Elsie's favorite foods: peas, green beans, peaches, pears, oatmeal, bread, squash, organic whole wheat brown rice cereal.
Foods she doesn't like: Any baby food meats & banana baby food.
She loves when I put peaches & bananas into her food net thing she sucks on it & just lays there.
She has started to squeal like her cousin Ben only when she is frustrated though.
She loves watching the clothes in the drier spin.
She can wave! (Sept. 3)
Elsie gets up on her hands & knees & rocks back and forth really fast & then pushes herself forward & lands on her belly/face.
She head butts now.. I am unsure if it is on purpose or if she has no idea that she is doing it.
Elsie likes to crawl over mommy & daddy.. or anything for that matter.
She is starting to pull herself up onto things (Sept. 11)
She has to be able to see mommy at ALL times or she freaks out & starts crying...
She will sit still & watch Baby Genius. It's probably because of the songs they sing.
Standing up any chance she gets.. in her crib, holding onto the couch, the coffee table, anything really.
She can go from crawling to sitting, kneeling to sitting, laying down to sitting, you get the point. She finally has mastered sitting.
She makes really high pitched noises.. it kind of sounds like a duck or like shes choking.. but she isn't
She loves her cousin Harper.
Whenever daddy has some kind of food Elsie thinks she gets some too, because daddy usually shares with Elsie.. unfortunately.
She loves mommy's wedding ring.
She loves playing with grandma & grandpa's puppies.
She is getting better at being left with people that are babysitting her.
Elsie tries to lick/ drink water whenever she realizes it is water.. I.e. when we were at the splash pad she laid down (face first) & started drinking the water.. crazy baby!
Elsie tries to stand up in the middle of the floor by herself by stretching out her legs like downward facing dog..
Doesn't sleep through the night.
She wears size 6-9 months(Sept. 10)
Still in size 3 diapers.
We have been teaching her baby sign language but she hasn't started to imitate us yet.
She weighs: 19.2 lbs
& she is 28 inches long.
When we say "come here" she gets a huge smile on her face & comes towards us.
She is getting brave.. she pulls herself up into a standing position, lets go with one hand... balances herself & then takes her other hand off & stands without any support for 2 seconds because I get scared half to death & pick her up before she might fall over. (Sept. 26)
Monday, September 1, 2014:
Last night while I was holding Elsie I started thinking about when she was first born.. & realized she has gotten so big in the last 6 months. When she was a newborn & I was holding her, her legs didn't dangle down past my stomach. She didn't weigh 19lbs either.. She didn't have so much energy & she definitely wasn't crawling.. moving around.. exploring.. & touching everything in sight. She just cried. She just laid there. She just cuddled with me. She is so different now. & I have a feeling she will be "so different" in 6 more months. Man! Can the time just slow down please?? I want Elsie to be a baby forever. ):
Yesterday Elsie was scooting around on the floors in our apt. on her soft book. She is so smart. She probably did it on accident at first but then she realized she could get around faster with it. She is so cute! (:
Last night.. well early this morning at 1:30am... Elsie woke up screaming! She refused to eat & it seemed like all she wanted was "daddy" to hold her. She didn't want anything to do with mom. It was one of those moments during parenthood where you have NO idea what to do.. or have NO idea what is wrong. Thoughts of Maybe your mom was right... maybe Elsie DOES have an ear infection. & Should we take her to the ER? & What do you think we should do? & I don't know what to do! Why is she screaming?? crossed our minds multiple times. We went through the check list of:
1. She doesn't want to be put down.
2. Is she too warm/cold?
3. Are her teeth bothering her?
4. Does she need a diaper change?
5. Is something hurting her?
6. Everything seems okay... does she need to burp/poop/whatever?
Etc.
We changed her diaper. I took a layer off of her. Gave her teething tablets. Dee rocked her. Rubbed her back. wondered AGAIN if we should take her in...
Finally after Elsie tooted, burped, sneezed & tried to explore she decided she was fine to eat again & fell back asleep for 5 hours. phew!!
But we decided if she woke up screaming again we were DEFINITELY going to take her in.
It is the scariest thing not knowing what to do, but I am so glad I have Dee by my side every step of the way. I do not know how I would do this without him!
OH!! Elsie can wave. She started yesterday. It is the cutest thing. I've learned that if I want to encourage Elsie to do things, I have to make a HUGE deal about it. She loves when mommy/daddy says "good job baby Elsie! You are so smart!" & clap our hands for her. I love this baby.
Oh & as for the reason she woke up screaming/crying hard.. we decided it was probably a nightmare or something.. maybe her teeth were bothering her as well. I don't think she has an ear infection because the only time she tugs on her ears is when she is overly tired. & probably because she is teething as well. & she has never had a fever. Plus if she had an ear infection it most likely would have happened after her cold.. & we went to the doctor about that but only found out she had a swollen tonsil & her ears were perfect. She doesn't sleep with a bottle & never is submerged into water, so I don't see how an ear infection would have developed. Anyway I am glad nothing was wrong with Elsie.
I wish Elsie would go back to sleeping through the night... I feel like I cannot do this anymore. I have headaches almost everyday that are probably from lack of sleep! Also probably partially from poor nutrition because lets face it sometimes when Elsie finally takes a 15-30 minute nap I just want to lay down.. not make myself something to eat. Anyway I know I always probably sound like I am complaining.. Maybe I am. But I don't want anyone to think that I hate being a mom. Because I don't! I love Elsie & being a parent is the best thing in the world. But I am not going to lie. It is also the hardest thing in the world! That is why I don't want all of my journal entrees to be only about the positives. I want to remember all the things I've gone through, & how I felt. I don't want to forget. I don't want to be fake either by saying Oh Elsie is the BEST baby ever. Oh Elsie NEVER does that. Oh blah blah blah. No. Elsie is a sweet baby yes, & I love her more than anything, but she is definitely not the easiest baby to deal with she is very feisty.
Well on to a better note... I took Elsie to the park for the first time today! She sure had fun. & Everyone thought she was such a happy baby. They asked "Is she always this happy" ha. ha. ha. NO. She likes to whine. She likes to be a crankster. She gets SO frustrated. & I always end up feeling bad for my mom because I assume that I was probably JUST like Elsie. She is a happy baby, don't get me wrong.. But often she will blankly stare at people.. or cry... or whine.. She just knows what she wants. She is only happy when she has/ doing what she wants. Or has mom or daddy.
Elsie LOVED swinging! I think we will definitely be going back to the park a lot more.
Today is probably not going to be a fun day.. Elsie gets her 6 month shots today.. & to top it off she has been teething pretty bad lately. She won't sleep.. Not last night but the night before I kid you not, she woke up every 30 minutes. She took maybe 2 20 minute naps yesterday.. & was cranky on & off. Last night we went straight to putting her in bed with us (why does she sleep better in our bed?). You can only get up so many times in the middle of the night before it becomes annoying. I know I know. I am caving in.. but most parents do at some point & at least she has slept in her bed on her own (well for the most part) for 6 months. Hopefully after this teething thing settles down she doesn't expect/think she gets to sleep with us. Otherwise we bought a crib for no reason... OH & we finally bought one of those teething necklaces. It should be here tomorrow. I REALLY HOPE IT WORKS!!! She needs some sleep.
Anyway like I said I do not think today is going to be fun. She is going to be in so much pain from shots & her teeth. Poor baby. Good thing I already was planning on cuddling her all day. She will need it. & lots & lots of baby tylenol & ibprophen. & teething tablets.
Elsie did really good on Tuesday at her doctor appointment. When she got her shots she cried for a little bit but right after they were over she was pretty much done crying. She is such a big girl now. She even got to pick out a squeaky toy for being so good! Oh & she cried the whole time the doctor was checking her out & stuff. When he handed her back to me she stop crying & full on glared at the doctor. She is a feisty baby girl! She knows what she wants & she wants mommy or daddy. She does not like other people.
Last night was horrible. Elsie was teething SO bad. She couldn't sleep although she was so tired. Her eyes were closed half the time she was crying, She was in so much pain! ): poor baby. We ended put going for a long drive. We went to Cedar City & back because it seems like the only thing that will get Elsie to sleep lately is going for a drive in the car. She slept the whole time & for a few hours when we got back. It was a rough night.. & today doesn't seem any better. Lots of whining & crying going on. Oh & our teething necklace did not come on time. It better be here today. Elsie needs some hope. I feel so bad. I feel so helpless. I can't do a darn thing. The teething tablets are not working... Tylenol is definitely not working.. I guess I should try Ibprophen next... I just wish I could take her pain away ):
Why why why, does Elsie not sleep good anymore?? It's KILLING me. It has almost been a month since she "slept through the night". I guess it is safe to say my favorite age group would be right after Elsie turned 2 months & before she turned 4 months. so basically May-June was the best time. Elsie slept 6-12 hours straight every night. & she couldn't crawl, stand (by the way Elsie is pulling herself up onto everything! She loves standing & does it any chance she gets.. even when she is in the bath tub.. which is not fun), roll over (a lot), or sit up. She finally was fine with me putting her down. I started getting into a routine.. I could get stuff done. I had a couple hours to myself before she woke up a lot of the time. It was just the best time!
Now it seems like I want to pull all of my hair out.. I have to be next to her 24/7 or she has a freakout, she doesn't want mommy out of her sight, she is into EVERYTHING, & I never get longer than 3 hours straight of sleep. Elsie wakes up every 30 minutes-3 hours at night. If she sleeps 3 hours straight at night, it's only once! The other times she wakes up it'll be 2 hours or less. I just do not understand. She hasn't been the best sleeper since we got back home from Idaho.. but that's because she got sick a couple times.. & getting back into a routine was hard.. But even when she was going to sleep at 1 or 2 in the morning.. She still slept for at least 8 hours straight. & before we found out about her swollen tonsil she would sleep 5-6 hours straight. (I shouldn't have complained!) Now she doesn't want to sleep. I have literally tried EVERYTHING!! That stupid teething necklace that everyone swears by, (all that thing is, is a mental thing or something because she doesn't sleep better at night). I've changed up her routine a few times to see if something worked better than what we were doing, No more bath time at night, footy pajamas, no footy pajamas, nothing but a diaper on, sleeping with mommy & daddy, playing before bed, eating baby rice cereal, trying the crying out method (btw that method SUCKS! I hate hearing her cry it breaks my heart & it gets us no where except a very worked up baby), rocking/singing her to sleep, turning her humidifier on, turning her summer sounds on, putting a sheet over her window, & giving her Tylenol/teething tablets before bed, etc. NOTHING WORKS. I'm sick of everyone saying "sometimes they just change" WHY? I'm sick of the answer "Sometimes we just don't know why this happens" UGH!! I hate hate hate that answer. Just show me how to get my baby to go back to sleeping 8-12 hours straight in the baby hand book! Oh right.. there isn't one.
Sorry I sound so negative.. I just want some good sleep back. even if Elsie went back to sleeping 4, 5 or 7 hours straight I would be happy!! (I skipped 6 because that one is worse than 30 minutes straight). I just wish I knew what to do. Maybe once her teeth finally come in she will go back to sleeping good..? who knows. I guess I should just be grateful she is sleeping at all.
I think I kind of figured out why Elsie hasn't been sleeping well.. it's because she thinks she is hungry in the middle of the night because she barely eats during the day. She snacks here & there during the day & sometimes I would feed her baby food.. unless I forgot. Anyway I figured out that during the day she is just to curious & adventurous & doesn't want to slow down so she only nurses on & off all day long. Not for more than 10 minutes. (usually less) & then at night she will wake up every 30 minutes to 3 hours & eat for 20 minutes each time. So finally I got the idea of stuffing her full of baby food at least twice a day now. (sometimes it only happens once) but it seems to be working. She has been taking 2 hour naps for the last 5 days.. & she sleeps a little better at night. 1-2 hours.. wake up eat.. 3 hours.. wake up eat.. 4 hours.. wake up eat.. & maybe 1 more hour. so we are getting somewhere.
Well last night she did not sleep good because of her teeth. I just wish they would come in already. I thought they would be here by now because I heard that they can take UP to 3 months, but recently I heard that it actually can take up to 3-5 months. & it leans more towards 5 months if they have 2 coming in at the same time. Not looking forward to this. I guess they better be in by the middle of November or I'm going to literally go insane.. unless of course Elsie starts sleeping WAY better. then it is all good (:
Elsie is definitely going to be walking by December.. she is pulling herself up using everything she can grab onto.. She is crazy!
Last night Elsie woke up at 2:40am.. in our bed.. wide awake. She apparently thought it was play time. She was crawling all over us & touching & slapping our faces. She sure is a cutie. Pretty much her being so cute made it easy not to be annoyed that we weren't sleeping. haha Luckily she finally fell asleep at 3:20 & woke up at 7:30 & went back to sleep at 8 & is still sleeping.. it is now 9:40.
That's all for now!
