Sleep Training Emily

It finally happened. Emily outsmarted us. She started waking up more and more throughout the night. I'd go in her room and she'd be smiling at me. The little punk. Paul would rock her to sleep, put her in the crib, and she would immediately wake up. Pick her up and she fell right back asleep. A few nights (ok weeks) like this and we were both exhausted and borderline crazy. 

Something had to give. 

Emily had to be sleep trained. 

Now if you're against letting a baby "cry it out," then don't do it. But we did. And it worked. And we're all happier for it. 

So here's how it went down...

We decided we would do "check-ins." Some know this is the Ferber Method. Basically, you let the baby cry, but check in on her at specified intervals, staying only for a moment, then leaving. First night we tried this, it took her an hour to fall asleep. Then she woke up again. After an hour and a half of check-ins, I gave in and nursed her to sleep. The 2nd night wasn't much better, and spoiler alert, I folded again. We decided we weren't ready. 

That was about 2 weeks ago. Then this past weekend...

We went hardcore. No check-ins. It had to be done. And you know what?! It worked!

First night: 45 minutes of crying before she was down. She woke up 5 times. Twice she fell asleep within 10 minutes, the other 3 times took a bit longer, but nothing over an hour. We never went in.

Second night: 45 minutes to fall asleep, up once. Took her an hour to fall back asleep. Progress. 

Third night: 20 minutes to fall asleep, up once for 20 minutes. More progress.

Fourth night: exact same as third night. OK, not progress, but we didn't regress either. 

Fifth night: 2 minutes to fall asleep, up once for 2 minutes. WHAT?!?! She slept from 7pm until 6am. 

That was last night. So here's hoping it stays this strong. 

A word of advice, don't do this without someone to be strong with you and remind you you're not a terrible person. Oh, and lots of bourbon. 

Emily Raylynn is 5 months old!

This past Tuesday, September 17, my baby girl turned 5 months old! I can't believe it. Some days I can't believe I have a baby at all, let alone a 5-month-old baby!

Look how grown up she looks! These clothes are size 12 months... 

Everyday she does something new to make me fall even more in love with her. This morning, she played peek-a-boo with me! As I was putting her clothes away, she was lying in her crib. She would pull the blanket over her face and I would say, "where's Emily?!" To which she would respond by peering over the blanket and smiling at me. Such a ham!

Just hanging with my owl!

We've been having some issues with sleeping lately. But, those are slowly getting better. At least I hope so... She was taking very short cat naps all day. Like 30-minute naps. We moved her naps closer together, as we thought she may be getting overly tired. That has helped a bit. She now typically has 2 longer (90-minute) naps, and another shorter (30-45 minutes) nap. Now, if we could just master this sleeping through the night thing!

Gnawing on some banana slices!

No teeth as of yet, but I swear they're close! She chews on everything in sight. Any day now, I'm sure!

Lovin' my carrots!

We've now tried avocados, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Carrots are by far her favorite. She cannot get enough of them! I think squash will be on the menu soon! 

This weekend we plan on going apple picking! Looking forward to sharing some pictures of that adventure with y'all! Until then...

Goodnight!

Weekend Recap

So this is the 2nd time I'm writing this post. The first time it mysteriously disappeared from my phone. I am not pleased. But such is life...

Anyway. This weekend was not overly exciting by any means, but we did get a lot done around the house. It's nice to finally be completely unpacked from the move! It only took us 2 1/2 months...

Here are some pictures from this weekend...

This is from Friday morning's walk. It's been chilly here in the mornings, which means we get to break out Em's hats! That's always fun. Also means it's feeling more and more like fall, which I like. I will NOT like it when it gets colder.

Friday afternoon, Em and I played in the backyard with Layla. Em loves watching her puppy play. She's less amused by picture-taking. What a punk.

Saturday morning's walk was a bit chilly again. Might be time to invest in some mittens!

Saturday afternoon we went to Emily's third-cousin's football game. Emily seemed to really enjoy it. Or, she just enjoyed being outside and chewing on her Sophie. Either way, we had a blast and we won! (By about 45 points...)

Sunday morning started with some exercise! (And a walk, but I didn't take a picture this time.)

Then, we went to visit one of Em's great-grandmothers.

Where Emily got her Christmas stocking. She's super pumped for Christmas! (Just like her mama! We may or may not already be listening to Christmas music during bath time...)

Because it's not acceptable for me to decorate the house for Christmas just yet, it's seriously becoming fall in our house...

While most of these decorations were already up, I added a few more this weekend. We're definitely ready for fall here! I made pumpkin bread this evening and have had fall-scented candles burning all weekend. :)

That's it for now. I know, it's tough to handle so much excitement in one post...

Emily Raylynn Goes Tailgating!

This past weekend (I know I'm slow with my posts) we took Emily on her first tailgating adventure. Lemme tell ya, she loved it! 

Here she is sitting with Daddy. Looking insanely adorable in her jersey. Sorry, there are few things cuter in this world than babies in football jerseys. Especially baby girls in football jerseys with big bows! 

Let's also talk about how that jersey is a 2T. I was hoping she'd wear it next fall, also. That may not work out, however. She has to slow down growing at some point, right?!

Anyway, she fell asleep on the way over and then was a perfect angel while we were there. She even got her picture taken at the Sparty statue! 

We came home to watch the game, but Emily and Mama were a bit tired, so we had a nap instead. 

It was quite a successful day! Next time Emily hopes to meet Sparty and take a picture with him. She told me. 

Now here are some bonus pictures:

She loves "petting" her Layla. 

Trying to figure out this "straw" thing. 

Pumpkin PJs!!!

And one more...

Finally FALL!

Labor Day has come and gone. Pumpkin Spice lattes are back. College football has started. Summer is (un)officially over and that means fall is here! Some of y'all know I have a love of all things fall. It's by far my favorite season. I mean with football and pumpkin everything, what more could you want?! Plus, with fall comes all of my favorite holidays! First Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and it leads right into CHRISTMAS! (And yes, I'm already thinking about Christmas...)

Pumpkin Spice! While I'm full-on ready for fall, it's apparently still 80 degrees out, so I had to go with a cold beverage... Also, bonus Emily picture here!

This time of year I always want to go apple picking. When we were younger, my cousins and I would pile into my grandparents' car, head to Skyline Drive along the Blue Ridge mountains, and stop at an orchard to pick apples. I'm really looking forward to taking Emily in a couple years! Next month I will be taking Emily to Uncle John's Cider Mill in St. Johns, MI. We won't go apple picking, but we'll ride on a wagon out to the pumpkin farms and get a couple pumpkins to carve. I will also eat my weight in freshly baked donuts and drink enough apple cider to sink a battleship. 

Along with my love of fall, I also have a severe love of baby clothes. They really go hand-in-hand. Here are a few things my little fashionista NEEDED for the fall season!

OK, so given Emily's nursery is owl-themed, I had to get these two owl print items from Gap! This dress and top are even more adorable in person!!

AND, I do so love all things holiday, so of course Emily needed this Boo dress and Boo onesie (also from Gap)!

Then I stumbled upon these adorable PJs, and yes, the pumpkin ones do glow in the dark, and Emily will be wearing these from now until Halloween. The smallest size they come in is 12 months, which is a little large, but surprisingly not that big on her...

And, bonus, ALL of this stuff is on sale right now! I'll be doing a little more shopping for Em later today! ;)

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention that this jersey is on its way to us for Emily to wear tailgating this fall! Start 'em young!

Seriously. Everything goes immediately in the mouth. Yay teething.

Emily was pretty interested in my Pumpkin Spice. If there was any question, she is definitely my daughter. Obsessed with Mama's Starbucks! She also tends to grab at any beer bottles she sees. Again, probably my daughter.

What's your favorite thing about fall?!

Weekend in NC!

This weekend we drove down to North Carolina for our friends' wedding. The wedding was awesome! Great friends, great food, great music, and it was at this beautiful country club. Seriously, can't say enough about how wonderful everything was. And as both the bride and groom are hockey players, the reception was hockey-themed, right down to a Stanley Cup cake!

Plus, my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and Em's cousin entertained Emily, so Paul and I were able to get dressed up and have an adult evening, sans baby!

Man, we're adorable. No wonder our kid's so cute! ;)

Emily doesn't really love being in the car. In fact, I might go so far as to say she strongly dislikes being in the car. We attempted to drive through the night, leaving Thursday around 7:30. However, Emily quickly put the kibosh on that and we stopped over night somewhere in Ohio and finished the drive on Friday. She does a little better during the day. 

Best friends. 

She's also teething right now. Pretty hardcore teething. The pediatrician told us her gums were swollen, and that a tooth could cut through any day now. She also mentioned it could still be a few months. Fabulous. Nothing better than a teething 4-month-old on a 12-hour car ride!

Everything goes in her mouth. 

We are now on our way back to Michigan. I'm almost certainly going to regret mentioning this, but Em has actually not been a holy terror so far. Feel free to cross your fingers and knock on wood that that doesn't change!

This face. ❤

Emily starts solids!

For the last week or so, we have been slowly introducing solids to Emily's diet. It is not replacing any of her time spent nursing, just something fun for her to explore. I know there is some debate on when to start solids, but we feel this is the best decision for our family. Emily has been seriously interested in everything we are eating/drinking. The other day she was determined to share my burger with me, and just this morning she tried her hardest to have some of my coffee (decaf of course!).

We decided to forgo the rice cereal, as it really has no nutritional value and as our pediatrician mentioned, tends to make babies constipated. So, we skipped right on into fruits and veggies! First up, avocados! (Please ignore me being obnoxious...)

Emily got avocados a few more times, and by the 3rd day, she was grabbing for the spoon and trying to put it in her mouth. I think she started to like them! After 4 days of avocados, we moved on to carrots!

Homegirl loves her some carrots! Seriously can't get enough of these! Not sure what we're going to try next, maybe some green beans? I'm not sure anything will top her love of carrots!

Just over here, trying to feed myself carrots!