My Name Is Now Mom

Saturday, TerraDactyl got her first cold.  She's been pretty puny.  She had a cough with some sneezes and a very runny nose.  I've been working on wiping her nose, but she hasn't figured out that she's supposed to blow it yet. Look mom!  There's a ladder in the kitchen! The first day TerraDactyl was sick she slept pretty much the whole day.  We thought she was taking a nap at 4pm (a bit late, but she slept so much we let her do it), but she just stayed asleep.  DH tried taking her out of her sleep sack to wake her up, but she just kept sleeping through it all.  So we stuck her in her crib and she slept the night through.  13 hours!  She was super hungry when she woke up and then she went back to sleep. A late 8 month photo I think TerraDactyl's mostly back to a normal number of waking hours, but her nose is still runny and she still sounds a bit phlegmy.  And, of course, she wants more snuggles than normal.  Poor kiddo...

TerraDactyl and her Sugar Plum Fairy stocking TerraDactyl got to spend the actual Christmas day with Grandma and Grandpa.  On Christmas Eve we had a big party with all the aunts and uncles and cousins.  TerraDactyl did pretty well, but lately she's gotten pretty clingy.  She's usually happy with DH, but sometimes I'll walk into the room and TerraDactyl will just start crying until I hold her.  It's kind of sweet, but...  it's also annoying.  It's hard to get anything done when TerraDactyl insists I never put her down.  I spent most of the party trying to hide so TerraDactyl wouldn't see me and freak out. The best part of gifts is the wrapping! While we were at Grandma and Grandpa's, TerraDactyl started to explore the 3rd dimension.  She was using footstools and boxes to try and pull herself up to standing, and she was doing a lot of downward dogs and trying to walk her hands back to push up to standing.  She did get herself up to...

TerraDactyl got to celebrate three Christmases this year:  one with just the three of us, and one with each set of grandparents.  Giving presents to a baby is similar to giving presents to a dog (in my experience).  Often, the packaging is just as much fun (if not more fun) than the present.  And they're just as satisfied with one present as they would be with 10.  TerraDactyl's first Christmas presents! We got TerraDactyl some board books box sets.  She LOVED playing with the empty boxes.  We've still got them around and she's still enjoying playing with those empty boxes.  She's happy with the books too, as long as she's eating them.  She's less interested in reading them.  What a turkey! I was moving some of TerraDactyl's clothes around (getting rid of the small stuff and bringing in some bigger stuff) and I found this onesie.  It's awesome.  I love it.  Even if it is a bit off-season.  It's still per...

TerraDactyl is a HUGE fan of my slippers.  She is always very interested in investigating them, whether they are on my feet or not.  I think this might be a sign that she's going to want a closet full of shoes once she's older... Look at all the slippers! TerraDactyl reached another milestone.  She managed to open a door in the entertainment center.  First door she's ever opened.  She couldn't make it stay open.  It kept snapping shut, but I think she's catching on that if you pull on knobs, interesting things happen. Open Sesame! We had book club last night.  And since it's a not insignificant drive, we added a visit with friends before hand.  On the way there, TerraDactyl fell asleep in her car seat, but as usual, she managed to get her hat off-kilter.  The perfect sleep mask It was good to visit with friends and book club went pretty well.  We were out way past TerraDactyl's bedtime, so there was a bit of a meltdo...

We finally got a high chair!  It turns out, trying to feed a baby in a bouncing jumper while she'd rather play is...  really hard.  We'd kind of avoided buying a high chair since our house is pretty small and we didn't want another piece of furniture in there.  But we finally admitted defeat.  I think TerraDactyl actually kind of likes it.  Now that she's so good at sitting up, I think she likes sitting in the chair. Who's a big girl now? The high chair also puts her at a much more comfortable height for us to try and feed her.  Unfortunately, the high chair hasn't made her like eating baby food any more.  She's still a stinker.  But it's a little easier to get the spoon to her mouth. Typical "mouth fused shut as the spoon approaches" from TerraDactyl So what kind of food does TerraDactyl like?  Obviously, milk, she loves that.  But lately, she's been trying to expand her diet to include more protein.  Specifical...

Sleep training is continuing.  Nights are going pretty smoothly.  TerraDactyl usually fusses for a few minutes after we lay her down, but not for long.  And if I'm careful, I can usually sneak into bed without waking her up.  Unfortunately, she wants to wake up at 5am.  It's 6am if I'm lucky.  I've never been a morning person, so this is hard for me.  But I'm trying to make the transition gracefully and with love (you know, rather than bitterness and annoyance 😉). The cutest dragon ever Naps however, are not going quite as smoothly.  She's pretty ticked off when we lay her down.  She tries to sneak in snuggle naps, but she's got very little interest in sleeping alone in her bassinet.  We're trying to find the sweet spot between "not quite tired enough" and "over tired and angry".  It's a bit like Goldilocks.  I've been tracking when TerraDactyl eats, plays, and sleeps, and trying to find a schedule that works for us....

TerraDactyl is a pro at sitting up.  She was pretty wobbly for a while, but just in the last week she can get into and out of the sitting position, no problem.  I'm super happy about this transition, because it means she doesn't bonk her head.  Mom's slippers are the best! Crawling is also going much easier for TerraDactyl these days.  She's able to crawl pretty well on the hardwood and linoleum floors, not just carpet.  If DH and TerraDactyl are out in the living room and I'm in the kitchen, she'll make her way over to the next room to check in.  These PJ's are made for crawling! Baby food is still a struggle though.  We're hoping a high chair will help "get her in the mood" to eat.  But as it is...  I'm pretty sure most of the food gets spit back out. Signs that baby may want to continue to eat: Leaning in for the spoon Opening the mouth Grabbing for food and trying to put it in the mouth Signs that your baby may be...

It was a rough drive to Oma and Opa's house.  It's only 4 hours, but TerraDactyl managed to poop THREE times that morning.  There were a lot of tears (I'll let you imagine whose tears) and wet wipes.  But we finally made it.  TerraDactyl wants kitty socks like her cousin Little My brother may be regretting trying to make a Patriots fan out of TerraDactyl when she eats his Pats hat TerraDactyl is getting more mobile and independent, so she was less content to be held the whole time.  There's always a lot of people willing to hold her, but this trip she wanted to be down on the floor practicing her crawling and playing with toys.  Oma has all the best things, just within reach! TerraDactyl is really into hair pulling right now Thanksgiving dinner went well.  TerraDactyl got to try out her first high chair.  She stayed in it alright for about 10 minutes.  Then she was too squirmy.  So I ended up eating Thanksgiving d...

Time to play a bit of catch-up from our Thanksgiving trip! December 1st was a big day.  TerraDactyl got her first official snow.  And it was a BIG one!  We got 5 or 6 inches while we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa.  Thankfully, I was hoping this would happen and I packed a snow suit so we could get some pictures.  :)  Snow Family! It was still snowing while we were taking pictures.  And it was pretty windy, too.  Riley wouldn't pay attention, he just wanted to run off and chase Ryker (Grandpa's dog).  It's surprisingly difficult to get everyone smiling at the same time.  Thankfully, Grandpa was willing to take about 50 pictures so we managed to get a few good ones.  Temperature check!  Cheeks are still warm. It snowed so much we were a little worried we wouldn't be able to drive back home.  But we made it.  The drive itself went pretty smoothly.  The roads were nice and clear, the sun was out....

Sleep training is continuing.  It's going fairly well, but we kind of mucked things up today.  We were out of the house for four hours and missed a nap, resulting in the following hissy fit: Why yes, that is my child trying to sleep with her head propped in the corner... Don't worry, we flipped her around.  Silly child.  The rest of the day was a bit off.  TerraDactyl was a little needier than normal and a bit silly.  She was trying to nurse and suck her thumb at the same time.  She was trying to jump in her jumper while sucking her thumb.  She got obsessed with the bows on her footie pajamas... This is how I look after Thanksgiving dinner! Speaking of Thanksgiving...  Over Thanksgiving weekend, Grandpa taught TerraDactyl how to click her tongue.  Hoo boy, has she been practicing that!  And now, as you can hear below, she sounds like she's speaking in an African click language .

Well, DH is taking the second chunk of his bonding leave so we've started the dreaded sleep training.  We've been putting it off for a couple of months in preparation for having us both at home - for moral support and sleep support.  For quite some time TerraDactyl has been waking up every 90 minutes and the only way I can get her back to sleep is by feeding her.  The only way I can get any sleep is if she can eat while I'm sleeping (obviously not ideal, and really rough on my back).  Riley and TerraDactyl are still vying for the same toys... After discussing what approach we wanted to take, we went with a modified Ferber Method .  Basically, set up a bedtime routine and lay the baby down when she's sleepy, but still awake.  If she cries for 5 minutes, we go in and comfort her by rubbing her belly and giving her a phrase meant to indicate it's time to sleep.  Sort of like a command for a dog.  But no cuddling or picking her up.  We're ...