Monday, July 30, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Sorry!
It's been awhile since I've posted anything, although there are new photos up on Flickr if you want to see Aven growing! She's getting nice and chubby.
We had a busy couple of weeks with her dedication, grandparents visiting, and then Tyler and Anita's wedding. Aven did so well at both events! She definitely got cranky and thrown off-routine later in the day, but I'm so proud of her perfect behaviour when it really counted. She got pretty overstimulated at the wedding reception and we had to leave before it was over, but she made it until 10:30! Pretty good for 3.5 months old.
Earlier this week we went to visit Cat and her new baby Sophia at a camp near Huntsville. Aven was doing great until we hit a huge traffic jam in Barrie. She screamed quite a bit, and I don't blame her! During our overnight visit, she was really content ... she even went to bed fine ( I think it's because I tried to recreate our home bedtime routine). The ride home, however, was pretty awful. She couldn't fall asleep and became so upset that she was inconsolable, even when I stopped repeatedly to calm her. I eventually had to just let her scream and cry herself to sleep, which was heartbreaking. But if I hadn't done it, who knows how long it would have taken me to get home (it took over 5 hours anyways).
So we're taking some time now just to relax and enjoy our daily routine! I can't believe she's almost 4 months old. Almost time to write the next letter!
We had a busy couple of weeks with her dedication, grandparents visiting, and then Tyler and Anita's wedding. Aven did so well at both events! She definitely got cranky and thrown off-routine later in the day, but I'm so proud of her perfect behaviour when it really counted. She got pretty overstimulated at the wedding reception and we had to leave before it was over, but she made it until 10:30! Pretty good for 3.5 months old.
Earlier this week we went to visit Cat and her new baby Sophia at a camp near Huntsville. Aven was doing great until we hit a huge traffic jam in Barrie. She screamed quite a bit, and I don't blame her! During our overnight visit, she was really content ... she even went to bed fine ( I think it's because I tried to recreate our home bedtime routine). The ride home, however, was pretty awful. She couldn't fall asleep and became so upset that she was inconsolable, even when I stopped repeatedly to calm her. I eventually had to just let her scream and cry herself to sleep, which was heartbreaking. But if I hadn't done it, who knows how long it would have taken me to get home (it took over 5 hours anyways).
So we're taking some time now just to relax and enjoy our daily routine! I can't believe she's almost 4 months old. Almost time to write the next letter!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
3 Months
Are you sure you aren't 15 years old? Because sometimes I can't believe you're just a little baby. In this past month you have astounded us with the things you do and the strength of your will.
Let's start with the page-turning, shall we? Really, Aven....you are three months old. There is no need to turn the pages when I'm reading to you. COME ON! Stay a baby at least for a little longer? You have also started grabbing and holding toys, putting them in your mouth, and "talking" more than ever. One of your favourite times of the day is when we strip you down to put your pyjamas on. You flail your little naked body around on the change table and whack your feet down like a pony. You pull your knees up, I tap the bottoms of your feet, and you do a full leg extension. Over and over again. You know it's a game and you can't get enough of it!
Lately I wonder what happened to the sleepy infant who used to fall asleep in the carseat or in the stroller. She is nowhere to be found! Now I have little miss hyper-alert world-conquerer in my buggy, and NO SHE WILL NOT GO TO SLEEP! HOW DARE YOU! Everyone we meet comments on how alert and awake you are, and they don't know the half of it. Ever heard of a nap, dear? What's that? You only take catnaps? Ah, yes. I've noticed.
Something I hated about this month is that we started putting you to sleep in your own bed, in your own room at night. It needed to happen, though, and I like having some time to myself now after you go to bed. The first night I did this, at about 10 weeks, you were an angel. I, however, was a wreck. I barely slept all night, thinking every little murmur on the monitor was you freaking out. But you slept wonderfully, have never looked back, and you actually sleep in longer blocks of time now. I must confess though that almost every night I wake up thinking I'm holding you, and when I feel a lump of empty sheets, I have a moment of panic, thinking I've lost you or hurt you. It's an awful feeling. But it reminds me of the amazing couple of months that we shared a bed, and how much I will always cherish that special connection. Your father said there was nothing in the world like coming into the room and seeing us asleep together.
Mommy
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Photos of Aven
For anyone who is interested, all the digital photos we have taken and will continue to take (literally hundreds!) are on an online album you can access here
You can order prints (15 cents per 4x6, same as walmart) and kodak will send them directly to you!
I just put in my first order.... it's a biggy :)
You can order prints (15 cents per 4x6, same as walmart) and kodak will send them directly to you!
I just put in my first order.... it's a biggy :)
Friday, June 08, 2007
2 Months
Dear Aven,
Hello Personality. Nice to meet you! In the past four weeks you have shown us that you are not just the passive, content little slug we thought we knew. You have lungs; you have strength in your arms and legs; you have bodily fluids; and you know how to use them all.
You know what you want, and you want it when you want it. Which is generally NOW. NOW. NOW. When you first started being a little more demanding, I was not prepared for the change. I didn't know what was wrong, and I didn't know why you didn't just "fall asleep" when you were tired. But I have learned, and after a couple weeks of wondering why you were the crankiest baby ever, I know you and your ways. I tried to put you on a routine at 5 weeks, but you were having none of it. Then, thankfully, at 7 weeks, you welcomed it and we are both much happier. You eat until you decide you're full, then you have "happy time", the most wonderful minutes of my day. You smile, you talk to us and watch our faces, you try to laugh (but it sounds more like a gasp). You are content to be left somewhere to look at toys or objects. Happy time ends when you're tired, and you let us know by saying "wah" or "nah" a couple of times in a peeved way, or turning your head away from whatever you're looking at. At this time, we give you a soother and let you start to wind down. If we miss these signals you've given us, you punish us with the saddest, most pitiful wails and bottom lips. I try not to miss the signals.
Nap time has been our biggest challenge, and on your new routine nap time always follows happy time. Even if you only sleep for ten minutes, I want you to learn that we have a rhythm so you know what to expect next in our day and so that I know what's wrong when you cry. It's amazing how much easier it is to read you when we have a routine. For the record, bicycling your legs and trying to climb me like a ladder = gas, needing to burp, spit up or poop.
You do not like going to sleep. You're afraid you're going to miss something. I discovered a few weeks ago that you refuse to shut your eyes because all you want to do is look around, but then you get overtired and it's even harder to get you to sleep. So I have a few tricks to get you to shut them:
1. pull a hat down over your eyes
2. carry you and cover my shoulder (and your face) with a blanket
3. gently stroke the bridge of your nose and between your eyes.. it almost always makes you sleepy
4. go into a dark room and rock you
Once your eyes are closed, we've conquered the biggest hurdle (although we're still not home free.. is that a mixed metaphor?). So. Where to sleep? The swing? My arms? Your crib? The couch? Swaddled or not? Nothing seems to always work for you, except me rocking you, on your side, with your soother. Once you "seem" to be asleep in my arms, I face the major dilemma: do I risk putting you down somewhere, only to have you wake in 2 minutes? Or do I continue to hold you, knowing that you will probably sleep for a good half hour (though in that half hour, there is very little I can accomplish!). If you have ejected the soother from your mouth without waking or crying (or panting or flailing), it's a pretty deep sleep. The cutest thing you do at this point is suck on something imaginary. I love watching your little lips form around nothing and work away at it like it's the hottest day of the year and you have a big old Freezie.
You have yet to learn how to keep the soother in your mouth all the time, especially when you get squirmy-tired, and paw away at your face, knocking the soother out. It's during these times that I actually wish I had one of those plastic cones they put on dogs so that they don't chew their stitches.
Even though we're still working out the bugs in our day, there's nothing I love more than waking up with you and waiting for you to focus your sleepy eyes on my face. When you finally see me, you give me a huge smile centered between the two softest ice-cream scoops of cheeks. In this moment, you are brand new every morning. It doesn't matter how much you cried the day before, or how much you were up in the night, or that you spit stinky-cheese puke on my sheets for the third day in a row. This is when it's all worth it.
Hello Personality. Nice to meet you! In the past four weeks you have shown us that you are not just the passive, content little slug we thought we knew. You have lungs; you have strength in your arms and legs; you have bodily fluids; and you know how to use them all.
You know what you want, and you want it when you want it. Which is generally NOW. NOW. NOW. When you first started being a little more demanding, I was not prepared for the change. I didn't know what was wrong, and I didn't know why you didn't just "fall asleep" when you were tired. But I have learned, and after a couple weeks of wondering why you were the crankiest baby ever, I know you and your ways. I tried to put you on a routine at 5 weeks, but you were having none of it. Then, thankfully, at 7 weeks, you welcomed it and we are both much happier. You eat until you decide you're full, then you have "happy time", the most wonderful minutes of my day. You smile, you talk to us and watch our faces, you try to laugh (but it sounds more like a gasp). You are content to be left somewhere to look at toys or objects. Happy time ends when you're tired, and you let us know by saying "wah" or "nah" a couple of times in a peeved way, or turning your head away from whatever you're looking at. At this time, we give you a soother and let you start to wind down. If we miss these signals you've given us, you punish us with the saddest, most pitiful wails and bottom lips. I try not to miss the signals.
Nap time has been our biggest challenge, and on your new routine nap time always follows happy time. Even if you only sleep for ten minutes, I want you to learn that we have a rhythm so you know what to expect next in our day and so that I know what's wrong when you cry. It's amazing how much easier it is to read you when we have a routine. For the record, bicycling your legs and trying to climb me like a ladder = gas, needing to burp, spit up or poop.
You do not like going to sleep. You're afraid you're going to miss something. I discovered a few weeks ago that you refuse to shut your eyes because all you want to do is look around, but then you get overtired and it's even harder to get you to sleep. So I have a few tricks to get you to shut them:
1. pull a hat down over your eyes
2. carry you and cover my shoulder (and your face) with a blanket
3. gently stroke the bridge of your nose and between your eyes.. it almost always makes you sleepy
4. go into a dark room and rock you
Once your eyes are closed, we've conquered the biggest hurdle (although we're still not home free.. is that a mixed metaphor?). So. Where to sleep? The swing? My arms? Your crib? The couch? Swaddled or not? Nothing seems to always work for you, except me rocking you, on your side, with your soother. Once you "seem" to be asleep in my arms, I face the major dilemma: do I risk putting you down somewhere, only to have you wake in 2 minutes? Or do I continue to hold you, knowing that you will probably sleep for a good half hour (though in that half hour, there is very little I can accomplish!). If you have ejected the soother from your mouth without waking or crying (or panting or flailing), it's a pretty deep sleep. The cutest thing you do at this point is suck on something imaginary. I love watching your little lips form around nothing and work away at it like it's the hottest day of the year and you have a big old Freezie.
You have yet to learn how to keep the soother in your mouth all the time, especially when you get squirmy-tired, and paw away at your face, knocking the soother out. It's during these times that I actually wish I had one of those plastic cones they put on dogs so that they don't chew their stitches.
Even though we're still working out the bugs in our day, there's nothing I love more than waking up with you and waiting for you to focus your sleepy eyes on my face. When you finally see me, you give me a huge smile centered between the two softest ice-cream scoops of cheeks. In this moment, you are brand new every morning. It doesn't matter how much you cried the day before, or how much you were up in the night, or that you spit stinky-cheese puke on my sheets for the third day in a row. This is when it's all worth it.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Growing
We went away the weekend of May 26 and Aven was really cranky and wanted to eat
all the time. When we got back, we woke up in the morning and I swear she was 6 inches longer! She outgrew
a bunch of her clothes very suddenly. Now she's wearing some 3-month stuff, but only for length ... she's very long
but still not chubby.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Too funny not to take a picture
Our curious litle baby often won't go to sleep because she wants to look around.
This is how I remedy that problem.
Does that make me a bad mother?
Photo Shoot
It was a beautiful day today. Aven and I went outside for awhile and I took over TWO HUNDRED photos! A small selection has been posted to my Flickr account (link to the right). Enjoy!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
