My online journal is not working right now so I just wanted to document a few things for myself and for the future.
First of all, Avery is sleeping so much better! We went through a stage (like from age 5-9 months... yeah way long) that she was waking up a lot during the night. At around 8 months old, I was extremely tired and didn't know how to help my little babe sleep better and getting frustrated. We had had her sleeping in her swing for naps and had caved and put her in it during the night because she slept so much better there. PLUS, she didn't sleep very well in her pack-n-play as we traveled during the summer, so she just slept in her swing and got pretty attached.
Finally though, I knew she COULD sleep through the night and felt that I might have to just let her cry. I did NOT want to do that. Thankfully, I found this website: http://www.troublesometots.com/ and started making small changes before the cry it out was to come. I made sure I had a solid bedtime routine. I had done that before but I was still nursing her to sleep. BAD. Don't do this again! Do this routine instead: bath if needed, PJ's, nurse, books, prayer and song. This takes about 20 min+ and she is still fully awake when I put her down and after the first few nights of crying for less than 10 min, she goes down like a champ. Now she goes down like an angel every night and Jake can help put her to sleep which is just precious and something I know he loves! The cry it out never came!
She used to wake up a lot during the night too, but what I did was just make myself nurse her one time during the night (11 or 2 or whatever) and then once in the early morning (5 or 6). Even if she woke up more, I would only nurse her once during that time frame. I would only nurse her for like 3 min. on one side and eventually she stopped waking up during the night. We're still working on the 6 am food but hopefully she'll eventually stop that too. I don't even care though. Sleeping 9 hours straight without waking up is awesome!
The next goal was to work on naps and I have been doing that the past couple days. Before 2 days ago, I would read a couple books, and sing her songs but she would not go down in her crib and she was not sleeping well in her swing. She was just so riled up, and excited that she couldn't calm down for naps without her swing. She would sleep for like 30 min and then just cry and it was horrible. I think she has officially outgrown it. She never slept in her crib. HOWEVER, the past couple days I have been doing EXACTLY the same routine (even changing her clothes before putting her down) as bed and she has slept in her crib for naps. She I hope it's not a fluke, it would seriously be great if this is her new habit. It would make life/traveling so much better! (I have become a champion swing setter-upper. Not something I'm proud of)
I hope this helps in the future. Or helps anyone out there who is not getting enough sleep with a baby/child that should be sleeping mostly through the night.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Monday, November 4, 2013
recently
So Avery Mae is 10 months old! She is such a doll and we love her so much!
She is walking with her little walker now. I was going to post a video but it's not working for some reason...I'll try in another post.
But she cannot crawl yet. I am totally fine with her not crawling because I can still keep track of her when I put her down to play. Even though she can't crawl yet, she is seriously the most active baby ever! If she wants something, she will find a way to get there even though it's not the typical moving hands and knees together movement. I don't even know how she does it, but she is into anything within a three-four foot radius of where I put her down.
Church is crazy because I sit by myself and try to contain her though sacrament. Jake is up on the stand and so he doesn't realize how crazy she gets. Well, this weekend we had stake conference and Jake was able to sit by us...he said he now has a greater appreciation for me sitting by myself. I am literally exhausted after church every week trying to hold this little girl from eating leaves that are on the floor, bonking her head on the pews, attacking fellow pew members, wanting the hymn book, and Avery is so happy that she loves to hear herself talk, so I'm trying to quiet her as well. haha! The great thing is that I love her and think all of these crazy things she is doing are adorable, so even though it is so tiring, I am also very amused. :)
She does this little nose sniff. Which is now her greeting to those she wants to say hi to. haha.
She loves loves loves animals. She gets so excited and wants to attack the poor things. She is not soft. It started out with Buddy (Jake's grandpa's dog) but now it's every dog. When she came visiting teaching with me, the sister had a dog and Avery is so funny bc she wants it, then when she gets down close to it, she wants to be held, but then the second she's in my arms, she's wanting down again so she can pet the dog. haha. It's seriously hilarious. She saw a dog across the street the other day and was wanting to go get it. We had dinner at our cousins house the other night and they have a hampster, and she got sooo excited (flapping arms, kicking feet and a look of pure attention on the animal). It's hilarious. It made us want to take her to the zoo! I'm sure she will love it!
All in all, such a joy and is the center of everything around here. We LOVE her!
We also got these family pictures taken with my family. I love how they turned out!
K, she's adorable right?!
Also, I almost forgot, but Avery is very vocal right now as well. She can say "bye bye", "dada", "hi" and Megan says Avery says "mama" when I'm not there and she wants me. I swear yesterday she said "Jesus" while looking at a picture of him in our house. I brought it up to Jake and he said he heard her say it too when they were walking around in the church looking at a picture of Him. It's more like "jeeze" but when she reaches out to the picture and says it, I'll take it. :) Proud momma right here.
Ok, other than enjoying Avery to the fullest, we are at a pretty great part of Jake's schooling. He will graduate from BYU in April and has already applied to Grad School (Minnesota, Virginia Commonwealth, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Trinity University). We are just waiting to hear if he'll be asked to do a interview. He has one scheduled already for Minnesota in January! It's a very exciting time.
Here's the little babe for Halloween! She was a pig!
We were farmers, but Jake looked a lot like good ol' Joe Dirt...(He loves that mullet wig!)
She is walking with her little walker now. I was going to post a video but it's not working for some reason...I'll try in another post.
But she cannot crawl yet. I am totally fine with her not crawling because I can still keep track of her when I put her down to play. Even though she can't crawl yet, she is seriously the most active baby ever! If she wants something, she will find a way to get there even though it's not the typical moving hands and knees together movement. I don't even know how she does it, but she is into anything within a three-four foot radius of where I put her down.
She does this little nose sniff. Which is now her greeting to those she wants to say hi to. haha.
She loves loves loves animals. She gets so excited and wants to attack the poor things. She is not soft. It started out with Buddy (Jake's grandpa's dog) but now it's every dog. When she came visiting teaching with me, the sister had a dog and Avery is so funny bc she wants it, then when she gets down close to it, she wants to be held, but then the second she's in my arms, she's wanting down again so she can pet the dog. haha. It's seriously hilarious. She saw a dog across the street the other day and was wanting to go get it. We had dinner at our cousins house the other night and they have a hampster, and she got sooo excited (flapping arms, kicking feet and a look of pure attention on the animal). It's hilarious. It made us want to take her to the zoo! I'm sure she will love it!
All in all, such a joy and is the center of everything around here. We LOVE her!
We also got these family pictures taken with my family. I love how they turned out!
Also, I almost forgot, but Avery is very vocal right now as well. She can say "bye bye", "dada", "hi" and Megan says Avery says "mama" when I'm not there and she wants me. I swear yesterday she said "Jesus" while looking at a picture of him in our house. I brought it up to Jake and he said he heard her say it too when they were walking around in the church looking at a picture of Him. It's more like "jeeze" but when she reaches out to the picture and says it, I'll take it. :) Proud momma right here.
Ok, other than enjoying Avery to the fullest, we are at a pretty great part of Jake's schooling. He will graduate from BYU in April and has already applied to Grad School (Minnesota, Virginia Commonwealth, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Trinity University). We are just waiting to hear if he'll be asked to do a interview. He has one scheduled already for Minnesota in January! It's a very exciting time.
Friday, October 11, 2013
General Conference and spiritual musings
It was so great to have General Conference. I really loved it! Jake and I were able to go to Saturday morning session and I felt that every talk was about something I had been thinking or wondering about. BLESSING! On Sunday we stayed home and enjoyed the entire day together with our little family. I can't tell you how amazing that was!
One of my favorite talks from General Conference was Elder Bednar's talk on tithing. The thing i liked best about it was Elder Bednar revealing some ways that the Lord blesses us without us even knowing. He calls them "significant but subtle" blessings. I realized that I need to be more observant of the blessings that He gives me and look for the not so obvious ways that He strengthens me. I know one right now: Jake is gone 5 nights of the week and gone everyday. Heavenly Father has strengthened me to be able to bear that well. I was thinking about how it would be so hard for me earlier in our marriage etc. but I am so grateful that I have been blessed to be able to be ok with it for now. I'm especially grateful for little Avery to help me not be alone.
In his book "Increase in Learning" Elder Bednar addresses the fact that The Holy Ghost speaks in quiet, delicate and subtle ways. I started thinking about how I feel the Holy Ghost in subtle ways and what things distance me from feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost. It's a good thing to ponder and something I've been trying to do more lately. I realize that in the times that we live, having the Holy Ghost to be our companion is a vital thing everyday.
I really like how the Lord works "subtly". It requires us to be patient and inquisitive. Seeking, asking and knocking. It's so easy to just go through the motions of just reading scriptures, but I have tried to ask more questions and it gets me more focused and provides a better STUDY of the scriptures and the words of the prophets. On days that I actually do that, it makes such a difference.
Hope you all enjoyed Conference if you were able to watch it! If not, you can find it on the church's website: http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng.
One of my favorite talks from General Conference was Elder Bednar's talk on tithing. The thing i liked best about it was Elder Bednar revealing some ways that the Lord blesses us without us even knowing. He calls them "significant but subtle" blessings. I realized that I need to be more observant of the blessings that He gives me and look for the not so obvious ways that He strengthens me. I know one right now: Jake is gone 5 nights of the week and gone everyday. Heavenly Father has strengthened me to be able to bear that well. I was thinking about how it would be so hard for me earlier in our marriage etc. but I am so grateful that I have been blessed to be able to be ok with it for now. I'm especially grateful for little Avery to help me not be alone.
In his book "Increase in Learning" Elder Bednar addresses the fact that The Holy Ghost speaks in quiet, delicate and subtle ways. I started thinking about how I feel the Holy Ghost in subtle ways and what things distance me from feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost. It's a good thing to ponder and something I've been trying to do more lately. I realize that in the times that we live, having the Holy Ghost to be our companion is a vital thing everyday.
I really like how the Lord works "subtly". It requires us to be patient and inquisitive. Seeking, asking and knocking. It's so easy to just go through the motions of just reading scriptures, but I have tried to ask more questions and it gets me more focused and provides a better STUDY of the scriptures and the words of the prophets. On days that I actually do that, it makes such a difference.
Hope you all enjoyed Conference if you were able to watch it! If not, you can find it on the church's website: http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng.
This video...
So funny! I'm seriously laughing so hard right now!
Thanks Amanda for sharing! :)
hehehe!
Thanks Amanda for sharing! :)
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
loves
I just wanted to make note that Avery is giving kisses. It's hilarious! She'll grab my hair and face with her hands and pull her face to my chin or cheek and attack it with her slobbery open mouth. I love it!
She only gives kisses when she wants to, definitely not on command, but it is great! She has given Jake and Megan kisses too! I'm not sure who else, but it is so cute and hilarious!
Avery had her 9 month check up yesterday. She got her flu shot and another shot and I just hate them.
She's doing great developmentally as well and is such a joy!
the end.
She only gives kisses when she wants to, definitely not on command, but it is great! She has given Jake and Megan kisses too! I'm not sure who else, but it is so cute and hilarious!
Avery had her 9 month check up yesterday. She got her flu shot and another shot and I just hate them.
Head 17 inches 31%
Length 27.75 inches 53%
Weight 16.67 lbs 23.35%
She's doing great developmentally as well and is such a joy!
the end.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Quiet mornings
Some days are busy and full of things to check off my to do list. I care for Avery and enjoy her smiles and loves and developmental changes, but with all the other things I am doing, I sometimes neglect to fully realize the joy that she brings me. With days like that, I truly have come to love and cherish quiet, peaceful moments that I get to enjoy my daughter and truly just love her with no other distractions.
This morning was one of those times.
She woke up and I came in to get her, greeted by smiles, gasps, and kicks. She had a wonderful night! She slept from about 10:30-6 am!!! I can't believe it! That's two nights like that in a row! I hope this becomes a habit. :) I nursed her for about a half hour then fed her her breakfast of peaches while I ate my Cherrios. She is a messy girl and hasn't had a bath for 2 days so I fill up the bath and give her a quick bath. She loves the bath. I lotion her up and get her dressed for the day. All the while, she's smiling and "talking" to me. She's getting tired, so we sit outside on the steps and watch the cars go by for a few minutes. She's snuggled close and I love every minute. Then we come back inside and I read her a book and put her down for a nap. I love my daughter!
I love caring for her and being her mom! I hope I can remember on those busy, hectic days that are sure to come, to slow down and cherish each moment with Avery Mae. After all, I know she is growing and I will never have this time, this day with her again.
Avery Mae, I love you!
This morning was one of those times.
She woke up and I came in to get her, greeted by smiles, gasps, and kicks. She had a wonderful night! She slept from about 10:30-6 am!!! I can't believe it! That's two nights like that in a row! I hope this becomes a habit. :) I nursed her for about a half hour then fed her her breakfast of peaches while I ate my Cherrios. She is a messy girl and hasn't had a bath for 2 days so I fill up the bath and give her a quick bath. She loves the bath. I lotion her up and get her dressed for the day. All the while, she's smiling and "talking" to me. She's getting tired, so we sit outside on the steps and watch the cars go by for a few minutes. She's snuggled close and I love every minute. Then we come back inside and I read her a book and put her down for a nap. I love my daughter!
I love caring for her and being her mom! I hope I can remember on those busy, hectic days that are sure to come, to slow down and cherish each moment with Avery Mae. After all, I know she is growing and I will never have this time, this day with her again.
Avery Mae, I love you!
Monday, September 16, 2013
when did my baby get so big?
Avery Mae is 8.5 months old!
I seriously can't believe it!
She is such a doll:
-loves playing the piano
-loves grabbing anything and everything
-loves being teased by Mommy and Daddy
-tickled
-sucking on everything
-playing with the nail clippers and her comb
-smiling and grinning always
-sitting and playing on her own for long periods of time
-almost crawling
-soooo vocal
-very content to play by herself
-on her belly she'll rotate around in a circle and scoot a little bit, push herself backwards but not quite to the crawling stage yet (thank goodness!)
-napping really well
-not sleeping super well at night, but we're working on that one
-eating 3 meals a day of solids
-likes puffs and can pick them up all by herself (has done that for a while)
-waving!
-will grab your face, glasses, hair so watch out
-loves walks
-puts her pacifier in her own mouth
-still swaddled at night
-listens to motab or primary songs to go to sleep
-in swing for naps still....yeah gotta break that one.
-loves books especially her "Baby Animals" book and "Bedtime Peekaboo" book
-wrestling and playing with Daddy
-loves her little doggy toy
doesn't like:
-when mom eats ice cream or peppers (random I know but it gives her terrible gas)
-when she can't tear the hymnbook apart at church
Funny things:
-she kicks her legs like crazy when I come in to get her after she's woken up from her nap
-she gasps a lot when she's happy. I'll do something to make her laugh or smile and she grins while taking a huge gasp of air
-I feed her shirtless because I am not good at feeding her. She gets so messy!
-She is a slow eater. Just like her momma!
-If I put my hands in front of her, palms up, she'll slap my hands and get all happy
-I give her a bath almost every day and she loves it.
-Her hair is growing growing growing! It looks so cute! I hope it stays this blonde for a long time :)
-When she gets tired, she'll get more cuddly, she'll lay her head down and suck her pacifier. She doesn't really cry or fuss when she's tired, but she'll just get really chill.
-she's getting more particular about strangers so she'll get this really funny scared face on and start to fuss a little if she's with someone she doesn't know and (i've noticed) is more loud than she's used to. If people are quiet and chill with her, then she'll be fine.
-vacuums and blowdryers scare her
When does she cry?
-at night
-if she's scared
-if she doesn't feel very well
-other than that, she hardly cries at all!
She is such a good baby and we love her so much! I seriously can't imagine life without this little girly! She makes life so fulfilling and Jake and I adore her!
-more pics soon to come but Avery woke up:)
She is such a doll:
-loves playing the piano
-loves grabbing anything and everything
-loves being teased by Mommy and Daddy
-tickled
-sucking on everything
-playing with the nail clippers and her comb
-smiling and grinning always
-sitting and playing on her own for long periods of time
-almost crawling
-soooo vocal
-very content to play by herself
-on her belly she'll rotate around in a circle and scoot a little bit, push herself backwards but not quite to the crawling stage yet (thank goodness!)
-napping really well
-not sleeping super well at night, but we're working on that one
-eating 3 meals a day of solids
-likes puffs and can pick them up all by herself (has done that for a while)
-waving!
-will grab your face, glasses, hair so watch out
-loves walks
-puts her pacifier in her own mouth
-still swaddled at night
-listens to motab or primary songs to go to sleep
-in swing for naps still....yeah gotta break that one.
-loves books especially her "Baby Animals" book and "Bedtime Peekaboo" book
-wrestling and playing with Daddy
-loves her little doggy toy
doesn't like:
-when mom eats ice cream or peppers (random I know but it gives her terrible gas)
-when she can't tear the hymnbook apart at church
Funny things:
-she kicks her legs like crazy when I come in to get her after she's woken up from her nap
-she gasps a lot when she's happy. I'll do something to make her laugh or smile and she grins while taking a huge gasp of air
-I feed her shirtless because I am not good at feeding her. She gets so messy!
-She is a slow eater. Just like her momma!
-If I put my hands in front of her, palms up, she'll slap my hands and get all happy
-I give her a bath almost every day and she loves it.
-Her hair is growing growing growing! It looks so cute! I hope it stays this blonde for a long time :)
-When she gets tired, she'll get more cuddly, she'll lay her head down and suck her pacifier. She doesn't really cry or fuss when she's tired, but she'll just get really chill.
-she's getting more particular about strangers so she'll get this really funny scared face on and start to fuss a little if she's with someone she doesn't know and (i've noticed) is more loud than she's used to. If people are quiet and chill with her, then she'll be fine.
-vacuums and blowdryers scare her
When does she cry?
-at night
-if she's scared
-if she doesn't feel very well
-other than that, she hardly cries at all!
She is such a good baby and we love her so much! I seriously can't imagine life without this little girly! She makes life so fulfilling and Jake and I adore her!
-more pics soon to come but Avery woke up:)
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