Sleep....

So it's finally happened...we are not surprised at all.  After sleeping in our arms for 6 months, Sofia has begun to refuse going into her crib at all.  She basically will not be left alone for the past 3 or 4 nights. Again, we knew what we were creating while we were doing and we know what we have to do.  Hopefully tonight, I will be able to allow her cry while comforting her with my voice and pats.  We'll see how long that lasts, but it'll only be night one and I assume that this process will be easy.  We can't blame the little baby girl - of course she's used to sleeping in our cuddling arms.  I ..........................

And that's what I wrote yesterday and I can tell you that I let her squirm for all of 45 seconds before picking her up and cuddling her!  She did go down in the crib for almost 2 hours so she did get some crib time.  Let me explain the process and you'll see why it's so hard to not just love her up!

I got home with her at about 3:30, I fed her some mango and she played in her jumperoo a little bit.  She was then obviously tired, so we went for the bath at about 4:30.  After her quick bath and post-bath stuff (lotion,etc), I gave her a bottle and then just lay back on the big chair and within 2 minutes she was asleep - no fuss, no rocking, she just feel asleep by 4:50.  So now she's asleep on me and I took a nap too!  This works out well for both of us.  At about 6:00, I get up and put her in the crib where she stays until about 8:00.  (in truth, I probably put her down at 6:15 and she stirred at 7:45)  At that time, she starts tossing and turning, eventually waking up and moaning.  She doesn't cry, she just whines and groans.  Her eyes are half closed and she look so distressed.  My plan had been to let her stay that way and see what happens.  Nope!  I picked her up and within 10 seconds, she asleep again and we stayed on her chair until 10.  At that time, she woke up, had a bottle and Russ took over...she ended up sleeping until 6 am this morning.(Remember her chair is a huge chair and a half with a huge ottoman and is where Russ has slept every single night since I went back to work, so it's not terrible at all)  I didn't even try to put her down again last evening. 

The point?  I'm not doing a very good job at this.  I know I should do what feels right and what I think is best for her, but at this point I really think she needs to learn how to put herself to sleep.  I just can't resist the snuggle time.  She seems so much more peaceful and content.  We'll get there I'm sure.... Just not so sure when!

Six month check up was great.  Sofia weighs 19 lbs 3 oz and measures 27.5".  I was surprised she doesn't weigh more.  She is in the 97th percentile for both measurements which means she is well proportioned.  She was trooper through her 3 shots too. 

My mom is coming in tonight!!!  I'm so excited!

Here is Sofia from this morning...my happy, happy girl!  How cute, by the way, that Russ decided she needed to wear 2 flowers in her hair today?  Love him.

Six Months!

How is it possible that Sofia turned 6 months old yesterday?  The time has flown by and yet I can't seem to remember when she wasn't here.  She is HUGE!!!  We go for her 6 month appt next week and I can't wait to find out how much she weighs.  My guess is she's at least 20 lb., maybe more.  Girlfriend is tall too and solidly wearing 9 month clothes.  She is sitting up very well on her own, standing for brief periods of time when holding on to something for balance, and getting ready to crawl at any moment.  She is loving her food!!  Regularly eating mixed-grain cereal along with fruit (mostly pears and peaches and she LOVES mango) and veggies.  I try to buy the organic stuff when I can, but sometimes the variety just isn't there (especially when Gerber is on sale).  I send the Gerber tubs to her babysitter and then at home, we those along with some of the squeeze packs from those organic companies.  They are more expensive but I love the combinations, especially the one with the spinach.  I feel good giving it to her.  She's really gotten the hang of eating.  We're working on the sippy cup.  She loves to chew it, but hasn't quite gotten the hang of sipping from it on her own.  I'm using Pampers Cruisers still but am dying to know if any off-brand ones are decent.  I've heard Target and WalMart brand are good.  I hate to take a chance though since we've been happy with Pampers.

We ordered our convertible car seats this week, so they should be here soon.  She can only be in her in fact seat until 22 pounds and that day is coming fast if it hasn't already passed!  We decided on the Britax Marathon 70.  (on sale on amazon for 25% off right now - HUGE savings!)  We ordered two, one for each car since Russ drops off and I pick up.  It's a big expense, but obviously worth it for baby girl to be safe and comfortable.  We also got a great deal on a Macleran umbrella stroller so that Russ can keep one in his car. It'll be a pain to no longer be able to get her in and out of the car so easily, but frankly I can barely lift the infant seat anymore anyways. 

We have not had professional pictures taken, but I think it's time we do.  I really want to go to Picture People but I've heard Penney's is decent too and does different shots that I might be interested in.  I don't just want a typical background posed shot.  I'm not sure what we'll do, but six month pictures sound like a must to me. 

Still haven't pierced baby girls ears.  I'm going to ask the pediatrician about it and see if they do it there and then maybe we will.  I can't stand the thought of doing it, but I think now is the best time. We'll see...

Lastly, my mom is coming next week!!  I'm so excited!  She'll be here from Thursday to Tuesday and will stay home with baby girl Fri and Mon and she's thrilled about that!  The guilt I feel about being so far away from her overwhelms me sometimes, so I'm so happy she'll get to spend time with Sofia.

Here's her happy face from this morning... We really need to upgrade our iPhone so that the pictures come out less fuzzy. 

WTF with it being sideways!! I thought I fixed it!  .....but she's awfully precious no matter how you look at her.

Homesick

I'm a terrible blogger, I know.  I'm sorry.  I thought that once I was back at work and had more access to a computer I would blog more, but no.  Maybe it's that I don't have much to say (except for how crazy beautiful and perfect Sofia is and that gets old, no?).  Maybe it's that I've been busy at work (oh yeah, work! Sometimes I have to do that here). 

Anyway, Sofia is beautiful and perfect. =)

My cousins from Florida flew in on Monday for one day just to meet her.  They didn't go up to Buffalo for the holidays so they missed meeting her and couldn't wait until summer.  It was sooo nice and made it so clear that there's nothing like family.  I have some very, very good friends here who are like family and I'm so lucky to have them but there's just something different about family. It makes me really wish I lived closer to home.  But then I think that the fantasy I have in my head of what it would be like to live back home is probably not at all the reality of what it would really be like.  When I go home to visit, the whole world stops and revolves around us.  That would not be the day to day reality of living there.  I know that.  But I still miss home.  The true reality is that Russ would be miserable living there (weather) and there are no jobs and life would just be different and maybe not good-different.  Just feeling a little homesick i guess...