Four months this week

Anya has survived four months in our care...... or perhaps I should say we have survived four months of parenting!

We are officially out of the newborn phase now. Anya is awake often during the day and we are attempting to get her onto some semblance of a napping pattern. Today I put her down and listened to her 'cry it out" for longer then I could handle. I went to soothe her on multiple occasions but her crying was like little daggers in my heart. You might think that is a bit over the top but until you have had to endure your own sweet baby cry herself/himself to sleep you can't imagine the emotional pain it causes the mother! So here I sit updating the blog when I should be meeting with my weekly moms group but Anya eventually fell asleep and is still napping. I couldn't possibly wake her up after I made her fall asleep. Ah, the trials and tribulations of parenting. So I figured I would make good use of my time and update the blog.

Anya and I have been going it alone the past two weekends. Myles was in Spokane last weekend for a work conference and on a three day bachelor trip this past weekend. It was rough being a single parent, I'm not gonna lie. We are happy to have him home now for a while.

Anya is sitting up in her Bumbo chair like a champ. She is liking it more and more. Last week I put together her exersaucer (round play station with a seat in the middle). She loves to stand and I thought this would be a great way for her to practice without having to physically hold her ourselves. Well it was a well thought out plan until I placed her in it and her legs were no where near the bottom. So we jury-rigged it and have an exerdisc (dynadisc-round disc filled with air used for balance training exercises) on top of the bouncy platform so her feet can touch. It scoots around a little but she is getting the hang of standing on it. Of course our daughter with be working her core while she practices chewing on her toys!

We had the Piskels come and stay Thursday night at our house with their daughter Lucy. Anya and Lucy loved to look at each other and grab each others hands and faces. In the picture to the right Anya is in her exercauser and Lucy is laying on her playmat. They both have a million toys to look at but they choose to stare at each other! Too funny!

We are starting swimming lessons this week. I am taking Anya to the Bellevue Aquatic Center and using their therapy pool- 91 degrees! We have another mom from my group joining us with her daughter who is 6 months old. It is going to be so much fun. Anya loves her baths so I'm sure the pool will be a hoot!

I purchased a Halloween costume for Anya last week. She is going to be a dalmatian- it really doesn't get any cuter!

This video is Myles making his daughter laugh and giggle while he bounces her around calling her a jumping bean.

Baby in the corner

This has been a bit of a rough week in terms of sleep for us. Anya slept very well in her crib last week but has recently decided to wake every 2-3 hours again causing her mother to slip back in to sleep deprivation mode. Just when I thought we had the sleeping thing nailed, she throws a monkey wrench in my happy world. I guess it is true what they say, "the only thing you can count on with a baby is change." Ain't that the truth.

I am trying a technique a mom from my cycle class shared with me. She said that when babies are used to being in a confined space (bassinet) it is helpful to move them from the middle of the crib to the corner to emulate that same safe space. So we are literally "putting baby in the corner."

Appropriately following this new sleep disturbance is a new found temper and crankiness. Our once good sleeping, sweet natured child is finding herself and letting it be known. She is a doll in the morning and takes several naps through out the day. Right around 5-6 at night she starts getting tired and cranky making our dinner meal a real joy.

It isn't all doom and gloom though. She is delightful when she is happy and well rested. She smiles when you enter a room and laughs when you tickle her belly. She is becoming more aware of her surroundings and her eyes follow Boone around the room especially when he is playing with his toys. She is very interested in her toys and knows the difference between new toys and older ones.

Over Labor Day Weekend Anya met her newest friend Lucy Piskel. Lucy is about one month older then Anya and they were absolutely adorable together.

Oma and Opa (Susie and Karl) got back into town and got to spend some quality time with her. She was a good girl and loved seeing her other grandparents again.

During the week, when I teach my T/Th spin class my dad and mom come over to take care of Anya. They take Anya and Boone for a walk and explore our neighborhood. On Thursdays Grandpa takes care of her all by himself. When he entered the house yesterday she gave him a heart melting smile and I watched my Dad turn to mush. It was adorable!

For the next two weekends Anya and I are on our own. Daddy is going to Spokane for a work conference this weekend and up to the Hood Canal cabin for a boys weekend the next. It will be interesting to be a single parent for two weekends in a row. I'm up for the challenge but poor Daddy is really sad about being gone and missing time with his girls.

Anya has taken to her Bumbo chair this week. I have included a short video showing her playing with her toys in her new seat. Not very exciting to watch but cute none the less. (Those are Myles' hairy legs with the black socks by the way.....not mine!)

We have started a bedtime routine which includes showering with Dad at 8pm, feeding, reading a book and having Daddy rock her to sleep or putting her down drowsy but awake sometimes. She LOVES her showers. All smiles!

Firsts and professional pics

We have taken a large step and Anya is now sleeping in her own room all night in her crib. She has gotten too big for her bassinet and it was time to move her to her crib so last night she spent her first night in her room. All went well with her first wake up at 12am and then no peep until 6:45am.

What are frists you might wonder? Well, that is endearing term I made up for Anya's wrists/forearms. I decided her cubby little wrists needed a special name and thought to combine the two very similar to cankles (calf/ankles). So since she has cubby wrists we lovingly refer to them as her "frists" at this point in her life she does not have cankles.

We got Anya's pictures back that we had professionally taken when she was 6 weeks old. They are precious. She has changed so much since then it is amazing. We will FINALLY send out announcements in keeping with tradition (even though it seems odd to me to announce our child's birth that happened over 3 months ago- whatever!)

She's rolling over!

She is on the move. Last Friday Anya officially rolled over from flat on her back to flat on her tummy. I ran upstairs to grab something and when I came back down she had completely flipped. She has since done it while Myles and I were watching so we know Boone didn't just nose her over!
During the past two weeks she has visited with family and friends quite a bit. She spent some time with her older girl cousins who all wanted to hold her and play with her. We also went up to the cabin (again) this was her third trip. She did really well and even ate an oyster! (well I did so indirectly she did)
On a not so great note, she decided she didn't like the bottle anymore last weekend. We will continue to try different types but it was a major struggle. She is getting older and knows the difference now... good and bad I guess.


Lot's of cute pictures over the last two weeks. She is getting cuter and cuter as the weeks go on.


Her sleeping is all over the map. Some nights she sleeps from 8:30 to 3 am and then wakes again at 7:30. Those are awesome! One night we put her to bed kind of late and she slept from 10pm to 5 am- I considered that sleeping through the night but that was a one time occurrence. Other nights she wakes at 12am, 3am or 4am and then 6am or 7am. Those are long nights with even longer days following.
All and all, Myles and I are adjusting to our life as parents and we can't imagine our life without her. What did we do all day? ha ha. Myles loves playing with her and making her exercise-even if it is just in her socks and diaper. Good look huh!