7 months

Wednesday marked our little one's 7 month birthday. she continues to light up our world with her growing curiosity. my life has forever been changed in ways i never knew it could be changed, thanks to her.

My sweet baby girl,
     You are not an accident, you were deliberately planned and lovingly positioned on this earth by your heavenly Father.
      Psalm 139:13

at the moment she:
    shakes everything like a polaroid picture
    has one tooth that has broken through
    rolls all over the place
    can position herself into a pilates plank
    crawls.... but only backwards
    loves when daddy throws her into the air
    still loves her bath
    moved into a big girl bath (the sink)
    hates naps
    loves daddy's xbox remote
    isn't too crazy about food. she will eat it, but it takes forever. there's always something else more exciting that she can't take her eyes off of.
    loves her purple vtech phone
    is excited to move into her new home (more on that later)
    loves to play with her cousin Karissa
    makes funny noises when she is falling asleep
    looks at you when you say her name and smiles
    is fascinated with EVERYTHING
    brings joy to everyone who comes in contact with her
    is now almost a toddler. have i missed anything? how will i remember everything? have i already forgot things? how has it already been 7 months? how has it only been 7 months? my baby girl is growing up before my eyes far too quickly.

fun in the sun

on Saturday this past weekend, we spent a few hours hanging with my dearest friends, Marissa, Erica, and Sam. we sat in the sun, drank sodas, ate junk food and just relaxed. emma ate a strawberry, kind of. it was a perfect day.

what a beautiful mess she creates

He is risen!

Happy Easter. what a beautiful day it is to celebrate our risen King!

would you like to know how to make this adorable bow? i just learned.

john 13. i love this. Christ has washed me and i am a new creation in Him!

solids

well, Emma has turned into a pro at eating solid food. she wasn't too sure about it at first. i searched and compared and thought about lots of different ways i wanted to make E's food and i finally ended up with the BEABA babyfood maker. i love it! although i haven't used anything else to make babyfood, i have no complaints with this one. i make enough food at one time to fill an ice cube tray. then i freeze the tray of food. once frozen, i empty the food into freezer bags. it's so easy! this babyfood maker is one of the most expensive out there. when i discovered that Bed Bath and Beyond had it online i was stoked because i was going to use my 20% off coupon. then i discovered this coupon was good for in-store purchases only. so, i went into the store and asked how i could purchase this BEABA machine from them using my coupon. she said, "no problem, we can order it for you here in the store and have it shipped directly to your house and apply your 20% coupon". click here for more information on the BEABA babyfood maker.

      *butternut squash is easily digested, rarely causes allergies and provides a good source of beta-carotene

*apple and pear are easily digested and unlikely to cause allergies

*avocados contain more nutrients than any other type of fruit, they have a high calorie content (ideal for growing babies), they have a great source of the free-radical-fighting antioxidant vitamin E

(which also boosts the immune system) and they are rich in monounsaturated fat, the "good" type of fat that helps prevent heart disesase.

    



*all facts obtained from Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel. click here for more information.

love the sunshine

like most people around here, we are loving the sunshine!

here's proof:

and some more proof from today:

isn't she a doll?!

Ferber-ized

Dr. Ferber is a genius and Kathleen is my hero for introducing me to Dr. Ferber.

emma is now ferberized. she goes to bed peacefully at 9:00 pm and sleeps until 8:00 am-ish. it was rough at first, but the end result is well worth it.
it all started wednesday, March 23. we put the little one down for bed like we usually do {bath at 8:00, pj's, goodnight moon and crib at 8:45, asleep by 9}. i woke up at 1 am to nurse her {like i always do} and she was sound asleep, so i went back to bed. i work up at 5 am to nurse her {like i always do} and she was still sound asleep. i went back to bed. tim and i woke up at 7:30 and wondered if emma had been switched with another baby who sleeps all night because she was STILL ASLEEP! she slept until 8 am! she had a major growth spurt and slept for 11 hours! she also started sitting up on her own the week prior. we are so proud of our little one and so sad that she is growing up so fast.
with this growth spurt came 4 nights of sleepless nights for our little one {and me}. her routine had been knocked out of whack. i blamed it on teething and tried baby orajel and frozen teethers. i blamed it on her growing and fed her more. nothing was working. she would wake and cry and cry. i would rock her back to sleep and gently place her in her crib and tip toe out. the moment my head hit my pillow and my eyes took one last, long blink...she would cry. i emailed my friend, Kathleen and explained my situation and asked her what worked and didn't work for them and their little one. she told me all about Dr. Ferber and his 'cry it out' method. she gave me a basic summary of this method. click here to read babycenter.com's summary of the method. i immediately ordered the book and implemented the method that night. how did it go? so nice of you to ask...

Monday, March 28 {night 1}

• 8:00 - bath, pj's, goodnight moon, crib at 8:30, kiss on head, whisper goodnight
• 8:30 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 8:35 - still crying. soothe with my voice, stroke her hair, kiss her head, binky back in mouth, wait 10 minutes
• 8:45 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 15 minutes
• 9:00 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, head hits the sheet, falls asleep
• 11:50 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 11:55 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 10 minutes
• 12:05 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 15 minutes
• 12:20 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 20 minutes
• 12:29 - asleep
• 4:12 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 4:17 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 10 minutes
• 4:20 - asleep
• 6:45 - wakes up talking
• 7:00 - breakfast

continue the day with the eat, play, sleep routine.

Tuesday, March 29 {night 2}

• 8:00 - bath, pj's, goodnight moon, crib at 8:30, kiss on head, whisper goodnight
• 8:30 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 8:35 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 10 minutes
• 8:45 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 15 minutes
• 8:55 - asleep
• 1:30 - cry, wait 5 minutes. repeat the progressive process until...
• 2:15 - asleep
• 5:30 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 5:35 - asleep
• 7:15 - wakes up talking
• 7:30 - breakfast

we continue the day with the eat, play, sleep routine.

Wednesday, March 30 {night 3}

• 8:00 - bath, pj's, goodnight moon, crib at 8:30, kiss on head, whisper goodnight
• 8:30 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 8:35 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 10 minutes
• 8:45 - not crying. making little grunting noises and heavy eyes
• 8:55- asleep
• 1:54 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 1:59 - cry, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 10 minutes
• 2:09 - cry, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 15 minutes
• 2:14 - asleep
• 7:30 - wakes up talking
• 7:45 - breakfast

continue the day with the eat, play, sleep routine.

Thursday, March 31 {night 4}

• 8:00 - bath, pj's, goodnight moon, crib at 8:30, kiss on head, whisper goodnight
• 8:30 - not crying. making little grunting noises and heavy eyes
• 8:55 - asleep
• 5:00 - cry, wait 5 minutes
• 5:05 - still crying, {voice, kiss and binky}, wait 10 minutes
• 5:12 - asleep
• 8:00 - wakes up talking
• 8:15 - breakfast

continue the day with the eat, play, sleep routine.

Friday, April 1 {night 5}

• repeat thursday night :)

i knew that emma was capable of sleeping all night without needing to eat, i just didn't know how to break the habit. at 6 months, we are now introducing solids to emma {more to come on that subject}. because we didn't introduce earlier, i felt she needed to be fed at night when she woke and our doctor agreed. after 5 nights of 'sleep training', we have 2 nights of consecutive patterns. we will see how long it lasts.
thank you Kathleen and thank you Dr. Ferber!