One of those days...

Have you ever woke up in the morning and were already "done" from the beginning? Yes, I realize that it's not the most pleasant way to start one's day, but I imagine everyone can somewhat relate. I have had days that began like that, but ended up not being so bad. I wish that were the case last Tuesday, but unfortunately it wasn't- it was just the beginning of a day that should have stopped before it started.

Ellie ended up catching the nasty cold that Maisie was just getting over. Ellie while mellow tempered 99% of the time, being sick is the exception to the rule. She gets so sleep deprived from not being able to breathe well, that she is just unable to cope with normal life. "Sweet and quiet Ellie", we have since learned, has a set of pipes that can in fact, yell to insanity inducing levels. And boy, does she have stamina. Tuesday she was like the energizer bunny, except instead of beating a little drum and parading around the house, she screamed and she screamed no matter what I did, where she was and despite all attempts from me and Maisie to cheer her up. 

Austin had just started a new semester of school the day prior to "the day from hades" and upon looking at our shared calendar and seeing that Austin was currently between classes with a nice chunk until his next class (probably 2 hours or so). I texted him to see if he could come home, but he informed me he was going to study a little bit before his next class. Normally this wouldn't have bothered me, but that day I NEEDED rescue. So when a little bit later Austin texted me asking how things were going I informed him that Ellie had been crying/screaming non-stop for more than an hour. 15 minutes later and she was still going strong I ended up taking a couple pictures of the scene, hoping that the evidence of the terribleness would convince him to come to my or Ellie's aid (I guess that depends on who you find the victim to be).

These were the pictures I sent:

Ok before you think I am a terrible mother for taking pictures of my screaming child or by preventing my husband from his studies, please know that I wasn't completely in my normal state of mind and that I was extremely desperate to get Austin to come home for all of our sakes. I have to say though, she still looks cute even while blowing our ear drums out. Plus, that top picture with that lip pout? I am glad I have it documented because it melts me every time.

Are you curious about whether Austin came home or not?

He did. Of course he did. 

Plus this story has a happy ending:

Austin finished studying.

Ellie finally fell asleep.

AND everyone returned to their happy and healthy selves.

And that's the end to one of the worst days I have had in a long time. In retrospect it's sort of humorous, but trust me if I had a chance to go back and relive it, I would politely pass.

Registered for Kindergarten

Maisie mastering the art of selfies. I found these by surprise on my phone just a few days ago.

Well, my days of (selfishly) having both my girls home with me are coming to an end. Maisie is officially registered for Kindergarten, with a start date towards the end of August. I am having mixed feelings about it all. On one hand I am so excited for her. Maisie has been wanting to go to school since she was 3 and she is thrilled with the idea that she is going to be a kindergartener. You should see how she lights up when she talks about it. I'm looking forward to seeing the excitement on her face when she sees her classroom and classmates for the first time.

 On the other hand... I am dreading it. Seriously. I am having anxiety over it (and not the good kind). I want to keep her with me for selfish reasons because this is IT. Once she starts there's no going back  and that scares me. I have always thought the most terrifying word was and is the word irreplaceable. And I know that truly my time with my girls attached at my hip is in fact irreplaceable. Nothing will fit that spot the same. But I also know good things will come from the changing of seasons. I just need to focus on savoring the season I am currently in and not spend my time, thoughts and energy dreading the end of it. So that's what I am trying to do.

So here's to soaking up one more summer before school begins!

Ellie @ 8 months

*Ellie will be 9 months tomorrow (what!?) so with these monthly posts I think I will keep going along with how I have been doing it...unintentionally waiting until the month of said age is close to being over (or like last months totally over) I'll shoot for the last day of that month. I feel like that will be the best way to truly document what's really happening at that age.*

Likes:

Pulling herself to a standing position by holding onto anything within arms reach... couch, bench, tub, sister's back (sometimes hair... ouch!), mama's leg. You name it and this girl will use it to stand up.

Crawling- boy, is she a good crawler! I sort of miss the rolly poly she used to be, but Ellie is so happy to get to see the world as it was intended to be seen (right side up) that it's hard to be too sad about it.

Eating anything that is not meant to be eaten. Paper, grass/twigs/leaves, dirt, plastic. pretty much anything that she could choke on or anything that is just not advised to eat the more she enjoys it. The picture at the top of this post, if you look closely you will see the dirt on her face that she tried to eat before the picture was taken.

Taking baths without her baby bath seat.

Sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed... we only allow it in the early morning (for her last meal of the night) when she briefly wakes up to eat. She sleeps like a dream in our bed, unfortunately I do not when she is in it... she sleeps like a starfish.

Playing with the letter magnets on the fridge.

Sneaking off to the bathroom hoping to find some paper to eat- this has now started a closed door bathroom policy.

Being carried in the babyhawk.

Finding me when I leave the room. Say if I am in the kitchen she will come find me and when she does she lets out the proudest little giggles.

Having a reliable schedule. She has been sleeping so much better since we have been proactively keeping to a schedule. We still like some flexibility so give or take an hour seems to be just fine.

Sleeping on her belly! We've got a belly sleeper now!

Rubbing her eyes and tugging on her hair (sometimes pulling little handfuls out) while she is nursing.

Being read to.

I found her in the hallway like this- Maisie is always trying to dress Ellie up.

Dislikes:

Food- apart from the occasional organic baby puff things or a few cherrios here and there.

Having her mouth fished out when she is inevitably eating something she should not be.

Being constipated. who knew that was even possible from like 3 cheerios?!

Getting dressed after the bath.

Having a stuffy and runny nose- baby girl got hit by a terrible cold. It was 3 extremely rough nights and dare I say even rougher days. She cried for hours from being so uncomfortable or from sheer frustration. She is now gradually getting back to her pre-cold schedule and will hopefully catch up on all the lost sleep.

First face full of water... yeahhh she wasn't too happy about the feeling of water in the nose.

Legs stuck in the crib slats.

Skills:

Signs: "milk" and "more". Now we are working on the signs "all done" and "please".

Claps and waves.

Can drink with a straw.

Holds out her arms to be held.

Starting to say dada more to Austin.

Firsts:

Eating in her high chair- she only manages to eat a couple bites, but we're trying.

Visit to the duck park:

Learned to crawl and pull herself up on things.

Time swimming.

Trip to Utah.

Things to remember:

How she gives the biggest open mouth slobbery kisses.

Her breathy surprised laugh.

Her happy almost pant-like quick breathing.

The way she whispers.

How happy her voice sounds when she says "mama"- it goes up like a whole octave. 

The certain giggle she reserves just for Maisie.

The way when she's upset or hurt how she will immediately crawl to me for cuddles.

Big Hero 6

Love Baymax's fingers and Go Go's wheel shoes with "sparks because she's FAST!"

Maisie is OBSESSED with Big Hero 6... She wants to watch it all the time, or listen to the soundtrack on loop. The girl can listen to the song themes on Spotify and know EXACTLY what part of the movie it's from. Baymax is her current favorite thing ever, even surpassing Perry the platypus (from Phineas and Ferb). Trust me, thats saying something. Maisie has now decided that she wants to have a Big Hero 6 birthday party. Before, she was wanting a Lalaloopsy party which I was excited about because decorating would be so fun, or other party themes she was talking about- a mermaid or puppy party. But now she is 100% positive she wants a "Baymax party". So I am going to have to get creative here.

Anyway, since Maisie's other great love is coloring/drawing/writing/painting, she has put her artistic abilities to good use by drawing all the characters from Big Hero 6. She draws them at least once a day and lots of Baymaxs.

"nurse Baymax" on the left and "superhero Baymax" on the right (check out that kung fu pose).

Salt Lake City Mini-Trip (Part 2) - Temple Square

We couldn't go to Salt Lake City and not walk around Temple Square right? We walked around our first night and then again the next morning. It was insanely beautiful. Probably the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen and not just that, but the landscaping was also stunning. 

Since it was so close to Easter Austin and I decided that we would take pictures of the girls in their Easter dresses and I am so glad we did because we got some pictures of the girls that I know I will cherish forever. It was a perfect way to end our trip.

It was 80+ degrees and couldn't have been more perfect. It made it hard to come back to good ole cold Rexburg, but we came back happy regardless.

Salt Lake City Mini-Trip (Part 1)

Austin had some old Netflix friends coming into Salt Lake that wanted to get together for dinner, so we decided to make a little trip out of it by staying in a hotel in Downtown Salt Lake and play tourists around the city. Maisie was thrilled to be staying in a hotel and swimming in the pool until midnight (bed time schedules are nixed on vacation right?) and it was just what we needed as a family, to get out of small town living, even just for two days and explore a new city.

Here are some pictures we took on our phones of our little getaway:

Daddy and his girls outside In-N-Out (of course that would be our first stop).

Did you know you can get animal house style fries... yeah don't knock it until you try it.

Sisters on a hotel bed.

Ellie getting ready to go swimming for the first time.

Both of these girls adore the water. Maisie had been begging to get goggles for the last couple months and we decided this would be a good time to indulge her. Also those puddle jumper things are awesome. Maisie is a little hesitant to "swim" AKA float without someone holding her even with a life vest, but with the puddle jumper she's a swimming champ. Swimming all over the pool by herself. She was so proud. Now she is actually excited for swim lessons this summer. Ellie loved being in the water. She would just smile and giggle while kicking her little legs and slapping the surface.

Watching the fountain show (made by the same people who created the Belagio's) in City Creek (an upscale shopping center- it felt like the Disneyland of shopping malls).

City Creek has an actual creek that runs through it full of trout.

15 minutes into the car ride home both girls passed out and slept almost the entire drive.

Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit

We were having a hard time with Ellie's sleeping (or lack thereof) it seems the older she gets the worse she sleeps. I was getting more sleep 2 days after being home from the hospital than I was getting a month ago. She started waking up 4+ times, wanting to eat sometimes, but mostly just up for random reasons. There were quite a few culprits involved. 

1- She was still sleeping in her rocker. While she didn't outgrow it size wise, she was strong enough to pull herself up and almost overboard. She would also twist until she was pinned face down and that was enough right there to scare me to death, so we knew our rocker days were over. Maisie slept in the rocker until she was10 months old and never attempted to crawl out, so we were a little surprised by Ellie doing so.

2- She still very much liked being swaddled. It was a sure way trick to settle her down. Although she is strong enough to break the swaddle, I was scared to put her swaddled in the crib because I wanted her to have access to her arms at all times.

3- she hated/still hates (remember this post?) food. So I am her complete source of nutrition. Breastmilk  is only filling for so long, and since she's burning more calories now than ever, I am nursing twice as much now than when she was a newborn.

4- Her hatred for the crib. Her rocker had a slight incline and was snug to where she felt cozy and safe, but her crib is spacious and flat and since we didn't feel comfortable swaddling her in it, we didn't, so the lack of swaddle wasn't helping anything.

Austin and I were THIS close to start sleep training because we were so beyond sleep deprived, but every time we talked about it we felt unsettled, nervous and dread. So we decided that was out of the question for us now. All we knew is that we needed her to be in her crib, that she needed to be safe and comfortable, but we didn't know what we could do to get her comfortable being in her crib, let alone sleeping.

So one day I was browsing the internet (not even looking for sleep solutions) when I was reading my lists of blogs that I follow, when one of the bloggers I have followed for a couple years explained that her 8 month old is progressively becoming a worse and worse sleeper, I was intrigued. The things she was describing about her daughter was almost exactly Ellie to a T! I was relieved that I wasn't alone and yet still had no solutions. The same blogger wrote a follow up post a couple weeks later and with the suggestions from commenters on her "no sleep" post, decided to try "Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit". She was skeptical yet desperate. So she ordered one. The first night her daughter used the suit she slept 10 hours straight. I felt hope! I was no where expecting Ellie to sleep that long, but even just going back to 5 hour stretches would be a luxury. We had a lot more factors going into it (list above) and after reading the FIRST Amazon review about someone's baby who wouldn't sleep in the crib and surprise, surprise, it was because of the SAME rocker Ellie was sleeping in- anyway the review concluded that the sleep suit was indeed magic. I called austin at work and told him we had to try it. He hesitantly agreed because of the cost, but I had some Amazon gift card money left over and used it for that.

A couple days later the suit arrived just in time for Ellie's third nap. I put her in the suit (took some pictures because she was so cute) and after rocking her and singing a couple songs placed her in her crib pretty much wide awake. Within 5 minutes Ellie was sleeping! In her crib! I didn't even have to trick her by getting her to sleep in my arms first and setting her in her crib. It was all her and the suit.


3:41 pm


4:02 pm

Ellie is now only waking up twice to eat- once around midnight/1am ish and the other around 4:30 or 5am. The best part? She has been sleeping in her crib for weeks now- NO ROCKER!! All naps and nighttime sleep has been in her crib. The rocker is actually packed away now. We are still using the suit because Ellie is cozy and warm, but probably in the next few weeks we will start using it less and less.

Ellie @ 7 months (a late post)

likes:

the broom. watching and trying to grab it and chew on it to be exact.

this song

Anything in a wrapper- last night she played with a wrapped Almond Roca bar for hours.

rolling underneath chairs.

picking up tiny microscopic carpet lint and then trying to eat it.

the itsy bitsy spider.

3/1when i sign "milk" she smiles so big. she sometimes does it while she's eating, but has yet to do it to tell me she wants milk. UPDATE 3/9 she signs milk now to tell me shes hungry!! she giggles every time she does it and i respond with "would you like some milk!?"

chewing on my hair. or just pulling it. it feels awesome...

loves feeding herself- i gave her a slice of a nectarine and she throughly enjoyed mashing it all over her body and getting small amounts in her mouth. which of course made her gag.

playing "where's Ellie?" under her blankets. she's so good at ripping the blanket off her face.

trying to watch tv. Baby girl will crane her neck in very unnatural positions to get even the slightest glimpse of the tv.

Maisie/people watching.

being swaddled... STILL

Outlets... time to baby proof those bad boys.

dislikes:

Almost all food apart from Greek yogurt (especially strawberry) and little bits of bran toast.

Getting stuck underneath chairs or any tight spot she can't manage to get out of.

The crib.

When maisie takes toys (mostly unsafe ones) away.

Not being able to see any one when she's in a room.

When i save her from some precarious position... it's like i ruined her fun, but baby girl doesn't have any self preservation skills, so I have to do that part sometimes and sure, sometimes it makes me look like the bad guy.

When maisie yells really loud... about who knows what. Maisie isn't quiet.

She is starting to experience some separation anxiety, when I leave the room even if Austin and/or Maisie is in the room with her she will pout.

Firsts this month:

First nap in crib- she woke up 30 minutes later LIVID!

First pony tail:

First movie theater experience- for my birthday we went and saw Big Hero 6. After a good nursing session within the first 10 minutes she was out like a light pretty much the duration of the movie.

First time saying mama knowing it gets my attention. She usually only does it when she's upset and wants to be cuddled, but I'll take it. It is the most pitiful little vies for attention "aaaa mama!! Aaamamamaaaa".

First time falling off the bed... oops! Thankfully we have a low bed.

First time sleeping in her crib at night without being angry.