Sleep and running

I don't have much time, but I just wanted to get a couple things out there.

1. Jade's sleep is SO much better. I haven't wanted to post about it before now because I was afraid of jinxing it, but she now consistently only wakes up once or twice a night.... and probably once a night more often than anything else. I realize that some people think that's "a lot" for an almost 10-month-old, but for Jade that is AMAZING. I feel so much more rested and able to handle not only her demands during the day but other demands as well. My house is returning to some sort of order and I shower on a regular basis. I'm sure you are all glad to hear that.

I doubt anyone cares how we got her to this point, but I'm going to touch briefly on it anyways. I decided that I would not nurse her before 5 am. This took a LOT of work from Chuck... he was the one that had to respond to all of her wakings before then. He would go in, do his best to calm her down (which generally did not work), and then lay down on a mattress that we put in her room and continue to comfort her verbally. I was comfortable with this because that way she knew she wasn't being abandoned... but she was getting the message that she was not going to be picked up and that it was time to sleep. The first few nights were really rough, but he hasn't even had to go in there in a couple weeks now I think. I love my husband SO MUCH because I know that many husbands don't participate in nighttime parenting (especially with a stay at home mom in the house) but with Chuck it was never an issue... he was always right there with me. I am so grateful.

I figure I'll give her a little while to see if she weens off the 5 am feeding naturally, and if she hasn't done it herself by 1 year I'll push her that way.

2. I have officially started training for a half marathon in Virginia Beach in September :) I've run a half before, but didn't really train for it so I'm interested to see how well I can do if I actually train. I have a couple running buddies to keep me accountable, a good jogging stroller, and a treadmill so I'm set! Chuck's trying to convince me to run a full marathon in October, but I'm thinking that's not going to happen. I mean, I want to run one... just not sure I want to do it in October.

But I am excited to be officially training for something, because now Chuck is well aware that I have no intentions to get pregnant before I've finished that run! Is that bad? When Jade was first born, we said we were going to start trying again when she was 1, but that's just not going to happen. He's ready, I'm not. So I've bought myself some time with my run :)

And this post is boring with no pictures. You guys will just have to forgive me!

Travelin' duo

Jade and I just got back from Nashville last night. It was a great trip, complete with meeting our group's newest addition, Baby Wendy. We went to the Parthenon in Nashville (yes, Nashville has a Parthenon), church, got ice cream (well, I did, not Jade), went to the Pancake Pantry, downtown Franklin and just hung our around daddy's apartment and Sallie's house. It was great to see family and friends.

My pancakes... yummy :) And yes, I ate them all!

Jade did GREAT. I cannot stress that enough. The first night was rough, but after that she napped well and only woke up a couple times a night. She was such a happy baby while we were there. I think she loved all the attention she was getting. Her and Sara Beth did so well together and she had fun exploring daddy's apartment. The park around the Parthenon has a playground and she got to swing again which she LOVED.

Zach and Sallie with Wendy and Georgia. Such a cute family :)

Mama got some time to herself with her Freds. I realize the term "freds" probably needs to be explained... but my Freds are beyond explanation :) Just know that they're my bestest buddies from high school. We kept in touch through college and still manage to keep in touch today even though we're a bit spread out. They're the greatest friends a girl could ask for.

Practicing her waving

Anyways, Jade did great with her Grandmama and Grandpapa to allow mama to get that time to herself and I see a date night in the future for Chuck and I. Which is nice, considering our 3rd kinda-versary is coming up. It'd be nice to get out for a bit.

My Freds with the two newest additions!

I realize this post might be convoluted, but I started it at 8 am and it's now 7 pm and I can't seem to make it any more coherent.

Day at the park

Today was GORGEOUS and fairly warm, so my neighbor and I packed up the kiddos and headed to a local park. This was Jade's first time at a park and she had so much fun!

Just a couple highlights:

Crawling through a tunnel

"Not sure what I think of this mom"

"Ooo... I like it! Too bad the sun is in my eyes!"

Stinking her tongue out is fun...

"I really, really like it!!" 

Crawling away from mama... she went exploring!

9 months.... again :)

Last Thursday, Jade went to the doctor. She has officially dropped off the bottom of the growth chart...

She now weighs 14 pounds, 10 ounces (was 12 pound 11 ounces at 6 months)
She is 26 inches tall (25 at 6 months)

The doctor wasn't overly concerned, but was concerned enough to want us to come back in a month to check her weight. Which I'm good with, but if she hasn't gained "enough" and the doctor starts acting really concerned I'm not sure what I'll do.

The thing is, Jade's perfectly healthy. She's developing fine. She eats- a LOT. If she wasn't eating or developing and didn't seem to feel well, I would worry. My neighbor worked in early intervention for a while and she said "Erin, I've seen babies that aren't healthy... Jade is fine".

AND, after doing some research into the growth charts, I found out that some doctors still use old growth charts that are based off formula-fed babies, which Jade is not. So when we go back in a month if she hasn't gained as much as the doctor wants her to, I have some questions to ask about their growth charts.

I just think family history (Chuck being 16 lbs at a year) and baby's development are more important than numbers on a piece of paper.

Anyways. I asked about dairy, and initially she said to wait until a year. But then she said that if I wanted to try cheese for a snack that I could do that. But I have to do that on a day that I can handle Jade screaming for 3 hours and I'm not sure when that day's going to come. Definitely not when Chuck is working 12 hour days, so we're gonna wait a bit even though I've been given the go-ahead.

 

Grinning at the dogs playing

Goofy face :)

An update in brief

For some reason, even though I feel relatively well rested, I don't seem to have the energy to write anything substantial about one subject. But I figured I would post anyways, so here's some of what's going on in our lives:

- We're currently working with a contractor on plans to have our laundry room remodeled. We have some mold and water damage, so we had to do something, but I think it's actually going to wind up being very nice and I can't wait for my washer and drier to be on the same wall! I'll be sure to post before and after pics.

- My good friend from church had her baby girl this morning! My neighbor watched Jade for me this afternoon and I headed to the hospital to meet her. It was so weird being in the same place that Jade was born! And she was soooo tiny, at just 5 lbs, 6 ozs. But just beautiful :)

- Jade's 9-month appt is Thursday. I've never been this anxious for one of her appointments. I've got so many questions for the doctor.

- Last week, Jade and I were both hit with a stomach virus. It was awful. She only threw up twice, thankfully, but I threw up 2 bazillion times and wound up in urgent care because I was so dehydrated. Chuck (as always) escaped without getting sick, and Jade and I are both feeling better, thankfully.

- We're in the throes of trying to night wean Jade. Nothing in any of the books has made a significant difference. I know she's old enough to not have to eat at night any more, and usually she's barely even eating, so I feel comfortable going this route. I generally only feed her once or twice (if I'm desperate) a night, but I figure if I remove all chances of her getting fed, maybe she won't wake up quite as much thinking "is this the time I get to eat??". So we'll see. Prayers would be appreciated :)

- I'm toying with the idea of doing a "day in the life" post. Just going through a typical day for Jade and I. I'm only thinking about it because in the past 2 weeks I've had several people say "what do you do all day?" Anyways, is that something you guys would be interested in?

- I've finally started running again enough to say "I'm running again" although I did hit a snag with the stomach virus. It's been very nice to have that stress reliever back in my life!

And because a post without pictures is boring, here's my baby girl when she wasn't feeling well. She was dragging her blanky everywhere (whereas it's normally just a sleep-time thing) and just kept randomly laying her head down. I felt so bad for her :(

Craft fail

Anyone that knows me for long knows that I am not a crafty person. And when I say "not crafty," I mean can't draw in a straight line with a ruler, can't use a pair of scissors, etc. That kind of "not crafty". Some people just need instructions to have something turn out well. I need instructions... and someone else to do it for me.

So needless to say, last spring when my church announced their Ladies Night Out at the local pottery painting studio I was not thrilled. But I went. I'm always up for talking to people, and do enjoy trying new things.

And lo and behold, I painted something, and it wasn't ugly.

I added the "Jade" beads and the string after Jade was born (obviously). Now don't get me wrong, I am not claiming that this is amazing. I'm claiming that it's not ugly. I painted something and I'm not ashamed to have it in my house. We've got it hanging in Jade's room and I don't wince when I look at it. For me, that's good.

So when my church announced that we were going to the pottery painting place again a few weeks ago, I thought "ok, I can do this."

Wrong.

First, I can't paint the same thing twice. Well, I could, but why would I want to? So I set about choosing something that required no creativity. I didn't want to have to pick out a pattern or anything to paint on it. People all around me are painting flowers and freehand designs on plates, bowls, and vases. I cannot do that. So I found a sock monkey. It was cute. There was one in the shop that was already painted so I could just copy that. Can't mess up, right?

Wrong.

Laughing yet? I mean, overall, it's not horrible. But those lips. Well, they're a little large. I can't put that in my kid's room. It would scare me in the middle of the night. To the Goodwill pile it goes...

9 months!

Watching a baby grow up is a truly amazing thing. The first few months they go from not being able to hold their head up to rolling over to smiling. But as amazing as that was, I think I like this stuff better :)

Jade is crawling absolutely everywhere, pulling up on anything, and getting into everything. She's getting much steadier when standing and has even let go of things a couple of times and not fallen immediately. She can "walk" from one side of the couch to the other, turn around, and walk from one side of the coffee table to the other. Her curiosity astounds me. We keep her trash can, diaper pail, extra medicines etc in her closet. So, of course, we keep the door closed. But she knows there's something in there she can't have and every time I open the door she makes a beeline for it. I have to pick her up before I can close the door because she is FAST and can dart through my legs for the trash can in .02 seconds. It's kind of hilarious.

Strangely enough, one of her favorite things is paper. Particularly magazines. Chuck and I had to do some major cleaning because if there's paperwork somewhere, she's going to eat it. And yes, you read that right... eat it. Everything goes straight to the mouth, and she has definitely swallowed quite a bit of paper.

In the last couple of days, she has started clapping. It's absolutely adorable. Anytime I say "yay" she smiles and starts clapping. She's also started to give me "kisses". It's not quite as reliable, but if I put my cheek close to her mouth and say "can mama have a kiss?" about 50% of the time she leans in and slobbers on my cheek. It's really sweet :)

She's finally started to get more comfortable with other people. My neighbor has been watching her so I can go on runs, which has been a sanity saver. Jade is finally smiling at her! She smiles all the time at home now, but is still the serious baby when we're out and about or around people she's not familiar with.

I went to MOPS for the first time Thursday and she actually stayed in the nursery the entire 2 hours and fell asleep for them. Nothing short of amazing, and I know it wouldn't have happened 2 months ago.

She is still eating anything I give her. So far, the only thing she hasn't liked was beef lo mien. But she has eaten roasted bell peppers and onion and reached for more. She's cut back on nursing again, so we'll see if that stays consistent. Right now, I'd say we nurse 4 or 5 times a day, sometimes less, sometimes more. I'm still feeding her once in the middle of the night as well.

She has 2 little teeth. One is all the way in and one is still coming in. They're adorable and she's learning how to use them some when eating. She's actually eating her apple peels now (she used to just spit them out). She bites down and pulls hard until they break and then she swallows them. Every time we go out to eat, people are seriously impressed by her eating skills.

Her sleep is so inconsistent it's hard to say if it's better. But she does actually have good days now, so that is an improvement, and I'm grateful for that. We have set nap times now, and she actually sleeps during those times about 75% of the time, which is also a huge improvement over previous months.

Another thing she's gotten better about is playing by herself. I've been able to start taking showers in the morning while she's playing in her room. It's not a 100% sure thing, but she's definitely learning how to entertain herself a bit. But if I'm in the room, most of the time she just wants to stand on me!

Her 9-month well-check visit isn't until Feb 10, but I'm guessing she weighs around 15 pounds. She's definitely growing, but she's still teeny compared to other babies we know.

At that appointment, I'm going to ask the doctor about giving her dairy. I am extremely happy to report that I have been able to fully incorporate dairy back into my diet without any kind of a reaction from her. But I still haven't risked giving her any because I'm not sure when I should do that. So all of our meals at home are still dairy-free, which makes cooking a bit more difficult for me. It'll be nice when we no longer have that restriction.

(this picture was taken while the camera was lying on the floor... but I just couldn't not include it!)

I'm just amazed at how fast she's growing and changing. The time is flying by!