Brighter Mornings

We really need some curtains.

Okay, well I though it was funny.....

We've made some changes to Norah's schedule and part of that was moving our bed to the other room. We currently have a bedroom and a living room. Okay and a bathroom. We decided that part of Norah's problem with waking up at night was she could see us just a few feet away and didn't understand why we wouldn't pick her up. Hence why letting her cry it out was NOT working. So we rearranged our livingroom/bedroom so our bed is out and she is in the bedroom by herself. The livingroom doesn't have curtains.

Night one, she went to bed pretty easily, woke up an hour and a half later crying. We braced ourselves and let her cry. It didn't even last 10 minutes and she was asleep. I covered her up and she slept for five hours! She woke up again around 3am so I nursed her and she went right back to sleep. It. Was. GREAT!

Night two, she screamed when we put her down for the night, George ended up going in and giving her a binkie after 10-15mins of crying and she was out. Woke up around 2am to eat and went right back to sleep. We were all up by 6:30am, not too bad!

I also decided to remove one feeding time from the day. Now she's eating about every 3.5-4hours. And wouldn't you know....she's hungry! A lot of her fussy behavior has gone away while eating her solids and she eats more in one sitting. I also stopped letting her nurse to sleep. It was 50/50 if she ate before her naps, now I make sure she eats when she wakes up not right before sleeping. I even switched her bedtime routine around so now she nurses before she has a bath, then goes to bed.

So far so good, hopefully things keep improving! Many thanks to Ana for suggesting the Babywise books. While I don't agree with everything, I had several Ah Ha! moments while reading them that has lead to a happier momma and baby.

8 months!

Wow, eight months already! Norah is very vocal, crawling everywhere and over objects, pulling herself up to stand by holding on to just about anything, and starting to do better about eating solids! We wish she would sleep more/better at night, but other than that she is amazing :)
Here are a few pictures from the last few days. You can really see George's eyes in the last few pictures. She's so beautiful!

Oh sleep, how I miss you....

Norah will be 8 months old tomorrow. She was sleeping through the night until about 5.5 months old. Ever since then she has been waking up 2-3 or more times at night. Sometimes hungry, sometimes just crying for reasons we can't figure out. I miss sleeping. I have read so many things to try and help her: eat more solids, nap better, get her to bond with a lovey, it's just because of milestones, it's just a phase, let her cry it out, don't let her cry it out. AGH!
Any suggestions from all you wise mommas out there?

Great video: Lost Generation

Standing

Norah has figured out how to pull herself up on just about anything. She really likes standing! The first few days of pulling up she was soooo happy when she finally got up, too cute. Although she was equally confused when she would lose her balance and sit down!

I got these super cute jammies on clearance at Old Navy. She's also starting to do a little bit of crusing, taking a few steps while holding on to something. It always results in a little tumble to the floor, but no harm done. We're pretty sure she will be an early walker...

Adventures in Food

Norah doesn't like pureed baby food. At all. She will pinch her lips closed and turn her head if she sees a spoon coming. But, she loooooves finger food. So, after a bit of research we decided to just go with all finger foods. I've cooked up some carrot slices, apple chunks, and this sweet potato. She enjoyed mashing all of them (at different times) and smushing them into her mouth. Yes, she really does chew/gum them and swallow, we've seen the results! It's pretty messy, but makes for a much happier baby and no struggle to get her to try and eat.