Why Don't You Live Here?

It's official. I wish Wendy would move here. I want her to live with us. Having her here has been amazing. Yesterday I came home & the house smelled delicious as there was a chicken cooking in the oven along with a yummy potato dish and a cake on the kitchen counter. The house was picked up, Addy was clean, fed and happy, she had taken 4 naps and went for a walk in the stroller. Addy was so happy and it was so nice to not have to pack her daycare bag, drop her off or pick her up. This morning she played with Addy while I got ready and burped her and held her after I fed her. Today I came home and the the dishes were clean, laundry was folded and put away, and she is even sewing a ribbon onto a shirt of Addy's that I never would have gotten around to. Tomorrow is her last full day and I don't know who is going to miss her more, me or Addy.

This morning we woke up to a breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and coffee. It just keeps getting better!

Gramma Wendy

This morning Adelyn woke up to find Gramma Wendy ready to greet her with a good morning kiss. Wendy flew in late last night from Wisconsin but was up bright and early excited to see her granddaughter. After breakfast we all piled into the car and drove up to Mt. Vernon to see the tulip fields. Even though the festival hadn't officially started yet it was just beautiful. Gramma was very impressed with all of the different varieties of flowers and luckily we made it to the fields before the rain. Adelyn loves spending time with her Gramma, and the feeling is definitely mutual. It is so cute seeing the two of them together. Addy is a lucky girl because she gets to spend the next 3 days with her and Brian and I are are lucky that we don't have to do any daycare drop offs or pickups for a few days. Today Adelyn is 5 months old. She is so close to rolling over from her back to her front, is constantly playing with her feet (and trying to eat them) and is able to take her pacifier out of her mouth and put it back in on her own (most of the time). She is a never ending source of fun.

The Couch

After a long and busy week there is nothing that I look forward to more than relaxing on the couch and just doing nothing. At least once every weekend Brian has to wake me up after I've fallen asleep on the couch. I can't help it, I just love doing it. Tonight Adelyn experienced a similar situation. Around 6:45 I was reading Adelyn a book and the next thing I knew she was fast asleep, it wasn't her bedtime yet so I didn't want to bring her upstairs to her crib so I just laid her on the couch where she took a good 30 minute snooze. Here is a picture Brian took of her. I love that her fist is clenched, (it always is) that her socks are about to fall off, (they always are) and her pacifier has fallen out of her mouth (it always does). But mostly I love that she's taking a nap on the couch.

Sleep Training 201

It has been over a week since we started the new sleep routine and things are going great. Adelyn can put herself to sleep initially without too much trouble, its the staying asleep she hasn't mastered yet. I now put her in the crib after a feeding, while she is still awake, and read her a book or two and then kiss her goodnight. She will then lay there and coo for a bit and sometimes cry briefly if she loses her pacifier, but never for long so overall she is very good at putting herself to sleep. However, there is no telling how long she will stay asleep but its usually not more than 3 hours. Even after the dream feed she doesn't sleep for more than a few hours without waking up again. Luckily she'll usually take the pacifier and go back to sleep, but sometimes it take a few tries and some crying in between. I will say it is nothing like it was before, she is much better at going back to sleep. My goal is for her to at least make it until 3 or 4 in the morning without waking up, but we aren't quite there yet. Tonight we put her down without her swaddle for the first time. I wasn't sure how she would do but she went down pretty easily. Maybe tonight she'll surprise me and sleep even longer.

I jinxed it. Last night was no better. She woke up every couple of hours and was actually harder to soothe back to sleep. I think its back in the swaddle tonight.

Addy & Friends

Yesterday I got to hang out with some of my friends and Addy got to hang out with some of hers. I love having friends with kids (and cameras!) and can't wait until Adelyn can actually play with them. Here are some amazing pics of Adelyn, Jack and Claire.

Happy Spring!

It is officially the first day of Spring and the weather definitely rose to the occasion. It was almost 70 degrees today and beautiful and sunny. It was the first time Adelyn had been in actual honest-to-God warm weather. Brian and I took her for a long walk this afternoon and we pulled out all of the stops. She had her sun hat, her sunglasses and sunscreen! I am definitely ready for more days like today. Here are a few pics from my phone during the walk, she was too cute to pass up.

Sleep Training 101

At the end of last week I started a sort of hybrid sleep training schedule with Adelyn. I have a book that lists out step by step exactly what you are supposed to do, but it was just a little too much for me right off the bat, so I'm taking the parts I like and using them (exactly what the book tells me NOT to do). So far so good though. I've started doing a "dream feed" around the time I go to bed which has helped prolong the time that she sleeps before waking up again. In just a few days she has stopped getting up for 2 nightly feedings and keeps sleeping longer and longer at a time. One night I even put her to bed while she was still wide awake and she just cooed in her crib and put herself to sleep. I was so proud of her! Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come and I haven't jinxed anything by putting it in writing.

Adelyn the Librarian?

It's no secret that I love books, but I especially love library books. I love checking out books to read, but even more than that I love returning them. I do not like to own books, when I'm done with a book I don't want to hold on to it, so libraries are perfect to me. So when my friend Suz got Adelyn this onesie I couldn't help but love it. I think Addy loves it too, let's just hope she loves books as much as her mom does.

Wild Nights

A couple of weekends ago, on a Saturday night after putting Addy to bed, Brian and I were looking for something to watch on TV. There wasn't anything we could really agree on, shockingly he didn't want to watch Oprah and I didn't want to watch hockey. So I suggested watching American Idol, a show neither of us really love but we can both usually tolerate. As we started to watch it he said something to the effect of "if you would have told me 5 years ago that on a Saturday night I would be sitting home watching American Idol I never would have believed it." I laughed because it was both sad and true. Our lives have become considerably less glamorous ever since we had Adelyn. I am fine with the change, but our weekends just aren't what they used to be. Tonight for example, Brian is organizing the garage (for about the fifth time) and I just made my weekly grocery list, my to-do list, paid some bills and am thinking about heading to bed (it's 8:45). Not exactly the picture of a wild Saturday night, but it works for me.

Adventures in Shopping

A couple of weekends ago Brian and I stopped by the mall to pick up a few things. We split up to do our own shopping and I took Addy with me. After I was done I called Brian and left a message for him, a few minutes he called me back and left a message for me (apparently it's hard to hear cell phones in the mall). Finally we connected and I told him I would just wait for him in Gymboree near the entrance where we came in next to JC Penney. While waiting for Brian I came across these ridiculous sunglasses which happened to be on sale. I put them on Adelyn to see how she would react and she broke out in a huge smile. That was all it took and I was sold so I bought the glasses. A little later Brian showed up and was a little annoyed that he couldn't find us. He asked why I didn't answer my phone and sure enough I had a voicemail from him "hi Megan its me, I'm just walking around in JC Penney and I don't see anything called Gymboree so I have no idea where you are." I guess I just assumed he knew that Gymboree was its own store, but obviously not. It only took a second for him to forget about being lost in the mall when he saw Adelyn with her completely impractical yet adorable new sunglasses. Yes, they have little turtles on them. Seriously stylish.

Check-up

Today Addy had her 4 month Dr. visit and had a excellent report. She weighed in at 14 lbs 4oz (75%), 25 inches (75-90%) and 42.5 cm head (90%). Our little girl is getting bigger every day! The Dr. was very happy with how Addy is developing and said she is right on track with rolling over, cooing, giggling, etc. Again, she was a trooper with the shots and only cried for a few seconds before giving the nurse a smile. The Dr. did say we could start sleep training at anytime, which makes me both nervous and excited at the same time. The idea of getting 8 hours of sleep in a row definitely sounds good to me, but I don't know how I'll handle the "crying it out" part. We'll see how much longer it is before I'm willing to make that trade.

Sad Sounds

Addy's giggles are on the top of my list of favorite sounds and her sniffles, coughs and wheezes are definitely on the bottom. Over the last few days Addy has come down with a nasty cold and it is the saddest thing to see, but even harder to hear. The other night I went in to get her in the middle of the night and it sounded like there was a seal barking in her room. She is very congested and stuffed up and we just feel terrible for her. Over the last week or so she had been working on what we call her "upper register" which is her soprano voice. Well, with her cold she can't even get her voice to go that high so she just gives out an almost silent sigh. It is both heartbreaking and hilarious at the same time. We put a vaporizer in her room last night and today she seems a little better so hopefully she's on the mend now. I would definitely be okay with not hearing these sounds come out of her again for a long time.

Giggles Part 2

I think the video speaks for itself. Enjoy!