Good Night...or maybe not.

I never realized how much I love sleep until I became a parent.  Sleep is wonderful and all too often it is a under-appreciated commodity for many people.  Up until Evie was born, I was one of those people.  I didn’t mind staying up late and only getting a few hours of sleep because I could sleep in or catch up on sleep the next night.  But that’s not the case now.  I’ve been blessed with a baby that isn’t a good sleeper.  We have a good bedtime routine each night – bath, books, bottle or nurse and bed.  She goes right to sleep.  But she simply cannot sleep through the night at this point.  On a good night she’s up once around 3; on a bad night, it could be 5-6 times.  She can fall asleep easily and anywhere.  It’s staying asleep where we are having an issue.  I feel like we’ve tried everything, but nothing seems to work.  We’ve even tried letting her crying it out – something I’m not a huge fan of to tell you the truth.  She cried herself hoarse for 20 minutes, fell asleep for 15 and then started all over again.  It was awful for me and awful for her.  Neither of us got any sleep.  If I could stay home with her each day, maybe it would be different.  But I need to be up by 6:15 to get ready for work so I usually give up and put her in bed with me.  There are a lot of people out there who have cautioned me about this and I feel a little bit guilty each time I do it.  I feel like I’m going to screw her up or something and I want so much to do what’s best for Evie.  But eventually I tell myself that if I don’t get some sleep, I’m going to be grouchy, tired, stressed and ultimately a short-tempered, impatient parent.  Being this way is definitely not what is best for for Evelyn.  Evie is picking up so much these days in terms of language and behavior, and she is starting to mimic and model it.  I want to teach her proper behavior, and it hard to do that if I’m exhausted.  I hope that Evie learns to sleep through the night soon, but until then, we will just take it one day at time and I will repeat a prayer that my mom always encouraged me to pray:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

11 Months!!

My baby is now 11 months old.  48 weeks.  Crazy!  It’s hard to believe that in just a few short weeks we will be celebrating her first birthday.  I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it…

This past month, Evie has learned all sorts of new things.  She knows how to play peek-a-boo and she loves the game.  She will blow kisses (mwah!) to us and even give us real kisses on occasion.  She’s getting better and better at drinking water from her cup and she’ll actually carry it around with her to take sips.  She loves reading and singing and dance parties with Mommy and Daddy.  She starting to ‘tell’ us what she wants or doesn’t want.  She loves her baby doll.  We are using her doll to help teach her where her eyes, ears, mouth, toes, etc. are and we are also trying to teach her to be sweet to her doll.  And she’s learning! 
After throwing her doll on the ground, poking at its eyes and dragging it around by its hat, she will sit and ‘rock’ her baby from side to side and give it a kiss.  That’s progress!

This month has also been a month of some new foods.  She’s tried shredded cheese and baby cheese puffs – she loves them!!  She’s had parsnips and avocado, as well as Ritz crackers.  We have to watch her with the crackers because she loves to shove the whole thing in her mouth, but she loves them.  She gnawed on a cucumber and seemed to enjoy it, but she didn’t really eat it.  I took it away as soon as saw that she might bite off a piece.  And speaking of biting, my little chomper has 7 teeth and one more is about to pop through!  It’s so cute when she smiles to see all of her little teeth!  It was not easy on any of us when they were coming in, especially the front two, but she seems happier now. 

  

She’s a growing, changing, happy little girl!  Happy 11 Months Evie!

Fun times with Kiki and Pops!

This past weekend, we had a visit from Evie’s Kiki and Pops.  I love seeing my daughter interact with my parents.  They adore her and she just lights up when she gets to see them!  My dad will sit on the floor and play with Evelyn, and she just loves it.  She will show him her toys and climb on his legs and they have a ball!  My mom played with her too, but Evie really loved it when Kiki snuggled with her and read book after book. Evie loves her books!  A current favorite is Pat the Bunny.  After watching our one of our fav basketball teams win – C-A-T-S! Cats! Cats! Cats! – we went out to dinner.  Evie loves sitting in a highchair at the table and watching everyone.  She had a great time playing peek-a-boo with us.  It’s her new favorite game.  She has recently learned to cover her own eyes.  To be honest, sometimes she covers her forehead or her ears with her hands, but she understands the concept and she loves it!  When my parents left the next day, we were sad to see them go, but it’s not as bad as it was before because now we have Facetime.  I got an Ipad for Christmas so now we can call my mom and dad and talk/see them anytime!  Evie is literally obsessed with it.  And it makes it so much better because now they can see her more than once every few weeks.  My dad even brings his Ipad to my grandma’s house and Evie gets to see her G.G. Mitchell!  We have fun with it.  Evelyn is growing and changing so much and I want to be able to share that with them.

Evie and her Pops root for the Wildcats!

Evie loves to hang out with her Kiki!

Peek-a...

Boo!

Yummy cucumber! 

Hi Aunt Shannon!!

Teething Woes

Dear Tooth Fairy,

It will probably be a few years until you pay a visit to our home.  But I wanted to let you know that my little girl Evie is in the process of getting several teeth in her mouth.  Her two front teeth and two on the bottom. These little white gems are causing her all sorts of pain and making sleep at night virtually impossible.  During the day, she’s such a little trooper.  She chews on her teething rings and sucks her pacifier to make her mouth feel better.  She contends with the excessive amount of saliva in her mouth by drooling all over herself (and anyone within a 5 mile radius).  During the day, she still manages to smile and giggle, even with a mild fever.  Then night falls and it’s bedtime.  During the quiet hours in the middle of the night, Evie can no longer put on a happy face.  So she cries.  And she sobs.  And she wails.  Her daddy and I try everything we can think of to help make it better, but nothing seems to help.  And she continues to sob.  Most nights she will eventually wear herself out and fall into a restless sleep around 3 or 4.  This week has not been an easy on in our home.  But hopefully, these little teeth will pop through soon and we can all get some rest.

So Tooth Fairy, I wanted to let you know about Evelyn’s pain.  Someday, she’ll lose these teeth and she’ll go to sleep wondering what the tooth fairy will bring her.  Let me tell you something – you better pay up. 

Sincerely,

Evie’s Mama