Fishy, Fishy

Last Saturday was Free Fishing Day, and one of Niels' brothers invited us to go with him and his wife. We headed out early with a bunch of food and borrowed fishing gear and drove to the middle of nowhere (which doesn't take long to do in Idaho). There was a cluster of lakes in the Wildlife Management Area we chose to go to, and the first lake we happened to pick brought the most success when it came to catching fish. We had only caught two fish, when our fun was cut short. Some volunteer park rangers came and told us that the lake we were fishing on was closed until July because it was trumpeter swan nesting season. It's actually kind of a big deal, and the rangers were pretty mad at first until they realized we were ignorant of the fact that the lake was closed (apparently there was a small sign posted but we came from a different direction and completely missed it). We were lucky they were just volunteers too, because if the real park rangers caught us we would have gotten a fine and lost our fish. We drove to a different lake a few miles away and stayed for a few more hours but didn't have any more luck catching fish.

Ada and I had a good time. She loved being outside and playing with the grass growing up through the benches. She even stayed happy when she and I had to find shelter in the car while a large storm cloud came through, bringing thunder and hail.

Trial-and-Error

I think I've mentioned before that we use the cry-it-out method with Ada at night. We've been using it for four months now, and she does really well. She usually just cries for a second when we put her down and then she's quiet.

Until recently, we've been getting Ada down for naps by rocking her to sleep in her car seat (or in desperate times going for a drive). I had read on one website that using the cry-it-out method for naps could reverse the baby's progress at bedtime because it makes them afraid of their cribs and bedroom. For fear of that happening, we've spoiled her by rocking her to sleep and then carrying the car seat to her room. Last week, though, I went to get her after she woke up from her nap and found her on the floor. I'm not even sure how it happened. I'm guessing she arched her back, causing the car seat to tip and her to slip out. Since she wasn't whining or crying, just confused, I found it quite funny. Regardless, I decided it was time to use her crib not only at night, but for her naps also. She does not like it. She cries from anywhere between ten minutes to a half hour, with even some play time in between which isn't too bad. If any of you are against this, please don't hate me. She cries because she's tired, and because she's not used to going down for naps this way, but she'll get used to it... hopefully quickly. It breaks my heart, but I can't be rocking her in her car seat when she's over a year old.

Thankfully, though, it hasn't screwed up her bedtime routine. She still falls asleep at night just as easily. So now I know. For future babies, I'll just have to start nap time in the crib when they're younger so it won't be so hard on them.

My 8 1/2 Month Old

I wanted to post the lastest pictures of Ada, most of which are from yesterday at the park. Also, here are some tidbits about her:

- She should be eating baby food, but all she likes are Cheerios... and breastmilk, of course. I'm just happy she's eating something other than milk. I have a blast feeding her Cheerios.
- She loves the shower, and though she makes a funny face when we pour a cup of water over her head, she likes that too.
-She doesn't crawl yet, but she scoots on her bum, and she loves to stand against a chair or couch.
-She doesn't have any teeth yet, either.
-She already loves boys. Yikes. We are in big trouble.

7-Month Update

Ada is now 7 months old and it scares me. Celebrating her six month birthday was a lot of fun; it was a big mile marker, but now she is just growing too fast. BUT with her unfortunate ever-increasing age also comes increasing fun. She cracks me up! She squeals all throughout church (which is actually more embarrassing than funny) and she absolutely loves other children. No one can make her laugh harder than other children. It's adorable. She says "da-da", and recently she's started saying "mmmom". I accidentally taught her to say "mom" like that, because I was teaching her the "mm" sound first, trying to get her to close her lips and hum. Also, we're convinced she tries to say her name. It kind of sounds like "da-da" but there's a definite distinction between the two. When she says her name she says "uh-da" instead of the repeated "da" sound, so we like to think she's saying her name. :)

Ada doesn't willingly eat solid foods. It takes a huge effort to try and get a spoonful of anything into her mouth. She's a smart cookie, too. We'll trick her into opening her mouth by surprising her or by some other way, and when we try again, she keeps her mouth clamped shut. Yes, it is very difficult to get her to open her mouth. Once the food is in though, she swallows, so I'm not quite sure what to do. Obviously, it would all be easier if she just loved to eat her baby food...

Oh, also I think because I was bragging about how great Ada sleeps in my last post I got cursed. She has not been sleeping well for the past month. Sadly, she's back to waking up every four hours. Yuck. I'm hoping it's just a phase though.... that ends very soon.

This is Ada's favorite face to make. It makes us laugh every time.

To A New Year

We moved in to our new apartment at the beginning of the year, and so far it's been great! I feel revived and refreshed. Having more space really helped my attitude and helped me to be a better wife and mother. I am loving having my own washer and dryer (thanks to Kelly and Derek Dickson), and having Ada in her own room. It sure is nice! She transitioned really well. She has a set bed time and goes down rather well, although I am currently listening to her cry a little in her crib. Most nights she goes down without a fuss. Niels and I sing a few songs to her, lay her in her crib, and turn on her little music player that lights up and that helps her a lot.

Up until we moved, Ada had been going to bed around midnight or later. I used to be okay with that because it was when Niels and I went to bed so it was no big deal. Now that I've experienced what it's like to have my evenings back alone with my husband I am so grateful that Ada goes to bed between 8 and 8:30. She wakes up once around four to nurse then sleeps again until 8 or 9. To get her to this stage, we used a version of the "cry it out" method. I used to be so against it. I thought I would feel so bad for Ada, and I do, but when I know she's tired I know she'll be okay and fall asleep. It really only took one or two nights of us having to go in and soothe her a few times while she cried before she got used to falling asleep on her own, and like I said, her music player is a great help. She just stares at it until she closes her eyes.

So here's a virtual toast to the new year. I look forward to fully enjoying our two-bedroom apartment, and continuing watching Ada grow and learn. She is a crack up and I love her little personality that is starting to show.

Stinky Bibs

I'm discovering that Ada has a very sensitive gag reflex. We haven't been able to give her the recommended Vitamin D supplement for breastfed babies because she throws up every time we squeeze some into her mouth. We thought that maybe she just really hated the cherry taste, but now that she's four months old, we've tried giving her rice cereal, and she gags at that too. Luckily, she hasn't thrown up yet after being given the cereal, but she does gag and spit it out. We'll just have to keep trying. Maybe in a week or so she'll be ready and willing to expand her palate.

She received some more immunizations the other day, which gave her a fever, so we attempted to give her Tylenol... yeah, she threw up after that also. I thought maybe she'd like the bubble gum flavor of Tylenol over the cherry flavor of the Vitamin D supplement. I was wrong. I even tried mixing it with a bottle of milk, but Ada's too smart for her own good. It wasn't disguised enough for her.

Though the pamphlet I have on infant feeding says to be patient, I have this fear that she won't ever want to eat anything but breastmilk! Haha. Niels keeps telling me that Ada will be forty and I'll still be having to nurse her. Yikes! She may never get over the idea of taking medicine, but I sure hope she learns to like her cereal, and eventually all of the yummy pureed fruits and veggies we give her.

On a happier note, Ada is getting SO close to rolling over! It'll happen any day now, I know it. She rolled over on our bed, but that hardly counts because she has that squishy surface to her advantage. We'll keep trying on the floor. She slowly spun around 360 degrees last night while trying to get herself up and over her stubborn shoulder and elbow.

Three Sparkly Band-Aids

We took Ada in for her first round of immunizations yesterday. Poor baby girl got three shots in her legs :( Her appointment was in the afternoon, so all morning I was dreading having to take her in to get poked. When we arrived and were in the waiting room, I heard another baby crying really hard. I asked our nurse when she came out to get us if another baby was getting their shots today. She said, "No, he's just getting weighed." Haha. That made me laugh. It was a super tiny newborn who probably didn't like being in just a diaper. Poor thing.

Before Ada received her shots she got her regular check up routine done. Her heart and lungs are strong, and she's gaining good weight. She weighs 9 lbs. 13 oz. and is 21 1/2 inches long. I felt so bad when the nurses walked in with all of those needles. Ada was already a little fussy (she probably knew what was coming), but when they poked her she cried so hard! She did that silent cry with her mouth wide open, eyes tightly shut, and too sad to breathe. It killed me. She's not much of a crier, so seeing her like that broke my heart. I cuddled her for as long as I could. I almost walked home so I wouldn't have to put her down in her carseat. She was calm before we left the doctor's office, but I was still sad. She's been a trooper since then, though. I was worried about her being fussy from sore legs, but her mood isn't any different than any other day. She's just been sleeping a lot. It was very traumatic for her, I'm sure.