Just a Couple More Pics...

I don't have much time before Hannah wakes up from her morning nap but I had some other pics on my camera I'm gonna try to post in between bites of my egg sammy.

It's been a while since we've taken any bath time pics...

She's not sitting up on her own yet but she's close enough to hold herself while Eric washes her hair.

Eric dries her off in his lap and then uses toilet paper to clean out her ears. (Yes, we have Q-tips....He cleans his own ears with toilet paper too...)

I love this one.  In the Johnny Jump Up...

Sorta got the nose scrunch...cute, eh?

She's up now so it's time to go! She just took an awsome 90-minute nap which was preceeded by an awesome 11-hour night of sleep! She slept from 8p-7a only waking up twice (once at 2a and once at 4a) but never for more than a couple minutes and never requiring me to get out of bed. I woke up naturally at 6:45 feeling better than I've felt in months...Wahoo!!!

Thoughts and Toys

Hmmm...I know I'm due for a post, and I know there have been a lot of times in the past couple days that I've thought "I should blog that!" but I'm drawing a blank now.....I'll go random again....We started Hannah on pears today; rice week is over which is just as well because that stuff is a sticky mess.  Her poop since eating solids is really, really gross.  We thought about taking away solids until she is able to wipe her own butt, but decided against it because that would probably be hell on my boobs as her appetite continued to grow.  So once we have a better handle on this sleeping thing, it's on to potty training.  If anyone has any books to recommend on that topic, cough it up so I can start gathering resources for my next big mothering project. 

As for sleep (I really should change the title of this blog to "Hannah's Sleep Chronicles" or something....), we're all doing a bit better.  I was telling Eric how I always feel so guilty when I leave her to cry and after the ordeal is over, I always tell myself that I'll do better next time, that I'll stay cool, calm, and collected for the full saga.  Prior to laying her down, I often pep-talk myself and commit myself to not kirking out, but usually I end up needing a break and having to leave her, sometimes after 45 minutes, sometimes I only make it 20, but here's an interesting development:  for the past couple days, when I give up and leave, she screams at most for another minute or two then goes to sleep.  Weird, huh. It's like my soothing presence while she's trying to sleep is totally annoying to her.  So I started trying it out at night too. I'll go in and briefly soothe her, then I turn around and head back to bed and she's asleep again in a couple minutes.  Last night I tried something new where I just didn't go in. She screamed for maybe 2 minutes tops and then fell back asleep.  Pretty cool, huh?

So here's another thought that Eric and I were thinking out loud together the other night.  You know how when you're pregnant people who have kids will tell you that kids change everything and you think, yeah, yeah, of course they will, and you know they will, but you don't understand HOW MUCH they will.  Well for all you childless kids, we'd like to assure that that is not an exaggerated statement.  Having kids really does change every little thing in your entire life from big ticket items like sanity and sleep to little things like how often your plants get watered or your cat gets fed. And your whole outlook on life starts to change too.  When I got pregnant, I started being really offended by certain rap songs (think Snoop Dogg) that I once found pretty funny.  And I started thinking about death and worrying about myself in ways I never have because I feel like I am crucial to Hannah's existence. I know that's not completely true, but for a while there, the idea of me being dead or in the hospital and her having to be fed formula because I didn't have a reserve of breastmilk in the freezer made me want to cry. I don't know why. Lots of babeis are/were formula fed (including my  hubby) and they are FINE. I'm not one of those Tit Terrorists who thinks that breast is the only way to go, but the idea of Hannah having anything else made me want scream.  The main time that I was thinking about this was the month after she was born because of all the bleeding. There were a couple of times that I was afraid to fall asleep in case I bled out.  This is totally ridiculous, I know.  Even if I were going to bleed out, I wasn't getting enough sleep in that first month to do so in my sleep.  I worry a lot more about Eric too, and of course I'm constantly worrying about Hannah, which is why I always feel so guilty letting her cry it out.

On a lighter note, Hannah's got this new smile that is so friggin cute. It involves her totally scrunching up her nose and sticking her tongue out just enough to touch the tip of it to her top lip. We've been trying to catch it on video and film but have had a hard time.  In this photo of her post-rice smear, we just barely missed the nose scrunch.  (Terrill did manage to catch it on video, but the rest of the video has us talking and I really hate the sound of myself talking on video so I avoid it at all costs......HOWEVER, there is a nose scrunch in one of the videos below.)

In other photo news, look who finally decided to man up and put on the BabyBjorn!!!  He was worried about his masculinity being threatened and has refused to put her in a carrier up until yesterday when he got ballsy.  Since the end result was that everyone on the Avenue awwwed all over them, he's okay with it now.  OH! And I got to wear her on my back the other day!  She's big enough now that I can start using the Baby Hawk again and wearing her on my back which is good because the Bjorn kills my shoulders and back, but it's the only carrier that lets her face out and for a while now she has refused facing any other way in a carrier.  I had a hard time getting her on my back though and had to do it over the bed just in case I dropped her in the process.  I guess I'll get better at it with practice.

Here's Hannah having Daddy's leg for breakfast:

Hannah got another new toy too. Well, she's had this one since I moved back to Baltimore and inherited a bunch of hand-me-downs from my friend Brooke who passed along a Johnny Jump Up. Eric's been pretty eager to play with it so he dug it out of her toy trunk yesterday.  She totally loved it.  There are a couple of nose scrunches to show it.

And here's another one of her bouncing and spinning in it:

Huge Relapse

Once again I forayed into the realm of "how hard can it be" and was promptly smacked down by the humility god.  Sleep training is back to suckville.  I'm not sure how it happened....She fell asleep while nursing last night and when I was hardcore into sleep training, I was waking her up so she'd learn to put herself to sleep and not need me and my chest, but last night I thought it'd be fine to just lay her down like that. I suppose that was my first mistake.  She was screaming within seconds.  I have no idea what the next couple mistakes were but she screamed until 10:00.  Eric and I took turns attempting to patiently provide TLC and when the TLC ran out, we left her in there to scream alone.  I held a book in front of my face but stared intently at the video monitor and the clock.  When it got to 9 minutes I couldn't take it anymore. As much as I can't stand being near her when she's screaming, I can't stand being away from her either.  It's a lose-lose situation.  So I went in, scooped her up, and shushed her calm.  After a couple of minutes she arched off me and leaned toward her bed so I laid her down, she closed her eyes, and peace was finally ours.  This was after 2 hours of crying.

I had great hopes that tonight we'd be back on track. Her naps today were perfect in spacing and length, and we started bedtime a little earlier to keep on track.  She fell asleep nursing but I gently woke her then laid her down.  Quiet for maybe a minute, then screaming. Loudly and insanely. I scooped her up thinking she might need to burp.  Nope.  Fooled me once.  I laid her down and the screaming resumed.  I went to my log to make some notes and when I turned around she was in an extreme baby cobra and twisted around behind her clinging to the bumper pads as if she were trying to crawl toward me.  The look on her face was heart breaking so I scooped her up again.  I held her for a couple minutes like this (she quieted instantly upon being held) then she repeated last nights' gesture of arching toward her bed. I laid her down and all was good and quiet for a couple minutes. Her eyes were glassy and fluttering. I shushed and lulled and willed her to sleep.  Then out of nowhere, the flood gates broke lose and insanity spilled into the nursery once again.  I told her to cut it out and left. Eric was already up the stairs for the tag team.  He changed her (though she didn't need it) and snuggled her and then peaced out.  Now we're downstairs listening to our dear sweet screaming daughter and waiting for her to cry long enough that when we return to check on her, she will be so exhausted that she passes out much easily. If, by chance, she passes out on her own in the meantime, that would be great, but my hopes aren't that high.

Okay, time to watch a few more minutes of Funny People...we are watching it in installations.

Resolutions and Rice

Guess who's back on the rock!! I mean, er, the wall, but whatever, wahooooooo!!! After a year plus hiatus from climbing, I got back in my harness yesterday (actually it was a borrowed harness since mine has gone missing).   About a week ago I came up with some resolutions for the new year, all of which are based around my own personal quest for sanity.  They are:

1.  Practice yoga at least 1/week
2. Climb at least 1/month
3.  Attend a group/class meditation 1/month

I tried to make them realistic and doable.  I seriously doubt I could find the time or funds to climb once a week, but once a month is definitely possible.  Yesterday was awesome. Earth Treks has a whole new wall since the last time I was there and got some new tables and paint on the walls so it was like a whole new place.  I was worried that my shoes would be hard and frozen from being kept in the garage for the last couple of months (they weren't) and also that I would be physically incapable of completing even the simplest climbs (I wasn't).  I was more capable than I expected after such a long hiatus which was a much-needed boost to my esteem.  It was nice to be out and chatting it up with Brandy for a couple hours, and since I left right after Hannah had woken up and eaten, I only left Eric with one activity period (about an hour and a half of her being awake). I was back before she woke up from the nap he put her down for.

When I got back, I had enough time to scarf some food and sit down for a bit before my dad and his girlfriend showed up.  Of course my dad jokingly tried to sneak upstairs to wake up Hannah.  This is a running joke between us because a couple months ago he mentioned something about stopping by Chip's house and waking up Clay to visit. I interrupted with, "he lets you wake Clay up????"  Dad seemed a bit taken aback.  "Well, yeah, why wouldn't he?"  I told him he better enjoy that privilege at Chip's because there was no wway in H-E-doble hockey sticks that I'd ever let him wake up Hannah; I don't care how far he drove to see her.  So now he picks on me and pretends he's gonna wake her up.  Eventually she woke up on her own (after taking an AWESOME 2 1/2 hour nap) and he got to feed her lunch.

Yesterday was Hannah's 2-week anniversary for eating solid foods which meant that she got to try something other than sweet potatoes.  So pollsters, oatmeal clearly won, buuuutttt you know how I told you last week that I'd made some rice and frozen it and that I hadn't gotten around to buying steel cut oats for oatmeal yet?  Welllllll I still haven't been to the grocery store (it's on my to do list for today because the fridge is empty except for a tupperware container full of moldy pineapple) and since the rice was already made and frozen into individual cubes, AND since I figured that all of you who voted for oatmeal probably would have also voted for rice cereal and in fact, may have even preferred that option since it is a more traditional option, AND since Laura told me that because oat grows close to wheat, most oats are contaminated with gluten unless you buy a special kind that promises not to be and since a ton of people have intolerances for gluten...well, after considering all of those factors (but mostly focusing just on the convenience of the already made rice), I opted for rice.  I feel bad for choosing something not even on the poll and am going to find a way to make it up to you....The fact is, I should have done more research before starting that poll--I just pulled those foods out of The Baby Whisperer book. Those were some of the first foods she suggested giving baby.  But enough rambling, on to the cute pics of Pappy feeding Hannah her first bites of rice!

(The spoon pictured below is actually a 1 TB measuring spoon that she likes to play with--don't worry, I don't try to feed her with that gigantic thing.)

Here's what I don't like about rice: the stickiness factor.  I was picking dried flakes off her cheeks, hands, and elbows for the rest of the day despite a thorough post-lunch wipe down.  She seemed to like it though and never made any of those "ewwww! gross!!" faces that she made after the first couple bites of sweet potato.

After lunch, we settled in on the couch for some playtime.

And then Eric came out from behind his computer where he was attempting productivity and grabbed his guitar to join in the fun. 

This balancing act is how Hannah tones and strengthens her core. (Eric has taken to performing this stunt quite often--he gets a big kick out of it.)

That's the first part of yesterday in a nutshell.  The second part, which consisted of Hannah and I helping Terrill make cookies for the women's shelter she volunteers for, didn't get captured on film :( bummer.

In retrospect, yesterday was a dang good day!! Oh, and bedtime was perfect!!! No fussing at all, not while getting her in her pajamas and not when I laid her down to sleep.  That's the second time (not in a row obviously) that she went to sleep without a peep. AND, after a brief wake-up at 10:15, she slept straight through till 6:45.  Amazing.  Totally amazing. Good stuff.

Fashionista!!

Terrill bought the banana the pear duds I've been wanting and she is sooooooo friggin cute in them!!!  Check her out:

I love it!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, and here's the crazy thing: this outfit is size 12-18 months....what the heck!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a little big on her, but not outrageously so.  Either Gap also runs small or I have a BIG baby! (Reminder, she is 5 1/2 months old.)  Thank you Terrill!!!!!!

Also, today I was telling Terrill about how Hannah had her first phone call from a boy and she laughed and asked if I was going to put that story on the blog, and I'm surprised I haven't already because it happened a couple weeks ago actually.  Eric came home laughing one day a few weeks ago because a young man called his cell phone and asked for Hannah.  The guy ended up being a trainer from our gym who must have seen Hannah registered as a new member (this way I can take her to the day care there if I want to) and was calling to offer a free training session.  

And that's all for today because last night's blog post was long enough to last all week.