Honolulu-bound!

It will be an insane two weeks ahead. I will be going back into working mom mode beginning Feb. 1st with a contract position with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. We thought since we probably won't have time the rest of the year to take off somewhere, why not leave dreary Vancouver for a sunny, kid-friendly destination? So Honolulu here we come!

As this is our first plane trip with Sofia, you can imagine, I laid awake a few nights thinking how we were going to do this?!?

Well, here are a few things we tried with Sofia in prepping for the trip:

1. Potty in the big toilet

Success! She embraced it right when I offered it to her! She has seen us go in the big potty so it was an easy transition to get to sit where mom and baba do their business. I also think she likes hearing the sound of her business going into the water hehe Now we have eliminated the step of having to clean up the little potty. The downside of this is the toilet is way too big for her so we aren't able to leave her alone in the bathroom to do stuff and have to watch her. She is of course fascinated with touching the TP and touches the toilet with her hands (gotta keep the toilet clean all the time now). So that eliminates us having to bring the potty with us and instead we will bring a foldable toilet seat.



2. Sleeping with the musical doggie

We had been using an ol' skool wind up mobile for her to listen to before going to bed. I didn't want to bring that thing with us to Hawaii so thought maybe we could get her used to listening and sleeping with her musical Leap Frog doggie. This thing is amazing and can do 2, 5, or 10 mins. of bedtime lullabies. I was envisioning her in the middle of the night being woken up from accidentally hitting one of the buttons but so far, it's working. In fact, this afternoon, I found her sitting up and a light show going on cuz she was pressing the buttons.

3. Drinking from a straw

Halluluah! Thanks to Rob, she started drinking from a straw this week. She drank from a straw when she was 7 months old and then learned to blow bubbles so I stopped giving it to her and then she forgot. I could never figure out how to get her to do it again until baba took charge and voila! Now she is drinking a straw like a pro and she drinks milk so much faster and more of it than with sipping a cup. I haven't given her the Foogo to try yet but the hope is she would drink from there when we are in Hawaii. In any case, we just need a straw and she will be fine.

Now, onto the packing...

Roseola

We think Sofia has Roseola. Last night, I noticed some bumpy rashes all over her body but thought maybe it was just heat rash from the MANY layers of clothes she's been wearing. Also from looking at images of Roseola online, they looked more like big patches of rashes so didn't think she had it. Then this morning, the rash looked more red, lots of little bumps and it is all over her body and on her face. She doesn't seem too bothered by the rash so that's good. I don't think there's much we can do except to wait for it to take its course and fade away so we'll keep a watch on her the next few days. On the positive, yesterday seem like the height of her irritability (I swear, everything made her cry and scream =I) Today was much better, less snot all over her face and bed after naps and her appetite is improving =)

The video post of her walking should be working now (I hope). Tonight she attempted a turnaround while walking! Her preferred mode of transport is still to crawl =)

she's a walkin', walkin'

Christmas Update!

It baffles me that it has been a month since I've posted anything here and Sofia is 13.5 months already. Where has time gone? Wait, I know...servicing our little CEO lately has been a challenge (on many fronts) plus with the arrival of the cold winter season, I just haven't been 100% healthy to have the energy to. I still don't tonight but here goes =)

Our family has been hit with bouts of cold/flu this week. I would say Sofia has had her worse cold yet, in addition to her 3 new teeth coming in, she has been so irritable. So much so that we have resorted to showing her favorite youtube videos and feeding her mum mums and nutrios during dinner! Poor little girl has major mucus and runny nose and today had a fever. Her naps have been terrible and if it wasn't for the Tylenol we are feeding her, she would be waking up at night too. She is so tired too which has led to next to no eating. So much for any weight gain and improvements in eating in the previous weeks! She's even refused mommy's french toast this morning =( So as you can imagine, mom and dad are drained, fighting to stay healthy and beg for this to leave the family soon.

Sofia has taken to her thermometer since we have been testing her temp regularly these days to the point that she can spend minutes playing with it and working on her fine motor skills by putting the lid on and off the darn thing. She's intrigued by it and it has been our friend during potty/change time. On another note, I'm pretty sure she will forever hate the nasel bulb syringe.

Latest developments:

Her cold has put a damper on her practicing walking these days so hopefully she'll feel better soon cuz she was making such great strides.

Standing: Last two weeks or so, she's been pretty good at standing for minutes at a time and longer if she's watching TV

Walking: It was like a switch flipped and she wanted to walk! She can cruise comfortably using one hand and we can hold her just with one hand and walk (very slowly) it's totally a cute stage she's entering into. She's even taken several steps by herself towards each other us. At first it was her propelling herself towards me, head leading the way, then it was purposeful steps and balancing herself. We were so amazed and she walks like a drunk person. These developments happened quite literally days apart. Then she got sick and now it's all about being carried and sleeping...

Eating: Oh still a frustrating thing for us but we realized that she is just not into eating. Other kids will eat their share and want hers cuz she's just gingerly nibbling on hers. She will eat most everything we give her but just not in high volumes. We don't have much trouble with fruits (loves oranges and slightly frozen blueberries), grains nor dairy but it's hard to find her favorite veggies and proteins, hence dinnertime is a challenge.

Drinking: Big strides here with her drinking very well from a cup and she even drank from a sippy cup! The key here is 'when she chooses to'

Communications: Big challenge here cuz I'm feeling pretty frustrated at times trying to figure out what she wants. She doesn't sign to me and just gets upset. I can tell when she wants something but there are times, you show her one thing after another and she just nods her head =P Her latest sound is 'za za' which there is no word for it but we think it makes a neat vibrating feeling on her tongue. When I walk into the room and she sees me, she would say 'hi' (awww it just makes me smile)

Tantrums: yes they are here and looks to get worse as they head into their toddler years. It's not just the crying, back arching and on the floor drama. She's learning to throw things to tell us she's displeased and I think it's kinda rude. Discipline time...lots to learn in this area.

So in light of the Christmas Season, I thought some photos were in order. These were some outtakes from our attempts at getting a christmas family photo.

12.5 month update

So many fun and new developments lately, it's crazy to think that soon enough, she will be walking and talking away. She's not a baby anymore =P

New words:
She said her first two-syllable word! Apple! It first started with her saying 'eh' or 'A', then a few days ago, she said Apple!

'lai lai' (milk) - Just today, Rob was feeling her dinner and she said it, just like that...pretty cool

'baa baa' - when we sing the song, 'baa baa black sheep', she would start it off by saying, 'baa baa' and then we finish up the rest of the song

'Hi'

'ba ba' - directed to Rob (first time today)

Unfortunately, all these new words seem to have made her forget how to say, 'ma ma'

Motor skills:
She knows where her head, nose and toes are, and loves hearing the Head and Shoulders song

Decisions and Independence:
Sofia has discovered that she can choose what she likes and doesn't want. When she likes something, she would reach her hand out and signal for it. She is now more choosy which book to read. We even have to be smart when we turn the water on for her bathtime cuz once she hears the water running, she will refuse to eat and just want to climb into the tub. She LOVES bathtime, thanks to all the fun bath toys she got for her birthday =)

She is in such a fun age now, loves to play and will giggle and laugh to your heart melts. I love the interaction we have with her now, it's still difficult to figure out exactly what she wants but it's good =)

On a side note...I have decided to resign from my job at BCCHF. It's been a difficult few months and I just didn't think the position was right for me. I'm so glad that in a few more days, I'll be able to spend more time with Sofia again. yay! This will mean I have to go back to looking for work again and figure out what I should do but this was the right thing to do. How can I stay at home and earn income at the same time? hmm...

Teeth Update

What was hiding underneath her gums all these months are coming out fast and furious. The top two teeth are out and her canine (fang-like) ones are poking up under the gums. She's bit me once not too hard but feeding has become slightly uncomfortable as I feel the pressure of the teeth (yikes). I have no clue how moms breastfeed until past 2 years, have no idea. The rate we are going, I'll be weaning soon! The good thing is she is drinking homo milk from a glass cup during her meals. Although this is still not a large amt of milk consumption but it should get better as she gets better at drinking from a cup.

It's been a transition going back to work and adjusting to life as a working mom. You cherish the time you get to spend with your baby and wonder if they are getting the best care they need to grow and develop each day. I realize this is out of my control and is a part of what we as a family have to go through but it sucks having to let this unknown be an unknown. I guess I was raised with both working parents and turned out fine so no point in worrying =P

My baby is turning ONE in a week!!!

Teeth Alert!

Dentally challenged no more =) Her top tooth is quite evidently on the surface of her gums. I'm not 100% sure if it's broke through but there was definitely some pressure when I was feeding tonight =P

Do a little dance, give a little kiss

I've noticed that Sofia is now working on her fine motor and social skills. She is able to take blocks in/out of the container and actually wants to sit down for more than a few minutes to play with it. Whereas before, she was always on the move developing her mobility instead. Put on some of her favorite songs and she will bop her head and dance along with the beat.

What amazes me is how she is interacting with people with her expressions. She loves to see herself in front of a mirror and make funny faces, tilts her head and give herself a big kiss. I love all the funny expressions she makes and the more we laugh and smile at her, the more she does it! I see why this stage of babyhood is so enjoyable and memorable for parents. However, little monkey is also testing her boundaries with mum and dad with bad behavior especially during mealtimes (sigh...)

Oh and how we love the kisses! She would crawl over to where I am lying and plant a huge wet kiss on my mouth. It's so cute and makes me laugh everytime. When we tell her to 'kiss kiss' her stuff giraffe, she would lean in and kiss. Sometimes, while we are reading a book, she would kiss the girl/animal in the book. We've captured a few photos of her affection =)









She saw her reflection on the foot of the barstool and decided to give it a kiss =)

Happy 10th month Sofia =)

This is a special post to our dear daughter who is 10 months old today!

To our beautiful little girl...Thank you for coming into our lives these past 10 months. Time has gone by fast even though it doesn't seem like we do much or accomplish much each day. What we have been doing is spending precious moments with each other; getting to know each other; and carving out memories that will last in our family forever.

We enjoy your company so much and can't imagine our family without you. You shower us with kisses. We love your head bopping dance and oh so sweet smile and laugh. You are a fearless and playful little monkey.

We could do less with the dramatic display of tears and the experimenting with messy eating but then, it would just be too easy for mommy and daddy right?

Mommy secretly wishes that she was co-sleeping with her little girl so she could cuddle and hold her all through the night. But mommy will have to settle for the brief moments where she gets to hold her sleepyhead and watch her peacefully dream of milk and toast.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

waving and high-fives

What joy it is to see your own daughter discover her hands and how to control it! In the past two days, we've noticed her hold her hand up and stare at it like she just discovered she has a hand. We started with high-fiving her and then she started waving! It's pretty amazing to see her mimicking us nowadays. She also likes to tilt her head sideways (different view of the world). If I can get any photos, I'll post it but it's hard to capture action pics with her being more aware of the camera and more mobile.

She's a movin' movin'

First she climbed up onto a footstool, then was able to use furniture to pull herself up to a standing position, then she started cruising slowly and yesterday we found her perch atop our TV stand rubbing her tiny fingers all over daddy's prized flatscreen. This morning, I found her standing up in her crib chit chatting away by herself. Thank goodness I remembered to keep the crib rail up last night.

"She hasn't figured out how to get from standing to crawling quite yet which is great cuz I can leave her standing and sure enough, she's still standing when I come back" I wrote that two days ago but as of today, I think she's figured out how to get herself from standing to sitting but have not caught her in action to actually know how she's doing it. All the extra moving around has caused her to fall and bump her head on numerous occasions leading to lots of tears and comforting from mommy and daddy. I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg of what's to come.

Yay i'm happy that she's developing so quickly in her gross motor skills but along with it comes a slew of behavior changes that I've observed.

1. While other less mobile kids her age are happy sitting and perfecting their fine motor skills to eat with their hands or learn to grab and throw balls, Sofia doesn't have time nor interest as her world around her is all within her grasp and just a crawl or climb away.
2. She has turned from a good eater to a picky and just plain uninterested in food baby. She is also showing disinterest in nursing which totally threw me off cuz everything was so good! I was worried but after reading about other moms and their struggles with feeding their babies, I just realized that this is a result of her increased mobility. She doesn't have time to sit around and eat. There is much to explore! So I've tried different tactics and for now, I think more snacktimes for a baby-on-the-go is needed until she gets out of this phase.

Phew what a crazy life of a parent...

Midsummer Update

The summer is zipping by with lots of good, hot weather which mean more excuses to head outdoors and soak in some vitamin D. It's been a stressful and busy few weeks with a few not so fun non-baby related things to deal with. I won't bore you with it but boy is it hard to find a balance for all the priorities in your life.

8.5 month update: (can't believe she's that age already!)

Growth
At our 8 month doctor checkup, Sofia was just 17lbs and did not grow in height by much either. She's still this tiny little gal that fits into her 6 month clothes hehe (I'm not complaining about this one) However, her plateau in growth did concern me because it leads me to think she isn't drinking or eating enough. I now understand why parents have such a tough time with feeding their children. It starts from when they are breastfed as newborns. You never know how much they are getting from you. I am still struggling with this and it's tough because Sofia now refuses to feed either because she is distracted, wants to just sip and go play or her teeth are coming in. I can't tell so I sometimes have to force her back on but only for her to pull off soon after. So comes the issue with supplementing. She is currently refusing the bottle even if I feed it to her which is a change from before. I guess it only took a few battles of will with forcing her on the bottle before she outright refused. I guess she won this one...

Feeding
It's much more difficult to feed her nowadays. She's a little more pickier; prefers soft chunks of food instead of mushy purees. It seems to be a bit disorganized with the whole meal logistics. I don't quite have a meal routine down for Sofia yet so every meal, I wonder, "what should she eat?" Perhaps I should invest in a good baby recipe book. On Friday, I took the plunge and introduced Nutrios and bread and she loves it. Just a weekend and she's a pro at grabbing the Nutrio(s) with her fingers and ungracefully placing it into her mouth. She even figured out how to reach in the snack trap to grab it. I'm impressed. To date, she's able to eat Nutrios, bread, cheese, yogurt, soft califlower/carrots/peas/meats so it looks like no more purees for her. What amazes me is she is gumming this stuff cuz she only has two teeth.

Since introducing the finger foods though, I've noticed her refusing to eat from a spoon. Our mealtime drags on and on for 45 mins to a hour. It's been tough trying to coax her into eating. She would see the spoon and just wave her hands in front of her and turn her head! Very frustrating as we have gotten food flung everywhere from my attempts at feeding. Thus, back to the basics of toast/nutrios, apple, carrots, rice cereal for now until I have figured out how to deal with this.

Crawling
I love her mobility. She looks so happy to have the ability to roll around and get to wherever her curiosity takes her. This gal is a fast crawler. She is doing the crawl on her tummy but uses both hands and feet. She has started to take a few crawls on her hands and knees and it's neat watching her do planks and downward dog. She follows me into the other rooms and is getting her hands on wires, vents and just about anything in her reach. We bought out the playyard and place her there when I'm cooking. Luckily for me, she will tolerate playing there for 15-20 mins.

Character
She has a smile and giggle/laugher that will just melt your heart. She lights up when she sees mummy/daddy and just gives us the biggest smiles during potty breaks. She is one vocal and passionate girl. When she is not pleased with us, boy does she let us have it. Another communication method for her is the raseberries; happy or upset, we get a face full of spit/food so watch out! Even right before she sleeps, she would make lots of sounds using her throat and keep at it until she runs out of breath. I've also caught her making this "clicking" sound using her tongue so I copy her only for her to repeat the sound back at me. She takes her fingers and plays with her mouth to make a "bububububl" sound and the most special of all is she has learned to lean in to give a kiss. I definitely get a full 'lean in with one hand touching my cheek' kiss and she makes this excited yell afterwards which is very cute. With Rob and others, it's a bit of a hit or miss depending on her mood.

Potty
It is still hit or miss with catching her pees but can't complain considering she can pretty much hold her poop until the potty. We have also started putting her in a cloth diaper overnight because she didn't seem to have a very heavy diaper in the morning and so far no overnight leaks with the Bum Genius and FuzziBunz so far. I love cutting down on disposible diaper usage yet again!

Misc.

-Current favorite song: Pat-a-cake
-While drinking water from a cup, she's figured out that she can blow bubbles! Now if only we can transfer the skill to use in the pool

I love my Sofia so much!!!

Leaps and Bounds

We're less than a week away from the 8 month mark and I just couldn't wait to report on Sofia's development. Another week and who knows what else she'll be doing (bit scary actually).

She is a moving machine! Just on Saturday, she discovered that if she wanted something badly enough, she would literally grab and pull her way FORWARD towards it. She had received a musical Winnie the Pooh snowball and she was determined to get a closer look at it. We all watched in an amazement how she would reach one arm and her legs would push at the ground. She also grabbed at our shaggy carpet to pull herself forward. Since that day, she has progressed to propelling herself forward using her legs (almost like a plank position). She can lift her tummy and even bum in the air but has not quite figured to balance on her knee yet. I have found her on the edge of the rug and stuck with her legs under the sofa a few times already. Yikes!

Just today at Cherie's place, she grabbed a hold of Megan's bouncy chair and tried to pull herself up! We are definitely lowering her crib this weekend even though she hasn't tried that in her crib yet.

Not only is she a little mover but just today, she started drinking from a straw. I was being adventurous this morning so stuck a tiny straw in her mouth to see what she would do. She started biting on it and to my surprise, there was water dribbling out of her mouth! In fact, she had a funny expression on her face from being startled by the water in her mouth. And other times, she sucked so much water that it all dribbled out of her mouth or she would choke from all the water. Later in the evening, we tried the straw again and she faired much better in knowing how to control the amount of water into her mouth. Now if only I could get her to drink milk from a cup/bottle and not just from me!














Looking forward to a busy weekend ahead with celebrating my birthday and Father's Day with our dear daughter.

Happy Daddy's Day!

Tooth alert!

I believe a teeny wee bit of tooth has broke through the gums. I was giving her some water when I heard clang clang noises on the cup. Sure enough, when i checked her bottom gums, there is a slight ridge protruding, not a full tooth yet but i'm sure very soon.

Sofie-mobile

At 7.5 months, Sofia is no longer a baby-at-bay. She is one squirmy wormy with strong neck, back and leg muscles that allow her to do head tilts, back arches and leg kicks. She can maneuver from a sitting position onto her tummy; roll from front to back, back to front; scoot backwards on her tummy. I can find her 1-2 ft away from where I left her which isn't too bad. I really need to think about cleaning up the clutter and baby proofing the house!

Other recent developments:
-along with the increase in mobility, Sofia now hates having her diaper changed and clothes put on/off. I try to distract her with toys but all she wants to do is roll onto her front and if I resist it, she'll throw a fit.
-trouble with raspberries. I know it's cute to see a baby blow raspberries but not so when they associate it with wanting something or tantrums as well as when they are excited. Now the raspberries come with lots of drool and spit so we have had our share of spit on the face. Mealtime means trouble. She would blow raspberries if we weren't feeding her quick enough or she didn't like what she was eating or didn't want anymore. I thought about introducing some sort of negative association (flicking her cheek) so that she would know to stop but I just don't think she's old enough to understand that or is she? I've tried it but it only makes her do more of it because she's upset. I don't care that she does it but just don't want to be rude when we are out for dinner.
-Games: peek-a-boo. Throw a blanket over her head and she can pull it off. Hide her toys under the blanket and she'll try to look for it. Likes to play pat-a-cake. knows to make "aowaowaow" sounds when I use my hand to tap her mouth.
-Sofia loves to eat. She has no issues with texture and lumpy foods at all. She has successfully eaten little bit-sized cooked pieces of carrots, apples, yams, meat shreds. She can't pick anything up with her fingers just yet. Recently, she's tried blueberries, egg yolk, pork, chicken, zucchini/broccoli (not a huge fan) and barley.

My fav photos of the week:

Sleepover at Grandma's

For a few weeks now, we've noticed Sofia has been so much more comfortable being at Grandma's place by herself. No more crying if I wasn't around and Grandma had no problem putting her down for naps. We had a wedding to attend this past Sunday so thought it would be a good opportunity to have her stay overnight at Grandma's. Then we could enjoy a nice evening out and come home to bed without worrying about a child (aka sleep like non-parents do!)

There were no calls from Rob's parents (always a good sign) so we went home and went to bed. Did we get the precious sleep we wanted? Ahh..well...no...

I woke up in the morning, looked over and Rob wasn't in bed anymore. I thought, "wow...I had slept past 8am and he's already gone to work!" But that wasn't the case because when I looked over to see what time it was, it was only 5:30am! I found Rob downstairs on the computer and found out that he had trouble sleeping (wired from all the desserts at the wedding). We both went back to bed and in no time, I heard snoring next to me. Unfortunately, I was still awake. It always takes me longer to fall back asleep. I usually have no trouble getting to sleep but to fall back asleep is much more difficult.

It was very odd to not have the baby around in the morning. It felt like something was missing, not right. It turns out Sofia was an angel at Grandma's. She went to bed at 10pm and woke up around 6:30am. The only trouble she gave Grandma was she refused the bottle at night but in the morning, the little monkey was hungry enough that she drank all the milk. Phew! We are definitely glad that it all worked out.

So when's the vacation without baby going to happen? =)

7 month update

Sofia is 7 months old on Monday so perfect time for a monthly update (plus I finally have some quiet time in the day to write!)

New developments:
-sitting on her own; I'm still paranoid that she will bang her head so try to keep pillows around her. Just this morning, I was in the kitchen when I heard a thump and then crying. I found her on the floor sprawled on her side. The one time I didn't have a pillow around =O
-she can row from back to her front on both sides (still prefers one way though) but unfortunately, still have not figured out how to go from her tummy to her back so she's stuck on her tummy. She doesn't seem to mind being on her tummy now and just lays her head on the floor when she's tired.
-she's getting more mobile! At first it was scuttling backwards while on her tummy, then she figured out how to rotate herself 365 degrees while on her tummy. She's developing some strong arm and tummy muscles so she can actually lift her tummy off the ground while doing a push up.














-She tries to lift her bum off the ground but hasn't quite coordinated herself to crawl yet but I think she will pick that up soon. Right now, she keeps doing the superman/beached whale position while on her tummy (almost looks like the locust pose in yoga)















-I have been trying to teach her to give kisses. So far, she's able to lean in for the kiss and her hand touches my face at the same time. It's so special to have your child give you a kiss. I could never tire of that! I'm also the only one she'll actually kiss so gotta love that =)
-This gal loves to eat. I've introduced carrot, peas, avocado, yams, sweet potato, apple, pear and banana and she eats it no matter what combination and texture. Of course, I think she prefers warm mush over cold but it just takes a bit more coaxing. My mother-in-law also introduced plain congee and even pieces of rice to her and she ate it. I'm going to try and introduce more protein this month so egg yolk and meat congee here we come...

Funny story: We left bits of rice on the table for her to try to pick up. When we looked, the rice disappeared. Wow, we thought. She is such a smart girl and can use her fingers to pick up the rice to put in her mouth. So we gave her more rice and watched more closely only to figure out that the rice was sticking to her hand so in her palm was all the rice!

Go Canucks Go!

What a game! What a win! What fun it was to take our girl to her first Canucks game! And it was the game to be at. We were worried about the noise level startling Sofia so came prepared with a hat with ears plus a pair of Canucks muffs to add extra protection. The arena was filled with bright moving lights, a sea of hockey fans and lots of noise. She was intrigued with the whole spectacle, so much so that she started fussing near the end of the first period. We found an easy remedy and soon she was fast asleep in the Ergo. The sleep didn't last long and she woke up in the second period and for the rest of the night, Rob just kept her in the Ergo and she stared with this dreamy/dazed look at all the crazy, screaming fans behind her. At one point, she just stared at Rob and it was so cute. She looked like a Mongolian baby in the pics. hehe


Would we take her again? Probably not until she can really enjoy watching the Canucks as much as her parents do =) We enjoyed bring her to the game!

Thanks Grandpa Chan for giving us the tickets to the game!

Gloomy Friday

I'm having one of those blah days, the sky is grey and I don't feel like doing anything. Mondays were always the blah days for me, not Friday but today is different. I guess what they say is true that if you start your day off crappy, then it hovers over you for the rest of day. In my case, I started the morning with breast milk spraying all over the couch. Thank God it's leather =P

So to cheer myself up, I uploaded some recent photos of Sofia and here are a few good ones of Rob and his little girl.

Sleep Regression

Have you heard of it? I didn't really until a week ago when Sofia started waking up a few times in the middle of the night with her piercing cries, would scream right before her naptimes and only manage 30 mins catnaps. I started to wonder if this was ever going to end so one morning at 4am, I googled, baby sleeping 4 months and results pointed me to sleep regression in babies. After talking to a few moms, it turns out this is a very normal occurance, that some babies from the age of 4-6 months could regress from their normal sleep patterns. I did not know this. It is caused from the continual rapid development in the brain and the baby processing all the new skills and absorbing in all the new sights and sounds surrounding them.

We went from a good 7-8 hours of solid, uninterrupted sleep to being woken up to screaming cries a few times in the wee hours between 3-4am. One of us would go to her crib and shshh her or turn on the aquarium music and she would go right back to sleep. In fact, I don't think she is even awake; it is more like she is having nightmares in her sleep. After a few of these wake-ups, I would have a terrible time falling back asleep again urgh! Then her naps would regress and she would put up such a fuss with going down for a nap. I had to leave her crying as me being next to her crib did not help with the crying and I was getting a headache hearing her cry. I found it draining and sad to have to hear her cry from the other room. I would really prefer to be right next to her crib to sooth her with lullabyes and kisses which worked before but not last week. So the only alternative is to leave her to cry. Lucky for me, it usually didn't take her too long to tire out and fall asleep. Unfortunately, the nap didn't last long so I didn't get much down time to relax or get any housework done.

It LOOKS like there is some improvements with her sleeping this week so far. She's still waking up crying but usually before we are in bed and we haven't been woken up from her cries in the middle of the night! It is still slightly challenging to put her down for a nap but yesterday she had a 2.5 hour nap which was great. Perhaps she is making her way back to the days of easy breezy sleeping? I'm not holding my breath on this one and just take whatever sleep and free time I can get. The one thing I did learn is anything is possible with babies, just because they are good sleepers to begin with doesn't mean they will stay that way.