Such a good eater!

After some much needed encouragement from Abigail's pediatrician at her 9 month well check I have started to offer her more pieces of food that she can 'check' on and feed herself.

We started with some Gerber sweet potato puffs and after a few days she got really good at eating them. After that we moved on to actualy sweet potato pieces that i prepared for her. Much to my disappointment she just pushed on the pieces and mashed them up on her tray. Feeling a bit discouraged I let a couple of days go by just offering her puffs after lunch and dinner. I then decided to offer her little apple pieces. Not much more luck. If I fed them to her she gobbles them up faster than I could offer them but on her own she would just push them around. After 3 or 4 times offering them to her she finally figured out how to pick up those wet and slipperly pieces! Now I can't put them opn her tray fast enough. Tonight for dinner she also fed herself some carrots!

Gooooo Abigail!



Mommy Lesson of the day:
Sometimes you just have to wait and let them figure it out. Even if takes 3 tries more than you thought it would and a whole lot more messes.

Learning and having fun!

Once again Abigail has succeeded in amazing me! It is truly a joy to watch her learn new things!

Adam received a really neat remote control helicopter from his brother Ryan and his wife Amanda. Abigail loves to watch it fly around the living room. I guess she isn't content just watching anymore...

Fun with a little blue ball

Abigail and Adam have a special relationship. I love watching him spend time playing with her and making her laugh. Last night Adam 'taught' her to put this little plastic blue ball into a little cup.

This morning, hoping to encourage such learning I tried to play with her in a similar way using a different 'cup.' It worked! Each time she would put the ball into the container I would hoot and holler and wave my arms saying "yay!" She would just laugh and reach to try again. I decided to try and get it on video for all to see. She wasn't quite as excited by the time I got the camera ready since she had done it about ten times.

Here is Adam teachng her last night(sorry it's so dark)


and here is the video from this morning

We're in trouble now......

...or soon will be!

I don't want to mislead anyone by this video, so I will clarify that I sat her right in front of the rail. She still doesn't get from here to there(fine by me, less chasing) but she is showing signs of interest in more physical things!

First the attempts:


So proud:


Practice makes perfect:



Learning that letting go might not be the best idea just yet:

Clapping for bubbles

Sorry the video is a little long. This was the first day of her clapping and I just wanted to watch her do it over and over!

Where did it go?

This is a fun video I captured of Abigail.
It's so amazing and fun watching her figure new things out all the time.
Sorry it's so dark. There wasn't a lot of sunshine this day and I just grabbed the camera and started recording.

My little girl likes peas!

We introduced Abigail to rice cereal at 6 months old. Since that time she has been pretty indifferent about eating it. I started trying to feed her after I nursed her. My intention was that I wouldn't have to worry too much about my milk supply diminishing. After a couple weeks I decided that she just wasn't hungry for it so I tried before I nursed her. We seemed to have a little more success with that but still not the eager eating that I thought would happen. After a few weeks of trying Adam and I decided that maybe another food added to the cereal would make it more appetizing.

Thank you to Frances for gifting us some peas that Teresa wasn't interested in. Abigail seems very fond of them! Since their introduction 5 days ago we have had a great time watching her eating them up like crazy!



She also has NO problem letting us know when she has had her fill!



As a side note if anyone has any thoughs...

Abigail has a runny nose. Today is day three of it. She seems to be a little stuffy and cold-like but overall in good spirits. Do we think this is just some of the yuck that is going around(Adam was under the weather last week) or could this be a reaction to the peas?

Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles!

Dear Momma,
Please bring bubbles everywhere we go.
Love,
Abigail

Lot's of fun things have been happening around here these last few days. Abigail is growing and changing so fast. I find it amazing to see how she changes each and every day. It's so fun to see hew experience things and figure things out for the first time. What a joy it is to be a mom!


Here is a video of her doing some tummy time with the help of her tummy turtle mat and pillow. She has not enjoyed the time that we encourage her to be on her belly but, as she grows stronger, she seems to mind it less and less.


Here is an almost first for her. She held on to a toy once before that we know of, but this was by FAR the best. She grabs and shakes and lets go and grabs again so I know she is getting it!

Momma's milk and sleeping...

Since we struggled for the first few weeks with a low milk supply I have determined that Abigail spent a lot of that time resisting sleep because her poor little body knew that it needed more food. Now, whether related or not, she does not like to fall asleep on her own. Although my milk is more than plentiful(I think we have more than 35oz in the freezer) and she is getting her fill she still wants to be held and helped to fall asleep. Sometimes it took mommy or daddy's arms AND a pacifier to relax her enough to drift off into slumber, just to awaken mad and not fully rested 20 maybe 30 minutes later. Then all we have is a grumpy baby and tired arms.

Strangely enough, even with all the daytime issues, I could nurse her at bedtime until she fell asleep and then put her in her bassinet. She would wake to eat throughout the night and then go right back down. Stinker.

At two months old she starting sleeping in her own crib at night, but I was still struggling greatly during the day to get her to sleep on her own. Dinners were not getting made by me, the kitchen floor hadn't been swept in Heaven knows how long...... it wasn't good.

Then I decided. I say I decided instead of we decided just because I was the one to say "I'm ready" first, and I am the one who would be most often enforcing the decision during the day when Adam is working. I decided that she was not going to just get it on her own and telling her that it is okay to fall asleep on her own wasn't sinking in. She needed more.

My sister had given me this great book called On Becoming Babywise when I was first pregnant. I read it, dreamt of my baby eating and sleeping by the book(never crying, of course) and promptly put the book away for the next 5 months. After Abigail was born I pulled the book back out(along with three others I was reading) and began reading again. This time because I hadn't slept long enough to have a dream in weeks!

I can't say that I one hundred percent agree with one hundred percent of the book, but I found it to be very easy to read and very encouraging for me as a new mom. It talks mostly about Parent Directed Feeding(PDF). A concept that appealed to me greatly. Basically after the first few weeks(when you should be feeding your baby whenever they appear hungry) you start to use the clock to help create eat/wake/sleep cycles in your baby's day. Teaching their bodies to get full, play, rest and then rise to eat again. Makes sense. Over time you slowly develop a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hour pattern. They talk a lot about how order is good for a baby. Knowing what to expect creates confidence and gives the baby a sense of security. I was on board.

In conjunction with the pattern of daytime activities the book encourages baby to fall sleep on their own with out what they refer to as a prop. Props can include mommy, a swing, a car ride etc. This, I thought, would never jive with my little one.

But I was ready.

The first night took 34 minutes.

After our normal bedtime routine of books prayers and kisses I placed her in her crib, told her I loved her, and left the room. Fifteen minutes of fussing(while Adam and I held each other on the couch) and then I went in. Picked her up, loved on her told her she was safe and sleep is good and put her right back down. Fifteen minutes more(this time I called my sister) and I went back in and did the same. Getting run down emotionally from this process during the third fussing I called my mom. A minute or two into our conversation the little lights on the monitor went dark and there was silence. Eight hours later she woke up asking to eat through the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. The smiles of a well-rested baby.

I won't say it has been easy and there were days that I doubted we were doing the right thing, but seeing her wake up happy after a good nap(even if it took 10 or fifteen minutes to settle herself down to sleep) is the best reassurance we could ask for. She still fusses. Knowing that she is full, clean, dry and tired makes the minutes of fussing bearable. We are learning to read her better and lot let her get over tired before putting her down.

Praise God that she now sleeps during the day! I think she is better for it. FYI, she is still sleeping 8-9 hours at night.

Go Abigail!