Hellooooo! Wow, it’s been over 2 weeks since I posted. Can you tell things have been a little Crazy Town around here? That’s an understatement, but seriously…life is a crazy, beautiful tornado right now. I’m soaking up every every second with her as I can possibly squeeze into one day. I can’t believe she will be half a year in less than 3 weeks.
I’ll start with something different this time – a mommy milestone. I had my first girl’s night out last week. My first night out alone in over 5 months. That means I showered, people! And I wore clean clothing. I also put on make-up and blow-dried my hair. It was exhausting! I had a rough sleep the night before, but I’m glad I made the effort to go out. Adriana doesn’t take a bottle so it’s been challenging getting out on my own, but now that she goes to bed around 6:30-7:30pm I figured I could sneak out for dinner with the girls. We picked a restaurant that was close to home which was a good plan because I had to leave a bit early. But still, I consider a few hours out with friends a big success. I had a blast and felt so uplifted the next day. Eric gets out every week for volleyball, so it was nice to be able to do something on my own too. We are going to try and make it a regular occurrence.
We’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch these past two weeks which is why I haven’t had a chance to post. Adriana is going through so much! Teething is ramping up and I think she’s knee deep in another leap. She’s been needier, crying more, sleeping less, and just seems off many days. But it’s for a reason of course – she is changing so much. Every day I’m like…holy crap this girl is determined. If she can’t do something she wants to do it over and over again until she does, all while frustrating herself entirely. I feel like she has a stubborn streak in her just like her mama!
The biggest news this week is that she discovered how to roll in her crib with her sleep suit on! Cue new parent freak out. Of course, we are all told to sleep babies on their backs these days, so when they start naturally sleeping on their tummy it feels super scary (at least for me). I proceeded to text my mama friends and family members asking for advice. hah. They are like…girl…chill. It’s normal. (said in the nicest way possible of course). I’ve been spending most of the week staring at the baby monitor and sneaking into her nursery to make sure her airways are free and her head isn’t pointing directly into the mattress. Like all the baby stages, I know that this just takes some getting used to and we’ll be fine, but I do kinda miss the days when we could just put her in her bassinet/crib and she’d stay in one spot! The photo collage (above) that I took during nap time one day kinda makes me die laughing. She is such a squirmy girl! And she even knows to smile for the camera. Good grief. We’re now sleeping her in the fleece Halo, but she absolutely hates it. I mean hates it. She’s definitely a baby who likes to be tightly bundled up and the Halo gives her a bit too much freedom for her own liking. Hopefully she gets used to it with time.
This is how our nights (and naptimes) have gone this week: Adriana is put on her back in the crib. She immediately rolls onto her tummy, then she cries out of frustration, rolls back, kicks the crib rails, rotates, cries, chews her hand, rotates, creates a puddle of drool on the crib sheet, etc. with her finally ending up on her tummy to sleep at long last. She does seem to love sleeping on her tummy, but when she wakes up she’s frustrated and cries which I think is a combo of not being used to waking up on her tummy and also her teething pain ramping up. We’ve been waking up 5….6…7…8 times a night this week. I don’t even know how I’m typing right now because my brain is lagging about 5 minutes behind my finger strokes. I’m hoping once she gets used to the tummy sleeping a bit more the frequent screaming wake-ups will diminish and we will get back into a better routine again!
Funny story – one night I woke up to her crying and I checked the monitor and all I saw were her FEET in the monitor! Being half asleep I kinda freaked out and was soooo confused. When I went to her nursery I realized she had rotated herself a full 180 degrees! How in the world? Babies are so funny!
Breastfeeding: Still going strong! Her nursing duration has decreased a lot per session these days. Sometimes she’s done in 4-5 minutes, other times she wants to feed for 15 minutes. It really depends. My plan is to exclusively breastfeed until 6 months and slowly introduce solids thereafter. I’m thinking her first food might be pureed avocado with breast milk mixed in. Sounds delicious, right? lol. Eric and I are going to have a video camera set up so we can capture her first bites. I am so pumped!!
Loves: putting her feet in her mouth (this is new, lol), sticking out her tongue really far while squeaking (also new this week), blowing bubbles, looking in mirrors, being tickled under her chin, babbling, rolling as soon as she’s placed on her back, playing airplane, diaper changes, chewing her hands and teethers, her daddy, squealing at the top of her lungs, playing in the jumparoo (her fav thing ever), big Sophie, falling asleep on me after nursing, body slams, grabbing toys/my hair/my face, her baby doll who laughs when you squeeze her, activity centre, sitting in her big girl high chair at the table with us, looking all around during nursing and playing with my bra and shirts, begin sung to (she thinks mama’s voice is quite funny and she laughs every time I sing twinkle, twinkle little star), watching the cat, and soft crinkle books.
Not much love for: bottles, when she gets too tired, middle of the night diaper changes, having shirts put on over her head (the look of horror on her face kills me every time), the cold outdoors, vitamin D drops (she makes this funny face), cold body lotion, getting her ears, nose, or chin rolls cleaned. ;)
Weight/height: She is now over 15 pounds and 26.5 inches in length. I can’t get over how tall she is! And her chubby thighs and elastic band wrists kill me. I was looking at pictures of her as a 1 week old and my jaw dropped. I can’t believe she was once that tiny. I just want to cry…and have 6 more of her! She is now wearing 6-9 month clothing (it depends on the brand), but I’m packing up more and more 6 month sleepers as the days go by.
Oh – her fauxhawk has officially turned into a combover. I die. You know the saying “business in the front and party in the back?” Well hers is “party on the top and old, balding man in the back” heh.
Exercise: I’m happy that despite the craziness going on I’ve been really consistent with workouts lately. They are my sanity-savers. I’ve starting doing a mix of hill walking and running. I’m still doing core work (safe for diastasis recti) about 3 times per week for 5 minutes or so. My core is finally feeling stronger, but I still have a way to go. I haven’t done much strength work lately, but I want to get back into that too. I’m sure as spring approaches I’ll feel more motivated.
Reading: My friend shared this post on parenting lasts called “The Last Time” and I pretty much cried all the tears.
Just a head’s up – I might switch back to updates every 2 weeks now, but I’m just going to play it by ear. If I feel like I have things to share I will pop in. It will depend on the week! You can always check out what we’re up to on Instagram – @theglowspot
Ok, drop me a line and let me know how things are going with you! Any new milestones to share? Challenging weeks? Leaps? New teeth? First words? First steps???
Or maybe you want to share a funny crib story yourself? What antics have your babies/toddlers gotten up to over the years? Tell me what we have to look forward to…
Our Gabriela figure how to turn back-tummy while sleeping with 3 1/2 months, it was Very stressful for US cause we all entered into her nursery to turn her Back again, but in the minute we put her down she turns tummy again. She spins all over her crib as well lol
So many milestones over here as well just loving every minute with this little girl. Still breastfeeding exclusively even tough i am already workin full-time! Lot of pump over here!!!
My little girl (Gemma Paisley) arrived 2 weeks ago on Friday! I am trying to soak up all the little things this time around. I was such a nervous parent with my first, so now I know that every stage goes by so quickly! They change so much so fast. I love reading your updates, sending lots of love!
I used to love sneaking in and watching my boys sleep at night (they are now 23 and 19; no video monitors then, haha!). One of the positions that I loved (and cracked me up) was when they would sleep with their butt in the air – on their tummy, but with their knees tucked up under the belly, so their rear was the highest point. So funny! And such a “baby” thing. Times change…when they were young, “side sleeping position” was recommended, I think to decrease the aspiration risk….bottom line, they’ll be fine, and once they start flipping around, there’s not much you can do anyway!
Ha, my little one used to sleep on her face with her tush in the air at that age – so funny. Can you blame them? After 6 months of being stuck on their backs, no wonder they want a new position. I didn’t stress about it too much…I figured she was old enough and strong enough to be able to switch positions if she wasn’t getting enough air.
I’m curious, when Adriana nurses at night, do you get up and sit in the glider in her room, or do you take her into your bed? Our Fiona didn’t have her own room until she was 8 months, so up until then she’d sleep in her crib in our room (pushed up against our bed with the bars removed). But even after she had a room, she didn’t sleep in it until she was about 10 1/2 months old. With 3-4 wake-ups every night, I did not have the strength to get up and go to her room, wait until she was done nursing and then attempt to put her back into her crib without waking her (which would inevitably take several tries) several times a night. She just slept with us for a couple months until I finally decided to night-wean her.
Hang in there! The sleep deprivation is the HARDEST thing about parenting a baby, in my book. There’s no magic solution, no one-size-fits-all trick. Lol, I remember going to a Leche League meeting for the first time when Fiona was 6 months. I was embarrassed to confess that “my 6 month old girl is still nursing several times a night…what should I do??” The whole group smiled and then told me “that’s totally normal…mine kept doing that until (9, 12, 18….) months!” At first I was totally discouraged. Then I realized there really was no timeline I could force on my little one and I tried to relax about it (more or less successfully, depending on the day) and stop comparing her to those mythical unicorn babies who sleep 12 straight hours a night.
We all love your posts, but don’t worry about posting less often. We understand! Get your rest, girl. :-)
I could have written this post about sleep. My daughter will be 6 months on the 23rd and figured out how to roll in her magic sleep suit last week. We switched her to a sleep sack and we are just now getting back to normal. We went from sleeping through the night to multiple wake ups as she figured out how to move and then be restful in her little body. I spent a few naps laying on her nursery floor, popping up to rescue her when she rolled and panicked. Motherhood!
Thanks for sharing your experience. Adriana is adorable.
Our 5.5 month old went through the same thing a few weeks ago. Except she unfortunately forgot that she can roll from her tummy to her back, and now will only roll back to tummy. It was a painful first few nights, but now she happily sleeps on her stomach and I am trying to relax about it. I still go in and flip her before we go to bed, but she rolls back to her stomach within the hour. One thing I have noticed – her hands don’t turn into little popsicles when she sleeps on her tummy!
As far as the sleep sacks go, they are great for preventing their legs from getting stuck in the crib bars when they are moving all around, in addition to providing extra warmth. I hope Adriana starts to like hers soon.
Our girl is also not very into the bottle, and with the start of solids I am trying to introduce a “transition” sippy cup (breastmilk only), and also help her sip out of a shot glass (also only breastmilk). So far the glass sipping is a big hit and I suspect she might drink out of a kids cup and skip the bottle all together. They are a mystery these little ones! We just did avocado with breastmilk (yum, yum) as a first food and it was a big hit. Too funny to watch the reaction on their little faces as those first bites go in –
Thanks again for a great blog (and cookbook!). We had your empowered noodle bowl for dinner just last night :)
My mom tells me that one day when she woke up, I was missing from my crib. She freaked out and couldn’t fid me anywhere. Turns out I was sound asleep under the bed! (The crib was in the bedroom.) She has no clue how it happened, because the railings were set up high and I just learned how to stand. lol
Hi Angela
My son has been a stomach sleeper since he could lift up his head. I have an Angel Care monitor and highly recommend it. It goes under the mattress and if your baby stops breathing for more than 20 sec an alarm will alert. He slept in his crib from day one but I slept in the bed in his room for the first 6 weeks.It gave me a huge piece of mind from the beginning. We do not turn in on anymore but used it for his first year+.
I’m glad you are enjoying Adriana. I know I sure love my little guy and enjoy him so much.
I so remember all these things…my youngest and likely last baby girl is two and at half! The only way she sleeps through the night is in bed with us! Still. And she started rolling onto her tummy in her crib at four months just like her big sister. Super scary. After we got used to it, I saw this thing at Target…a monitor with a mat that fits under the sheet that senses movement and sets off an alarm if no movement is sensed after 15 seconds. I didn’t buy it because she was awake 6-8 times a night…trust me, the kid was breathing! But, had I know about it when she first started flipping I absolutely would have bought it! Congrats on the breastfeeding. My little one still nurses at nap and bedtime most days…never thought I’d nurse past a year but I will be sad to see it go…such a sweet experience looking into their precious little faces, seeing those eyes look up at you, the milky grins…so worth the time, the exhaustion and the lousy bras and weird clothes we have to wear! Am I right???
I’ve read protein boost milk supply when breastfeeding. How do you get in your protein being a vegan?
Thanks for all the wonderful baby posts! My little girl is about a week younger than yours, and I’ve loved reading along. Do you have any suggestions or books you are reading for introducing solids?
Thank you so much for these honest posts. I’m so so grateful to know I’m not alone in not giving my daughter a bottle (we tried a bunch in the first few months but she refused and would get so mad it broke my heart). I was much happier accepting I would just breastfeeding my daughter (now 8 months) and figuring out that routine. It’s so refreshing go here someone else who does the same thing. I have had a hard time funding support. Thank you so much for your recipes. I LOVE them and feel so good. I can relate to your before and after! Thank you, thank you Angela!
I love all of your baby updates!! That sleep sack looks neat, I’ll have to check it out. I used the sleeping bag style with my DD, so I’m reusing them on my almost 8 mo old DS. My mom actually took a beautiful hand made quilt she found at a consignment store and turned it into a sleep sack :) As for solids, we did BLW with DD and started that around 6 1/2 months with DS. He LOVES to eat!! So funny and entertaining to watch. I can’t wait to see the baby recipes you come up with!!
We are also still going strong EBF after a PTT and ULT laser correction at 3 weeks old. So happy to hear you are too! It’s such a wonderful thing to experience. My DD had the same tie issues only they went undiagnosed until she was 4 months old. Still made it to 16 months EBF though. Hope Adriana starts sleeping through the night for you very soon!! My first had Adriana’s sleep habits and I got super lucky with #2 and he’s been sleeping 7-7 since 3 months!!!!
Welllll, I know you are not supposed to but we have been putting our 2 month old on his tummy for day time naps for a few weeks now. It pins down his hands and keeps his tummy nice and warm and he sleeps so well. Before that he would struggle to sleep at all. We always keep an eye on him and don’t do it at night. I do get scared sometimes but he loves it.
Don’t stop breastfeeding. Is the best food that you can give. Good for her inmune sistem and don’t think that doesn’t have more nutrition after 6 months. I have 2 children. Both were breastfeeding until they were 2 years old. During this time they didn’t have any respiratory infection or digestive problem. I am a family doctor and I have seen a lot babies who grow up much healthier when moms continues breastfeeding after 6 months.
Have a a happy day and I know you will do your best for your daughter.
Skip the middle of the night diaper changes. When they consistently sleep through the night until they are potty trained, you don’t change the diaper. So don’t do it now! Best advice I received from my lactation nurse who nursed triplets. I nursed twins for a year and followed that advice. Flash forward – they are 6 years old and 0 issues from me not changing their diapers.
Glad you posted – I was worried!
I remember being TERRIFIED when my daughter starting rolling onto her stomach in the crib. Thank goodness for the ‘baby tv’ (monitor) so I could go in for frequent checks. She is now almost a year (I can’t believe I just typed that!) and has been sleeping on her stomach for months. I know back is best, but for her, stomach sleeping has been amazing. She also won’t take a bottle (these babies!) so I TOTALLY empathize with the night out. I remember my first time out I didn’t want the night to end :). Thanks so much for these updates. I am so enjoying them. Good luck with the sleeping. She is just precious :).
We gave our 6 month old smashed avocado with a bit of breast milk for her first food too, just a few weeks ago. She had been trying to grab at our food and was ANGRY that we were sitting at the dinner table and that she wasn’t getting to eat anything. So we knew it was time! She was a lot less excited once she actually got to try what we were eating. It took a few days just for her to figure out how to swallow the food. Her natural reflex was to spit it out and she ate very little at first…and still honestly. She really likes sweet potatoes, and is tolerant of peas and green beans if they are mixed with avocado or sweet potatoes.
I am looking forward to some baby food recipes!
Love reading these updates especially since it gives me a small glimpse of what might be coming. Isn’t being a mom the greatest blessing ever? Caroline has not slept on her back since she was 6 weeks old when we transitioned to the crib. Girl has always wanted to sleep on her belly….cue freak out and checking the monitor countless times per night to make sure she was breathing! Gah! The funniest thing she does is what we call ‘army crawling’. We start her at the foot of her crib when she is put down and by morning she has arm crawled to the top and has her head hitting the slats (this is what wakes her up or I’m sure she would sleep longer). It’s hilarious. She has also learned to look at the camera. Dang it!
I wish I could post a picture, but once my daughter learned how to sit up she would fall asleep sitting up in the corner of her crib. Creepiest/funny thing ever. Thank you for taking the time to post such thoughtful updates! Love your blog :)