Tatertot Tuesday #51: Barefoot on a summer afternoon

These pictures are from the week before her birthday, but I really like them so I wanted to share them with you. If you've been on my myspace, then you've already seen them, but I'm sure you won't mind seeing them again. And if you do mind, too bad.

Tatertot Tuesday #50: First Birthday

Tatertot Tuesday #49: A little trip back in time...

Here is Aeralyn at 2 weeks old:



And here she is today, just shy of 1 year old.

What a difference a year makes.

Tatertot Tuesday #48: Bed Head

Houston, we have a TOOTH!

Finally, at eleven and a half months old, Aeralyn has gotten her first tooth. That explains the week of clinginess/fussiness that has plagued our household. Thank goodness the little booger finally popped through. Now we can hopefully get back to normal. Also, any tips on how to go about this weaning stuff? Because, SHE IS GETTING TEETH, Oh my GOD!

I'm busily planning Aeralyn's first birthday party. I can't believe it is only two weeks from this Saturday. And I've still got alot to do. So far I have the supplies and all of the decorations, minus balloons. I've got the invitations made out and addressed, but not stamped and sent yet. I"ve got her dress, and an appointment for the birthday pictures. I've picked out the cake and given my ideas to the cake baker (because I sure as heck can't bake a cake).

But there is still so much to do.

I've got to decide on the menu for the party. Do I want to do finger foods like cheese and fruit and veggie trays or should we just grill hamburgers and hot dogs and have chips? Or pizzas? Any thoughts? I'm leaning more towards the finger food idea just because I think that would be what Aeralyn would like most, and so would I. But I'm thinking it may end up being more expensive and harder to put together.

I"ve got to find a bow to match the birthday dress, or if I can't find one to match I'll have to make it. I've still got to finish shopping for the last present that we will be getting her, and wrap them all. I've got to make or find a cute notebook to have at the party for everyone to write something special to Aeralyn in. And in the mean time, I need to find a crap load of money to do all of this with. Holy moly, looks like I better get busy people.

What Matters Most

Around here today, there are many things that need to be done. There are clothes to be washed, and towels to be folded and put away. There are dishes to be loaded in the dishwasher, sinks to be scrubbed, and floors to be mopped. There are carpets that need to be vacuumed, and trash that needs to be taken out. There are errands to run, checks to write, and phone calls to make.

But none of that matters right now. All of that can wait until tomorrow, or even the next day. The only thing that is important right now is that my little girl wants her mama. She needs me to hold her and rock her and kiss her sweet cheeks. The rest of the world can wait because someday, she won't need me anymore. But right now, she does, and that's all that matters.

Tatertot Tuesday #47: Baby in the mirror

Tatertot Tuesday #46: Cranky Pants

These pictures were taken this morning right after she slapped the bowl of oatmeal I was feeding her out of my hand. It is going to be a long day.

Tatertot Tuesday #45: Wow, Look at her GO!

I am in disbelief that she is doing this. She just took her first un-sure, wobbly step on July 1st, and look at her now. My little girl is growing up way too fast *wipes a tear*.

Mission Sleep Through The Night: Night Two

*sigh* Last night was not great. I put her to bed at 7:45pm, and she was up at 8:20pm. It took Aaron and I right at an hour to get her back to sleep. When I first went in her room, I layed her back down and tried patting her back, but she was NOT having that. So I picked her up and rocked her without offering to nurse. I got her to the relaxed state and layed her down, and she started fussing so I stayed there with her and patted her back, rubbed her head, etc. This went on for about 30 minutes until I couldn't lean over the crib anymore, and as soon as I walked away she started screaming. So Aaron went in and did the same thing (except he didn't pick her up at all), and she fell asleep after about 15 minutes, but only slept for about 3 minutes. Then I went back in and she was so worked up, so I picked her up and nursed her for less than five minutes, and put her in her crib and patted her back for only a couple of minutes, then she was asleep. That was at 9:25pm, and she slept until 12:15pm.

Then, I remember looking at the clock when she woke up, but I have no recollectuion of actually going and getting her and bringing her to my room. That happens all the time. So I think what I'm going to have to do is set an alarm for a few minutes before she usually gets up so I will be up and ready when she wakes up. Then I will try to get her to sleep in her crib. We will see.

My ultimate goal is getting her weaned completely at night. I would like to have her fully weaned by October, November at the latest, but I can't start weaning during the day until she is weaned at night. I have a feeling this is not going to be an easy process...

Thank y'all for helping me out and encouraging me during this time. It really is hard, especially when I know that I've created this situation. I have found myself constantly questioning and anlayzing my parenting lately, and I'm starting to drive myself a little crazy. I was so focused on breastfeeding in the beginning with Aeralyn, even though it did not come easy for me. She was a very fussy/colicky baby, and the one and only way to get her to calm down was to nurse her. So I did that, for hours and hours on end, day and night. I was obsessed with the fact that I didn't know whether or not she was getting enough, and if she was crying, my first thought was that she might be hungry. Even if she had just nursed 20 minutes earlier, I thought maybe she didn't get enough because I had no way of knowing. It was exhausting and frustrating, but she eventually grew out of the stage where she wanted to be attatched to my breast every second of the day. But, I still kept up with the "on-demand" feeding. I never fed her on a schedule. I never looked at a clock to see what time and for how long she was nursing. And I always nursed her to sleep. So this is how all this got started. It was all me. And I get alot of criticism from people over this situation too. I constantly hear about how Aeralyn is so spoiled, or how they can't believe I don't have her on a routine. Or, "She's not sleeping through the night YET?!", or "Are you STILL breastfeeding? When are you planning on stopping that?" as if it is the worst thing in the world. So, thank you all for not criticizing me here because all I am is a first time mom with no clue what to do. I'm just trying to be a good mom. And poor Aeralyn gets to be the guinea pig.

I'm going to respond to your comments in this post because I hate actually responding in the comments since I never know if anyone checks back to see.

Jessica: Thanks for posting Dylan's schedule. It actually looks fairly similar to Aeralyn's day, excet that she doesn't take a nap that is anywhere close to that long. I think that has alot to do with why she's not sleeping at night too, so I'm working on that. I wish that I would have started putting Aeralyn to bed awake at a really young age. I wish I would have thought to do that because, honestly? That never even crossed my mind. But now, it's impossible to even let her try to cry it out because she doesn't just lay there and cry anymore. As soon as you step away from her, she is standing up at the side of the crib and trying to climb out, all the while screaming her head off. So I just don't see her going to sleep that way, you know? And I have mentioned it to her pediatrician, but I keep my mouth shut now when he asks me if she is sleeping through the night because I didn't like his advice. He told me, get ready for this now....to give her Benadryl to help her sleep through the night. Yeah. And the only reason I haven't changed pediatricians is because I LOVE everything else about him, and Aeralyn absolutely adores him, so I think I'll just live with that. And the other pediatrician in the practice is an AP (attatchment parenting) mom to the EXTREME. I consider myself AP, but not in the ways that she is. She told me not to worry about her not sleeping through the night until she was atleast 2 years old, and by the way, aren't you planning on breastfeeding her until she's in preschool? And no, I'm not exaggerating. So, unfortunately I have no good advice on the pediatrician end.
I am going to do a combination of what you did with Dylan and what the book said to do. I'm not going to pick her up unless she is majorly freaking out. I'm hoping this doesn't take too long. Thanks again for your help and encouragement.

Erica: Good to hear from you! I've missed your blogs lately. Thanks for your comment. Night nursing is definitely a habit for Aeralyn. I know she's not really hungry, she just wants the comfort of it. I have tried giving her formula before bed with a little bit of cereal in it (several months ago), but it didn't help at all. That is how I found out that the night nursing was for comfort and not hunger because I knew she was full from that bottle. She is trained to wake up and nurse. I'm like a human pacifier. And consequently, she absolutely will not take a pacifier. I try to give her one on a daily basis. Or nightly that is. Also, the last time I tried to give her a bottle, she would not take it. I had waited too long since the last time I had given her one, so she would not have it. And when I leave her for a few hours with my in-laws, she would rather just wait for me to come home than take a bottle. She will eat solid food and drink water or juice from a sippy while I'm gone, but she won't take a bottle. I've actually thought about giving her water or formula in a sippy cup when she wakes up instead of nursing her. I wonder if maybe she would realize that she's not going to get to nurse, so she'll stop waking up. What do you think? Thanks again for your comment and thoughts!

The Day is Falling Apart

Well, so much for the schedule! We were doing great until around 10:00am, Aeralyn fell off my bed and landed right on her head. I know, what was she doing on the bed? I know! I feel awful. I was less than 6 inches away from her when she fell, but I just couldn't catch her in time. It was like it happened so fast, but in slow motion too. I called the pediatician and they said to monitor her and to keep her up for the next 30 minutes. She only cried for about 5 minutes after it happened, and then she acted fine. She doesn't even have a knot on her head (yet) and it's only a little red. I'm so glad she missed the corner of my cedar chest because then we would have had a much bigger problem on our hands. The pediatrician called back about 45 minutes later to check on her and said it would be fine to put her down for a nap. That is what she is doing now, so I guess the schedule isn't completely thrown off. Never a dull moment.

Tatertot Tuesday #44: Blueberries!

These pictures are from a few weeks ago, but trust me you wouldn't want to see any recent pictures. Aeralyn has had a serious case of the crankies. I'm pretty sure she's teething, so pray that this is over with soon. What's that you say? It's only the beginning? Thanks for that reassurance.

Tatertot Tuesday #43: Yum!

I'm having video problems again, of course. And this time it's a really good video too. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have it up and running, but until then you can enjoy these pictures of Aeralyn eating her first piece of home grown sweet corn.

Tatertot Tuesday #42: Aeralyn tells you how it is.

The place: Gammie and Papa's kitchen
The Cast: Lola-Belle as Beggar of Food, Gammie as Stunt Assistant, and of course, Aeralyn as Cutest Baby Ever

Click and Enjoy

Happy Summer!

Today is the first day of summer, so...HAPPY SUMMER! I can't say that I really love summer anymore. Summer used to hold a special kind of magic while I was in school. It always meant the end of one school year and time to have fun. Aaron and I would go to the beach, go out tubing on the boat, go fishing in the river, and go swimming. Now it's just a big pain in the butt if you ask me. I live in Georgia, so I probably don't even have to tell you about how hot it gets here. But, for those of you who don't know, in the middle of July you can walk out of the front door and immediately burst into flames. It's that freaking hot.

So anyway, it's summer. I don't know how many of you remember, but I said I was going to do something before the start of summer. Does this ring a bell for any of you? Well, I have been working on it, and I have to say I am pretty proud of the result.

Here are the before pictures:

And here are the after pictures:

Not too shabby, huh? It is now a scrabooking/storage room. The recliner is only in there until we can get rid of it. And, did you notice my child in the second picture? That is her just moments before she stood up, ON HER OWN, without pulling up on anything. Of course, my camera was too slow to get the picture of her standing up because she only did it for a few seconds, but still, SHE DID IT! And I? Am terrified of what this means.

Tatertot Tuesday #39: At last...She Dances!!

I STILL cannot get the video of Aeralyn dancing to upload to my site and I'm about to throw the computer out the window over it. So, instead you can click here to see it. If you hear a loud scream, don't worry, it was just my head exploding because this thing didn't work.

Beach

I know I'm getting slack with this blog, but I'm hoping to have more time for this once Aeralyn grows out of this stage that she is in right now. She is into everything, and I'm constantly chasing along behind her making sure that she doesn't hurt herself. I still haven't had any luck uploading the video of her dancing, and it's starting to make me mad because I really want to show it to y'all. Hopefully by Tuesday I will have it up and running. Until then, I have more pictures. I know, this blog is turning into nothing but pictures, but I don't hear anyone complaining so I will just go with it.

Yesterday, we took Aeralyn to the beach for the first time and we took some family photos. ALOT of photos. Here are a few:

Tatertot Tuesday #37: Every Girl...

...needs a sweet pair of shades.