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.