We have solved the sleep dilemma! The solution? Let her sleep. Yeah, brilliant, right? After consulting with family and with her doctor, we decided to do the cry-it-out method. I'm personally not a fan of that method, though I know it works for a lot of families. We decided that we would let her cry for ten minutes before going in and helping her. I was nervous and tense, especially around midnight when she woke up and started crying. Stephen muted the baby monitor and set a timer for ten minutes. I could hear her though the wall though, and I had to lay there and listen to my baby cry. So sad!
But, after three or four minutes, we couldn't hear her anymore. Stephen turned on the monitor again and it was quiet. She had put herself back to sleep. That happened again a few more times that night and next night, but by the third night, she slept 12 hours without waking. Basically, she would wake for whatever reason, and we would go to her too quickly to allow herself to settle again. She got in the habit of eating overnight only because we continued to feed her overnight. If I had known the solution was to be less of a helicopter parent, I would have done that much sooner.
With her sleep stabilizing again, we decided to enforce a schedule on her that aligned with the clock. It's worked pretty well. She wakes up between 8 and 9 (that one wasn't forced, but rather a habit she developed. I don't wake her unless I have to!) and plays until her morning nap at 11. She doesn't always sleep for long--sometimes it's only twenty minutes, but usually 45 minutes or so--and then she's good until the afternoon. She'll get tired sometime around 3, give or take a half hour. She again does a short nap, and is nice and perky for Dad when he gets home. (Stephen has shifted his work schedule to go in at 8 and be done at 4. It's nice that he gets home so early.) She gets tired around seven, but if we let her nap then, she'd be up late into the night. Instead, we entertain her for an hour and put her to bed at 8. We've started singing a primary song to her and praying with her before she goes to bed as part of our routine. She puts herself to sleep almost 100% of the time now. We let her cry for no more than ten minutes, but usually, she's asleep within that time frame.
When she's not sleeping, there's a good chance she's eating. Paige loves food as much as her mom does. She nurses less often now, but loves solids. She wants whatever I'm eating, whenever I'm eating, regardless of how recently she ate. I'm still keeping her on simple foods of fruits, vegetables, beans, Cheerios, Chex, and some starches like wheat bread, rice, and tortilla. She definitely is a fruit girl, and she already refuses to eat her vegetables (this may be a long battle, but I'm not ready to start fighting it yet). She loves food pouches, so I got some reusable ones, and that has been nice. She's mostly just curious about food and loves to taste all she can at least once. She's very vocal when she wants to eat--her cues are not mistakable, nor easy to ignore.
Paige's eating patterns will sometimes give her a very round tummy. It's pretty cute, actually (one of the few times in her life where such a round tummy will be considered "cute"), but in spite of that, she's still small. She's able to still fit into most of her 3-6 month clothing, as well as her 6-9 month clothes. She's also still in size 2 diapers, and the cost difference between them and size 3 make me happy she's small. She won't have an official check up until next month, so I'm not sure of her weight percentile, but comparing her to others I see, she's petite.
Her personality is very prominent. She's friendly, chatty, and smart. She's overall a pretty happy baby, though sometimes I feel like's she's fussier than she use to be. She knows where to come looking for us, too. I was holding her in the living room and told her "Daddy's coming home," and she immediately craned her neck to look down the hallway towards the front door. Another time, I was napping and Stephen was taking care of Paige when she crawled to my bedroom door and started patting it and calling for me. She will also apparently come fuss at the chair I normally sit in when I'm not around and she wants me.
It's also a lot of fun to play with Paige at this age. She is very interactive. She will tease us sometimes when she's crawling and we'll have to chase her down and catch her. She giggles the whole time as she's crawling away. She will also play pretty independently, and when she does, she sometimes does this high pitch voice with her toys as if she's imagining something and playing pretend with them. It's pretty adorable.
She sits up very well now, so I feel comfortable putting her in the shopping cart seat. She likes the view, but doesn't sit still very well. She wants to turn and see all directions, and her feet sometimes sneak between the bars. I have to make sure she is buckled in nice and snug. She also sits in her stroller without the car seat insert, and this makes walks more fun. She has to be buckled in though or she'd squirm out of chair. She will lean forward and pull the back of her seat with her. It's hard to explain unless you've seen it, but just know that she's strong. When we first put her in the stroller that way, she held on to the sides tightly and wouldn't move much. Now, she's comfortable and relaxes into it. The other day while we were out shopping at City Creek Mall, Paige decided to prop her feet up on the tray in front of her and anytime we tried putting her legs back down, she'd swing them back up. Whatever makes her happy, I guess.
Now that we're all sleeping through the night again and following a schedule, life is much better and less chaotic. Paige is my buddy though the day as she accompanies me for errands and events. I've participated in some mommy group stuff, as well as spending time with friends, and that's helping my need for social interaction. We go on walks often--sometimes I justify going window shopping as a means of exercise, but it's all good.
I'm trying to get back into a healthy routine. It's been kind of hard for me to define what "healthy" is lately. I've watched a few documentaries on Netflix about food and it's got me thinking and pondering a lot of things. I'm also trying to follow the Word of Wisdom better (a health code in my church) by not just avoiding the bad stuff, but also trying to eat meat "sparingly" and incorporate whole foods into my diet. I feel like it's just going to take experiments and experience to know what works for me and my body. I went to the doctor for a checkup for myself and hopefully with his help, I can get my body to function like I want it to. I had my blood tested and there's some potential concern with my levels, so keep your fingers crossed for me.
I've also been needing to get my eyes checked for a while now. Pregnancy changed my prescription, and though it wasn't too much off, it was still a noticeable difference. I had to switch from contacts to glasses also when I was pregnant and I've missed having that option. I went to an optometrist this past weekend and got everything checked and updated. While my frames are getting new lenses, I'm in contacts 100% for two weeks. My eyes have been freaking out over that, though. I was super dizzy all day yesterday and have had a headache. My eyes are very red and itchy and just sore (eyeballs can get sore, in case anyone was wondering). I'm going to check tomorrow with my optometrist to see what can be done, but if you saw me today and wondered if I was extremely sleep deprived or had been crying recently, I don't blame you.
In other news, General Conference happened. It's basically a worldwide meeting for my church that is televised on a Saturday and a Sunday twice a year. For the women's session the week before the main weekend, my sisters came up from Provo to watch it with me. It was fun to spend time with them. The next weekend, we had even more family come over to watch the sessions. My mom and sister Rebecca drove up with a friend and spent a few nights with us. I always love when my mom comes to visit. It's fun for Paige to get extra attention, too. My sisters and brothers that live near me, as well as Stephen's brother, came on Saturday. It was a big party to have so many people over. I especially loved carrying on the tradition of going shopping in between sessions with the girls in the family. I've missed that since moving away. We played games and hung out and had a great weekend together. It was sad when everyone left, but I'm glad we got to be together, even if the time was short.
Stephen also went to Comic Con for a day. He took off work on a Friday and met up with a friend. He said it was weird to feel like he wasn't the nerdiest person in the room for a change, but still had a lot of fun. He didn't dress up, though he did wear the dragon shirt I gave him for his birthday and got compliments on it. Stephen also told me to mention how much I love him. Guys, he's the best husband ever. He has been cleaning a lot lately while I take care of Paige or just take a break. He supports my efforts to be healthy and develop my talents (I've been working on Paige's Christmas stocking I bought for her a year and a half ago that's still not done, but I'm close!). He may be an old man now, but as long as he's MY man, it's ok with me.
I also fall in love with him all over again when he plays with Paige. He can make her laugh so hard. I'll be in the other room listening to the two of them laughing and giggling. It's so fun to watch Stephen be a dad and to know Paige is loved and taken care of by him. I also love making Paige laugh. She's pretty ticklish, and I take advantage of that. While we still have our struggles in life, in the times when Stephen, Paige, and I are all laughing together, I know everything will be ok because we have our priorities right and can be a family forever.
