Holy Smokes- Thanks Trisha

I hope I spelled your name right, but more importantly you saved me tonight!  So thank you.  Thank you. 

I rocked Lola to sleep pretty easily around 10:15.  Tried twice to put her in her crib asleep and wide awake, sitting up both times.  So I picked her back up and rocked again and again, then laid her in my bed.  :(  After laying with her to try and keep her asleep- she finally popped up and seemed ready to play.  I wasn’t happy.  So I plopped (okay a little more gentle than a plop) her in her crib (which is still in our room, but that will change shortly) patted her back, told her I loved her, and night, night.  Put on her favorite CD, turned off all lights, and walked out shutting the door behind me. 

The letting her cry it ALL OUT method had just begun. 

I felt pretty bad trying it tonight, because Clay’s friend Robert is staying over tonight, but it was time, really past due.  Clay didn’t seem to have much hope in this method, but I was ready. 

Something clicked tonight.  Thank God.

Solid 20 minutes of crying and then silence. 

Sweet silence. 

Except for the funny hiccup type noises that follow those awful cries. 

The funny thing is since she didn’t cry for hours like I expected, I just thought maybe she feel out and hit her head or something like that.  Then I had to debate rather or not to peak (the crib is right by the door) and risk waking her or take the chance she wasn’t laying on the cold floor. 

What should a smart mother do? 

I peaked. 

Sleeping angel. 

Nestled in the corner of her crib. 

Should I move her away from those bumper pads?  Again, what should a smart mother do? 

I shut the door and trusted she was okay and said a little prayer to my God, who honestly is bigger than ever right now.  Hopefully she’ll move soon, but she is used to sleeping in my bed with big fluffy pillows and lots of blankets, so I think she is good. 

About the crib being in our room.  We thought that may be smart to try that because at least she wasn’t switching rooms and beds.  But really I should have it in her room.  But I do think it helped.  And really she can sleep in my room for awhile, I just need her out of our bed.  So I am happy. 

And also, more I thought about it, the more I thought starting this sleeping habit with naps was a bad idea.   She normally takes 3 naps a day.  Sometimes they are in the car, stroller, or grandmothers’ houses so I thought if she got used to sleeping in her crib at night then maybe during naps, when we were home, she would get a good nap in by being in her crib since it is becoming (fingers crossed) routine.   I hope this keeps working.   Thanks Joi and Trisha for the advice and encouragement.  Looking forward to what more nights bring.   I do think crying will continue but if it’s only a short period of time I can handle that!  I was doing laundry, dishes, and had music playing, so I could barely hear her, plus her CD was on.  LOL- I feel like I may not get the mom of the year award tonight- but I get the hell of a strong woman award!  :)

Good night has a whole new meaning tonight, so good night. 

Love, Nat

Oh and I wanted to take a picture of my sleeping angel, but ya right.  Would I take that risk?  Not a chance. 

Happy 8 Months Lola-

Well I have so many new things I am loving about you-

• I love how you can crawl and crawl now… did I even post about this?  Surely so!  You started crawling right around 7 months.  I like how you can crawl all around the house and you come find me.  I like how you know what “come here.”  And you have now turned my house into a baby proof house…

• I like that you go through all my cabinets and drawers like I used to do.  You now have even figured out that there are drawers higher than your head and you reach way up and pull on them… you are smart and awfully curious. 

• You wave to everyone and always make friends where ever you go. 
• I love your friendly spirit and how you always want to play with other children.

• I love that you know who people are and their names.
• I like that you have already had cotton candy.

A little weird at first…

But pretty good, huh?

• I love you no longer need a baby bath tub in the big bath tub.  I’ll have to get some pictures of you taking a big girl bath.
• I love that you are trying new foods, even vegetables.  You are already a better eater than me! And you like to share…

• I think it’s funny how all this activity is shedding some baby weight- you are now skinnier and taller… looking good Miss. Lola.
• I love that you seem close to walking which makes you a little less fearful… you are taking steps one from object to another.
• It’s so sweet how you respond to people’s emotions now.  A sad face or crying is quite concerning to you!  They say you have Kebby’s heart… apparently Clay and I are sympathetic… haha.
• You are a Momma’s girl more now than maybe ever… I have to admit… it warms my heart!

I am sure there are tons more things I love about you- but I am tired and have spend way too long blogging when I should have been sleeping.  But I love you Lola Lou.

Some 8th Month Old Pictures- I love these overalls on you! How come I am already using my Christmas gift cards on YOU??? Because I love ya!

    

And Happy Birthday to my Maw-Maw!!!!!

End Result :(

After 2o minutes of crying and some comforting- sound asleep… in my bed… look how red her cheeks are.  And for at least an hour she did that weird thing we do after we have bawled our hearts out… it’s like a hiccup type sound- you know?  No rocking though… ??  Who would need to be rocked after crying so hard…

Christmas and more… (one really long post!)

Okay to my post earlier- Lola cried hard for 15 to 20 minutes and I went in to check on her and just had to pick her up to love on her.  She immediately grabbed on to me with all she had and I knew there was no prying her off to get her back in the crib.  So I held her and laid down with her on top of my bed and straight to sleep she went.  She is still sleeping in my bed and I am blogging next to her.  When I am done I will move her in her crib and pray with everything I have that she stays in her crib all night or at least until early morning. 

Thanks for the advice already given!  More is still welcome.  I know I have to choose to do it and stick with it.  I also think checking on her will only confuse her more and only make things worse, buy maybe I can start with naps at first for now.  I certainly don’t mind rocking her to sleep.  The more important of the two is just to get her sleeping through the night in her crib.  I can handle rocking her, but I know she needs to learn both.  She was great about her crib before the DOC Band.  P.S.  No regression! Thank goodness.  Wouldn’t take much for me to put her back in a band.  At this point, I would be surprised if I saw regression.  I feel like I would have already seen it by now. 

Romantic Night Out:

I got a wonderful surprise a few days before Christmas from my husband!  After Aubrey’s FIRST Birthday, I came home empty handed as Lola went to my mom’s to find out Clay and I were headed out the door to a mystery place.  I had no clue what was planned, but was quite excited.  I find myself at Nick and Sam’s Grill for some wonderful food.  Which we all love Chick-fil-A and Mac and Cheese, but it was a great change!  Hahaha- if you can imagine!  And Yes! I ordered a steak and it was delicious!  Except I couldn’t look at the tray of raw meat they brought out prior.  Why do they do that?  We were on a tight schedule and the waiters happened to spoil the next surprise, which really disappointed Clay-but we were headed to the Mavs game! 

Are you all wondering if this happened to be more of a date for Clay and not me?  Well it wasn’t!  I loved it… let me continue…

The Mavs game wasn’t just any ol’ game- LeBron James!!  We got to see him in action.  He’s so cute.  And he is Clay’s new Tiger.  Clay felt cheated on about that whole situation.  So the game was so fun and it was crazy being out all night without Lola.  I felt like we were dating!  It was so cozy and romantic.  So after the game we were walking out and little did I know, one more surprise!  We walked straight into the W hotel and were staying the night!  Yes, that meant a night away from Lola.  Nonna kept her and I didn’t worry too much.  I think I really needed a night without her in my bed and Clay back in it! :) It was wonderful.  Oh and our room didn’t have a tub, which was kind of disappointing but when Clay went to the car to get the secret spend-the-night bag, he also got us a free upgrade to a room with a tub!  Yayaya!  I soaked in a nice soaker tub with lots of hot water.  It was wonderful, really.  We woke up the next morning and I was in quite a hurry to get to Lola.  We grabbed some pancakes then sped home to get Lola.  Thanks Clay.  And thanks to Gram and Popper for making the date night possible and for Nonna and Ba for keeping Lola.  Spending the night in a Hotel is very fun. 

Happy Birthday Aubrey:

Aubrey turned 1 Sunday and it was so much fun.  Her party was a huge hit and she was a perfect little barefooted angel.  Although her mom preferred an angel wearing shoes… lol.  We had a good time and Lola thought everyone was there to see her!  She was in a great mood as well.  Here are some photos I got… Way to go Laura on a great party.  You are such a good mom!

Aubrey got to change in comfy clothes after eating cake naked.  Lola got her the blonde doll in the picture!  Dressy Bessy!

Laura’s mom talked me into letting Lola play with Aubrey after opening gifts.  Lola loved this idea and had a blast!

Aubrey loved her chocolate birthday cake…

She even wanted to share it with her momma…

Aubrey got this cute rocking chair and I was surprised at how well she sat in it!

 

Why does Lola love picture taking more than Aubrey?  Haha.

 

Lola’s First Christmas:

Santa at Starbucks!

Lola can wave- have I told y’all this?

Well I could go on and on about Christmas- it was a blast!  Three full, very full days of fun, loving, food, gifts… and very little sleep.  Christmas Eve Eve we did Christmas as a family at Gram and Poppers.  It was fun!  Clay got his favorite soup or stew one and Rocky was very kind and had gotten me Maggianos!  Yum, Yum.  And I shared with Lola which apparently I didn’t get it off her face good and her pictures look weird with sauce stains around her nose and stuff.  Gross.  She made a huge mess.  Then we went straight into gifts and Lola got so many fun things including a talking Elmo, great rocker/walker, and a great activity station.  Clay and I got a blue ray player and I got lots of gift cards and some super cute pajamas.  I love them and needed them!  And our stockings were great.  We really had a blast and it was nice not to be in a hurry and just hang out.  Lola and I napped on the couch, which was good for her.  She woke up ready to play.

The next day started early as I baked a pie for later that night and went to CFA to get tea for the party at the Travis’.  We had a great time at the Travis’!  And as most of you know- it snowed all day!  I have pictures, don’t worry.  We played a fun gift exchanging game and I ended up with scratch offs, which won me $21.  I already have cashed it in!  Then later that evening we headed to my mom’s house for a Christmas get together and had lots of fun eating, playing games, and just hanging out.  Courtney’s daughter, Savannah had a blast with Lola and Lola had a blast with her.  Everyone was shocked at how Lola responded to her, but not me.  She loves other children.  Everywhere we go!  After a long day we headed home.  Lola went to bed and we got the house ready for Christmas.  I sat out all the gifts in piles of who they belonged to and sat out stockings and cleaned the house, then stared at the gifts and cried.  Clay said I bawled- but I didn’t- although it went into the ugly cry mode.  I just felt older, felt like a real mom, and real family.  I would wake up as a kid and our gifts were separated into piles and stockings were out and I loved it.  I loved that the house was clean and smelt good.  I felt at peace.  And that night I felt at peace again.  I was starting our own tradition.  I knew over the years we will tweak it some, but it was a great start. 

Christmas morning we woke up and Clay was up in the den and Lola and I walked into the den, still with sleepy faces, but ready for Christmas.  We all opened gifts and had a great time.  She was pretty into it which was fun to see.  After a relaxing time we headed to Ba and Nonna’s to do Christmas there.  We all opened gifts and we let Lola go first so she could play while we all did ours.  Clay got some amazing records, clothes, and Clay type things- and I got some things  I was wanting.  Our real gift was already given to us by my dad, so thanks dad!   Then we had a big breakfast and Lola got to eat eggs!  We mainly chilled the rest of the day and later my Paw-Paw treated us to see Sherlock Holmes.  It was pretty good!  I was hungry all day that day and really ate up.  We had a good dinner waiting on us thanks to Mom and Lola.  When the night finally came to an end, we all slept like a baby, just not my baby.  Lol. 

Thanks to EVERYONE for such a wonderful Christmas this year.  It was quite special, and I know everyone would second that!  Hope Gram and Popper had fun on their trip.  It sounded like you did and Lola looks forward to seeing you tomorrow while her momma’ uses some gift cards!

Thanks to Nonna for starting the 12 days of Christmas tradition.  We love that tradition and Lola loved it this year…

 

Pictures from Christmas:

Aren’t these crazy of Clay and Lola?  We all were so excited over snow!  Snow on Christmas for Lola’s first!  It was a Dallas Christmas Miracle!

SNOW!

    

Christmas morning at our own home…

My silly family…

Clay got us waking up and walking into the den!  I love these pictures! So genuine.

She loved the ABC letters she got in her stocking for the bath tub.  What a smartie…

Still sleepy Lola??  :)

Daddy made her this toy and it was pretty cool.  She loves door stoppers and now she has them on a smooth board.  What a great Daddy!

Clay’s gifts…

Lola’s gifts… (ha, ha- for the record- Clay’s were tricked wrapped, so there were a few more in that black box!!)

At Gram and Popper’s!

We loved getting a CD player for Lola!  Yayayaya!

Frustrated on Christmas are we??

Books to the rescue!!

At the Travis’ went they started singing- Lola just hung her head the whole time.  Lol… like father, like daughter.   

Our Christmas picture- on our way to see Santa- which didn’t happen.  A few days prior to Christmas!

At Ba and Nonna’s!

This was at night time- so Lola was trying to sleep and Pudge actually got up there with them- so I took a picture… Lola’s silly face…

Lola’s face again… looks like she just woke up!  Too bad she’s just really tired… lol-

Another funny face…

Lola found gummy bears… that a girl!

We have Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw a picture of Lola and me at the Ole Mill in Arkansas.  It was special.

Doesn’t she look like Samuel L. Jackson in that hat? LOL!

Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw gave us a Christmas book of Maw-Maw reading it to Lola!  I could barely open it because it was sad to me, but very, very special.  Thanks Maw-Maw!

  

I love these two pictures… thanks to my husband for getting out the camera and snapping some great shots!

 

I love this one.  And her shirt!  Thanks Gram for the cute shirt!

 

I will end on this one, because I still have to address the fact Lola is 8 months old! I know- you guys can shoot me for these long posts- but once Lola get’s back on a better sleeping schedule then I can write more often!!!!!!   I was doing so good for so long!

Edit to Post:  Lola, I wanted you to know that I regretted not writing about the 12 days of Christmas Nonna did for you.  It’s a tradition in this family and it’s what grandparents do for the grandkids.  Nonna was so excited to do this for and although she gave you really fun gifts that you loved opening, it was just all about love.  Her Grandpa Price did this for her and Maw-Maw did this for us, and now it’s your Nonna’s turn.  It was so sweet and a tradition that you’ll be able to always count on, at 8 months old and at 18 years old!  Here are some pictures…

Christmas Night with Nonna-