Sick

Tyree got Ariella and I sick. I seem to have gotten the worst of it, though. Ive had a fever of 101.1, coughing - so much coughing, a burning throat, aching, congestion, exhaustion, the works. Luckily, I think Ariella is almost over it. She had some fever 1 night, but mostly just a little congestion, coughing, runny nose. I took her to the doctor, twice, but it's just a cold. Meanwhile, I went to the doctor today. I have a prescription and orders for lots of rest and fluids. Unfortunately, most of the comfort measure medicines are ones i can't take because or breastfeeding, either because it would hurt Ariella or dry up my milk supply. Breastfeeding has become very hard. My supply is low, and Ariella is only nursing in the morning, and for a very short time. I might have messed up by lowering her amount f milk during the day and transitioning her from the bottle to the sippy cup, where the milk comes out much faster. I'm not sure if I can fix it. I'm trying. I figure I need to get my supply back up, which is hard with her not nursing really. I've even started drinking mother's milk tea. I was wanting to nurse until the end of her 2nd year. The health benefits are so much better than cow's milk. But, that might not happen. It makes me sad, but at least we're going to hit the 1 year mark, even if she doesn't go back to nursing. All this pumping is wearing my body down, I hope I get well very soon. It's hard being a mom and being sick.

Ariella said "Daddy"!

We were so excited. Last night, clear as day, Ariella said "Daddy"! She said something dada-like a couple of weeks ago, but this was the first very clear "Daddy". Tyree was very excited. He couldn't get her to say it again, though. A little while later she did say deity, which was close. Tyree asked her if she was being religious. :-)

Can't wait for her to say Mommy! Or Mama! Hopefully I won't have to wait too much longer.

"T"

Ariella's baby vocabulary has been exploding lately! This past week she's really been into the "t" sound. She says "ate" and "eat" a lot (not with meaning - just babbling). She also says "geet" a lot and "geet-ah" sometimes. Tyree has been trying to teach her to say guitar - lol. And, she's done "dee-dee" quite a bit and "dada" a couple of times. No "mama" yet, but I'm sure it will be soon. It's such fun to hear her babble. I've been singing the alphabet song to her a lot lately. She really gets a kick out of that one - lots of big smiles.

Sleep Training Update

Sleep training with Ariella has been very successful so far. One night she didn't really cry at all! Last night she had a little more trouble, but still not more than 15 minutes of off and on crying. Overall she's getting a LOT more sleep - almost 11 hours most nights. And, I'm getting a LOT more sleep, too.

I realized that Ariella has grown too big for her 9 month size pajamas (she is almost 11 months old after all). Last night all of her footed pajamas that fit her were dirty. So, I put her in some footless ones. I think maybe her feet were cold, which might have been a cause of some of her trouble getting to sleep and getting back to sleep. I ordered some new ones online in the 12 month size, and I'm going to get a couple more this weekend as well.

The hardest part of this sleep training is that I really have started missing seeing her at night. That's 11 hours that I no longer get to see her/talk with her/etc. Plus, no more night nursing sessions. No more nighttime cuddles! It's almost like I got another full-time job that forces me to be away from her. It's made going to work each day a lot harder. I know I'll adjust and that this is much better for her, but it's really a tough change for me. Tonight when I get home, she'll most likely be asleep! At least Fridays are work from home days, so I'll be able to remedy my Ariella withdrawal.

Sleep Training/Crib Transition - Success so far!

We finally did the crib transition last weekend, and last night we started sleep training. Over the past month, Ariella had been waking up to nurse quite a bit, and there were many days when I was zombie-fied, yet I still had to function at work. It was time. DH and I are no longer worried about sids, since she's almost 11 months old.

Saturday night and Sunday night we did the crib transition, but I made sure to stay with her until she fell asleep. And, when she cried, I came in and soothed her, even nursed her once a night. I felt it would be too abrupt to go from co-sleeping to sleeping in a totally different room by herself with cry-it-out. But, after that second night, I was completely wiped. So, last night we started "sleep training".

When she started showing her sleepy cues around 8:30pm (rubbing her eyes and yawning), I took her upstairs and put her in her crib. I turned her seahorse on for her to have some soft music, and I left the room and went back downstairs. She cried a little, but not too much. She went to sleep a lot faster than the 2 nights that I had stayed in the room.

Overnight she woke up several times - the first time around 11:30pm. That first time, after a couple of minutes I went in and put my hand on her chest and talked softly to try to reassure her. It didn't really seem to do much good, though, so I left and went back downstairs. She cried for about 10 minutes (almost hysterically for a little bit of that), but she put herself back to sleep. She woke up several additional times through the night, but we just let her work it out herself. We didn't go in or anything. She actually put herself back to sleep faster those times that we left her to herself.

So, no overnight nursing, and I only went in once. Not bad at all for a first night. I was able to catch up a bit on my sleep. When she woke after 6am, Tyree went and got her. I think she got a lot more sleep than she had been getting. I know she didn't need to nurse overnight because she had been sleeping without nursing until after 4am, sometimes until 5:30am or so. She was definitely capable. I think her having a dark, quiet place to sleep (no tv, no parents walking around, etc) will really help her in the long run.

Hopefully as time goes by, she'll wake up less and less and get even longer blocks of sleep. I would think that would really help her overall.

Slideshow of my Trapeze Pics of the Ariella Performance

"Joanna"

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Ariella's First Christmas

We had so much fun for Ariella's first Christmas! Having a little baby really makes everything such fun. We're pretty lucky that she's not quite mobile yet, so she didn't try to pull the tree down or anything. But, she's old enough that we can get to see her enjoy the new toys and the Christmas dinner.

I almost didn't dress her up for her first Christmas, but then at the last second I figured it would make everything even more festive. So, I put her in her new Winnie the Poo red velvet dress. She looked so adorable.

Ariella didn't quite get the hang of unwrapping the presents this year, but I'm sure that won't be a problem next time around. But, I helped her to unwrap her gifts. The inflatable ball pit that we got her was a huge hit.

She is such a joyful little baby girl. I'm so thankful that I have her.