Cadence rang in her 8 month-day on Valentine's Day, but I wanted to give her her own post to document what she's doing now.
Eating: She is on a pretty consistent schedule these days, waking up between 6-6:30, and eating pretty much every two hours (6:30, 9, 11, 1, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30). She nurses at each of those times and at 6:30, 11, and 5:30 she also gets solids. In the morning she will get fruit (usually pears or plums) and oatmeal made with breast milk and her vitamin drops added in. For lunch and dinner she gets a mix of fruits and veggies--pears, plums, black beans, green beans, peas, acorn/butternut/yellow squash, nectarines, bananas, and apples are all food we have tried so far.
Sleeping: SO well! We've stuck with the "Cry...Wait...Soothe" approach, and although there have been some rough nights, she has completely dropped the need for a mid-night feeding, and can go 10-11 hours in her crib--she still usually wakes up once or twice, but she only cries for a few minutes before falling back asleep. Her napping has been so great lately, as she consistently takes two naps a day that are at least an hour (usually more) long, and putting her down for a nap is not as difficult as it was--no instant screaming when she hits the mattress.
Tricks: She's getting better at moving about on her stomach. She can pop her head up really high by pushing up on her hands, and sometimes she'll lift her belly and rock back and forth on her knees. She usually just scoots backward and spins in circles to move about her play room. She's getting really good at waving hi and bye, and she will say mama, dada, and baba consistently.
Favorite Things: She loves playing with shiny pots and pans in the kitchen, bath time, Maggi and Jeter, and going anywhere new where she can see new people's faces. She sometimes gets upset if I walk away from her, but it's not all the time. She will let other people hold her and play with her, and she loves everyone! Her favorite toys are her Sophie giraffe, her basketball, and her frog teething ring. She also loves to play with her magic wand while I change her diaper. I read her her "Go to bed book" every night before bedtime, and other than that she likes her "That's not my dinosaur" book a lot, and her cloth colors book from Grandma Garcia is a favorite before/after mealtime.
Lilypie First Birthday tickers
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Great weekend!
I'm going to lump Thursday in with the weekend, just because James was off duty that night, too so it really felt like a weekend to me...and it was Valentine's Day!
The plan I came up with for us for Valentine's Day was for us to each get something we needed (new running shoes) and then use those shoes in a nice little date and dinner. I also had a few little surprises for James throughout the day, and all in all it was a great day. I had Cadence help me make him a card using her feet in the shape of a heart, and I gave him my secret homemade gift--a frame holding the important dates in our relationship. After I gave it to him I realized what a great gift that is for any guy--they can hang it up and refer to it daily to remind themselves of the dates that even women will forget--first kiss, first time he said "I love you", etc. He was impressed by it, so it was a win! I also got him some new pictures of Cadence to put in the frames in his office, and a photo card from Cadence and me. He surprised me with a dozen pink roses (which unfortunately died within 3 days, womp womp). For our date we headed to the Greenway for a 3 mile run, and then we got sushi at Sushin afterwards. The sushi was great, but the service left much to be desired--and this girl sitting across from us was ANNOYING. But Cadence was great the whole date--all 4 hours, and as happy as can be!
Friday and Saturday were pretty low-key, I cooked food for us and we stayed home and cleaned a little. Sunday was a big day, as we went to church and then went to visit our friends the Deans and their twin babies who are two months older than Cadence. They surprised us with the news that they are moving to Iowa this summer, which is a little sad for us, but at least we can still visit them when we're in Iowa visiting my family. Spending some time with them definitely made us thankful we only have one baby--I can't imagine how tiring their lives are! After that we headed to the Goodwill and Kroger near them, and then finally to dinner in Nashville since I had a Groupon that needed to be used within the next three days. Dinner was okay, but once again Cadence proved herself to be the most easy-going baby ever. We're so lucky that she enjoys being out in public around strangers.
Tonight we had James's basketball banquet, and tomorrow I'm going to talk to the French classes about hosting and then having the campus moms over for lunch. Another full day!
The plan I came up with for us for Valentine's Day was for us to each get something we needed (new running shoes) and then use those shoes in a nice little date and dinner. I also had a few little surprises for James throughout the day, and all in all it was a great day. I had Cadence help me make him a card using her feet in the shape of a heart, and I gave him my secret homemade gift--a frame holding the important dates in our relationship. After I gave it to him I realized what a great gift that is for any guy--they can hang it up and refer to it daily to remind themselves of the dates that even women will forget--first kiss, first time he said "I love you", etc. He was impressed by it, so it was a win! I also got him some new pictures of Cadence to put in the frames in his office, and a photo card from Cadence and me. He surprised me with a dozen pink roses (which unfortunately died within 3 days, womp womp). For our date we headed to the Greenway for a 3 mile run, and then we got sushi at Sushin afterwards. The sushi was great, but the service left much to be desired--and this girl sitting across from us was ANNOYING. But Cadence was great the whole date--all 4 hours, and as happy as can be!
Friday and Saturday were pretty low-key, I cooked food for us and we stayed home and cleaned a little. Sunday was a big day, as we went to church and then went to visit our friends the Deans and their twin babies who are two months older than Cadence. They surprised us with the news that they are moving to Iowa this summer, which is a little sad for us, but at least we can still visit them when we're in Iowa visiting my family. Spending some time with them definitely made us thankful we only have one baby--I can't imagine how tiring their lives are! After that we headed to the Goodwill and Kroger near them, and then finally to dinner in Nashville since I had a Groupon that needed to be used within the next three days. Dinner was okay, but once again Cadence proved herself to be the most easy-going baby ever. We're so lucky that she enjoys being out in public around strangers.
Tonight we had James's basketball banquet, and tomorrow I'm going to talk to the French classes about hosting and then having the campus moms over for lunch. Another full day!
Monday, February 11, 2013
we survived!
Today was James's first day since mid-October without basketball stuff to do, and it was so great! He came home and we put on our running gear and ran to the park with Cadence, where she swang and slid down the slide with Daddy. We then checked our mail and headed home. It got a little chilly, but it was nice to have some time to hang out as a family without being surrounded by students.
James's basketball team won the third place trophy on Saturday, and it was so nice to see them end their season with a win--they ended up surpassing his expectations, and I know that he was very proud of the work that they put in all season. Following the games on Saturday we headed to a party at the Broadheads' and stayed there until 11:00 since we had our trusty babysitter Anna Pryor watching Cadence. She does such a great job with her, and it's so nice to not have to worry about our baby girl when we go out!
Cadence's sleeping has been a little worse the past two nights, with her waking up at midnight one night and 2:00am last night, but I still haven't had to pick her up or nurse her to get her back to sleep, so I guess we're doing okay. It still hurts to hear her cry and cry :(. Her napping on the other hand has not really improved--she absolutely will not let me put her down, and when I do she cannot just cry herself to sleep quickly like she does at night. Today I just slept next to her in our bed, and she managed to take a 3 hour nap, which was awesome.
James's basketball team won the third place trophy on Saturday, and it was so nice to see them end their season with a win--they ended up surpassing his expectations, and I know that he was very proud of the work that they put in all season. Following the games on Saturday we headed to a party at the Broadheads' and stayed there until 11:00 since we had our trusty babysitter Anna Pryor watching Cadence. She does such a great job with her, and it's so nice to not have to worry about our baby girl when we go out!
Cadence's sleeping has been a little worse the past two nights, with her waking up at midnight one night and 2:00am last night, but I still haven't had to pick her up or nurse her to get her back to sleep, so I guess we're doing okay. It still hurts to hear her cry and cry :(. Her napping on the other hand has not really improved--she absolutely will not let me put her down, and when I do she cannot just cry herself to sleep quickly like she does at night. Today I just slept next to her in our bed, and she managed to take a 3 hour nap, which was awesome.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
a good night!
Last night James won his first round playoff game in MS Basketball, and Cadence had a great night of sleep--she fell asleep at 8:30, and woke up at 10:10 and 2:10, but only for a couple minutes each time before falling asleep on her own. She started her day at 6:30 though, which is a liiiiittle early for my taste, but oh well. Unfortunately since she's been sleeping better at night her napping has worsened. Ugh. We just can't win!
In other hush hush news, as in not even James has a clue, I think I may be pregnant again. I should have started my period on Monday, and it's now Wednesday....I'm not too frantic though because I read that your cycle can be out of whack after being pregnant, so it may just be that my cycle has lengthened. I ordered some pregnancy test strips online, so I'll take a test when they get here....hopefully by Friday. Plus, I really don't want to distract James from basketball right now, I may just reveal the news as soon as his season is over, if I can keep a secret (and if I'm actually pregnant!) I didn't think it would be happening this month because we didn't really make an effort during my fertile days, but who knows!
In other hush hush news, as in not even James has a clue, I think I may be pregnant again. I should have started my period on Monday, and it's now Wednesday....I'm not too frantic though because I read that your cycle can be out of whack after being pregnant, so it may just be that my cycle has lengthened. I ordered some pregnancy test strips online, so I'll take a test when they get here....hopefully by Friday. Plus, I really don't want to distract James from basketball right now, I may just reveal the news as soon as his season is over, if I can keep a secret (and if I'm actually pregnant!) I didn't think it would be happening this month because we didn't really make an effort during my fertile days, but who knows!
Sunday, February 3, 2013
sleep training---here goes nothing!
For the past month or so, Cadence has gotten into the habit of not sleeping very well at night. You might remember me trying the Sleep Lady Shuffle method at the end of the year, and although it worked for a couple of nights, it never really seemed to help Cadence progress--she still wanted to wake up to eat at night, she still would get upset, never really managed to fall asleep on her own, etc. It may have been just that the shuffle takes so long to implement, and that in the course of its implementation she got her first teeth and had some sick issues....but it just didn't seem to be the right fit. So a few days ago I decided we should go for the modified "cry it out" method by Dr. Ferber, where you check on them at increasing intervals of time, to let them know that you are there and they have not been abandoned, but also so that they will eventually stop crying because they know that all it will get them is a quick "hi and bye" from mom or dad.
We started Friday night, and let's just say it was pretty horrible. She cried for about an hour, and then woke up a little while later and cried again--I was very confused as to the time since we don't have a visible alarm clock at night -.- but in short, she cried a lot, and it was pretty hard on me. I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would strengthen us both and just listened to Him to tell me when I needed to go comfort her.
Last night I put her down later than normal (9:15 because of the basketball games), checked on her once at 9:30, again around 9:50, and she stopped crying before my next timed check. Yay! She woke up before 6 the next morning, but from what I've read that's pretty normal when starting this process.
Tonight I put her down at 8:00, after changing up the nighttime routine slightly by feeding her and then reading her a book, and putting her down not fully asleep. She hasn't woken up yet, and hasn't cried at all, so I'm hoping that this process is complete (might be wishful thinking!) and she's been successfully sleep trained.
Today we went to early church since James couldn't make it to late church, and it seemed to gel with her morning schedule a little better than late church--although the nap situation is still tough to figure out on Sundays. She also tried plums for the first time, and had her first "medley"--yellow squash and peas together. She really loved them, and then finished with some more plums for dessert--this girl was hungry for supper! It's good to see her with a good appetite because I feel like at the past few meals she's been really distracted and just rubbing her eyes and nose all the time and not wanting to eat too much.
We started Friday night, and let's just say it was pretty horrible. She cried for about an hour, and then woke up a little while later and cried again--I was very confused as to the time since we don't have a visible alarm clock at night -.- but in short, she cried a lot, and it was pretty hard on me. I prayed and prayed and prayed that God would strengthen us both and just listened to Him to tell me when I needed to go comfort her.
Last night I put her down later than normal (9:15 because of the basketball games), checked on her once at 9:30, again around 9:50, and she stopped crying before my next timed check. Yay! She woke up before 6 the next morning, but from what I've read that's pretty normal when starting this process.
Tonight I put her down at 8:00, after changing up the nighttime routine slightly by feeding her and then reading her a book, and putting her down not fully asleep. She hasn't woken up yet, and hasn't cried at all, so I'm hoping that this process is complete (might be wishful thinking!) and she's been successfully sleep trained.
Today we went to early church since James couldn't make it to late church, and it seemed to gel with her morning schedule a little better than late church--although the nap situation is still tough to figure out on Sundays. She also tried plums for the first time, and had her first "medley"--yellow squash and peas together. She really loved them, and then finished with some more plums for dessert--this girl was hungry for supper! It's good to see her with a good appetite because I feel like at the past few meals she's been really distracted and just rubbing her eyes and nose all the time and not wanting to eat too much.