Eight is Great! (Clever Title, I know)

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. 

A Quarter of a Century and All Grown Up

I can't believe Stephen is already 25! He's been growing so fast. It's fun to see his personality in different ways and to know how much he has already achieved--he's just so advanced for his age! He can walk and talk better than I can, which is really helpful when he needs things and can either communicate it to me well, or he can help himself, which also helps me. He sleeps through the night on his own just fine, unless Paige or I need help. He will fall asleep on his own quickly (sometimes it only takes him a few minutes before he's out). He doesn't nap much, but since he doesn't get cranky, I'm not forcing him to nap. He seems to get enough sleep overnight, so that's good.

He eats solids like a champ too. I'm not sure what his favorite is though. He likes most everything I give him. He has never spit food back at me, so that's a good sign. He prefers vanilla over chocolate, which confuses me, but I guess that means more chocolate for me. He seems average in his height and weight for his age, but it's been a bit since he's had a check up, so I'm not sure what percentile he's in. Stephen also is friendly and happy. He essentially never cries for me. He'll get a little fussy when we're shopping, especially if it's for clothes, so I tend to shop without him. I'm glad he's old enough that I can leave him home alone, which gives me a lot of freedom. He also sometimes keeps Paige while I go out, and I'm almost not sure what to do with myself when I'm out alone. 

Stephen impresses me each day with all the things he can do. He's so talented. Along with programming, drawing, biking to work, taking care of Paige, changing more than his share of Paige's diapers, cleaning up after dinner almost every night, giving me back rubs whenever I want, and managing our finances, he is also completely potty trained! He's such a blessing in my life and I can't imagine life without being his wife. He's changed everything for me and even though it takes work and effort, it is also so so worth it to be his eternal companion.. I love him so much!

In all seriousness, Stephen's been a great husband and father. I have some fun stuff planned for his birthday, along with a few surprises. We realized a bit ago that for as much as Stephen likes dragons, he didn't have a dragon shirt. I tried to find one, but surprisingly, there weren't many options. Instead, Stephen designed his own shirt and we had it printed for him. It says "being human is getting too complicated. Time to be a dragon." I've also got a license plate cover that says "my other ride is a dragon." 

I'm putting his name on the wall with crepe paper, which is a tradition we have, and once Paige wakes up from her nap, I'm taking a cake and a helium balloon to Stephen's work to surprise him. He has no idea, so don't tell him! I'm not going to let him know about this blog post until afterwards, so I'm hoping this won't ruin the secret. I'm really excited about it. Stephen also requested homemade burgers with the works for dinner, so I'm going to be making that for him this afternoon. I'm hopeful it really will be a happy birthday for him.

Besides his birthday, we've not done much beyond the normal routine. Paige is still waking up a lot overnight. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. Being sleep deprived is especially hard on me, so I've been taking things easy. Still, I've been hanging out with friends when I can, and I try to get out and do things like shopping and window-shopping. We still do things as a family each Saturday. We've gone to look at furniture that we will want someday, as well as trying to pick out good sleeping bags and a tent. I saw a new chiropractor, and that has helped my back a lot, though it's not perfect. I'm not sure how many visits I need--any input there too? I finally finished my collage wall, and I'll post pictures soon. 

We're in our groove, so it's nice to have things to shake up our routine like Stephen's birthday.

Seven Months (and Sleep-Deprived Mom)

Someone stop me in two weeks and make me write a blog post so I don't have to try and remember everything that happened in the past month.

This month, Paige has really become talented. She has mastered crawling and loves to follow me around the house. She especially seems to enjoy whining as she crawls to me, then climbing up my leg as far as she can and crying at me until I hold her. But really, she has loved the freedom to explore and play. She climbs through the legs of our coffee table and her high chair, she takes toys with her around the house, and she has discovered the magical doorstop that makes a fun noise when you pull on it. She will also sometimes lift herself up like she's going to bear-crawl, but has yet to actually move forward with that position. 

Paige can also pull herself up to standing. She learned how to do that in her crib, which meant we had to lower the base to keep her safe. Now, when she doesn't want to sleep, she'll crawl to the edge and pull herself up the side and cry out for me. It's cute, but at the same time, it makes sleeping harder. I have to convince her that she really does want to sleep and needs to lay down to do that. She will pull herself to stand at my chair too if I'm sitting and she's on the floor in front of me. She wants to see what I'm doing, I guess. Or be held. Either one works. 

She loves to treat me like her jungle gym, too. Paige thinks my hair and my glasses are fun to pull, and she is enamored with my mouth when I talk and loves exploring it by shoving her hand in my face. She will also grab my bottom lip and hang onto it as she climbs on me and explores. In other words, holding her is not nearly as peaceful for me as it use to be, and my glasses seem to continually have fingerprint marks on it, no matter how often I clean them. I also tend to bring her into bed with me in the morning when I want extra rest and she's awake. It's not very restful when she climbs back and forth over me and sits on my head, but it's mostly due to my being loathe to wake up some days. I also have to play goalie with her when she's on my bed to keep her from falling off the edge. Gravity is such a foreign concept to her.

As interested as she is when I talk, she loves talking herself. She makes all kinds of different noises with her mouth--basically everything except "mama" or "dada". I've become pretty good at understanding her, especially when she wants to eat. She is very vocal about asking for food, and really persistent when it's food she can't eat. She loves playing by trying different tastes. She knows if she sits in her high chair, it's time to eat. Paige still seems to prefer fruit over veggies, though she also eats beans, peanut butter, and Chex. She also enjoys applesauce pouches. Whoever thought those up were genius. I want to get some reusable pouches to make my own. Any recommendations?

Because everything is so interesting to her, she gets distracted really easily. This is helpful when she's upset and we can convince her to forget why she was crying, but this is not helpful when we are tying to keep her focus, like while she nurses or when we change her diaper. She's become a "snacker" while nursing. Daddy will often have to leave the room so she'll actually eat. And diaper changes are just so confining, apparently. She wants to roll and explore, so changing her is not nearly as easy as it use to be. Bath time is also another distraction. Splashing the water is just a temptation she can't resist. Paige has yet to make a large mess with the water though, so the splashing is still cute. 

Paige also is friendly and doesn't seem to be stranger shy yet. Strangers at the store love talking to her because she rewards them with a big smile. She laughs easy, too, and is very ticklish. Whenever I hold my hand up like the tickle monster and slowly move it closer, she preemptively squeals and squirms. It's pretty adorable. She gets excited when we pull out toys for her and loves to stick them in her mouth instantly. In fact, most anything she can reach, she puts in her mouth. We're at that stage, I guess. Paige likes playing with her reflection in the glass on our TV stand, as well as in mirrors--she will smear her mouth all over it. 

There are a few things Paige doesn't like. One is being in her play pen. She use to be fine with it, but now she knows it limits her, and the five to ten minutes she's confined in there while I shower is the worst part of her day. She doesn't particularly enjoy filling her diaper now that she eats real food. I have to be careful with what I give her so she won't be constipated. We had a few rough days at the beginning with that, but we both learned. She has yet to sprout any teeth, but I wonder if she's teething sometimes with how fussy she'll be over nothing. But for the most part, she's a really happy baby. She will often ask nicely before resorting to full out crying when she's not happy with the situation.

Alright. I think I've covered all of her new tricks, though I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something.

This month, we were able to spend time with both sides of our family. With college starting back up, my mom traveled up north to help my brother and sister move in for the new semester. She stayed here for a few days, and, as always, it was so fun. Paige likes Grandma, and Grandma likes Paige, so Mommy gets a break! It was also fun to help my sister Susan transition into being an adult. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago I was in her shoes and getting situated for college. Five years can go fast. 

Two years also goes by fast. Stephen and I celebrated our second anniversary. It overlapped the time while my mom was visiting, so she took Paige for the day so Stephen and I could have a real date. He took off half the day of work and we went out for lunch and did a lot of window shopping. We got home earlier than my mom did, and for a few hours, we were just hanging out at home babyless. I'll tell you--it's weird. I wasn't sure what to do with my time. What did I use to do before I had a baby? I spent time sewing, but still, it was quiet without Paige. I missed her. 

Over Labor day weekend, we went to Meridian to visit Stephen's family. Paige did really well on the drive, but the whole weekend she had trouble with sleeping overnight. We tried everything we could think of  to prevent her from waking up so much, but why she wouldn't stay asleep still remains a mystery. She would have to nurse to go back to sleep, and I worry I've created a bad habit with that because she still has not slept well since we got home almost a week ago and needs me several times through the night. I'm hopeful we can come up with a solution quickly, because we need our sleep! I've been spoiled to have such an easy baby when it comes to the night, but this is almost worse than the first few weeks after she was born. 

Besides that, we had a great trip to Idaho. It was nice to relax with the family and spend time with them. We played games and watched football and cheered for Jason during his cross country meet. We went to the construction site for the new Meridian temple. It was really beautiful. It was also fun to take Paige to church and show her off to to people. I'm always game for bragging about Paige. She had fun playing with her uncles. She was so entertained just by watching them. It's harder when it's just her and me at home all day. I'm not as energetic and loud as a group of little boys. She also enjoyed playing with her cousin Elise. Lately, she's been excited to see other babies her size. Overall, the trip felt too short, but it was a nice vacation.

Over the past month, we've invited different families over to have dinner with us. I like being a hostess, and Stephen knows this. He went out of his comfort zone twice and invited people over, even though he's more introverted than I am. We had the Adams, a couple from our neighborhood, come with their twins that are a month older than Paige. It was interesting to try and eat and play games with three babies to four adults, but it was a lot of fun, too. I had fun seeing the similarities and differences between them and Paige and recognizing how developed she really is to be able to keep up with older babies. 

We also invited the Stringhams over. Stephen is currently coworkers with Ryan and use to be with Alyssa as well until she became a stay-at-home-mom after she had Sidney a month after Paige was born. We also use to live close to them when we were in Provo, so we used to hang out with them there. It was good to spend time with them. I had visited Alyssa a week or two before we had them over for dinner, and then I spent the next morning with her at a baby-wearing meeting. It's really helpful for me to have mommy friends and to have someone say "Me, too!" when I talk about my life. 

Lately, I've been having a lot of back problems. Really, though, I've had back pain since I was pregnant, and giving birth to and caring for Paige hasn't made it much better. I enjoyed running, but, near the end, my back hurt too much for me to run fast or far, and these past few weeks I've stopped running all together. I went and saw a chiropractor, and, after he adjusted me, I felt like I got hit by a truck for the next few days (and I know what it feels like to be hit by a truck, just sayin'). I did one return appointment with him but didn't feel like it was a good match for me. I'm trying another chiropractor, so cross your fingers for that. I had a consultation last week. I'm seeing him again this upcoming week, and I hope he'll pop my back in just the right ways. At the consultation, he said my hips were so misaligned, my legs were half an inch different in their lengths. Ouch! Stephen has been helping as much as he can with massages and heating pads, but I want this to be fixed so I can live my life without pain each day.

Other eventful happenings this month: Stephen's work had a Boondocks night, which is like an arcade that has mini golf and laser tag and stuff. It was harder to do things there with Paige, but it made for a nice outing as a family. We rented Into the Woods and watched that as a couple. Really good! We also went to the library and borrowed Tales of Earthsea (Stephen had never seen it before *gasp* and it even had dragons in it (Stephen really likes dragons)). Stephen had to be on call for his work one Saturday, but it was nice that he could work from home still and help out with Paige. I also finished painting our coffee table. It was a free gift from a friend and use to be red with a wooden top. I changed it to have gold legs and a black chalkboard surface, so now Paige and any other future children (or, let's be honest, Stephen and I) can draw on it. 

We did other things, too, but this is long enough. We're staying busy in our lives, and Paige just makes it that much more busy, but it's so fun and so worth it. Now,  if we could just all sleep through the night again, that would be great.

Half a year

Has it really been half a year since Paige was born? She's completely changed my life. It's odd to think there was ever life before her. She's such a doll. It's fun to see her personality emerge. She's very curious about life, but also needs security before she's willing to explore. She'll cling to me or Stephen until she feels comfortable enough, and then she'll play on her own just fine for a while. It's funny that she does this in our living room still. She needs to know we're sitting near her. She'll be playing fine, and then I get up and go to the kitchen, and that's cause for her to cry, even though she wasn't interacting with me before. It's funny.

Mostly, I think she likes to tag along and watch. She is a watcher and wants to know what's going on. There are times that I'm sitting and holding her and that's not good enough for her. She'll fuss until I get up and do something, and then she'll calm down to watch. It's like she knows I should be cleaning and gets on my case when I don't. She's still a good shopper and is almost always content when we are out and about. It's really helpful for me.

She's almost crawling. She's on her hands and knees and will lunge forward, but still hasn't gotten the coordination down to actually crawl. That doesn't stop her though--she loves to move. She especially loves power cords. I have to cover them up with a blanket or pillow to distract her. If she can see them, she'll go for it. She also likes playing with anything reflective. Our TV stand has a glass door that she'll crawl to and play with. Normally, she just bonks her head against it, but it's still cute. She likes Stephen's water bottle and will also go for that any time she can. Mirrors also intrigue her. Paige's favorite toy is anything she shouldn't be playing with, and in that sense, I think she's a typical baby. With her movement, she requires more supervision, but so far, she's not gotten herself into too much trouble.

I've also started letting her chew on some solids. I'm wanting to do a baby-led weaning approach. At this point though, I'm not actually weaning as much as I'm just letting her explore and play with food. I'm also wanting to make sure she eats healthy. My approach for now is to only let her have 100% whole foods (basically just fruits and veggies for now). She's tried peaches, cantaloupe, mango, carrots, broccoli, and sugar snap peas.  She's only swallowing a little bit of it, and that's fine with me. I'm still nursing her so I'm not worried about her nutrition yet. It's mostly just exposure at this point. Also, with the amount of random objects that go into her mouth, some of it might as well be food.

I think it's time to recap this past month. We've done a lot of fun things as a family. I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention a lot of fun things. We still do our Saturday outings and sometimes we go out for dinner or just go for a drive. I love shopping (or even just window shopping) with Paige. I still go running most evening and we're trying to eat healthy. Paige keeps us laughing a lot. I'm so enthralled with her, and I adore watching Stephen be a great dad. Our life is pretty standard, but we have done some special stuff this past month.

Stephen's work hosted an event they called a hackathon. They split up into teams and worked for a few days on a project to improve their product, collaborative flowcharts. Stephen's group changed the way a file saved. If you want more programming details, ask him. They company then had a competition at the end. After inviting the families to see the displays and have dinner, the top four teams were announced. Stephen's team was one of them. The four teams did a presentation, and then the winners were announced. Stephen and his team took first place and each won a $500 gift card to Amazon. Needless to say, I was proud of my smart Husband.

My sister Susan came home from her mission in California. I tried meeting her at the airport during her layover in Salt Lake, but her flight was delayed. I saw her a few days later when we went down to St. George to visit. It had been a long time since all my siblings and I were together, so that was really fun for our family. Paige traveled alright, though vacationing with a baby isn't relaxing. Still, being with my family meant she had a lot of babysitters. I was happy for the break.

My sisters, my mom, my grandma, and I went to the temple together. It was great to be there as a girl's trip. I hope we can do that again someday. It was also fun to go to church as a whole family. Susan gave a great report on her mission and Paige was extra cute. I had a lot of fun showing her off. I was able to see some friends while I was down in St. George too, and I'm glad for that.

Since we were all together, my family had a photo shoot with one of my best friends growing up, Kelsi, as our photographer. If anyone in St. George wants a great photographer, check her out. She did an amazing job working with our large family and our different ideas and opinions. I'm really happy with how the pictures turned out. Thanks, Kelsi! It was fun to choose our outfits too. It was my idea to go with neutrals and navy, and I think it turned out nice. I was very happy to see the pictures when they were done. It'll be something we cherish for a long time.

At the end of July, I saw a facebook post for a contest for Parade of Homes tickets. Long story short, we got two free tickets. Stephen and I have been spending a lot of time looking at fancy homes. I love daydreaming and the Parade of Homes is perfect for that. It's been fun for me. For Stephen, on the other hand, well, it just shows how much he loves me. It's more work for him, and not how he would choose to spend his free time, but he has not once complained to me about it. He's worked hard to give me opinions and input, carrying on the conversation well. We've both learned about what we like and don't like in a home, and so far, we have pretty similar tastes. When we get to build our dream home someday, it's going to be beautiful! Paige sides with me on the enjoyment of looking at homes. We take turns wearing her in the baby wrap as we go through the homes and so far, she's enjoyed all of them.

I've also been trying to make friends and hang out with people. I've tried to get together with my neighbors, but so far, nothing's worked out. I went to a mommy group and had fun there, and we might go back, but I would have to pay to join their group. La Leche Leage is great, but it only meets once a month, ad I would like friends more often than that. I was able to hang out with some of my friends from college earlier this week, and I had a blast. We have a facebook group for us to ask each other mommy questions and share fun articles or pictures, and sometimes we try to do meetups. This one was the most successfully attended. We just went to a park and hung out, but I loved seeing my friends and meeting many new babies.

Well, Paige is needing another diaper change, so we'll end here. I love being a mom to this sweet girl, and a wife to my amazing husband. Six months of parenting down, eternity to go.

4th of July, 5 Months Old (Almost), and 6 Pounds Gone

I use to try and post twice a month. Now, it's becoming a once-a-month thing. So much has happened though, and I probably won't be able to remember it all. Still, let's cover some highlights.

Paige went through a sleep regression for a while. She would wake up several times a night; sometimes just feeding her would put her back to sleep, and other times, it took more effort. Both Stephen and I felt the dip in our sleep, and that made things rough for a bit. Stephen is really good at picking up the slack on my hard days. Paige seems to be doing a lot better now, though she wakes up more often than she use to. I guess this is what it's like to have a normal baby. I've become a lot better at nursing her in bed though. Often in the mornings, she'll wake up after Stephen's gotten up and I'll bring her to bed with me for a few more hours of sleep and let her rest on his side of the bed. I've done research into safe bed sharing, so don't hate.

She's about 50% on putting herself to sleep in the crib, which is a big step from a month ago. If she fights it long enough, I'll get her up and put her to sleep myself. Otherwise, I stand by her crib and give her the pacifier a few times while either singing to her or playing music to her. We bounce back and forth between Geronimo and the Primary songbook. Sometimes she welcomes her nap, and other times, not so much. She's also cut down on the amounts of naps she takes each day. Where she use to sleep every two to three hours, she now only naps two or three times a day. I'm adjusting our schedule to fit that.

Paige has grown a lot in her abilities. She's now able to roll over both directions. She did a full 360 once too. She's much more interested in toys and loves to play with them. She's also much more interested in things that aren't toys that are fun to play with too, which keeps me on my toes sometimes. If she can reach it, it's only a matter of seconds before it's in her mouth. She will wiggle and squirm herself towards toys, and spins around in a circle to play with different toys. It's only a matter of time before she figures out how to get on her knees, and then I know she'll be off. She's recently discovered her toes, too, and that's been one of her favorite toys.

She also likes to give kisses to me, and often just sucks on my chin. I've learned that she's ticklish on her jawline and I make her laugh a lot because of it. It's pretty cute. She's still able to fit in some of her 0-3 month clothes, but for the most part, she's comfortable in the 3-6 month sizes. She's getting better at her balance, but still can't sit up on her own yet. Once she does, I'll start trying to feed her solids. I'm excited for that, not because it'll replace nursing, but because it'll be fun to watch her learn and try new things. I'm determined to give her lots of healthy options and hopefully start some good habits. 

Speaking of healthy options and good habits, I've joined a mommy fitness challenge. It's eight weeks long and started last Monday. In this past week's time, I've lost 6 pounds and 5 inches. I'm feeling pretty accomplished for that. I've also gone running a lot and though I'm slow, there's so much improvement than there was a month or two ago. I've been working on eating healthy, whole, clean foods. I'm drinking green smoothies and eating a lot of yummy salads and just trying to emphasis plants in my diet. I told Stephen yesterday that my diet is "I can eat a lot of stuff, I just can't eat a lot of stuff." In other words, portion control on many healthy options. I'm glad I'm already seeing the benefits of this lifestyle change, and I hope to continue for the next seven weeks and beyond. Paige is a great motivation for me to live the kind of life I really want to. 

Independence Day turned out to be two days for us this year since Stephen got Friday off in observance. I insisted we all wear red, white, and/or blue for both the 3rd and the 4th. Friday night, we went to Riverton and watched a parade. It was a little stressful to find a good parking spot and a good spot to watch the parade, but it turned out to be perfect. The parades I watched growing up were much shorter and less exciting than this parade. It lasted over an hour and had a lot of fun floats. Paige had the "not impressed" look through a lot of it, but I was impressed. I'm just grateful she didn't cry and hate it, even if she didn't understand anything. 

When it got dark that night and after we put Paige in bed, Stephen and I went outside with the baby monitor and lit some little fireworks. We had sparklers and pop its and one that you set on the road and it sparked and stuff. It was pretty fun to play with fire with my best friend. I squealed probably more than I should have. Stephen had fun too. 

Saturday morning we went to a park in Sandy. There, we watched police dogs do obstacle courses and attack "bad guys." We also walked around and looked at the booths. There was one that sold cute books and I bought one for Paige for Christmas. We spent the afternoon at home and I made a fun 4th of July indoor BBQ. I made tuna burgers with a bean salad and corn on the cob. We drank fruit punch out of our fancy glasses and Paige cooperated for most of the meal. Later, we had angel food cake with strawberry sauce. Super yummy! 

That night, we watched the fireworks. The three of us dove up the hill and found a clearing where we could look over the valley. There were so many fireworks! It seemed like every mile, there was another launch site. We listened to the radio play patriotic music and enjoyed the show for a while. Paige slept through most of it, which means they weren't loud enough to scare her, so that was nice. Overall, we had a really good holiday.

It's hard to believe it's almost been five months since Paige was born. I'm sure I'm forgetting to note a lot of her new accomplishments, as well as interesting things we've done in the past month. That why I use to write more often. But my days are full with family and health and homemaking now, as well as plenty of Reba and Family Feud. Not every day is easy, but overall it's a lot of fun. 

Four Months and Family Memories

I had notes about Paige to write for her four month post, but them my phone deleted them. So this is going off of memory. Also, I'm using my phone to write some of this, so forgive me for any errors. Paige turned four months last Friday but I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. It's hard to think of all the new things that she's been doing; it's hard for me to look back and think when she started doing things. It feels like she's always been like this. Then I look up baby pictures when she was a newborn and realize how far we've come. 

So Paige is a talker. It seems like a few weeks ago, she discovered her voice. This is good for me because she often just babbles instead of crying when she wants or needs something. Like, when she wakes up from a nap happy, she will just cool at me until I come get her. Then she flashes a huge smile and get really excited to see me. I much rather have her wake up like that and screaming and crying. It's also a really cute to try to have conversations with her. Also, I love tapping my finger on her mouth to change her sound and she likes it too.

Speaking of her getting excited to see me, I feel like she is the most happy to see me than any other person has ever been. It's so cute to see her squeal and wave her hands and kick her feet. It's like a whole body can't contain your excitement. And all I did was show up. Why weren't boys like that when I was dating? She's also really happy to see daddy when he comes home--she's almost as happy as I am. She really is a daddy's girl. Stephen got her to laugh the hardest when he was doing push-ups with her. She hasn't laughed like that before or since. Luckily we got it on video. She will smile back at almost anyone that smiles at her if she is in a good mood. If she's in a bad mood, it doesn't matter who she sees, she's not happy.

Physically, Paige is very advance for her age. She was able to hit all of the mile markers for being 4 month old around the time she was 3 months old. However, she has yet to actually roll over on her own. There have been a few times when her head tipped far enough that she rolled, but that was just by accident. She seems like she's really close a few times for rolling over from her back to her stomach but she has yet to actually commit to it.

At her for month check up, Paige weighed 13 pounds and had grown 4 inches since she was born. She's only in the 30th percentile for her age, but the doctor is not concerned, so neither am I. I've had people comment on how little she is, and it's true that she small, but she is growing enough and has enough diapers for me to know she's eating plenty too. Speaking of diapers, she's really good at big summer blow out. I'll just keep that there for the record to embarrass her with it later in life.

Paige is really good at doing a half push-up and holding her head up really high. She loves to look around and see what's going on. She wants to be included on all the action any time we go somewhere new. Because of this, she often skip a nap or skip a feeding because she's too distracted by what's going on. She's going a lot longer between eating, and that's been nice for me. Her naps are not very long, but she does well at night. There have been enough night feedings though to make me realize how hard it would be if Paige actually woke up all the time throughout the tonight. My heart goes out to all the other moms who have to do the night shift far more often than I do.

Paige has also shown more interested in toys. Within a week, she went from oblivious to obsessive over toys. It's fun to try and play with her now. She's getting the grabbing motion down, but she doesn't have a concept of holding onto things yet. And if the toy goes out of her sight, it doesn't exist. Now I have to be careful of her wanting to play with things that aren't toys, like power cords and my hair. Still, I'm happy she's reaching this milestone.

We are also working on her putting herself to sleep in her crib. I was really worried it would be a nightmare and a constant battle, but she surprised me by doing extremely well. I have to make sure she's calm when I put her down, and I've needed to give Paige her pacifier a few times when she looses it, but overall, she's had a high success rate. It makes me want to celebrate. I knew I didn't want to do the cry-it-out method, so I wasn't sure what I would do if she hated falling asleep on her own, but with just a little extra effort on my side (but much less than her falling asleep in my arms), she's able to put herself to sleep.

I think that covers all of the details I want to point out. In other news, We've had a busy week. Last Saturday, we attended a funeral for my cousin Ryan. It was like a mini-reunion, and I appreciated that. Paige was being fussy after her shots, but my mom helped to take care of her and show her off to family members, which gave me a nice break.

Then on Sunday, we went to Stephen's family's cabin. It was tricky to take care of Paige at the cabin, but it worked out alright. She just never wanted to sleep since there was so much going on. It was fun for me to play games with his family--I ended up winning a lot more than I thought I would. We hiked a lot--any time we put Paige in the wrap and hiked, she fell asleep quickly. That seemed to be the only time she slept well, Overall, I'm glad we went. I hope to make many more good memories at the cabin.

We came home Tuesday night and met up with my mom, who stayed with us for a few days while my brother Joseph had New Student Orientation at the University of Utah. My mom changed every diaper while she was here. If you ever want to know how to help out a new mom and give her a break, change all the diapers. I really don't mind changing Paige, but I will gladly let someone else do it. My mom also helped me around my house to decorate and organize more. I was able to cross off a lot of to-do items that had been lingering on my list too long. I'm most proud of my photo wall collage. It's about 90% done, so once it's completely finished, I'll post pictures.

Because there has been so much going on, Paige's update is late, but as you can tell, we've been busy. It's at least been a fun-busy, adding memories and adventure to our lives. I'm so grateful for family and the chance we've had to be with them, and I love being a part of my own little family and watching Paige learn and grow.

Vacation, Visits, and Personal Development

Having a baby has taken up a lot of my blogging time, but I want to document things still, so this will be a catch-all recap. 

For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Arizona to visit my Grandma. We were able to take a four-generation picture as it was Paige's first time to meet my Grandma. We had plans to go to Lake Powell, but the weather didn't cooperate. It was fun to hang out inside instead. We also visited my Grandpa's grave.

I tried teaching my siblings how to make animals out of beads like my siblings and I use to do when we were younger, but their lack of enthusiasm made it feel worse than pulling teeth. But other activities went over better, like playing games and taking care of Paige. I think the best thing about visiting with family is seeing them interact with Paige (the second best thing is when they change the diapers for me). It was a very good trip and turned out really well.

My mom and my sister, Sarah, came and stayed with us this past week. It was great to spend so much time with them. We spent the week sewing different projects. I bought a sewing machine and my mom helped to teach me how to use it. I made fabric letters for Paige to play with. It was a great beginner project and turned out really cute. I also did a lot of mending by myself, and felt a great sense of accomplishment. I'm looking forward to making more things and developing that talent. 

Tom and Deborah came up twice during that week to visit. I made a carrot cake and decorated it all by myself. Or rather, like I said to Deb, "All without your help," since she is the artistic one in the family. We played games, talked, and had fun. It's nice to have my family close. While my mom was visiting, Stephen and I went to the temple and did sealings. We were able to do a lot of family names and finish up the work for a few people that I've been working on for the past few years. And it was nice to have another date with Stephen. 

My new rule of a family outing every Saturday has been going well. One week we went to Pizza Pie Cafe. Another week we went to Sheel's (a sportsman store) and walked around. We went to a festival at the local Catholic school and looked around. This past weekend we took Paige swimming for the first time since it was a free day at the pool. She was really confused by it, but didn't cry, so that's good. She liked looking at all the action going on around her. Paige really likes any action going on around her. She loves going to new places and seeing different people. 

We've also been working on things around the house. Stephen and I are trying to improve on our emergency preparedness. I think my 72-hour kit is about up to par, and I've started making Paige's kit. I've been trying to decorate more too. I feel like I have a lot of half-finished projects, but as soon as they're done, it's going to be so cute. My wall collage, chalk table, and beach-themed bathroom will hopefully be really cute when it comes together. And now adding sewing to my crafting list, I'm going to be spending a lot of time making things. That is, as much time as Paige will let me.

I've also been trying to make time for exercising. Within the weeks after giving birth, I dropped 45 pounds (and considering I only gained 30 through my pregnancy, that was really good). But then I stalled for a long time. I can't say I was actively working on it, though. I would try to go on walks with Paige, but nothing intense. But a few weeks ago, I committed to being more active. I started a couch-to-5k training app and I've seen a lot of improvement. The scale doesn't reflect it, but my ability to run has increased, and I believe it's more important to be healthy and fit than it is to be skinny. I want to be healthy for Paige, and being able to run for three minutes straight repeatedly is something I'm not sure I've ever been able to do. I would love to be able to run a 5k when my sister Susan gets home from her mission next month, but if I could even run a mile in under 12 minutes, that would be a personal record.

And now for Paige. She's as cute as ever. I want to make a four-month post soon (can you believe it's been that much time already?) so I won't write a lot, but I will say she's adorable. She's not sleeping as well as she use to overnight, but it's still only like, one extra feeding, so it's not too bad. She likes to stay up late with the party. She's in larger clothes that are super cute, but it was hard to put away her smaller outfits. She sticks to her schedule pretty well, and sometimes skips a feeding or two through the day, meaning she can go longer without eating, which is awesome. She naps pretty well through the day but evenings and nights are rough to get her to sleep. Speaking of which, she has just woken up from her nap, and it's time to go back to being a mommy.