All over for another year

Well, it`s all over for another year.  But I think this was the best one yet. 

We made some amazing memories together as a family, and of course, I caught some of those special moments on camera.  Like this cute picture of Kennedy sitting on Santa`s knee.

 A family picture in front of the upstairs tree before we went to the Christmas Eve service at church

 Then a picture in front of the downstairs tree before the little lady went to bed on Christmas Eve.

 And of course - her first Christmas morning.  Playing with a gift from Santa. 

We are so blessed :)  I can`t wait for the year to come!

sick baby

SO.MUCH.SNOT.

Who knew something so little could produce so much snot.  We had a long night last night, with a darling little girl who just couldn't get comfortable to fall asleep.  But how could she with her nose all filled up?  Unable to suck on her soother, or nurse very well, she was growing frustrated, and overtired by the minute. 

Off to the doc we go today (thankfully we have our "in" with Grandma L).  Hoping that it is nothing to worry about and goes away quickly.  With Christmas only 3 sleeps away.... all I want for Christmas is a healthy baby girl.

a well rested family

My beautiful girl is sleeping soundly as I sit here and type.  She is sleeping soundly - not in my arms, not in my husbands arms, not in our bed, and not on the couch beside me.  She's sleeping in her crib.  AND she's been sleeping there for over three hours.  AND I haven't gone to soothe her once.  AND she hasn't cried more than ten minutes.  AND it's nighttime.

If you know my family, and K's sleeping habits, you are probably totally amazed with the above statements.

My baby is now sleeping in her own crib.  I still can't believe it. 

We spent the first part of parenthood having Kennedy sleep in a bassinet beside our bed, and then switched to put her in the playpen so she was still close by.  In the early days, getting her to sleep was tough.  We spent hours bouncing on our exercise ball, walking around the house, nursing, shushing, and laying her down ever so carefully and praying that she didn't wake.  It would last for a short time until she was back up and needing to go through the process again.  In the early days, I didn't mind.  I knew this was normal.  I knew that her frequent awakenings were perfectly normal, and helped keep her safe (preventing SIDS).

When she was about 15 weeks old, we decided it was time for her to move out of our room and into her crib.  She was sleeping much better and for a couple of weeks, this situation worked amazingly.   Then, after being teased with full nights of sleep - she started waking up again.  It was happening a lot.  Dragging my butt (or the hubby's butt) out of bed to go soothe, rock, or nurse her back to sleep started getting exhausting.  She was finally taking a soother (which worked wonders for driving in the car - a whole other post) but would spit it out and wail until it was returned to her whimpering lips.  We got into a new routine where we would put her to sleep in her crib, and when she woke in the night we would then bring her into bed with us.  It was much easier to soothe and nurse her back to sleep when my feet didn't have to hit the floor, my eyes didn't have to open, and my head didn't even have to lift of the pillow.  She was happy.  She was sleeping better.  We were happy.  We were sleeping better.  It worked.

For awhile.

Then we got into another bad habit.  We knew that it wasn't ideal, but we just didn't know what else to do.  Kennedy was waking up a lot.  It was so hard to put her to sleep at night, we'd let her fall asleep in our arms in the early evening and then would hold her or let her sleep beside us on the couch as we waited for the time that we would go to bed.  Then, we'd carry her upstairs to our bed and all go to sleep together.  That is, until she woke up.  And woke up again, and again, and again.  Most times we were so quick at soothing her, she would go back to sleep within seconds.  But we were waking up.  The game was getting old, and it was getting old fast.  But we still didn't know what to do.

I did a lot of reading online and talked to other mothers for advice.  Everybody had suggestions, but of course, none of it worked.  We had casually tried the cry it out (CIO) method twice before, but had gone to soothe Kennedy before she settled herself as it was so heartbreaking to listen to her cry.  The CIO method was something that I just didn't agree with.  It didn't sit well with me.  It didn't feel right.  The idea of it broke my heart, but we were getting to the point where we were willing to try it again.  I am fortunate to have such a supportive husband, so after many lengthy conversations, we decided to give it a shot.  We had to try.

Night one was tough.  She cried, and cried and when we thought she had settled, we'd sneak to the door where she would see or hear us, and the crying would start again.  It was the toughest thing to do, but we stuck to it, and she finally fell asleep.  It was the longest 50 minutes ever.  But she slept.  And she slept well.  She wasn't waking up a bazillion times in the night like she had the few weeks before.  We decided to try it again - for naps and for bedtime, and let me tell you - we are having great success.

Sometimes she goes to bed and cries for five or ten minutes.  Other times, she doesn't cry at all. She  sleeps in her own crib all night (with me getting up to nurse her once), and we have a happy girl smiling up at us when we go in to get her as she lays cooing and talking to herself in the morning. 

Amazingly, it worked.

The sense of relief I have is amazing.  I was hesitant to post this blog as I feared that I would jinx myself, but I think we are on the road to success.  We have purchased a video monitor so we can see her without having to go into her room.  It is amazing how long we sit looking at that screen, watching her sleep so soundly (and at times watching her cry --- which is the hardest thing to do).



It's working for us for now.  We'll see what happens in another few weeks.

New ornaments

I have always dreamt of having two Christmas trees.  One tree to be decorated with beautiful, fancy, matching decorations, and the other to be decorated by my family with mis-matched, old, handmade, and personal ornaments. Well this year, thanks to a great Black Friday Sale at Zellers, but dream became a reality as I bought my second tree this year (I don't know if I would have been able to convince the hubby of a second tree if it wasn't a steal of a deal --- that being said, I didn't actually convince him, as I went out and bought it without telling him!) 

So this year, now that we have our little girl celebrating her first Christmas, we set up one tree upstairs and one tree downstairs.  My downstairs tree is over 30 years old (a hand-me-down tree from my in-laws).  It is an absolutely gorgeous tree - even without decorations.  It's full and lush, and not all plasticy and fake looking.  So when I add my sparkly ornaments, gold ribbon, and lights, I sit back and look at it in awe.  Beautiful. 

The second tree is set up in our upstairs family room and is covered in all of the mis-matched decorations that we have collected over the years.  A few years ago, Evan and I also started a new tradition: buying a new ornament every year to represent something significant in our lives.  We have one for our first Christmas living together, one for our engagement, our new home, to say that we are parents-to-be, and this year Kennedy has an ornament to say that it's her first Christmas.    I look forward to searching for the perfect ornaments over the years to represent for our family, new and exciting things that have happened.  I hope that down the road we will look back as we decorate the tree and reminisce about each milestone in our lives and reflect on all the special memories we made throughout the Christmas seasons. 

Our latest milestone.

Our little princess has reached yet another milestone.  Although each and every day I think to myself that today will be the day she crawls - that has not happened yet (and for the record, I am totally okay with that.  I joke that I am going to tie her knees together to keep her stationary as long as possible).  There have been many a times when I think that a new tooth is coming through - but that too has not occurred since her first two teeth came over two months ago.  Numerous times she reaches for toys and furniture to try and pull herself up to a standing position - but still we wait for that to occur.  However, Kennedy's new "trick" is to wave.  And oh-my-goodness is it ever cute.  It began that day we went to the Santa Claus parade, and with much prompting, she raised her arm and flung it back and forth.  But now she does it on command and with a great big smile of accomplishment of her face.  We now don't even have to wave to her in order to get the desired response.  Instead, we can verbally prompt her by saying "Hi Kennedy" or "Kennedy wave" and up the arm goes.  I know that some babies do that wave by opening and closing their tiny little hands, but not out little lady.  The arms flaps up and down (or side to side) as she smiles with delight.   It melts my heart. 

Family Traditions

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I love family traditions.  I am so excited to continue family traditions with Kennedy, and to start some new ones of our own.  I think it is an important part of childhood to have fond, happy memories of holidays and special occasions.  They are an opportunity for everyone to stop and appreciate time spent together. 

One tradition that I will do every year (while Kennedy is young), is Christmas outfits.  I think that pulling out the Christmas pj's and little Christmas dresses really puts you in the spirit.  As a teacher, I have an automatic excuse to dress up for the holidays - just like the kids.  Here are a few of K's outfits for 2011

 I love Santa

A pretty Christmas dress

Cozy Christmas pj's (which match two of her baby friends)

We are lucky to have one of Kennedy's Grandma's live along the Santa Claus Parade route of our small town.  The past few years, we have all gone to stand and wave as the floats go by.  Of course, this was K's first experience and I think she loved it!  This was the first day that she waved for the first time - 8 months old.  I think she must have been practising for when Santa drove by :)  I look forward to the upcoming years of the little lady watching, and perhaps even participating in the annual parade. 

This idea came straight from my new favourite website, pinterest.  As a Christmas countdown, for the month of December, Kennedy will unwrap one Christmas book each night to be read together.  Each year, we will recycle the books and wrap them up again (no need to buy 24 new books every year!).  It will be fun for her to have the anticipation of what book it will be each night.  I'm sure that over the years, books will be traded with new books she receives.  I love that this is the gift of reading - something I try to do everyday with Kennedy (and as a teacher, I better practise what I preach).  I also love that this is a gift of time spent cuddling up together.  Reading a book takes 10 minutes of your day - and we must remember to take the time to pause in our busy lives and sit down with our children and dedicate some quiet moments together. 

I love the holidays!

The perfect Christmas card

I spent too much time on pinterest this year looking for ideas for the perfect pose for a photo for our Christmas cards.  Hours upon hours, browsing, pinning, and commenting on ideas on this magical website has left me feeling slightly overwhelmed.  I love having family traditions and want to start them early so that Kennedy has the wonderful memories to grow up with.  That being said, some of my fabulous (*cough cough I should say pinterest's fabulous) ideas need to wait until she's a bit older to understand and participate. 

A yearly photo Christmas card is a tradition that we can start this year.  But it has to be the perfect pose.  And it has to capture our little lady's personality and beautiful smile. I had fun practising on different poses and using different props (many of which went straight into her mouth - dangerous at times!  I now know better to attempt this when the hubby is working - next time, he will be my assistant) and playing around with the camera settings.  

Here is one that, although not quite perfect in the lighting, is a cute one to cherish!  I'm not sure if Kennedy will appreciate me sending out a half naked shot of her to all of our loved ones, so this one will go in her album and not on the card.

I did get "the" perfect shot - with a great big smile and the cutest little outfit, but will save that for another post and for once our cards are sent out :)

Ohhh the fun of holiday traditions... :)