I believe it was exactly 1 week ago that I told everyone how I had given in and let G take all of her naps in the K'Tan. Well, for about the next 7 days after that I was trying to get her to take at least one nap a day in her crib and that was a struggle!  Seriously, it was like World War III to even get her to let me rock her or bounce her.  She would fight everything!  David could only get her to go to sleep by holding her in his arms and doing high knees up and down her room!  Well our bodies have had it from the countless hours spent bouncing on the exercise ball and doing high knees while simultaneously covering her eyes and holding her binky in, so yesterday in the midst of a nap taking fight I decided it was time to sleep train.  And for real this time...stick to something for a solid week.  A little abrupt you may think.  Well you know what else is abrupt?  Being expelled from a womb, and we weathered that storm.

On top of all of the fights to get her to sleep she will only stay asleep for one sleep cycle aka 30-45 minutes.  That amounts to 30-90 minutes of trying everything in the book to sleep her for a measly 30-45 minutes of sleep (20 for which she has to be held).  Who can blame her though?  A baby falling asleep in the warmth of her mother's arms and waking up in a crib alone is akin to you falling asleep snuggled up with a blanket on your couch and waking up on your bathroom floor.  So just like that, cold turkey, we started sleep training.  And whats colder than a turkey?  Doing it for ALL naps and bedtime.  (I promise I love my daughter more than anything in the world - so much that I will do what it takes for her to learn to sleep on her own, a skill she will use her entire life.)

I have read a ton about sleep training and different methods and we decided that we would do the cry it out method.

At first we tried the modified cry it out method, but apparently Dr. Ferber has not met Gretchen Pehrson.  Every "check" I did on her just seemed to fire her up more so as I sit her writing this post I am implementing the extinction method.  If a baby is smart enough to know if we have done one thing out of order in her bedtime/naptime routine, she is surely smart enough to know that she is safe in her room and we will come get her when she wakes up.

Out of every story I have heard from parents who have done this, Gretchen has out-cried them all (with the exception of the 5 hour crier)..she is a stubborn girl; must get it from her dad.  She is also a smart girl though so I am sure she will get with the program shortly.

Well this is a "Part 1" because we have yet to see the results of this hard work.  YES listening to your baby cry is hard.  On the bright side, she has got a ton of practice rolling and scooting around in her crib.  I have even noticed that she can fully push herself up onto her hands while on her belly.  She is sure to be crawling in no time.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our sleep training adventure.  If at a week there is no improvement then I guess Gretchen will be deemed one of those babies cry it out doesn't work for.

Current Score:

Gretchen 2 (naps skipped)


Mom 2 (naps taken...after 60-90 minutes of crying for each one...praying it will get better).  

It's official, we survived our first season with a baby and it was a hot one!  Let me open my little black book of cliches and throw one at you:  it is crazy how time flies!  Seriously, it feels like yesterday we were just bringing our babe home from the hospital.  We are learning so much as new parents and it is funny to think about the people we have turned into just to make our child smile/laugh/sleep.  For example, I spent a good 20 minutes last week on all fours barking like a chihuahua (Yes, I can spell that correctly because of the Impossible Quiz which I wasted hours of my life playing in college).  Gretchen was underneath me and was cracking up - not just high pitched squeals but big belly laughs.  I wore myself out, but I'm sure she could have kept going.

Saturday was the first time in over 4 months that I actually got a little me time...that's right, more than my daily 10 minute shower which is hardly counts as me time because of the baby in the bouncer staring you down through the glass shower door.  Dave got me a gift certificate for a mani/pedi for our anniversary so I went and pampered myself.  It was overdue too...my nail polish from 4 months ago was grown out on all of my toes except the big one where it was half on and chipped...I'm not embarrassed to show my feet anymore!

On Sunday we put Gretchen in her finest for church and guess what happened...she blew it out before we even got there. Are you really surprised?  I swear there is something about her car seat that makes the girl go.  To make matters worse she is really into grabby fabrics now and was pulling her dress up when we were getting her out of the car.  She was a hot mess!  Dave cleaned her up which he told me later that she stuck her foot into the bag where her dress was and got her entire self poopy. Other than that, it was nice to visit with everyone at church and feel the spirit.  I always love how relaxing Sunday's are.

What an awesome weekend we had over here.  Saturday was my step sister, Stephanie's, baby shower.  My step mom did such an amazing job with the food and all of the decorations.  Tons of family and friends came to celebrate.  We are so excited that Stephanie and her husband are having a baby that is going to be so close in age to Gretchen.  Baby Dean is due to arrive in November and we know they are going to have so much fun playing and growing up together.
Sunday we went to the Mariner's game.  We had a rough start and were running late - which seems to be a reoccurring theme around here lately.  Funny how one tiny baby can turn an always early mommy into an always half hour to two hour late mommy.  I guess we need to start getting ready even earlier if we ever want to be anywhere on time.  On the car ride down to Seattle, Gretchen started crying.  I assumed she was just tired so I jumped in back with her, covered her car seat with a dark blanket to give her some more shade, and held her binky in her mouth to soothe her.  Well, 20 minutes later she was still crying. I'm talking inconsolable crying with crocodile tears running down her cheeks.  I had Dave pull over at a rest stop and wouldn't you know...BLOW. OUT. DIAPER.  She HATES being poopy!  We got her changed (she ruined her special Mariners game outfit), gave her some cuddles, and 5 minutes later she was fast asleep.


I think Gretchen might be teething already because I swear at all waking hours she has a fist in her mouth.



My aunt Kristy got us the tickets for the game and the seats were perfect!  The weather was gorgeous, and Gretchen even woke up for a few innings before passing out again when I put her in the K'Tan.


We didn't forget to stop at Guest Services for Gretchen's "First Mariners Game" certificate.

After the game we had to stop at Krispy Kreme where I enjoyed a pumpkin cheesecake doughnut and Gretty looked oh so adorable in her paper bus boy hat.



Also on the home front, we got an email from Dave's sister Emily today letting us know that she will be home from her mission in Brazil in exactly 3 short months.  We are so excited for her to be home.  She asked me to make sure Dave and I had bunch of dates lined up for her for when she gets back so let me know if you are interested.  :)

She was born in the evening.



Girl!



I wish this was what everyone thought...Unfortunately it was days!  I went into labor after work (around 4pm) on Friday June 6 and she was born Monday June 9 at 7:43pm.



At first like a champ, but come Sunday night and all of Monday I would say okay...until I got an epidural, then I just slept.



Hair!



This is a toughy...some lights it is brown and some lights it is red!  I would have to say brunette ginger.



She weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces...majority was right!



20 inches long.  Again majority was right.



It was me...I cried the most and I am not ashamed.  It was the most special day of my life and I will never forget it!  You can read my birth story here.

Happy 3 months since birth and 1 year of life to my beautiful baby girl!  I love you more than anything in this world and am so proud to be your mother.

Weight: 11 pounds as of last week.

Height: About 23.5 inches.

Clothing Size:  0-3 months and size 1 diapers.

Eating:  Just breast milk.  She seriously snarfs down each meal like its her last...my poor nipples.

Sleeping:  Night sleep is good - although it takes about an hour of going in and out of our room (she sleeps in there) to get her to sleep for good.  Once she is out though, she will sleep anywhere from 6-11 hours straight.  Most nights she is in bed by 8:00pm and wakes up for one feeding around 3:30am.  The first time she slept 11 hours I woke up before her and was scared - I immediately made Dave check to see if she was still breathing.  I felt like a million bucks that day because I almost got 8 solid hours of sleep.

Naps on the other hand are a battle! I spend an hour getting her to sleep and she will only sleep for 30-45 minutes...15 of which she needs to be held for. Sometimes she will randomly sleep for 2-3 hours but that is a rare occasion - a rare occasion that I love!  She always naps well in the Baby K'tan though, but I have to be moving at all times which makes it a little inconvenient.

Health:  Perfect as far as we know.  Although sometimes I second guess that because she has the raunchiest smelling gas ever. This especially sucks when I am feeding her and she continuously farts the entire time. I feel like shes trying to kill me. They smell like rotten egg meets cow pie in 110 degree heat.

Speech:  She has become soooo talkative this month...cooing and babbling all the time. Tons of smiles and she even started laughing/high pitched squealing. It is so precious it could make angels cry.

Nicknames: Same as last month.

Personality:  She loves to explore.  I am a little nervous for when she becomes mobile because she loves looking at things.  I can tell she wants to move so bad - whenever she does tummy time she makes crawling motions but is not yet strong enough to move herself.  One of her favorite things is when her dad holds her face out and walks her around the house so she can look around.  Whenever we go on walks, the stroller cover has to be up so she can see or she gets fussy.

She is also such a social butterfly! She loves looking at people and making tons of funny faces.  She hates to sit alone in the backseat while we are in the car and sometimes will cry until whoever is not driving goes back there to sit with her.

Baby Gear Love:  Well she has officially lost her magical power of being able to sleep anywhere.  The myBaby SoundSpa has been a lifesaver.  We have weaned ourselves from the vacuum and were using an app on our phones forever until we finally go this sound machine.  It is awesome because it has a timer or you can leave it on indefinitely (which we do for her naps and nighttime sleep).  My favorite sound/the only sound I can tolerate for hours is the ocean so I am guessing that is her favorite too.

Milestones:  The giggle!  I will never forget the first time I heard it.  I had just finished feeding her and were were cuddling on the chair in the nursery.  I was making faces at her and kept sticking my tongue out and she got the hugest grin so I kept doing it and then she started laughing!  Dave was in the other room and came in because he heard.  It was he best moment of my month.  Ever since then we do everything we can to get her to laugh.

Likes:  Still obsessed with the bath.  She also likes her play gym, looking at lights and shadows, being carried around (especially in the Baby K'tan ), watching her mom work out and get ready, singing songs, chatting, the outdoors, when people stick their tongue out at her, and animal noises (particularly "moooooooo").


Dislikes:  Being burped, tummy time, being alone (which is weird because she likes to play independently, but only as long as she knows someone is in the room with her).

Signature Move: Sticking her entire fist in her mouth.

Mom's Proudest Moment:  Being the first one to make her laugh!

 

Dad's Proudest Moment: Swimming in the bathtub.  Dave gives her nightly baths and likes to take her out of her tiny baby tub into the great waters.  He will hold her head above the water while her body is completely submerged and she will kick her legs and move her arms like she is swimming.


Things I Don't Want To Forget: 
Her first time on a boat when we went whale watching.

She doesn't poop everyday anymore which makes for giant blowouts 2-3 times a week.  She has had several "2 bath" days this month and her car seat also got a nice thorough cleaning.

Her "don't mess with me or I'll roundhouse kick you in the face" attitude (I wonder who she gets that from...)

She always tries to hold her bedtime dessert bottle of mommy's milk.  A little something extra we give her to make sure she gives us a good solid stretch of sleep.


She is finally getting some chub.

All of her expressions and cute faces.

Upset that her binky fell out and was taunting her the whole drive home.

Her horseshoe bald spot is finally growing back.  It is getting thicker everyday!  In some lights it is blonde, some lights it is red, and some lights it is brown.  I am curious to see what color it will be.