that was hard.  Madison fell asleep early in the car on the way home from the store and I put her down when we got home. She woke up shortly after a bit disoriented and then I started our nighttime routine.

I put her down and signed and said I love you and Goodnight and she seemed to be fine like last night. About three minutes later, she started crying, screaming rather.

Over an hour later, and many many times of going in there an "Shhhhshing" her to reassure her things were okay, I couldn't handle it anymore and picked her up.  She immediately stopped and I snuggled in and fed her a little and she went out like a light.

This is so hard to know what to do.  I want to do what is best for her and for me.  You can't learn that from a book. 

Rick has been very supportive of my efforts and when I picked her up I said "I can't stand it anymore" and instead of him saying "But I thought the method was..." he calmly said "An hour is a long time to cry".  I love him.

Baby Signing

Well I started this blog to share my Baby Signing experiences and it dawned on me that I haven't written anything at all about it yet! :-)

We have been signing for about two months on our own and two weeks ago we started a Baby Signing class with Baby Signs by Beth in Modesto.  It is a six week class for the first group and we are having a lot of fun!

Each of the six classes is based around a theme. They give you the CD ahead of time so we can learn the songs and practice before class.  

Class #1: Food/Eating

Some of the first signs people teach first are for things we do most often, and eating is certainly up there!  There were three babies in class, Emily - about 10 months old, Isabella about 13 months old and Madison, now 8 months old.  We were introduced to BeBo the signing bear (A puppet type stuffed bear who does the signs and sings the songs with us).  Each class is structured the same so the kids get the feel for a familiar routine and will learn to anticipate each activity.  (The class is only 45 minutes so it is not too long for them to stay interactive).  I go to the evening class because of work but there is also a morning class.

We learned "Eat, Drink, Milk, Cracker, More, All Done, All Gone, Cereal (mixed and Cheerio type), Juice, and some variety of fruits and veggies.  It is important for the babies to be able to not only tell you that they want "more" to "eat" but eventually they will be able to tell you that they want "more milk" versus "more juice" or "eat banana" versus "eat cracker". 

Madison was taking it all in and was very interested in watching Emily crawl around the play mat and pick up toys (Madison doesn't crawl).  She is fascinated with other babies and it takes a while for her to warm up.  She just watched intently to all that was going on.  It wasn't until Beth brought out the box of plastic food items and put it in front of Madison that she really got going.  Madison was taking each item out and then looking at Beth and Beth would sign what it was.  It was really fun to watch and participate.

My Mom is doing it with me and is actively signing with Madison and that makes it work better, repetition is key.

Class #2 Bedtime

We were encouraged to wear our Jammies for the bedtime theme.  We had an additional baby who was from the am class so there were four babies.  His name was Rowan I think and he was 10 months old.  Madison was the only one in Jammies (her new cherry Jammies - any reason for new clothes!).  Madison was very comfortable and sat next to me on the floor instead of in my lap this time.  When she saw Emily she got excited and when she crawled over to us, Madison reached for her bow in her hair!  Once class started, she hardly took her eyes off of Beth and BeBo.  She loved the music and got vocal the last half of class.

We learned Bedtime words like "Sleepy, Light, Blanket, Book, Love, Bear, Moon and Stars"

We did a playtime with the parachute. We were in a circle and the parents lifted it up and brought it down over the babies.  Beth warned us that sometimes the babies freak out the first time and so we watched. Sure enough, Madison was the only one not sure this was fun!  We all had flashlights and I went under with her and we did fine after that.  We sang "this little light of mine" a couple of times and she was okay with it.

At the end of each class we practice our manners.  Beth goes around and offers a baggie of cereal and we (the parents) sign "please" and "thank you".  Then we read a book and then sing the good bye song.

Next week is about Bath time and we are going to have water play and bubbles and were asked to wear a bathing suit/swim diaper and some towels.  I think Rick is going to come this time.

I heard Rick on the phone today with his Uncle and he was explaining the signing to him.  It was really special because I don't think he knew I was listening (I was feeding Madison in the dining room and he was in the living room) and he told him how and why we were doing it and it was so cool. I thought he thought I was crazy and it sure sounded like he was on board with it too.  It proved to me that he listened during the parent night and that was so cool!  I hope he comes to class with us, it is really fun.  I will try and get a picture next time.

Tiny Tooth

We have a tooth poking through today! I had my finger in Madison's mouth this morning checking around (hard to explain to non mommies why we Mommies do this regularly) and I felt something poke me!  Sure enough it was the corner of a little tooth!  She wouldn't show it to us of course so we had to do some funny stuff to get her to laugh so we could admire her new pearly white, more like a thin white line on her gum line.  Rick thought he felt something in her mouth yesterday and Grandma thought she saw something too but they both assumed it was a cracker!

I will keep an eye out for new growth because I remember how quickly Amanda's Levi's two toofers came in, IN ONE DAY!

Funny what my life has come to... really rejoicing in the little things... I am so thankful to the Lord for blessing my life in such a special way and allowing me to really see what matters in life. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Cry it out Night #2 and #3

Well tonight is night three of the 'going to bed awake'.  Last night it took 20 minutes for her to go to sleep after screaming her lungs out in protest the entire time but that was about half the time of the first night.  Tonight, so far so good with NO crying although I am not sure she is completely asleep yet but at least no protesting as the previous nights.

I guess there is some method to the madness.  

One thing I have noticed that I miss about her falling asleep in my arms (in addition to the snuggle time and looking into her sweet sleeping face) is the opportunity to cut her finger and toe nails!  Man, when am I going to get that done now? :-)

We read Hop on Pop tonight for the second time.  I bought it at Kohls and had only read it one time before, I wasn't impressed and it was hard to read and she wasn't interested either, too young I guess.  I gave it another try and man she was full of it tonight and laughed at EVERY page.  I even hollered at Rick to come in and listen.  She giggled every time. I wasn't sure if it was the rhyming or the pictures but she sure enjoyed it.

Feeling good in the neighborhood.

Finally asleep

Well Madison finally gave it up. We'll see how long it lasts. Getting up every two hours is killing this OLD 39 year old Mom.

Just to show some smiles and that I haven't totally lost my mind, I wanted to post a few pictures before going to be myself

.

The first is Roxy and Madison watching tv. Roxy is never too far away.

The second is one of all the girls outside.  

The third is Madison and Papa at a car show.

Cry it out Night #1

I have to say that right at this very moment I am trying something I have never done: Put Madison down awake and try to see if she can soothe herself to sleep.  We tried it in the middle of the night last night with disastrous results so I thought it might be easier for me to try while I was somewhat together and not tired. Let me just say, it is not going very well for either of us.

I am sitting in the hallway listening to her scream feeling like a horrible unfit mother.  I have created this situation by responding to her every whimper and breastfeeding on demand thinking I was making sure she felt "taken care of".  

Now in the effort of helping both of us sleep through the night I am trying to let her cry it out, a few minutes at a time, doubling the time I go in there to "Shhhh" her and not make eye contact or talk.  This is just awful.

I want to cry.  How is this possibly good for either of us?  Last night I tried to just give her the pacifier instead of breastfeed when she got up and it pissed her off so bad we were up for an hour trying to soothe her.

I feel so isolated, ignorant and that I suck as a mother.  Where are the instincts?  My instinct tells me to go in there and get her to stop crying but then I read that if she doesn't sleep enough it could mess with her development.  I am so exhausted at trying to do this mothering thing perfectly in fear of messing her up I can't stand it.

I feel like I am abandoning her. I swore I wouldn't do this cry it out crap...what the hell was I thinking.....

Photo Tawny Style

Here is a 'self portrait' of Madison. She learned this trick from Tawny!

Making new friends

Saturday was all about friends, new and old (not that you are old Tawny!).  Tawny was in town and had some Mommy time!  It was a perfect time for me to finally meet Amanda and her family in person as they welcomed Madison and I into their home. (Thank you!) Lily greeted us with snorts and Madison was right at home with "dog people". :-)

Paige and Levi were delightful and the sweet smiles and little voices were all around, (Madison's came late in the evening when she was flirting with Brian).  

This photo sums up our evening...I couldn't think of a funny enough caption but the photo makes me giggle every time I see it and that makes me happy so that'll do it!

We had a great time and look forward to more visits.

 

Things I have learned

Three things I have learned recently:

1. When you least expect it, a true friend can be a ray of sunshine.

2. Shit happens

3. Everything I know about parenting I learned from my Puppy

Details:

1. I have a wonderful friend who made a special effort this week to warm my heart. Even though she is going through a rough patch herself, she reached out to me in my time of need.  While she couldn't catch me at home she made the extra effort and ventured out to 'the dark place' (AKA - my work) to hug me and share with me a simple truth: I shouldn't judge myself in light of other people.  I wish she knew how this truly touched me and how meaningful it was and has continued to be for me this week. Thank you Tawny.

2. You know what Babies hate more than pulling onsies OVER their head? Pulling a onsie full of baby poop that exploded out of the back of the diaper OVER their head. Have you ever tried to do this? If not, let me tell you how impossible it is to do without getting POOP on the baby's arms, back, shoulders, ears and the like.  Lovely I know.  Worse yet, it was way passed bedtime (probably why she didn't go to sleep, she had to poop!) and there I was giving her a bath at 10pm! I wouldn't want to go to bed with poop simply wiped off of me so I had to give her a bath.  Life summed up in two words: Shit happens.

3.  The most important thing you can do to have a great puppy to "SOCIALIZE" her.  She is supposed to meet 100 in the first few months. Soooo, I need to apply that to Madison too. (not the 100 people necessarily of course but)....she has never really been around other babies and kids and it wouldn't hurt Mommy to socialize a bit more too so mommy has committed to venturing out more.  (Just in time for stranger anxiety!)  

We started baby signing class this week finally.  It was so much fun.  We have been doing signing for about a month with the basics I learned from a book, eat, more, water, drink, mommy, etc. But communication is a social thing and it will help to do it in a facilitated way and with other kids. (That way I won't feel like such a dork doing it all alone).  Madison did so great and was attentive and interested in everything including the little girl next to us. Everything Madison picked up the other girl took out of her hands. It was too funny, her first experience of 'sharing'!

I am very excited about the next 6 weeks! 

Stay tuned....