Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Beach






...building a sand castle with dad...




And her favorite part of the beach? Sitting on the nice clean blanket, eating her pretzels. Of course.




...smelling the flowers with Uma...





We've been waiting all summer to take her to the beach, but we had to wait for her Alien card to arrive from US.CIS (Korean adoptions take about 6 months to be complete, so she isn't a US citizen yet). So her card finally came in the mail last week and first thing Saturday morning we were on our way. The funniest part is that when we were coming home, the immigration officer never even asked about her - no id or anything! Anyways, we had a great time, we went super early in the morning so that the beach wouldn't be crowded and it wouldn't be too hot. At first she seemed to like both the sand and the water, but after about an hour she decided that the beach blanket under the shade of the umbrella was the place to be. And I had to come to the sad reality that my days of laying on my lounge chair in the hot sun, reading a great summer book all day long, are OVER!

.......

Today is the first day back to school and I am not there. This is the first time in over 20 years that I have not "gone back to school in September" and to say that it feels weird is an understatement. As weird as it may feel, there is no where else that I would rather be right now than home with my baby. Speaking of being home with my baby, we've just gotten over a pretty rough week - she still has her cold, major teething (2 molars) which usually means about 4 outfit changes due to drool, eye infections for everyone in the house, and mostly sleepless nights. Our pediatrician feels that most of the sleepless nights are due to our co-sleeper and she is really pushing for us to move her into her own room in her crib. Our pediatrician is an adoptive parent, so I'm usually pretty good about taking her advice, but this one is going to be hard. But after spending an hour trying to get her to sleep last night (in our own bed), I've decided that it's time to bite the bullet and go for it. The method our ped. is recommending is called the "Sleep Sense Program". We start off by doing our normal bed-time routine and then placing her in the crib and pulling up a chair and staying next to her until she falls asleep. It's going to be a long night, but I'll keep you posted as to how it goes. Wish us luck!

8 comments:

allformyfamily said...

Cute pics from the beach! Good luck with sleeping. You can do it, just stick to it!

saintlouisfricks said...

Too funny - we've actually dived into breaking up at night time too. Our strategy: we've moved the playpen into our bedroom, still next to our bed, but about a foot or two away. She is napping in there right now for the first time! So far so good. She'll nap again this afternoon and then we'll try it tonight. We'll do that for awhile and then slowly start to move the playpen on its way out of our room. We thought it would be too much to change all at once to go from a mattress on the floor in OUR room to her crib in HER room. So many variables! We could be totally wrong, but that's the plan... eventually we'll have to make the jump from the playpen to the crib. But hopefully, she'll at least be used to her surroundings then.
And hey - Poppy sleeping alone means that *eventually* you'll sleep better! Good luck guys and let us know how it goes!

Chandra said...

Poppy is too adorable! I love the pic of her holding her daddy's hand, so sweet. And I have to say she has the cutest little ears!

Good luck on the sleeping issues, I hope everyone is feeling a lot better and sleep comes soon.

Christa said...

Glad to see you are all feeling better. Nothing a day at the beach can't cure...About the sleeping situation, when you are done with the cosleeper...can we borrow it? Although the funny thing is Andy keeps telling me that the baby will be going right into the crib :-) I highly doubt it! PS-We should be hearing something within the next 4-5 months. Holy Cow!

Sarah said...

I am so glad you got to take Poppy to the beach finally, and that she liked the sand and water. I feel the same way about my lounging around and reading...that is so long gone!!

I hope that you can cope through the sleep issues that Poppy is going through. Just remember that "this too shall pass" and it really won't last forever. Soon she'll be sleeping just fine all night. Sometimes is takes going through a really hard time (for her, but especially for you) to get to the wonderful bliss of a good sleeper.

I hope to see you guys soon. Enjoy every minute you are home with Poppy!

emily said...

love it...the first beach trip is so special.
good luck with the new sleeping system!

Marylou Slade said...

Good luck with sleep issues. It will be difficult, but stay the course. We miss you! Enjoy your time off. MLS

Tammy said...

I miss you at school but I'm glad you're able to stay at home with Poppy. Best wishes with the sleeping, be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. One of our boys was a bear with sleeping issues while the other, a breeze. I remember coming to the conclusion that sometimes its ok to let them cry while you put the pillow over your head and wait it out. Hang in there.

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