Cry It Out

There's a hilarious blog post making rounds on the web summarizing expert sleep advice. It's a must read. The jist of it all is that there are so many opinions out there about what to do and what not to do when it comes to attaining the holy grail of infant sleep and they all basically contradict each other. What's a new mom to do?! The post is fortuitous because since we weren't blessed with a baby that sleeps 12 hours a night (do they really exist??) we recently started "sleep training"- aka letting Cece "Cry It Out".

Asleep in her jumperoo at 8 AM after a particularly restless night

Guess what? It worked and it wasn't nearly as painful for any of us as I thought it would be. It took 20 minutes for her to fall asleep on the first night, less than 10 minutes on night two, and by night three, no crying at all. She still wakes up once or twice during the night, but is getting better at putting herself back to bed on her own (though per our pediatrician's advice, I'm still nursing her once a night). Hallelujah! I can't tell you how happy this makes me. We are all in better moods now that we're getting a little more sleep! 

Awake at 1:21 AM, amusing herself

Alseep by 1:41, did it all by herself!

Sleeping soundly at 6:30 AM in her own bed!

Waking up in a good mood!

On a related note, we still struggle with day time naps. However, she ALWAYS falls asleep in the car. Unfortunately as soon as the car seat stops moving when we get home, she wakes up. So we found a solution to this problem. Check out the video below!

Cecelia at Four Months

Happy four months (on the 19th), baby girl! You are growing so fast. You officially weigh 15 pounds 4 ounces and you're 25 inches long. Your pediatrician thinks you'll be taller than your momma at this rate (yay!). You are changing right before our eyes. I swear almost every day you discover something new. This month you are obsessed with your hands. They are absolutely always in your mouth. One finger, three...your whole fist. I'm pretty sure you're going to be a thumb sucker.

You're also pretty into your toes, too. Especially when you find yourself sans diaper (those cloth diapers are big!) and you can actually reach them! Your absolute favorite thing is still your jumperoo. I swear you are going to bounce your way right out of it the way you go at it. The higher the better you little daredevil. You are THIS close to rolling over completely but still get hung up on your side. I often find you lounging on your side, cooing away at whatever is in front of you.

Speaking of that, you are SO into Summit this month. You can't take your eyes off her when she's within sight. You love to smile and even laugh out loud at her antics. I can tell your going to be best friends. She doesn't quite know what she's in for, I'm afraid!

 

You might not be rolling over quite yet but you are sitting on your own! You're still a bit floppy and unreliable, but you can do it. Makes momma so proud. You aren't winning any napping contests these days however. Baby girl you just don't seem all that interested in sleeping during the day. Nights aren't a whole lot better either. So we started "sleep training" this weekend. Night one wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. You cried for about 20 minutes before falling asleep on your own. Night two only brought less than 10 minutes of fussing. And tonight...none! You just "talked" a bit to your sleep sheep and fell asleep after one short visit from dad to settle you down. You figured it out pretty quick smarty pants. Hopefully we'll all be getting better sleep now. Momma surely needs it! The weather is finally starting to improve, it is officially spring. We get out several times a week for a good walk or jog in the BOB stroller and we've been hiking twice. You love it. The first time we went hiking we put you in the baby backpack but I think you might be just a wee bit to small for it yet. A few more months and you'll be ready for the outback! We can't wait, so much fun to be had. Speaking of fun, we took our first family vacation this month. We headed south to visit your fairy godmother Caitlin and Jared in Washington, D.C. You might not nap well, but you love car rides and slept the entire 6 hour drive, both ways! It was a great little getaway and you were a super babe, even with the little cold (your first!) you got along the way.

We love you so much little Cecelia. Can't wait to see what month five brings! xooo

The Boston Marathon

Yesterday morning Cece and I watched the elite men and women run the Boston Marathon. I told her about how hard professional athletes train to run these kind of races and I told her maybe someday we'll train to run a marathon together (Cece the Marathon Runner?). We watched the end of the professional races and saw the beginning of the "civilian" race. Thousands of runners taking off for their 26.2 mile journey from the Boston suburbs to the heart of the city towards the finish. Such an awesome and life changing thing. But by the time we returned from our walk an hour or so later, reports of bombings at the finish line were all over the news. It's so sad that someone or a small group of people decided to turn such a happy, hopeful event into such a tragedy. What a shame. I'm wearing my running shoes to work today (you can't miss them!) and planning on taking Cece and Summit out for a jog this evening because I'm not sure what else to do. Running heals hurting hearts.

Cece the Super Crank

I mentioned in the last post that our daughter doesn't sleep much, or at least not very consistently. Some days when napping has been particularly elusive, she ends up in a mood. Behold Cece the Super Crank. She loves her Jumperoo so much she'd rather be cranking and jumping than napping. Except when she notices your filming her, then she turns the charm back on. So funny. The second video is Cece dead tired in her Jumperoo at 8 AM. You would think she would wake up well rested and ready to start the day...not so much when you don't like sleeping at night either! We were both Super Cranks that day.

Cece the Night Owl

Our kid just doesn't like to sleep. These are screenshots from her 2:30 AM dance party she hosted with her sleep sheep last night. The peaks in the graph at the bottom is her "talking". This went on for over an hour until I finally went and got her. Oy!

 

Update: Note, Cece did not actually roll over on her own. I realized after the post that the order of the photos makes it look like she did. I put her on her tummy to see if it would settle her down. Needless to say, it didn't work. 

Cece the Politician?

Two weeks ago we took Cece on her first vacation. We hit the road and headed south to northern Virginia where my bestie (and Cece's fairygodmother) Caitlin and her husband (also a close friend of mine from High School) Jared live. Both Caitlin and Jared work for the federal government and have been tied to Washington, D.C. for several years now. We hope someday they will be able to move closer to home but for now we're happy to visit them every chance we get.

 The car ride took us about 6 hours and Cece slept the entire way, both ways. I knew she would sleep a lot in the car, she always does but I had no idea she would sleep that long! Turns out she was coming down with her first cold. Even with the sniffles she did remarkable well on her first trip away from home. She loves action and didn't want to miss a thing when we were out and about.

We had hoped to hit up a few Smithsonian museums and perhaps a few of the monuents but D.C. was really, really crowded. Apparently the beautiful weather combined with the holiday weekend, the cherry blossom festival and the NCAA men's basketball tournament which was in town made for madness on the Mall. Still, we enjoyed walking around and sightseeing from afar. Cece visited the Capitol building and waved to the protestors out front. I told her about how I once lobbied at the capitol (say no to drilling in ANWR) and how someday she could become president someday if she wanted. Cece the politician? She could change the world!

We stopped in the U.S. Botanic Garden while we were on the Mall. It was beautiful inside. It made up for the fact that we missed the cherry blossoms by a week!

Before we left the city I was able to catch up briefly with my college roommate, Maya. We met as freshman at Gettysburg College and she's the sweetest, most amazing person ever. Love her. I hadn't seen her since our wedding and it was so good to catch up, if only for a short visit. She's one of those friends who no matter how long it's been since you see each other, the conversation is always so easy and everyone has a good time. Maya, you're the best!

It was a fun trip and nice to get away for a long weekend. Everyone was tired out by the end of the trip, even their dog Otis! Cece did great, even with the sniffles and I think it gave James and I got a good taste of what it's like to travel with a little one. Not so bad for the first time around!

A Few More Birthday Shots

Just a few more shots from James' 30th birthday. Check out Cece's birthday shirt (it says Daddy's Little Helper in tools) and James' "new" circa 1960 recliner. He's been asking me for over a year for a recliner and I've resisted because the traditional LazyBoy doesn't exactly fit my idea of modern decor. So when his best bud Kris came across this one and wanted to give it to James, I couldn't really use the excuse that it wasn't retro enough. So there she is in all her green pleather glory. I have to say though, it is really quite comfortable. Did I mention it vibrates? Oh yes...

Happy Birthday, James!

James is celebrating a big one today...30! Happy birthday to the best guy in our world! We love you!