Oh thank goodness!

There are many, many things I miss about Colorado.

• Wonderful family
  
• Great friends
  
• The view of the mountains
• Snow and snowboarding
  
• Non-humid weather
• Knowing my way around the city
• Our wonderful little Church
• My first dog, Gizmo, who is 18 (I think) years old now
• Thunderstorms in the afternoons instead of evening when Audrey is trying to sleep
• Sunsets over the mountains
• Going to Avalanche games
• Going to Panera with the girls
• Having built-in babysitters

And Chipotle/Q Doba. Oh how I miss them. Giant burritos. Thousands of calories. Mmmmm. There are none of either of these within 50 miles from us. Mark and I have gone through some serious Chipotle withdrawals since moving here.

Yesterday I discovered that we do have a restaurant called N Fuego. Same concept as Chipotle and similar in taste!

Instead of the healthy dinner I had planned for last night, we had N Fuego.

And it was SO good!

Such a sweet baby!

Well that wasn't very much fun and Um, What??

I decided to be adventurous today and took Audrey out to my favorite restaurant, Jason's Deli. Love, love, love their salad bar. Like, seriously. I could eat there everyday. Mmmm.

Anyways, due to the technicalities of going to lunch by myself with an infant that cannot walk, I decided to order something off the menu. They used to have a system where they'd give you a number and they'd bring your order to your table. Well, they don't do this anymore. And I didn't find out until they gave me a little buzzer after I paid. Great. I then proceed to try to find a highchair and a table big enough that I didn't have to worry too much about Audrey getting her chubby little fingers into my hot cup of soup. Well, it was 12:15 or so and there were very few tables. The only one I could find was at the opposite end from where you grab your food.

I made my way to the table and got Audrey settled into her highchair just in time for my buzzer to go off. Well I sure wasn't going to hold the baby and my tray of food (including hot soup) at the same time so I decided to push her highchair over to the food. Luckily, the highchair has wheels. Unfortunately, the wheels must have been from the stone age with squared edges or something because that chair didn't steer worth crap!

FINALLY made my way back to the counter where my food was quickly getting cold and the lady working there decided that I looked desperate enough that she offered to carry the tray back to my table for me. I could have kissed her. But I didn't.

After pushing Audrey's high chair back to the table (only running into 3 people sitting in chairs and running over one man's toes...) I finally got to enjoy my somewhat soggy sandwich and lukewarm soup. Yum. I think I'll wait a few years before I attempt to go there alone with her again...

After lunch we ran over to Hobby Lobby to find some wooden letters to redo her name in her room. Well after the disaster we had getting her previous letters off of the wall when we moved in December, I wanted to try some smaller ones that I could hang with ribbon or something. NO MORE STICKY GOOP ON THE WALLS!! Unfortunately, I could only find the same ones and they're huge and while very cute, would be incredibly difficult to hang. Bummer. I did find some other things that I just had to have. I mean, who can go into Hobby Lobby and not buy anything?? Definitely not me.

While I was waiting in line to check out there was an older lady standing in the other line smiling at Audrey. This lady then turns to me and our conversation went something like this:

Lady (to Audrey): Well aren't you a cute little boy.
(to Me): That is a boy isn't it.
Me: Um, no she is a girl.
Lady: Oh....
Me: (What the heck lady?? Can't you read? She's wearing a yellow and pink onesie that says Mommy's Girl and pink shorts and white/pink shoes. I should have said. Yep. This is my son. Don't you love his cute shirt??)
Lady: Well we just had our first great grandson in 25 years. All the rest are girls. I'm very conscious of little boys.
Me: (Okay... Don't even know where to go with that) That's exciting. I bet you're happy.
Lady (to Audrey again): I'm sorry sweetie. You just look like a boy.
Me: (Are you freaking kidding me??)
Lady to Audrey (complete after thought): You are adorable though.

Are you kidding? Who says that? I'm used to people asking me if she's a boy because, lets face it, she doesn't have very much hair and what she does have is very blond so it looks like even less. But still. Who would say something like that. I swear, having a baby just might be worse than being pregnant when it comes to the weird things people say...

(I tried to get a picture of her. She looked so cute in her baby shorts! But, it was past nap time and this is the best she would give me...)

We need a bigger place to live...

(I swear the rest of the apartment does not look like this!!)

I have a confession...

I didn't do my 30 day shred today.

Ah, it feels so good to get that off my chest!

I did 3 days straight, though. And I promise to start again tomorrow.

It's hard to do on the weekends. I don't want to do it front of Mark, I'd be too embarrassed. And the weekends are full of running errands and doing family things.

I did shred yesterday, however. While Audrey was taking her first nap, I sent Mark out to Best Buy (whenever I want to be alone I suggest he go there. It always works.) so I could do the shred without an audience. And this is what he came back with...

A humongous new monitor for our computer.

I suppose that's the price I pay for wanting some peace and quiet?

(That picture on the screen is Audrey's first time out in the rain. She absolutely loved it! Just more proof that she is, in fact, my daughter!)

Toys galore

This is what my living room corner would look like if an 8 month old didn't live here....

This is what it does look like...

And this is what the eight month old chooses to play with. A doorstop.

At least Bow is playing with Audrey's toys...

Time for a change

I've been doing the 30 day shred sporadically for a couple of weeks now. Today, I'm starting it for real. I'm going to do this every day for the next 30 days. (Shoot me now please!!!)

I've only done level 1 so far (and the easy part of level 1 at that...) I'm sure that most days I'm going to want to quit (and probably die!)but it's time to get serious. Audrey is almost 8 months old and I'm still 6 pounds up from my pre-pregnancy weight (and probably 20 up from my wedding weight on top of that).

Yep, I gained 20 pounds in the first 4 months of my marriage.

I take no blame for this.

Okay it's entirely my fault but I had a lot going on! I stopped dieting shortly before my wedding, adopted Mark's eating habits, started my last year of nursing school and worked part-time. (Big difference from that to my stay-at-home days now!)

Long story short, I need to lose at least 25 pounds...

It's not going to be easy. And it's definitely not going to be fun. But I'm going to do it! (I hope!)

(And look what my baby can do now! She hasn't even figured out crawling yet but she can pull herself up!)

Sleep Problems and Tax Returns

Due to our serious failure of getting Audrey to sleep through the night last weekend, I spent a good amount of time online yesterday looking at other sleep books. I bought 3...

The Sleepeasy Solution, Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child, and The No-Cry Sleep Solution.

Once the books arrive on Friday, I will be the proud owner of 4 baby sleep books.

You'd think I'd be an expert on the subject and my kid would sleep through the night like a pro.

You'd probably be wrong.

I think that we may have just started sleep training at a bad time. She seems to be really teething again and I'm starting to wonder if she has an ear infection. Or maybe she just likes to tug on her ears. I'm not really sure. I wish parenting came with a manual. It would make my life so much easier!

On a happier note, we got our tax return yesterday! Woohoo! We decided that all 3 of us are going to get something special. I think we're going to get Betty Butterfly for Audrey. Isn't it cute?? (Lulu Ladybug was a close second...)

I'm not sure what I'm going to get yet. I really like this picture frame, and we have the perfect place to put it. But I'm not sure if that's really what I want to spend my "special" money on.

I think Mark is looking at getting a bigger computer screen or something for his car stereo. I'm just shocked!

Operation: Sleep Through the Night - Night 3

4 words: complete and total failure.

Yep. This was by far the worst night. She went down easy around 7:15. Woke up at midnight. Mark went in after 5 minutes or so to check on her but when he left she screamed like I've never heard her scream before.

I don't mind letting her cry when she's mad.

I can't let her cry when she's scared. It was a horrible sounding cry. So we picked her up, calmed her down and nursed her till she was very sleepy and could be put down.

Oh well. Maybe this method isn't for us. Her sleep isn't so bad that this kind of screaming is necessary.

I've heard of a book called The No-Cry Sleep Solution. Maybe it'll be more our style.

Apparently I'm more of a softy than I thought!

Easter

Today is Easter.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

I have a wonderful God who sacrificed His son so that I could live. I have a Savior who was willing to die for my sins and who was resurrected on the third day.

Hallelujah! He is Risen!

I have an amazing, loving husband.
I have a beautiful, healthy baby girl.
I have great family and friends that I can always call on.

I am very blessed.

Today is a good day!

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!"
Luke 24:5-6

Our Saturday in Pictures

We took Audrey to see the Easter Bunny at the mall.
She even smiled for us!
I was expecting her to scream.
And the best part: There was no line!
On the Saturday before Easter.
Who'd have thought?






We went to a local church where they had an Easter egg hunt and petting zoo.

Audrey enjoyed trying to pull on fur and tails.





This cow tried to eat my hand.
It didn't hurt but felt pretty funny.







We got to see a zebra up close.








Then we died Easter eggs.








She believes in the Easter bunny!
(But she did get to see him this morning...)







Mark was excited to play with the food dye.
Audrey was bored.







We both made an egg for Audrey.
Can you tell who made which one?







She "drew" on one herself but nothing showed up.
The finished products!








Bow and Audrey played tug-of-war.


We went outside to play before dinner.

We found this scary guy in our garage.
Eeeeeek!!
Don't worry.
Mark killed it.





We had a very good day!

Operation: Sleep Through the Night - Night 2

Well, night 2 consisted of less crying but she still didn't sleep through the night.

I think she was so exhausted from being up since 5:40 that being put down didn't phase her one bit. She didn't even make a sound. It was awesome!

She also slept from about 7:15 till 2:40 without waking. My goal last night was 2:15 for her first feeding so we passed that and didn't need to let her cry. Also awesome!

Now the not-so-awesome part. She woke up again at 5 am. That sucked. I was so exhausted, and couldn't even stand to think about being up for the day, that I nursed her a put her back down. Oops...

She stayed down until 7:15 when Mark was so kind as to get up with her and let me sleep for another hour. Have I mentioned that I love him??

Overall, night 2 went pretty well.

Tonight we won't be feeding until 3 am.

I'm sure she'll wake up at midnight.

Operation: Sleep Through the Night - Night 1

Now that we're back home we've decided that it's time for the baby to start sleeping through the night. Really though, it's time that I get more sleep. I haven't slept well since I was in the 2nd trimester. I can't take much more.

Mark has 3 days off this weekend so it was a good time to start working on her. We decided that once she was in bed, we weren't going to get her out and that we (I) would only feed her once overnight (after 1 am) no matter how many times she woke up.

Putting her down last night was the hardest. She usually goes down pretty easily, but not last night. It's like she knew what we were trying to do.

According to Dr. Ferber's book, we were supposed to go in briefly after 3, 5, and 10 minutes while she cried. It was difficult to hear her cry for that long but she only made it half way through the ten minute period so she only cried for 17 minutes or so. 17 minutes of Hell for Mark and I. It's so hard to hear her cry but we know it needs to be done. She needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I don't plan on nursing forever.

After she finally fell asleep the rest of the night went great. She didn't wake up until almost 2 so I fed her and she went right back down. Unfortunately she woke up at 5:40 this morning. Instead of trying to put her back down (like I normally would have) we all got up for the day. It's now almost 8 and she's already taking her first nap. I guess we'll work on that later...

Tonight will be a little harder, I imagine. The intervals get a little longer, but still doable. We'll also not be feeding her until 2:15 (I know she can go until 2 without starving).

Hopefully by this time next week she'll be sleeping through the night!

I can dream, right???

Traveling

We're flying back home to Texas today. Wish us luck! It can be very challenging to fly alone with a 7 month old. She handled it fairly well last week. I'm hoping she'll do well today.

Here's a video that was taken last night. If it gets rough today, I'll just have to keep reminding myself that at least she's really cute!

Coming Home

Audrey and I have been having a blast in Colorado visiting family but it's time to go home.

Audrey isn't sleeping well at all. I'm tired. She's tired. She's cranky. I'm cranky.

I miss Mark and I know she misses her daddy. It's really cute actually. Everytime she hears his voice on the phone her whole face lights up; and she cries when we have to hang up with him. I know she doesn't understand why we went away but she'll be so happy to see him tomorrow night.

And I have a hunch that he'll be happy to see her too.

I'll miss my family. I always do. But I'm glad to be coming home.

I just don't get it!

Let me start by saying that the baby has never been a good sleeper. Not once in her 7.5 months of life has she slept through the night (NOT ONCE!).

At the beginning she would wake up every 2.5 hours on the dot to eat and then would go right back to sleep. Around 4 months she would sleep for 4-5 hours for the first stretch, wake up to eat, then wake up every 2.5 hours again until 6 am when she would wake up for the day. At 6 months she started waking only twice a night, nurse and then go back to sleep. At nearly 7 months she was only waking up once around 2am to nurse and would go right back to sleep (sweet!).

Well now, at 7.5 months, she is waking up at least 3 times a night. What gives?? Mommy needs some sleep!

We are traveling at the moment and the baby and I are unfortunately sharing a bedroom. This means that neither of us are sleeping well. This is how last night went down:

I put the baby to bed at 7:30. She woke up at 10. I let her fuss for a while but 10 minutes later she was full on screaming. I mean the kind of crying where she can't breathe, is choking on her spit, and is just plain mad that I still haven't come to her rescue. I nursed her and she fell right back to sleep.

She woke up again at 12:00. I nursed her. She fell back asleep. I fell back asleep. All was good again. Until...

3am. Yes, that's right. 3... fricken... a.m. And she's wide awake. I bring her to my bed. I try to nurse her but she wants nothing to do with it. She wants to play. Did I mention that it's 3 am?? I'm sorry hunny but Mommy doesn't play at 3am. But the baby apparently didn't get that memo.

20 minutes later the baby is still wide awake. I am exhausted and getting crankier by the second. The baby thinks it's funny that I'm getting cranky...

I put her back in her bed, took my pillow, left the room and went to sleep on the couch. She babbled herself to sleep 40 minutes later (yes, that means she was awake for a full hour), only to wake up for the day at 6.

I'm exhausted.

Everybody else is doing it...

I never thought I'd say this but, I finally caved and created my own blog.

I feel almost giddy... And kind of nervous...

I don't really have anything special to say but I was anxious to start. I figure the first blog is probably the hardest so I wanted to get it over with.

So, in lieu of writing something profound on my first night, I leave you with a picture of the baby.

She is, after all, the best thing I've ever done!