Two New Videos!

What a cutie pie! I love how Ali can just go wherever she wants now!
Mary Alice has developed this very specific way to eat watermelon. It's pretty funny! I can't believe she can tell the difference between the old and new pieces! What a girl!

8 months old!

What a fun month! Ali is changing and growing up SO much!!

But she still loves her watermelon!

I think she has eaten the equivalent of one whole watermelon in the past 3 days.

One afternoon I decided to pull her hair into a little piggy.

She loves to be with Momma. Here she is baking zucchini muffins with me. What a natural!

This girl is all about standing!! She will use anything around her to pull up and stand. We got this cool toy from Andrea and it is perfect for her now! She loves to stand and push the buttons to make music and sounds. Thanks Ang!

Here are some funny little videos from the past week or so:

***A Baby Whisperer Update***

We love it!!! We have offically been using this method for one week and although we have had ups and downs, it has helped so much! Last Monday got a little harder in the evening but she only woke up twice that night. Tuesday was SUPER hard and I had a good cry to Jimmy but he gave me the encouragement to keep it up. She was only wanting to take 30 minute naps and that meant that I was doing PU/PD for the other hour! Exhasting!! And Sad! I do not like hearing Ali cry! But the nights were still good. We even had a couple nights where she only woke up once! Friday and Saturday were tough because we were getting ready for Melissa's shower and she may have sensed that things were just a little too exciting to sleep. But by Sunday it was GREAT again. She has been taking really good 1 1/2 hour naps since Sunday! Yay!! And she has been waking 3 times to feed but she is definitely going through a growth spurt so I'm fine with waking the extra times to feed. I'm SOOOO happy we started this and that we didn't quit when things got tough. This will help so much while we're traveling this summer and moving to China! We're going to need all the sleep we can get!

BIG DAY!

(caution- this is more of a journal entry for me- probably not going to be too interesting to most people)

I just need to document what a happy day this is turning out to be. I have been looking forward to it nervously for a week and we are right in the thick of things. A couple weeks ago I picked up some books from the library to see if I could help Ali sleep better. She loves to sleep but she also loves to be cuddled and nurse all night long. I have been feeling like something must be done. I really do not have it in me to let her cry it out till she exhausts herself and falls asleep. I read 3 different books and ended up really liking The Baby Whisperer. It seemed like something I could do. It was spelled out step by step- I needed something like that if I was going to make a change in our routine. The book said to observe for two days and then begin in the morning of the 3rd day. I had been praying about it all weekend and felt that it was a good option for us and that it wouldn't hurt Ali. She has been waking up at 4:30 or 5 am and then I have to nurse her and she will sleep till 5:45 or 6:30. Not so good. And this is after a night of waking every 1, 2 or 3 hours. Really not good! So I nursed her at 3 am and put her back to bed. I had a hard time falling asleep because I knew the next time she woke up we would begin "sleep training" and I was nervous how it would all turn out in the end. At 5 I woke up and was surprised she wasn't awake yet. I waited and finally she woke up at 5:38. Here we go! The book said to give them some milk and then begin PU/PD (pick up/ put down). While I was nursing her I realized she had soiled her diaper, something she NEVER does at night/early morning. So I knew I needed to change her diaper. Ugh! I hoped this wouldn't ruin my chances of getting her back to sleep quickly. I finished changing her diaper and nursing her then I gave her her binky and put her in her crib. I went out of the room because she wasn't crying. She laid there for a few minutes ( I watched her on the monitor) then she sat up, played for a couple more minutes and then started to fuss. Not a full out cry, but just letting me know I had left her in there. I walked back in and picked her up then laid her down. She started to cry so I did PU/PD again. She cried harder and harder as I continued to PU/PD over and over. She has NEVER cried that hard and it was the worst thing ever! I hated hearing her cry like that. She was choking and coughing a little. But I knew she was just having a hard time learning how to change the habit we've been in for almost 8 months. Although I was there with her and not abandoning her, I was beginning to feel like this was just cruel. I was one more PU/PD away from giving up when she stopped crying, turned her head to the right and closed her eyes. I kept my hand on her to help calm her. She did a couple whimpers but within a few minutes she settled completely and fell asleep. Jimmy and I were on the ground (hiding so she wouldn't see us and want us to pick her up), and when we heard that she had fallen asleep we crawled out of the room. It took about 20 minutes but she did it! I did it! I couldn't believe it really worked! Unfortunately I had to go in and wake her at 7 am so she would be ready to fall asleep for her first nap at 9 am. I was a little nervous to have to go through that same situation again but I knew that it had worked once so it should work again. I woke her, fed her and we went to the orchard to pick some peaches. By 8:40 it was time to take her in her room to start winding down for the next nap. We read some books until about 8:55. She was so tired so I decided to try putting her down even though it was 5 minutes early. I gave her her binky, kissed her and laid her down in her crib (FIRST time I had not nursed her before putting her down!). She started crying immediately. I picked her up and put her down. I only had to do this about 6 times before she turned her head again and calmed. I kept my hand on her for a couple minutes and she fell asleep. She has been sleeping for 55 minutes! Even the book said that if you use PU/PD you should expect them to wake up within 40 minutes. She stirred a little at that time, but put herself right back to sleep!!! ***cue Hallelujah chorus!*** This is working!!! I am so excited! What if this means that I am going to be able to sleep more than 2 hours at a time??!! That sounds like the best present anyone could ask for. With my birthday being in a couple weeks, that's just what I may get. I know we still have some bumps ahead and a lot of work but I'm so happy for her that she will be more rested. I'm also so happy for me to be more rested and as a result, a better mom and wife! I can't wait to start Baby Whisperer from the very beginning next time we have a baby! LOVE the book! I highly recommend it! It's worth a try if you're feeling like you need more sleep.