Stockings and Hickeys

I put the stocking aside for a couple of days but had to break it back out again so I could finish it and pack it with the rest of the Christmas stuff (we toook the tree down yesterday).  I never did figure out how to perfect the instep...and wasn't sure what to do with the toe either so I just sorta closed it up...it came out a little weird as a result.  Oh well, I'm ready for a new crochet project.

As for the "hickey" referenced in the title...Hannah has started to get a really good suction on my collarbone, neck, cheek, whatever she can grab when she's fussy and getting ready to go to sleep.  A few days ago I joked to Eric that she was going to give me a hickey with that suction and sure enough, yesterday she did.  So now I'm too embarrassed to leave the house, which is just as well since it's below freezing out there--no reason to leave.  The hickey is kinda hard to see in this pic (it's actually pretty terrible looking), but here it is anyway.

Hannah in a Nutshell

Sleep Secret #3 (from 52 Sleep Secrets for Babies) is soooooooooo Hannah:

"Alert, bright babies need MORE than the average amount of sleep--not less.  A baby who seems ahead of the curve--interested in the world around her, reaching milestones early--often fools her parents into thinking she needs less sleep than the "typical" baby.  In fact, she needs more.  Because she's so engaged with her surroundings, she often has a harder time shutting down.  She's "too busy" to bother going to sleep...or so it seems! This kind of baby also knows what she wants and when she wants it, and she's willing to hold out until she gets it.  She can be a little tough to parent.  She especially needs you to make sure she gets the sleep she needs but won't admit to needing.  Since this type of baby is often able to hide her sleepy cues, you must watch the clock and get her to bed on time.  And keep in mind that she probably won't be a flexible sleeper for several years, meaning she'll need utter consistency when it comes to when, where and how she goes to sleep."

I don't know if she's "ahead of the curve," but she is definitely very alert and interested in the world around her and she OFTEN fools her dad into thinking she doesn't need a nap (I am not fooled by this ever, though I do occasionally throw in the towel and give up on getting her to sleep even when I know she needs it if she puts up enough of a fight).  I especially like this sentence: "she can be a little tough to parent."  hahaaha!!!!  Anywho, you can bet that the sleep routine is about to get a lot more consistent now!!  I'm on a mission. Stand back!!

Another Desperate Attempt at Tackling this Crazy Sleep Training Thing

I was so desperate the other morning that I got online and started trying to google a local "baby whisperer" (in the Baby Whisperer book, Tracy Hogg gives lots of examples of families she helped--I want to be one of those families!!). I was so desperate and fed up that I decided that I was ready to pay someone else to help me sleep train Hannah no matter what the cost. Well, as it turns out, cost does matter...I couldn't find anybody local but did end up back on the Sleep Lady's website which someone (maybe Jess??) sent to me a couple months ago, before I was super desperate.  She charges like $300 for a 1 hour phone consult...So okay, maybe the cost does matter....Forget hiring a baby whisperer, how about ANOTHER book instead?? Sleep Lady was running a special on her two books (both signed, not that it matters) 52 Sleep Secrets for Babies and Good Night, Sleep Tight for $20.  That's a little closer to my price range.  They arrived the next day (yesterday) (and shipping was free--gotta love that!) but I haven't cracked 'em open yet...I have to be honest, I'm a bit skeptical. I feel as if I've read everything on the topic and can't imagine finding any new information, but my fingers are crossed!  Joel (Hannah's uncle) was flipping through the one last night and found some info on infant yoga so he dictated some of the moves to Eric while I sat by giggling silently and attempting to finish Hannah's stocking.  Then I wondered out loud if there were any of these Itsy Bitsy Yoga classes in our area.  Before I knew what he was doing, Joel had pulled up the website and found classes right up the street from us at Evolve Well Studios.  A 6-week session is $108 (meets once a week) which is a little pricey, but I budget $100/month for Hannah and seldom use it since we use cloth diapers and boobs so I think we're gonna sign up.  I'm eager to start "mommy and me" classes with her anyway--gets us out of the house and doing an activity!! The only problem is that classes are at 11:00 on Mondays and since Hannah has no regular schedule, I'm not sure how to fit this in on a regular basis.  I don't want to waste a class on her screaming from being tired (oh yeah, and I don't want to torture my child by forcing her to do yoga while exhaused :)...so it looks like it's time to try to force her (gently) into a little bit of a schedule...Hoping that the Sleep Lady has some good advice regarding that.  Better start reading now...this one book is pretty dang thick!!!

Oh yeah, Happy New Year!!!

X-mas Lives On!!

I finally got to take Hannah to see the lights on 34th Street tonight.  I had overly ambitious notions of making hot chocolate or wassle and walking down there on Christmas Eve or even Christmas night, but it didn't happen. I figure it's this week or never--I don't know when they take the lights down, but I can't see it being much fun after New Years.  Hannah's sleeping is so incredibly screwed up right now that she ended up napping from 5-7 tonight which worked out perfectly for the festivities.  Eric went along begrudgingly but ended up catching my excitement and having fun.  I carried Hannah so she could see all the bright lights and he donned the camera played paparazzi.

Here she is on after being suited up and strapped into her stroller.  We're going to see the lights!!

A nice bystander offered to take a family pic.

Earlier this week....Hannah had to say goodbye (for now) to her grandparents who drove back to Michigan on Monday.

Hanging with the family.

And, as promised in my last blog post, here are some pics from my brother's visit. Here's me and Chip swapping babies.

Hannah's cousin!

This ended up being quite a photo dump! Hannah's insane lack of sleep has prevented me from blogging earlier. Speaking of that...well, I had intended to update you on that as well, but this photo dump took a lot longer than I expected.  Fortunately, tonight was a good night.  Hannah went down pretty easily and quietly by about 10.  Last night was one of the worst--she screamed until 1:00 at which point I took her to bed with me, latched her on, and we both passed out.  I put her in her own crib at 2:30.  I had attempted to "cheat" MUCH earlier by taking her to bed with me but she refused. I was falling asleep at 9:00 while she was nursing and didn't have it in me to battle so I picked her up the secons she started screaming and tried to give her what she wanted, but it seems she just wanted to scream for a couple hours after which, she wanted to snuggle and nurse and sleep....I was hurting this morning.  I had to reschedule my trainer and take a nap this afternoon. Of course, wouldn't you know, 2 minutes after I laid down, Hannah woke up from her nap.  I got lucky though and she fell back asleep in bed with me while nursing. I woke up after a DEEP and dream-ful sleep after about an hour and felt amazing!  I've felt great all day, back to normal, hyper me!  Man, naps are awesome. I should take more of them.

Okay! Off to bed!!

Merry (Late) Christmas!!!

I'm late with my holiday wishes!! I just didn't get around to it yesterday...We were also late getting holiday cards made so I made one on PowerPoint and then emailed it out, but for those of you who didn't get it, here it is:

Here's Hannah watching a cartoon with her Uncle Justin.  He drove in from Michigan late on Monday night.  I was in the kitchen making a birthday cake for Eric (who was at work on his birthday--the 22nd).

 

This is Hannah on Christmas Eve being smooched by her Uncle Joel.  She has now met all three of her uncles!

Hannah bought Eric a songbook of guitar songs to learn for his birthday so now all he has to do is learn to play 'em!  In the meantime, she's pretty enthralled by any musical instrument and got a kick out of watching Joel strumming.

Check out this 18.5 pound ham we cooked for Christmas Eve dinner!!!  It came from a pig who lived a good life on a farm in Frederick and it was delicious!  Eric and I have now hosted two big holidays and have loved doing it!

And now to Christmas Day!!  This is Hannah when she woke up on Christmas morning (still in her pjs).  She's not quite old enough to jump on everyone and wake them up to open presents, but we simulated that to get an idea of what the future has in store.

She really digs the chipmunk puppet Uncle Joel got for her.

And Uncle Justin bought her her very first teddy bear--a super snuggly one!

 For Grannah, Hannah painted a picture frame at Amazing Glaze and stamped it with her footprints.  This was no easy task!!  We had to settle for slightly smudged on the one footprint after four tries.  We had intended to make these footprint presents for all the grandparents but the first was so difficult and time consuming, that we had picture mugs made for the other three grandparents.

Ho Ho Ho!!!

The scene in our living room...

Grammy got Hannah some very tasty books and a really pretty hand-painted piggy bank that we for some reason didn't photograph...

The Kellogg's

The non-Kellogg side...what do you call them???  My maiden name is not the same as my mom's last name so....anyway, my side (minus my brother and his family).

Hannah and her grandmothers and me (and a prime example of why no more than one person should be taking a picture at a time--this is the only one where we all look good, but we are all looking at the other camera--bummer!!).

The Chipster and his family come today so I should have some more pics to commemorate Hannah's first Christmas!!  I hope everyone has enjoyed their holiday as much as we have!!