Keepin’ That Tummy Full
She's been eating about 4 ounces every three hours or so. She goes from 0 to screaming instantly when she's hungry. Screaming might be a little exaggeration, but she quickly lets us know when she's hungry and doesn't give us a whole lot of time to get it ready.
She is still in size 1 diapers, but we will be switching over to 2s pretty soon. I remember when we first brought her home we tried putting a size 1 diaper on her just for fun...and it absolutely swallowed her. And now the 1 is almost too small. Boo.
What’s New?
-AC/DC & Aerosmith - For Father's Day, Danny got AC/DC and Aerosmith Lullabies. The CDs have their most popular songs made in to lullabies. When I first saw the CDs at the store, I loved the idea of it and thought it was a really cool idea for dads. But I never really knew how much we would use it.
It turns out, Harper loves them. Whenever she starts to get fussy or is tired and refusing to go to sleep, we turn it on. She instantly gets quiet. It's the strangest thing. I play it on my phone and set it at the top of her car seat and she just gets silent and looks around. If she's ever fighting to stay awake, we'll turn it on and pretty soon after, she's out.
Not to mention, I've got all of them stuck in my head all the time now. I know which song to expect next and I always sing a long (in my head). I'm a big fan. I have a feeling we will own a few more of these in the near future...
-A precious profile...She has the most precious profile I've ever seen. I know that's absolutely biased, but that's okay. I find myself just staring at her while she's looking at something. Her eyes are always wide-open like she's surprised, then her sweet little nose (the one she gets from her Mama), and her big puffy cheeks, soft little lips, and beautiful double chin. I just read that previous sentence again and without all those adjectives, she would sound like a mess. Albeit, a pretty little mess...with a real sweet profile. I need to get a picture of it.
-Sofie and her toys - For those of you who have met our dog Sofie know that she loves toys. She always has a toy with her and is very particular about which toys she wants at that moment. She will stand at her basket of toys (which is overflowing) and bark until you pull out the exact one she wants.
We were curious how she would do with Harper's toys. For the most part, she has done really well. If it's something that squeaks, she is immediately interested in it. If it rattles, she ignores it for the most part. There have only been a few times that we've caught her with one of the little girl's toys and had to break her heart and take it away. She just doesn't understand. As a dog who loves toys, she assume that if it's a toy, it's hers.
I'm sure a lot of you have heard about or seen the Sophie Giraffe that squeaks (you can read about it here). Apparently it's the most popular toy around the world and has been around for 50 years. I had no idea. I had never seen it before. Well, Harper's Grandma (Danny's Stepmom) bought it for Harper when she was born. Harper hasn't shown any interest in it yet because well, she's only 3 months old. She hasn't shown interest in any toys up to this point. Sofie, however, is extremely interested in it. She is obsessed with it. If she sees that it is sitting on the counter or table, she will sit perfectly still and watch it. If it's on the coffee table, she will sit on the edge of the ouch and lean towards the table to try to get it. She will stand on the floor with her paws up on the table trying to reach it.
It's the strangest thing. A few weeks ago, I was packing Harper's bag for our trip to Oklahoma. I wanted to bring the giraffe because I'm hoping that if we start early enough, she'll finally find something that she loves and that she uses as a "security blanket." I know she's still pretty young for that, but we're just seeing how it goes. Anyway...Sofie was downstairs with her dad and I was upstairs in Harper's room packing her bag. I put Sophie (the giraffe, not the dog) in the inside pocket of her big bag. A little while after I had brought her bag down, I noticed Sofie is sitting by it, chewing on the giraffe. How in the world did she know it was in there? I intentionally put it inside the bag, in a pocket, so she wouldn't find it. Well she found it. And got it out. And chewed on it.
A few days later I stuck it in the bottom of the diaper bag underneath a blanket, burp rag, extra clothes, etc. There was no way this dog was going to find it. Plus, she wasn't even in the room when I put it in there. Wrong.
Minutes later, I went upstairs to find Sofie the dog chewing and squeaking Sophie the giraffe. Little turkey! I don't know how she's always able to find it. Since Harper hasn't shown any interest in it yet and Sofie has clearly shown a lot of interest, Danny has considered just giving it to Sofie for good. I haven't given in yet, but I have a feeling we might have another Sophie giraffe around the house pretty soon if this little girl starts to show interest in it. We shall see.
-Daddy's Girl - I never really knew what to expect with Danny having a little girl. I hoped and prayed that he would be excited. That he would love the thought of having a girl who would adore him. But then part of me thought that maybe he would have rather had a boy. I didn't really know what to think. Since we found out "it" was a girl in January, he has said he was excited about it...but I wasn't completely convinced.
However, a few days ago, I became convinced. We were in her room about to pick her up out of her crib from a nap and he was just looking at her while she slept. As he watched her, he said, "I am so thankful we had a little girl." My heart absolutely melted. And I truly think he means that. He adores that little girl so much. When we leave the house, he always makes sure she has a bow (this is probably more for me than for her, but either way, I love it). He makes sure that her socks match her outfit. He likes picking out her clothes. I am so thankful for that.
I know he said he was thankful now for having a little girl, but I can't imagine how he'll be in a few years when that little girl starts following her around, running up to him when he gets home, jumping into his arms for a hug, and telling him she loves her. When that happens, I think he might collapse into a big pile of Daddy-mush.
-Squeal - In previous posts, I've mentioned all the sounds that she makes. She is so very noisy. But I love it. Her newest noise happens when we are feeding her and we take the bottle out when it is empty. If she's still hungry, she squeals. Loudly. You would think we were torturing her. Thankfully, she only does it for a second. It's actually kind of sad because she sounds so distressed, but it's normally pretty quick and it's over. I'll have to record it sometime.
-Balding - She still has a ton of hair, but we have started to notice a little bald ring on the back of her head. It looks like she has a little hairy Yamaka on top of her head. And most of the time, her hair is a crazy mess. When it's wet, it's super curly like her dad's, but when it dries, it dries completely straight and sticks out all over. When she wakes up, it's normally pretty rockin' too. She also has a pretty rad rat tail--she's had this since she was born. It's pretty awesome. I'll take a picture of that too.
Big News This Month...
-Sleeping Through the Night - Thank you, Jesus! My goal was to have her sleeping through the night before I went back to work. I didn't care if she started it the night before I went back, but either way, I was hoping she would cooperate. Well, she did. :)
We really had no idea what we were doing when it came to trying to get to sleep through the night. So as I was getting my hair done for my cousins wedding, Jenn (hair dresser/pastor's sister/close family friend) and I were talking about what she did with her kiddos. At this point, Harper had been eating and going down at about 10:30 or 11 and then waking up about 3:30 or 4:00 to eat again. It wasn't terrible just waking up once, but I knew that when I was working, it was going to get old pretty quickly.
So the day after my cousin Chelsea's wedding, we decided to try Jenn's method. We put fed her and put her down around 10, then woke her up at midnight to feed her as much as she'd take--when she is sleepy, she doesn't ever eat much, but we wanted her tummy to be full. Then when she woke up at 3:30 or so, we were going to let her cry and hope that she would fall back asleep pretty quickly and essentially skip that feeding.
Night 1: I woke her up and fed her at midnight. let me just tell you. When your baby isn't awake in the middle of the night, it's really hard to make yourself wake them up to feed them. However, we wanted to give it a shot and see if it would work. She cried for an hour or so and then she fell back asleep. I wanted so badly to get her, but it wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be. I will add that she wasn't screaming. She was whimpering for a while, cried a little harder at times, but was never really screaming. I imagine that if she had been screaming, it might have been harder to leave her there. We turned the monitor down to where we could still hear if she was crying, but it wasn't complete torture.
Fortunately, the little peanut decided she wanted to cooperate. Once she fell back asleep, she stayed asleep until 7 o'clock that morning. Whoo hoo! Night 1: Success.
Night 2: The second night wasn't as pretty. We fed her and put her down at about the same time, I woke her up and fed her at midnight, and she woke up at 3:00. At this point, things were still going as planned. Until she cried for two and a half hours. Two and a half hours straight. And the kicker...Danny didn't wake up at all! Not at all in two and a half hours! And the monitor is on his side! Seriously? How does that work? So I laid there the entire time praying that she knew that I loved her and that I promised I was going to feed her soon. After two and a half hours, I woke up Danny and asked what he thought we should do. His response, "She's been crying? For how long?" Seriously?!
I ended up going and getting her. And no, it's not being I was being a weakling. I had let her cry long enough and felt that I needed to love on her a little. The second I picked her up, she stopped crying. She just smiled. I felt absolutely horrible. That's all she wanted...her Mama to come and hold her.
I quickly discovered why she was so upset for so long. She had one of the dirtiest diapers I have ever seen. It was awful. No wonder she was so mad. I don't blame her. I wouldn't want to sleep with dirty pants like that either.
After I changed her, I fed her and put her back down. She slept until 9 or so--good girl.
Night 2: Fail.
Night 3: We went through the same routine. Fed her at 10:00, woke her up at midnight, put her back down...and voila! That sweet little Punkin didn't wake up until 7:00! She didn't make a peep at 3:30. What a little blessing she is.
Night 3: Success! Thank you, Lord! We now have a baby that sleeps through the night. I love the sound of that.
So here we are...now that she has been skipping the 3:30 feeding, we will start moving the midnight feeding back to where we don't have to wake her up, we will just put her down for the night around 10.
We'll see how it goes.
More big news: Mommy went back to work this month. Let me just tell you that I was not looking forward to this. I was excited about getting to see my kids and to get back into a routine, however, I was not ready for the stress that work entails and I wasn't looking forward to leaving this sweet girls for almost 12 hours Monday through Friday. Just the thought of it made me sick. I keep telling Danny that I would be the most fantastic Stay-at-Home-Mom that ever lived...but he's not convinced just yet. Maybe some day. :)
In order to get stuff prepared at school and to get in to a routine taking her to daycare, we went to daycare half a day on Thursday and half a day on Friday the week before I went back. This gave me a chance to see how the day at school would go, to see the routines the kids have been doing, etc. I was most anxious about being able to keep things running smoothly. Second grade was a whole new thing for me, so I had no idea what to expect. When I dropped her off on Thursday, there might have been a few tears when I got in my car by myself.
I didn't cry because I was afraid to leave her. I had left her before. I went out of town overnight to move Lexi in to her dorm. I know a lot of new moms get really anxious leaving their baby when they are itty bitty. For some reason, I was okay with it. That wasn't what made it difficult. It was the fact that I just didn't want to be going to work. I wanted to be at home with her, soaking up all of her beautiful smiles, and falling even more in love with her every second of the day.
I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. So I know that I'm working for a reason. There's a reason that I can't stay home right now. I don't know what that reason is, but I know there is one. I just know that I'm thankful to have someone I trust to watch over her while I work. I think that makes a big difference. If I wasn't comfortable with the person watching her, I imagine that it would be a whole lot harder to leave her. So thankful. I don't know Katie (the lady watching her) well, but I just have a feeling that it's right. She's perfect for the job.
Here are a couple pictures of her very first half-day at daycare. They are a little blurry, but I'm still glad that I have a few pictures to capture that moment. I know it's only a matter of time before she's going to school with me every day.
We are so very blessed to have Miss Katie. She is absolutely wonderful. I can tell that she has already fallen head over heels for our little girl and I love it. She texts Danny and I a picture or two every day. I can't even begin to describe how happy getting these pictures makes me. It gives me a whole new attitude when I see them. My kids enjoy seeing the pictures too.
Here are some of the texts and pictures I've gotten from her the since she's been at daycare:
"All smiles!"
"Talkative baby! Good morning Mommy and Daddy!"
"Go Broncos!"
"Caitlyn is just lovin' on her Harper." Side note: Caitlyn absolutely adores Harper. She kisses and hugs her all day long.
She won't leave without telling Harper bye. She is a doll!
"Sweet girl's cheeks have to be sore from all this mornings smiles!"
"Coos, coos, and more coos. :)"
"She seems to enjoy being told she's beautiful. :) We've had a full day of smiles!"
"Getting ready for story time!" Side note: When I first saw this picture, I burst into tears. I'm not completely sure why, but it just really got to me. I know that at 3 months old, Harper didn't actually know what story time was and she wasn't actively participating in the story, but in this picture, she sure as heck looks like she knows exactly what's going on and is ready to discuss the latest story. This is one of my very favorite pictures.
"Getting some fresh air!"
"Getting some morning time with Harper girl!"
"If any other daycare met her there would be a bidding war on who would get her! She is precious in every way!"
"Feet are wonderful things!"
"Oh you know...just chewing on my W block."
"Practicing her hooting for Halloween tonight!"
"She's been one happy girl playing with the flaps on the activity mat. As long as I stay by her and move her from flap to flap, she just talks away to the sea animals."
For the the two half days, I went and dropped her off by myself. However, I asked Danny (months ago) if he would go with me and drop her off the day I actually started back at work. I was not looking forward to this and knew that I would be thankful I had him with me. And believe it or not...there were no tears!
Blurry and not a great picture...but it's all we've got from that morning.
Yes, I thought about her all day and wondered what she was doing every second of the day, but all in all, it was a wonderful first day. I enjoyed getting back into the swing of things. Most of all, I really loved the time with my kids. I love my kids. I was blessed with such a great class. They are all full of personality and some are pretty needy....but I love them. I really do. I actually enjoy going and seeing their sweet faces every morning. Don't get me wrong, I don't look forward to all the work and stress that ensues, but I know that if I didn't enjoy my class so much, it would be a whole lot harder to go back.
I was fortunate to have a great long-term sub while I was out. She went above and beyond and I appreciate every single thing she did. She did so much more than other subs normally do. Had she not done this, going back would have been a nightmare. So thank you, Andrea.
With that being said, I told Danny that if we have any control over our next/future kiddo(s), we will do everything we can for me to not miss the beginning of the year. I have decided that the beginning of the year is the absolute worst time to be out. It was so hard to come back, jump in, and try to figure out where is kiddo is, who they work well with, who they can't be near, etc. It was a lot to take in. However, I was also blessed with a fantastic team. I really enjoy the ladies I work with. I appreciate their willingness to help out wherever necessary.
As of now, I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of work in front of me. I'm praying that things calm down. I don't want to be so consumed by work that it takes away from my time with my little girl. Please pray that things will calm down.
All of you working moms out there, I admire you. I don't know how you do what you do.
On a positive note, the optimistic side of me learned this...going back to work is a positive thing for me because when I go to pick up my sweet girl, it's like Christmas morning each and every time. While I'm waiting at the door, I get that same feeling I got every Christmas morning when I was younger. My stomach was always filled with butterflies and such sweet anticipation to see what Santa had left me. But now, I know what gift will be behind the door every day, and it's the most perfect gift I could ever dream of. Thank you Lord for the strength and peace I felt as I returned to work. I feel so blessed to have 22 little kiddos that make me smile, warm my heart, and make me want to teach them to reach for the moon.
When I went to pick her up that Monday, Miss Katie opened the door and was holding Harper. When she saw me, she smiled. One of her big, heart-melting smiles. I don't know if it was intentional or not, but either way, I will never forget it. I keep telling myself she knew what she was doing. :) She knows my voice...so maybe when she heard it, it made her happy. We'll go with that.
A couple days after I started back, my assistant principal stopped me in the hall and asked how I was and how Harper was doing at daycare. As I started responding, she interrupted me and said, "Ashley, we've got you a job where you can stay at home with her. You need to be with her. I will be praying for you guys. We don't want to lose you as a teacher, but you have got to stay home and be with her." This really hit me. I had never talked to her before about church or anything, so it really caught my attention when she mentioned praying for us. It meant a lot. Now lets make that happen...
Until then, pray for this working Mama and her sweet baby! And if you have any genius ideas for me to work from home, send them my way. :)
P.S. - A few weeks ago I posted pictures from TX-OU weekend when we watched the blowout at our house. It didn't go well, but we got some really good pictures. :) You can see them here. Hook'Em!
This means I'm now just about caught up...hooray!
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