Sleepytime Woes (The Story of our Life)

Once again we are struggling with naptime - and unfortunately bedtime, AND sleeping through the night! What has struck our happy household?! As I've blogged before, the naptime routine has gone back and forth - one nap or two naps for several months now. Unfortunately it seems that no matter how many naps we shoot for every day (today just one), it's never easy these days. In fact, it's naptime at our house right now. Am I listening to the soothing sounds of a quiet house? Nope - I'm blogging as an attempt to distract myself from the sad sounds of my baby girl whining, crying, screaming, anything to entice me to get me from her crib. We're at the 30 minute mark now. I know, I feel like a horrible mommy - as I am writing this it is making me cry because I feel like a heartless monster. But what do you do for a little girl who desperately needs a nap, but won't let you rock her to sleep, won't even sit still for 1 minute to fall asleep unless left alone in her crib? Yesterday's nap only involved 15 minutes of crying - almost seems easy at this point. Bedtime was only a 10 minute sob-fest. I felt pretty good about that. Until she got up at 1:30 am and whined and cried until I got her out of bed at 2:30. The minute I got her out of the crib she was perfectly fine, pointing out to the living room and saying "plee, plee." After laying down on the couch with her for an hour, she fell asleep (I was shocked!). Sadly, moving her back into her bed wasn't so successful. She was immediately furious and indignant that I would even consider such a ridiculous idea! I was determined to get her to go back to sleep in her crib, so I dragged my aching heart from her room, and listened to her cry for over an hour. At 4:30 am we both got back to bed. She was up at 6:30 this morning. Taylee has never been a great sleeper, but what is this craziness?! We've analyzed all the possibilities - her cold, teething, night terrors, separation anxiety . . . who knows. As I finish this rant, it's been quiet for a solid 2 minutes. Oh, please, please, please. I'm not sure my sanity can take any more of listening to my baby cry.

Valentine's Day 2011

Yes, we do still celebrate Valentine's Day in our busy, toddler-chasing household! This year we were CRAZY and braved the crowds to have a romantic dinner (at Chili's ;) on Valentine's Day. Whoa! By calling ahead and dining with the senior citizens, we only waited about 10 minutes. The best part? We ate a very peaceful meal while Taylee played with Grandma and Grandpa Judson. Dining with Taylee is fun in it's own way, and an adventure to say the least. But we definitely enjoy an occasional adult meal. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Our dinner was yummy, casual, and easy. Afterwards we picked up Taylee to head home for bathtime and bedtime. All was well, except that Taylee's bedtime blues were creeping up, and she was NOT happy about bedtime. We, sadly, ate our Valentine's Day dessert, and opened our small gifts to each other to the tune of Taylee's sad crying. It was unfortunate, but she was asleep without TOO much drama, so we were able to relax for about 10 minutes before our 10 o'clock bedtime. Ok, we really go to bed at like 9:30, but we really pushed the envelope for Valentine's Day! Hope you had a great Valentine's!

We LOVE the Itsy Bitsy Spider

Taylee loves music, almost any kind. She has a couple of music DVDs which she loves to watch, and are sure to get her dancin'! She particularly loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider. When I sing it to her, she starts trying to do the fingers imitating the climbing spider and the falling rain. It's pretty darn cute! Well, today I took Taylee to a dr's appt, and she was NOT pleased about getting in the car. She wanted to play outside with the basketball. I loaded her into the car seat while she tried to throw herself out of the seat and kicked and screamed. It was fun. We headed out, and she was a screamin' demon. I put on "her music" to no avail - until the itsy bitsy spider came on. Suddenly it was quiet - I didn't know what was happening, until I looked back and saw her doing her spider hands. So cute. Thank you Itsy Bitsy Spider, for a quiet ride in the car!

Nana's Birthday!

Nana's birthday dinner started off a little rough, with a visit to the InstaCare for poppie, with a little appendicitis scare. Fortunately, a CT scan and a big bill later, poppie has a clean bill of health. Thanks for the gold star treatment at the InstaCare Aunt Amber! Nana picked Olive Garden for her birthday dinner, and it was (as usual) delicious. Nana really likes the Five cheese Ziti Al Forno, which is fortunate, because Taylee does too, and Nana is happy to share!
After the yummy dinner, we went to our house for cake, ice cream, and presents. Cake is a passion we all share, and this cake did not disappoint. It was a decadent, RICH, chocolate and caramel "turtle" cake. Mmmmm! Poppie surprised nana with beautiful clock from Pottery Barn, which she loves! For some reason I've included a picture of the box it came in, rather than the clock itself. You can see it's big, and you'll have to take my word for it - it's gorgeous! Happy Birthday Nana! Love you!

18 Months

Taylee is now 18 months old! Holy Cow, how time flies . . . She is so many things, it's hard to describe her unique little personality in words. She is so busy, we can hardly keep up with her. She went to see the doctor today for her well baby check-up, and Dr. Strasser was very pleased with Taylee's progress. She continues to grow like a tall, skinny weed.

Height 32.5 inches = 73rd %

Weight 22 lbs 10 oz. = 24th %

OFC = 45.5 cm = 22nd %

We talked about how excited we are about Taylee's developing vocabulary. She is nearly average now, saying about 10-15 words. We are all still puzzled by her unwillingness to call me mommy and Kent daddy. I guess if she is able to get our attention in other ways, why bother? We've decided to go ahead and pursue further speech therapy through Primary's, just to take advantage of all the resources available to her. More to come on that, I'm sure . . .

So, all in all, it was a pretty uneventful Dr. visit (Yay!). A couple of shots, and we were off with our very unhappy little girl. ;( Don't worry -she's napping it off now.

Some 18 month Tayleeisms -

-She LOVES bathtime, and lately she's been blowing bubbles and swimming like a fishy in the tub.

-She says several words - eye, nose, baby, please (pleeb), help (hep), more (mo), up, down, bye-bye, daddy, mama, hot (haw), ball, and sometimes movie.

-She is a pretty good sleeper, although she STILL gets up by around 6:30. 7 o'clock is a great day! She takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap. We are still unable to transition to one nap a day.

-She likes typical kid foods like mac n' chz, and chicken nuggets, but she also loves things like halibut and peas. She'd love to eat cottage cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

-She no longer gets a bottle, and has yet to find a favorite drink or a favorite sippy. She does love water though . . . especially from mommy, daddy, or Skyler's cup.

-She loves to push her shopping cart all around the house, collecting random items (especially dirty clothes).

-She loves to dance - to almost any music - nursery rhymes, commercials, Black Eyed Peas, and even mommies singing! And many of her moves resemble traditional Polynesian dancing. It's pretty darn cute!

-She would watch Sesame Street or one of her DVD's all day if we let her.

-She HATES being strapped down, and is always on the go, go, go. She has, however, gotten significantly better about riding in the car. No more car meltdowns! YAY!

-She loves to read books - by herself, or with mommy and daddy.

-She does NOT like it when mommy is busy with cooking or cleaning, and she tries to physically push me out of the kitchen.

-She walks around the house saying "mo pleeb, and she often doesn't know what she wants.

-She is still a mama's girl, but she sure loves to play with daddy and Skyler - especially when they "run" with her.

-She's a little tomboy, and refuses to wear a hat, a headband, or a hairbow. Much to mommy's chagrin.

-She is more fun than a bowl full of jelly!

We Love you Taylee Bug. Now please stop growing so fast!

To Bottle or Not to Bottle?

Well, we've done it. The bottle is no longer a part of our lives. Much to little Miss Taylee's chagrin. Kent took the reins last Friday when I was at work and offered her only her "thinkbaby" cup. She wasn't thrilled, but she did settle down and drink a few ounces before bed. The next morning, well, not a drop. I jumped on board and off we went. The remainder of the weekend was hit and miss with the thinkbaby. She wasn't happy, but it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, as the days without her bottle have gone on, she seems to be getting more and more frustrated. In the evenings at her normal "bottle time" (ie after bathtime), she gets absolutely furious when we try and offer her other drinks - thinkbaby, sippy, etc. And when she wakes up in the morning and finds that no bottle is forthcoming, she goes from angry to just sobbing. It breaks my heart. It kills me to have exactly what she wants, but not be able to give it to her. I sure hope her little memory is short so we can move past this sad little phase. Silly Baby.

ThinkBaby

ThinkBaby is here! In the continuing quest to remove the bottle from our lives, I have taken the advice of a friendly co-worker and ordered the ThinkBaby. Touted as a transition cup from bottle to sippy, I thought this might just be the answer. Now that it has arrived, Taylee has been doing some "sipping" from this thinkbaby cup, but I'm not sure it is as effective as the bottle at getting her to drink milk. But, here's the big issue - if I'm not mistaken this transition cup is actually . . . A BOTTLE! Can I really consider her off the bottle when she's drinking from this device? What do you think?!

My Confession

After reading my friend Deidra's post about her "little secret" - can you say roller derby?! I felt inspired to post my own dark secret. This is a far stretch from Deidra's fun little hobby, but it does rank high in my list of worries. And without worries, I just wouldn't be me . . .

Taylee is 18 months old, and she still gets a bottle. I know, shame on me as a mommy. This is one of those seemingly simple things in life, that somehow doesn't seem so simple to me. The bottle was supposed to exit our world around 12 months. I just didn't feel like she was ready, and my pediatrician told us to shoot for 18 months as a goal to be rid of the bottle. That seemed easy schmeezy back in July. January was a world away. Not so much now. The thing is, she only gets two bottles a day. One first thing in the morning and one just before bed. We even brush her teeth after her bottle.
Here are my reasons for NOT getting rid of the bottle (yet) -
+ She LOVES it.
+ It is my crutch - She drinks her bottle and plays in her playpen for a solid 30 minutes while I finish my run (when she gets up before I am finished - i.e. almost every day). Without the bottle I doubt she'd last more than 10 minutes. This seems silly, but if you know me, you know running keeps me sane.
+It's the ONLY snuggle time I get anymore. She snuggles up with me and her bottle before bed, and on the occasional morning when she sleeps past 6:30.
+She won't drink milk from a sippy. She takes the name sippy literally - a sip here, a sip there. She loves water from a sippy, but NOT milk. Even since I have begun cutting back the amount of milk in her bottle, she hasn't increased her "other" intake. (Yes, I'm a nurse . . .) I'm afraid she may shrivel right up.

Here are my reasons FOR getting rid of the bottle -
+I'm supposed to.

Many people have offered good advice - go cold turkey; wean the amount slowly (the method I'm currently taking); don't worry - she'll ditch it when she's ready (not so sure she will EVER ditch it). What's a mom to do . . .

OMG 15 Years Old!

I know, can you believe it?! Skyler is FIFTEEN already. We are taking him next week to get his learner's permit. This is a topic for another post, but can I just say that I think letting them practice for a year is a great idea?! Why didn't they think of this sooner?

So, for Skyler's birthday we partied like Rock Stars! Well, not really, but we did have a party, and we did have a great time! We hosted the party in our newly finished (but not quite decorated) basement. We put that new Christmas present to good use with an Air Hockey Tournament. Congrats to Kent and Hunter on winning the championship!!

We played some darts, watched some football, ate lots of pizza, cookies, and cake (I forgot the ice cream . . . oops), and Skyler got SPOILED, as usual with lots of presents. Gift cards, video games, a football, a basketball, a new golf bag, and a new snowboarding coat. What a lucky kid!

Happy Birthday Skyler! We Love You!

After Christmas Fun

We spent Sunday afternoon at Nana and PaPaw's to enjoy the football game, and some family time. The family time was great, and for once this season, so was the football game!! Taylee hasn't yet learned the joys of watching Broncos football, and she spends most of her time at Nana's whining to go outside. Eventually she convinced Nana to take her out in the snow. They had a blast. Well, Taylee did anyways . . . She even got Nana to walk through the snow in her socks. She is certainly a loved little girl!

After the game we headed over to check out the Christmas Light display at Layton Park. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Taylee LOVED it! She was pointing and yelling and quite enamored with the lights. Good idea PaPaw! All the Christmas fun left Taylee pretty tuckered out . . . And Skyler took the opportunity to snuggle with our very un-snuggly girl!