Crazy days...

We have had a crazy week around here.  It all started Wednesday when I woke up to this under my back:

 Now this might not be that big of a deal except that it was ON MY WRIST when I went to bed.  Did someone sneak into my house and CUT my watch off my arm?  I don't know.  It appears that way.  So now I need a new watch.

Then I got a great book in the mail: The No Cry Sleep Solution.  I decided long before this book arrived that it was going to save my life.  It's all about babies and sleep and it describes an alternative way to help them sleep better, rather than just letting them cry it out.  I learned all about how much sleep B really needs, how many naps she should be taking, and other great tips.  Some of the stories sure made B look like a great sleeper!  Her main problem is naps and a huge fit right before she goes down for the night- but that's just colic.  Once she goes to sleep for the night she does ok.  Sometimes gets up once or twice to eat, but goes back to sleep.  I learned I should be putting B to bed earlier.  No one told me to put her to bed at 7 or 8...How was I suppose to know that?  I just figured the later she went to bed, the later she would sleep.  Isn't that logical?  I also didn't really do any sort of bedtime routine.  This was mainly because her routine is to scream her head off for several hours and then eventually nurse to sleep around 10pm (if we are lucky...)  So I decided I was going to attempt this early to bed with a bedtime routine thing.

So my plan was: bath at 7pm (not a good start since she hates baths now...) then dad reads her 3 books (while she screams) then turn the lights off and the sound machine (rain) on, and PRAY that she falls asleep nursing.  Well I was just sure my life problems were solved when she was ASLEEP at 8pm.  It was wonderful.  Stephen and I didn't know what to do with ourselves.   We should have gone to bed.  Cause she got up twice to eat and was wide awake at 3:30.  Me and Stephen and Blakely spent the night in the living room, with the swing, and she was in and out of sleep until around 9. 

We were also suppose to get a "light dusting" of snow and then some rain that day and instead got like 5 inches.  Sick. of. snow.   How did I do life without my hunter wellies?  Anyway, after crying all day long, she did not go to sleep again until 1am the next morning.  And even then she did not sleep good.  So in 24 hours she had really only gotten a few hours of good sleep.  I was beginning to think this book actually RUINED my life.  So I did the only obvious thing I should do, I called my mom.  duh.  She said I should take her to the doc cause she might have an ear infection.  That never occurred to me because for one thing, Blakely is always cranky and doesn't sleep well (just not quite this bad...) and she didn't have a fever.  But apparently you can have an ear infection with no fever.  I am such an amateur.  Sure enough, right ear infection.  Poor girl.  So by the time we got home at 2pm and B was asleep in her carseat....there was NO WAY I was moving her.  "I'll never let my baby sleep in her carseat, or swing, or in our bed...blah blah blah."  I've already repented, but I repent again.  Of all the silly things I said I would or wouldn't do as a parent, when I wasn't a parent. 

I was watching Super Nanny last night, and was scared out of my mind, because for the first time ever, it occurred to me that it could happen to me!

So now that she has barely slept, and has a little tylenol in her, she just doesn't have the energy to cry.  In all seriousness, the past 24 hours has been the least this girl has cried and the best she has slept in a couple months.  She's even happy when she is awake.  That's right, WHEN SHE'S AWAKE.  Not for just 5 minutes like usual.  Do I have to give her the antibiotics?  I like sick on tylenol Blakely better than screaming for no reason Blakely.  Kidding.  Of course I hate that my baby is sick.  duh.  But it is a nice change when she is sweet when she's awake and lays her head on my chest and goes to sleep when she's tired.  Stephen and I have been dreaming that maybe the ear infection "cured" her colic.  ha.  But wouldn't that be cool? 

You're so vain...

You probably think this blog is about you! (And it is...)

This picture doesn't really do it justice, but this girl can't walk past a mirror without looking at herself. 
It's pretty funny.  She just stares at herself, probably thinking, "what's that really small balding thing?" 

On another note, I still don't think this poor girl has figured out that her arms and hands are attached to her body.  When she does, that will be a great day for her. 


The Baby Bjorn...what a great invention.  So great for sortof getting things done.  I've heard people say that can just do anything in these things...maybe I've got it strapped on wrong, but I can only partially do things.  It helps me remember to bend at the knees instead of the waist, otherwise it feels like she'd fall out.  One mom friend of mine said she cooks dinner with her baby in this... I do some dinner prep, but the whole time I am plotting out my plan of attack for when Blakely barfs all over whatever I am cooking. 

I will say, this thing makes the necessities possible.  Such as: going to the bathroom.  Blakely cries so much that I sometimes can't even set her down for that.   I know, I know..."Just let her cry."  I don't know if it is because I am a wimp or what, but I just can't set her down knowing she will cry, even if it's just for a few minutes.  Now if she's already crying, well that's a different story.  Everyone says I'll be different with my next kid, but I'd like to think that I'll always do whatever I can to help my baby stop crying (not that I can get Blakely to stop crying anyway, but I at least try!)  Some people are a little grossed out that I go to the bathroom with her in this thing.  Excuse me?  I wipe her poopy butt 8 times a day, I think she can accompany me to the john once in a while.  :)

And another, and maybe better, invention is the Moby wrap.  It's a hippie-ish "baby wearing" thingy that is awesome.  My inner hippie has come out in motherhood- baby wearing, cloth diapers, etc.  When Blakely is FREAKING out, this thing will eventually get her to fall asleep.  Downside: She's stuck there.  And look at my awesome husband who will proudly wear his baby. 


 

2 months: for the Upham girls

This post is dedicated to the Upham girls: Susan, Julie, Noelle, and Abby.  The last photo shoot did not contain any obnoxious hair pieces for Blakely, so this big, ridiculous, green flower that is larger than her head, is JUST for you girls!  Love you guys!
Yesterday our little booger turned 2 months old!  We don't go in for her 2 month checkup until Friday- so the measurments will come then. 

As you can see, she started smiling!  I mean, for REAL smiling.  And every single day she smiles more and more.  Her favorite person to "perform" for is Stephen.  She LOVES her daddy!  She is starting to "coo" and I think she is attempting to laugh.  It is hilarious.  I was so exhausted this morning when she woke me up at 5am to feed her, but she was in the best mood she has ever been in.  It was the sweetest thing.  I didn't have the heart to put her straight to bed, so we played a little...

Speaking of good moods, she is having more of those lately.  We are still here in OKC, and she sure has made a liar out of me and her "colic."  My parents don't believe for one second that their sweet grandbaby screams like I say she does.  Ha!  I'm ok with her turning a corner here at their house as long as the screaming doesn't return as we pull out of their driveway to go home tomorrow...
We threw out all baby advice and just decided to do our own thing, or Blakely's own thing.  She eats when she wants, sleeps when she wants, and is awake when she wants.  No schedule, just whatever makes her happy.  She still has a spell or two a day, but this seems to be working much better for us! 

We have learned a lot about Blakely this past month.  She needs alone time!  I lay her down at least once a day asleep, and come in later to find that she is wide awake just playing by herself.  But she also has a needy side.  Sometimes she will be playing on the floor in the living room and start screaming, and will be just fine when someone starts paying attention to her. 

She loves to stand up on our laps.  She can hold all of her weight up with just me balancing her.  She can also pretty much hold her head up all the time.  She has a few floppy times when she gets tired. 

She has rolled over front to back a few times.  One day she was just so sick of tummy time that she rolled herself over in anger several times, but she really hasn't done it since. 

She broke her own sleeping record a few nights ago and went 8, yes thats right, EIGHT hours in between eating!  I got a solid 6 hours of sleep, uninterupted!  It was fabulous.  But also short lived.  Baby steps. 

She is still wearing a lot of her newborn clothes, but even some 0-3month clothes are too short for her. 

Barbara- my parents dog, is just dying for a lick of Blakely.  I think she has snuck a few in when we weren't looking.  But who wouldn't want a lick of that milk-face?   

George Castanza

This is a good view of her George hair. But she is still super cute.

I hate to say it.  My sweet little baby is on her way to looking like George Castanza.  Don't get me wrong.  She's still the cutest baby in the world.  However, she is loosing her hair- but only on top.  I always thought this was a bit of an elephant in the room with little babies.  You have a cute little kid with a FULL head of hair except for the huge bald spot on top or on the side.  What do you say?  "Oh look!  He's balding..."  Or, "What happened here?"  I never knew what to say when I saw babies with this unfortunate hair-do.  As if their mom doesn't know about the goofy bald spot, I was afraid of being the one to break the news.  I even feared this when Blakely came out with hair.  I legitimately thought to myself, "Shoot.  I just hope she doesn't get a weird looking bald spot..."  Well, that's soon to be Blakely.  She isn't totally bald on top yet, but it is definitely thinning.  It goes nicely with her terrible baby dandruff.  Poor girl.  We need some baby Head and Shoulders.  Don't be surprised if she has a hat on for the next two years. So if you see Blakely and her bald flaky head, you don't have to pretend it isn't there.  We can laugh about it, cause I know she's still pretty.

 

 

 

 

Cross-eyed, but still cute.  :)

Also something that bugs me is when Blakely goes cross-eyed.  I don't know why, but it freaks me out a little every time she does it.  I think I am afraid she will stay that way.  So when she does it I try to clap or something to get her to quit looking at her nose, or whatever is making her cross-eyed. 














Blakely has really been missing her GiGi and her grandpa so we will be making the trek to OKC on Friday.  Stephen has to be there for work this weekend as well as three days next week.  And because I'm a big weenie and can't stay home by myself, I have to go to OKC so my parents can babysit me and the Blakester.  I got a new camera this week, so enjoy my little model. 

The "C" word.

Colic.  Ew.  That dreaded word that all new parents fear.  We were in denial about it for quite a while, but now we are just facing the music.  Blakely has colic.  Granted, not as bad as a lot of babies.  She does have some happy time.  But judging by the way this girl acts, her life stinks right now.  She's just not that happy to be here, she'd prefer to go back into my belly, and she'd like everyone to know about it.   Right now I am battling two very painful mouth sores- stress induced.  I love this girl, and when she is happy, there is nothing more fun than playing the face game with her, watching her look around at everything, listening to her noises, etc.  We are those googly parents that think everything she does is just adorable.  Stephen has gone into total dad mode.  He gets out the camera for just about everything, bath time, play time...diaper change.  Kidding.  But sometimes diaper changes are the most entertaining thing we do.  Yesterday this girl pooped with such force that if I hadn't held her diaper up just in time I am positive it would have shot straight across the hall into our bedroom.  Stephen said "Where's the camera when you need it.."  We have been watching a lot of America's Funniest Home Videos.  I frequently think, after she does something, that we could totally win $10,000 if we could just video tape everything she does.  She is way funnier than all these people's silly pets. 

BUT.  She cries and is fussy all. the. time.  I know it is hard to believe when you look at this picture, but it's true.  And could someone please teach this girl how to keep the paci in her mouth?  I even googled whether it was normal for her to be completely incapable of keeping it in her mouth for any length of time.  It's normal.  The only thing that calms her down 90% of the time is Stephen doing lunges with her down the hall.  I do it occasionally, but his glutes were much more prepared for parenthood than mine.  I remember back in the good old days when we could barely keep her awake.  We put her to sleep in her crib, had to wake her up to eat, and she rarely cried.  Those days are long gone (a month gone...).  These are the days of crying in her sleep, only sleeping for 45 minutes at a time, eating every 2 hours, and having gas like she's on an all bean diet instead of milk.  Seriously.  This girl could make even the most crude person blush with her toots.  This could be related to her colic, but who really knows.  Babies need that machine that the gorillas get that speaks for them.  If only she could just tell me what she wants...I'd gladly do WHATEVER it is. 

But these are the things we bargain for when we become parents, whether we knew it or not.  No one tells you that 8-12 diaper changes a day is the AVERAGE...that means some days it will be 20.  (yes, we have changed 20 in a day...)  Who is the lucky parent of the kid bringing DOWN that average?   Maybe my child is a messy eater...but we also go through 20 burp rags a day.  I got in bed last night and Stephen told me I smelled like milk.  I had even just showered.  Very attractive.  In the time it took me to type the last 3 sentences I have put her pacifier back in about 10 times.  I was committed to helping her form good sleep habits.  Falling asleep on her own, in her crib and staying in there until the end of naptime.  HA!  I thought I was so good those first couple of weeks.  Little did I know it had nothing to do with me...she couldn't help but sleep in her crib for 3 hours.  Now we just decide which bad habit we will continue to reinforce.  Will we let her fall asleep in our arms, on our chest or in her swing?  Actually, we let her decide.  Awake an hour early?  No problem, just get in our bed.  A friend admitted that she tried to help her daughter find her thumb so she could just suck on that instead of having to get up to give her the pacifier.  GENIUS.  I tried it immediately. 

It's a good thing God makes us wait 9 months (8 for me..) to have our babies.  He makes us REALLY want it.  Most of us really want it long before that, but just to make sure we are good and desperate, he adds on another 9 months.  It is a nice reminder in times of frustration to think back to how badly I wanted her to be here when I was pregnant.  It's also good that I didn't know this was how it would be.  Had I known my days would be filled with attempting to calm a crying baby for most of the day, motherhood might not have sounded so fun.  But that's just it.  It IS fun.  It is so worth it.  And I'm glad that I get to attempt to calm this crying baby.  She's perfect.  

I know I'm biased...

...but she is SO cute!  And believe it or not, the camera just can't seem to do her justice! 

She is 6 weeks old today.  I am positive she is over 7 lbs...sometimes she feels like 10, but Stephen assures me this is not possible.  Today we got our new best friend.  The Starlight cradle swing.  We have only had it for 2 hours and we LOVE it.  It calms her when she is fussy, puts her to sleep when she is tired, entertains her when she is awake (she gets bored with me after about 10 minutes).  And, yes, we have already used it for each of those things!  She's a busy girl.

Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me!  This shirt is dry clean only.  This time I've learned my lesson.  I even gave her an hour after she ate and she still gooped all over me. 

I have decided if I can help it, I'm not having another baby in the dead of winter.  This poor girl will be lucky to experience fresh air by the time she is 6 months old!

Too Fast

Everyone said the first months of being a parent go by SO fast.  I knew they were right, but I had no idea how right.  Each day Blakely gets a little bigger, but it is so hard to appreciate just HOW MUCH babies change in such a short amount of time.  She is almost 6 weeks old, and as I look at pictures of her first days of life I am almost sad because I feel like I missed it!  Stephen reminded me that we didn't miss it, we were there.  :)  But seriously!  We were so busy just trying to survive those first couple of weeks that we didn't even realize how much she was growing.  When we went in for her two week appointment we literally did not believe the scale was right when she had gained a whole pound.  I am so thankful that she isn't little bitty anymore, but I really wish we had taken thousands more pictures and videos of her doing anything and everything (sleep, eat, look around for a brief moment, sleep again.)
Here is her very first picture in life.  I actually saw this for the first time just a couple of days ago.  I will never forget when they laid her on my belly right after she was born, but I think I did forget just how small she was.  I can hardly believe she is the same baby.

I decided I need to sit down and write some stuff out including the whole detailed story of how long we tried to get pregnant, the pregnancy itself, and of course labor and delivery, before I forget! 
Let me just show you how much this girl has changed:

5 days old

5 1/2 weeks old

And just for a laugh:

We were normal people for a night and went over to some new friends' house for coffee and desert.  (By normal I mean I put real clothes and makeup on.) Five minutes in to wearing my new Jcrew (dry clean only) shirt she spit up on me.  So this is me back to my regular old t-shirt with my hair back on top of my head where it belongs.  I don't even change when she spits up on this shirt.