Tags taste good

Millie has discovered tags.  She can find one on anything now, and then it goes directly in her mouth.  So cute to watch her explore with those tiny fingers.

A cute little video:

http://youtu.be/5_8txCqGuQM

Bubba, the Wilsons, and other good stuff

Bubba, Colleen, Dan & Luc came to visit us this weekend!  Quick side note: no, we don't have any Arkansas relatives named Bubba...this is the grandpa name that John's dad goes by.  I love that it is out of the norm; I have a friend whose dad decided to go by Sheriff to the grandkids and I just think that is the coolest.  One day, I'll have to think of a cool grandma nickname...in the meantime, I'm enjoying the mommy moniker.  Anyhoo...back to the visit: this was actually Millie's very first time meeting Bubba, and she took right to him.   They spent some time together playing and hanging out; when she was in someone else's arms, she was smiling at him.  Bubba does have a way with kids...and don't let me discount Aunt Colleen; she also got plenty of milla lovin' this weekend.  It's always so relaxing having them around; we appreciate their effort to come see us often.

Unfortunately, I had to work today and they all got to go to the Crystal Bridges museum together.  John said Milla was the perfect child today. Glad she was on her best behavior, but I'm sad I missed a great day with all of them.

In other Milla news...I ordered her some super cute new leg warmers.  Here's one of the new sets; can't wait to try out the others (skulls & hearts).  These things are so genius; diaper changes are a snap!  This is also a good pic of her gompers...

Check out the big girl standing on her own (only for a few seconds though)!

Last week, Cayden came over for a playdate.  Millie is acting like the fonz here. ;)  ehhhhhh....

We took them outside to blow some bubbles; I might need a bigger bubble blower to keep their attention.

Millie got a new bathtub!  The one on the counter was just getting too messy with all of her splashing about, so this blowup tub is supposed to be a good transition to the new tub.  She loves it so much that she decided to christen it with a nice little "log".  This was a first for us.  Ewww.

This blue dino is a favorite of late.  She gets up on a knee and pushes it around.  She has been making so much progress lately with movement.  We thought for sure today that she was going to pull herself up to standing.  Crawling and pulling up to stand are not too far off in the horizon.  Goooo Millie!

Here we are in gym class; this pic just kills me because I think she looks so grown up in it.  Sigh...

She's just so much fun lately!  Looks like we need to get serious about babyproofing the house pronto.  Jeez louise, they grow up so fast....

Our Pretty Girl

There's really no point to this blog post, other than to show these pics of Camilla.  That's okay though, right?!  She received this outfit from some of John's college friends (& fellow KPMGers) Clint & Stef Crane.  I must say, she looks pretty adorable in it...

Happy Birthday, Papa!

This weekend we had my dad, aka Papa, and grandma Tricia out to visit.  I promised my dad a birthday dinner, if he'd come visit, and since we can't make it to their double birthday celebration party coming up, I even made a birthday cake.  We all had a good time catching up, eating too much, playing with Millie Bear, and even watching a little American Idol.  It has been taking Milla awhile to warm up to people, but by the end of the visit, she was letting them hold her and giving them plenty of smiles.  She liked feeling Papa's beard and even reached for grandma Tricia to hold her!  It was a fun and successful visit, for sure...

 

this was funny...we didn't realize millie in her walker could fit under the table...until she just walked right under it :)

Sleep Study: One Week Report

We've been doing the sleep training for a week now...no miracles to report, but some progress has been made.  Most notably, she's sleeping in her crib for ALL naps and for 95% of the night.  She's still waking up 2-3 times per night, and most of the time I can get her back to sleep quickly by just putting my hand on her chest for a minute or two.  However, that last wake up around 4-5am is a killer...she doesn't want to go back to sleep in her crib, but she isn't ready to be up for the day either (and neither is mommy).  So we fight it out upstairs for awhile and then I give in and bring her into our bed.  Sigh...still though, I'm trying to be positive about the progress we have made and hopefully, will continue to make.  She's been teething, so I know that can also play a role in the night wakings.  From what I've read, so can growth spurts...thus, without being sure what is causing the night wakings, we are left to just press on and hope it gets better.

A quick rundown for those friends who have asked about specifics to this baby whisperer method...the pick up/put down method should be a last resort.  After over-using this method last weekend, I re-read the baby whisperer book chapters regarding sleep (as well as spending a good deal of time on the babywhisperer.com forum), and the correct way to go about this is more along these lines:

     - before any nap or night night time, you should have winddown time first (talking softly, bathtime, reading books, rocking, dim the lights, etc.)

     - then when they are ready, pick them up and hold them vertically facing you and walk around, sway, or just stand still (the idea is not a lot of movement, so no jiggling or bouncing)

     - stay this way until they start to nod off and you can sometimes feel their body jerk when they are just entering sleep stage (but not asleep yet!)

     - then lay them in the crib while telling them that it is time for night night (or time to go to sleep or whatever phrase you choose)

     - place a hand on their chest until you think they are asleep

     - stay in the vicinity until you are sure they are really asleep

     - if the baby startles awake, you just place a hand back on the chest and tell them it is night night time

     - if they cry a little, do not pick them up; you should be able to get them to settle with touch and words of assurance, such as "it's okay millie, we're just going night night".  however, do not say it in a poor baby type of voice; keep it matter-of-fact, but not harsh.

     - eventually, you shouldn't have to use the hand on the chest or the words of assurance

That's it...then...if this doesn't work and the crying escalates, that is when you start the pick up/put down method.  Aside from the first 2 days when I was using pick up/put down unnecessarily, I haven't had to use it but maybe once or twice since then.  Milla usually settles right down, if we have an appropriate winddown period.   And like I said earlier, other than when she wakes up around 4-5am, she is super quick to go back to sleep with just a hand on the chest.  I'm going to count that as a win for us.  Our next goal is to have her put herself back to sleep on her own...and also, if she could put the pacifier back in at night, that would be awesome.  She puts in her paci by herself all day long, but for some unknown reason, when she's in her crib, she forgets she can do this on her own. 

Other than the sleep training business, we've had a pretty good week.  I know this isn't the most joyous of posts, but it's sort of a big deal in our household at the moment.  ;)  The next time I post, I promise to make it more fun!  Happy Friday!

My Funny Valentine

Yesterday was Valentine's day, another first for Camilla.  So I got her a special onesie, and then I had to think of a reason to leave the house for people to see her in it. :)  Thanks to pinterest, I now want to bake all sorts of delicious goodies, but I've held off since the first of the year trying to cut back on sugar.  However, yesterday I cut loose and made two separate batches of cookies to take up to JKK's work and show off our little Millie Bear.  I think the outing was a success, although I'm finding it much harder to bake these days with the addition of a baby in the house.  I'm having to adjust to everything in my life being much less productive and efficient.  Totally worth it, I'm just sayin'...it goes against my nature.  Anyhoo, Valentine's Day was a success in our house, and we showered plenty of love on our funny little valentine!

http://www.confessionsofacookbookqueen.com/2011/02/peanut-butter-sandwich-cookies/

http://www.thecurvycarrot.com/2012/02/03/sugar-cookie-bars/

Weekend Update

This is the weekend update, albeit, with much less humor than SNL's version.  Wait, speaking of Saturday Night Live, I just recently finished Tina Fey's book Bossypants, and I absolutely loved it.  She is just the bees knees, and I adore her.  I wish I could count her among my best friends (along with Julia Child) because I just know we would get along great. ;)  Ugh, sorry, back to reality...

As mentioned in the previous blog post, this weekend we set into motion the Baby Whisperer's sleep plan.  It revolves around something called the "pick up/put down method", which is basically just what it sounds like: we put Mills in her crib and tell her it's time for night night; if/when she cries, we pick her up to soothe her and then put her right back down the second she stops crying.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Infinity.  While she is learning the drill, we are supposed to stay by her side and keep a hand on her chest to let her know we are there until she drifts off to sleep.  If she whimpers or whines, we aren't supposed to pick her up; we are supposed to reassure her with our voice and hand on her chest.  The whole process averages 20 minutes.

So that's what we did all weekend with naps and nighttime sleep.  We have had some rough periods and some super easy ones this weekend...and it seems to be getting better, so I definitely think it is working and progress is being made.  Several times when she's woken up, I've only had to go in and put my hand on her and tell her it's still night night time, and then she went right back to sleep.  Putting her down at night is now super easy and she sleeps good for a long stretch; the hard part for the past 3 days has come between 3-5am.  At some point during that witching hour, she wakes up and the pick up/put down method has been really hard on her (and me).  I think this is because she is used to coming into our bed at this point and sleeping/nursing with me for the rest of the night.  I'm not sure how long it will be until I can break this habit, but the rest of the weekend's progress has shown me that this can work and I'm going to stay after it!

The rest of the weekend was spent playing...

 and reading...

and practicing getting up on all fours in preparation to crawl...

and sometimes even a little iPad time...

It was an exhausting, yet also super nice weekend at home with the family.  Tomorrow is Valentine's day, and I plan to take Millie Bear and some special V-day cookies to JKK's work.  Hope everyone has a lovely day tomorrow! xoxo

Teeth!

Wednesday of this week, we noticed that Millie's bottom two teeth have come through her gums!  We can actually see them and feel them...pretty cool...

I haven't noticed any bad signs of teething, other than some serious drooling.  She doesn't seem to be fussy or feel sickly, which is good.  Of course, we still have sleep issues, but I don't think that has anything to do with teething.  She seems to be on an every other day pattern with the sleeping in the crib business: one night, she isn't having it and wears me down into finally putting her in bed with us, the next night, she'll sleep in her crib until 5am.  I realize that I'm doing it all wrong - consistency and routine are key - so this week, we made a trip to Barnes & Noble to find a sleep training book.  I decided to go with the Baby Whisperer again because I had good luck with her first book for newborns and the E.A.S.Y. plan.  Also, both John and I are not comfortable with the cry-it-out theory and neither is the baby whisperer, so it was another reason to go with her book.  This second book solves problems (feeding, sleeping, behavior) for babies a little older and then into the toddler years. 

This weekend we will set into motion the baby whisperer's plan for getting Camilla into a better daytime nap routine and most importantly, getting her to sleep in her crib for both naps and at night.  It's going to be interesting; stay tuned.

7 Months Old

SEVEN MONTHS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

one-week old:

 one-month old:

 two-months old:

 three-months old:

 four-months old:

 five-months old:

 six-months old:

seven-months old:

 always concerned about the owl

Dear Smiley Camilla,

You are the silliest baby on the planet. :)  It has been another great month full of smiles, laughs, squeals, and a whole lot of fun!  We can really see your personality coming out now.  You are one happy baby, and we are oh so grateful for that.  The laughs were much more abundant this month, thanks to peekaboo and the tickle monster.

It feels like this month has gone by so fast.  I can't think of much that's new; you're just getting better at what you could already do.  You still love to eat, and you did have a few new fruits and veggies this month: broccoli, prunes, bananas, peaches, carrots, mangos, and peas.  This weekend we tried kiwi fruit in your mesh pouch, and you didn't like it nearly as much as bananas.

You are so good at assisted standing!  Even your gym teacher commented on how well you are doing standing up at the bar in class.  Since you seem to enjoy it so much, we got you a walker a few days ago.  I'm not sure you are aware of the power you now have, but I'm sure you'll be zooming around here before long.  Here's some video we took this weekend, which also shows a bit of your silliness: http://youtu.be/BsDuopBXpBs

The two big news stories of the month are that we are working on you sleeping in the crib (and still have some serious work ahead of us)...and we've started a mommy & me gym class!  It seems that your favorite part of the class is playing with the balls, so I got a few for home.  And...you're getting better with tummy time!  You've shown that you can scoot around a bit while on your tummy...no where near crawling yet, but definitely working towards it.

It seems as though your two favorite books are Moo, Baa, La La La and Goodnight Gorilla.  My only real basis for this belief is that these are the two you'll consistently sit still for and let me read to you.  Hopefully that will change in the future or my heart will break.  You also seem to enjoy watching Yo Gabba Gabba, which allows mommy to get ready for the day.  Side note:  I fondly remember watching my brother sing along to his kids' shows several years back (Whooooo lives in a pineapple under the sea?), and now I understand how you just can't help it.  Those songs get in your head and are impossible to get rid of!  Just about every day, John and I find ourselves singing about topics such as teamwork and how you shouldn't bite your friends.

Oh, wait...I did think of two new things from this month!  1) You can put your pacifier in all by yourself.  You'll be happily playing on one of your many play mats around the house, sans paci, and then all of sudden, whammo!...you'll have a paci in.  Ta-da!  Can't wait until you can find it in the middle of the night to put it back in. 2) You have started reaching for momma when someone else is holding you.  Sigh...makes me all warm and fuzzy thinking about it. 

Here you picked up a teething pacifier and decided you liked it better turned around...notice that determined look on your face. ;)

We love you, Millie Bear, and we are sooooooo glad you're ours!