Sunday, March 29, 2009

Still working!

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This is the new look we get when she sees the camera.  Nice.  And sometimes she'll even say "cheeese" along with that fake smile.

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Showing us her ice-cream tattoos...

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So the sleep program is still going great!  The best part is that she is officially sleeping through the night!  Unfortunately, she's waking up a bit early for us (usually around 5:45am), but instead of crying, she just calls out for us.  The sleep book says to not go into her room until at least 6am, so we don't respond when she calls for us, and she will usually fall back asleep until around 6:30 (which probably still seems too early for most of you, but she's always gotten up at 6:30, and we're up at 6 to start getting ready for work).  Bed-time is still a work-in-progress.  When we moved the chair across the room, she barely cried at all before falling asleep.  But since we've moved the chair to the door (the last 2 nights), she started crying again.  I almost wonder if it could have to do with being over-stimulated from all of the activitiy we've had this weekend.  Hmmmm.  Anyways, it says that some kids might need you to keep the chair in the doorway for a few extra nights before they're ready for you to just put them to bed and walk out the door.  I think that's the case with Poppy, which is fine with us.  It's amazing how much better we all feel now that we're getting solid sleep each night!  Poppy's been a wild child lately, which I love!  Speaking of our sassy little miss, we took her to the art gallery for brunch this morning..



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And she just had to show off her little outfit my mom bought for her...

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Getting into trouble during brunch...

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And then I almost got us kicked out of the gallery for accidentally taking pictures with the flash on!  "Uh-oh, mama!"

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"Let's blow this pop stand."

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

It's Working!!!

Seriously, this new "sleep program" is working!  Ok, so here is what we've been doing - we do our regular bedtime routine, except that we used to read books while we laid in Poppy's bed, but now we read books in her rocking chair.  Then when we're done with books, it's lights out, I tuck her into her bed, and then I put a chair next to her bed and that is where I sit until she falls asleep.  The first night, she screamed her little head off because she did not want me to sit in a chair- she wanted me in bed with her.  She cried hard for 45 minutes, and I honestly didn't think I would make it through the first 10 minutes of her crying!  And I thought she would cry for hours, but suddenly at exactly 45 minutes, she took a deep breath, snuggled up to her blankie, and was asleep within minutes.  I was shocked that she didn't cry longer.  She woke up twice that night and each time I went into her room and told her it was sleepy-time and sat in the chair and each time she only cried for about 10 minutes and then fell back asleep.  When she woke up in the morning she was unusually cheery and just super happy.

Days 2 and 3 were pretty much the same, either Marc or I would sit in the chair next to her bed, but each night she has cried for 15 minutes less!  So last night she only cried for 15 minutes and then fell asleep.  And she barely cries at all when she wakes up during the night.

Now tonight, the directions said to move the chair closer to the door, half-way across her bedroom.  I was nervous that she would get really upset, but nope!  She barely cried at all!  Marc was on duty tonight, and I listened on the monitor, and all I heard was a couple minutes of crying (less than 5 minutes) and then she just kind of whined for a few more minutes and then fell asleep!  Can you believe that?  I can barely believe it myself.

We're supposed to leave the chair in the middle of the room for 3 nights, and then we move it to the doorway.  After 3 nights in the doorway, we'll try to just put her to bed and leave the room.  So far so good, keep your fingers crossed that it continues to work!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

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(from our walk in the park on St. Patty's day)



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Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day with tons of parties to go to. I'm still exhausted.

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One of those parties was Miss Ava's 2nd birthday...

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And of course, Poppy was more than happy to help her dive into that giant cupcake!

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For any of you veteran readers out there, I'm sure you know by now that Poppy hasn't had the easiest time when it comes to sleep. We've encountered just about every issue possible, mostly relating to her severe separation anxiety. Just to recap - the first 2 months she was home, the only way she would sleep was if I laid on my back and she laid on my stomach. And even that way, it would sometimes take her an hour to fall asleep. And then I would have to wait until she fell into a deep sleep and very carefully roll her off into her co-sleeper. And then she would wake up all night long, sometimes every hour on the hour. I can remember many nights where the only way I would get her to fall asleep, or even stop crying, was if I held her and paced back and forth in our bedroom to the point where I was sure I was wearing out the carpet. Keep in mind that she weighed 21lbs when she came home and would not let Marc hold her at all. I also remember a handful of those nights where I would just lean against our bedroom door and begin sobbing while I held her, because I was positive my back would break and I had no idea how to comfort my poor grieving daughter. That literally lasted for months.

We tried putting her in a crib, in her own room, but it was too soon. She co-slept in our bed for a while, and now for the past couple of months she has been in her own bed in her own bedroom, but one of is in there with her off and on each night. She still needs us to stay with her until she falls asleep and she still wakes up all night long. And we've gone through spurts where she was just about sleeping through the night, but suddenly over the past couple of weeks she is back to waking up all throughout the night. And now that I'm a working mama, I need my sleep! A full night of un-interrupted sleep, which I haven't had in over 8 months! After much consultation with a few pediatricians and after reading just about every sleep book on the market, we have decided to give the "Sleep Sense Program" a try again. We kind of gave it a try when we put her in her crib the first time many months ago, but I had a gut feeling that she just wasn't ready, so we didn't pursue it. Now that she has made huge strides in the separation anxiety department, I think it might actually work! Last night was night #1 and everything went as planned. There were many tears involved (no, we did not just let her "cry it out") and it was one of the most difficult nights of my life, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. They say to give it about 10 nights and your child should be falling asleep on their own and sleeping through the night. Wish us luck tonight!

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And I'll leave you with a few pics of daddy's girl. Someone poured a bottle of water into the beloved rocketship, so Marc had to perform surgery. Of course, Poppy was more than anxious to be daddy's little helper. Sometimes I get the feeling she's going to be a little tomboy...img_5597

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

daycare...

Have I ever mentioned how awesome our daycare lady is?  As soon as Poppy falls asleep for her nap, Miss Rose emails me an update - what she had for breakfast and lunch, how much she ate, if she pooped, etc.  And will usually also send a few pics and sometimes even video.  Seriously awesome.  So here is what little miss was up to yesterday while I was at work...

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Taking a walk with her buddies Quinn and Nolan.

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And a little smooch for her boyfriend Max!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

parade

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Getting ready to walk down to the parade. (check out the new bumble bee boots that haven't left her feet since we bought them yesterday morning)

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After a couple minutes of watching the parade, she decided she wanted to march in the parade. It's hard to explain to a 22-month-old why she can't march in the parade.

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When we got home, she still had time to "drive" her car around the neighborhood.
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And yes, that's the sunshine that was shining all day long!!! Love it!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Zzzzzzz.

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Ugh.  We've been having some major sleep issues over the past couple of days.  So when I was typing my last post on Sunday, I mentioned that Marc had brought her upstairs for her nap.  Well guess who decided that she just wasn't going to take a nap that day.  Little Miss Sunshine, that's who.  She's never not taken a nap, but I didn't think too much of it- I just figured we would put her to bed a little earlier that night.  Um, yeah, by 10:00 that night, she was still awake, going on her third hour of screaming.  And we're not talking crying- she was screaming, like nothing I've ever heard before.  Quite possibly the most traumatic couple of hours of my life.  Marc was finally able to get her to sleep, only to have her wake up again at 4am and act like it was 4:00 in the afternoon.  She wanted to turn the lights on and read some books and have cereal.  She finally crashed again at 5:30 am.  And did I mention we had to go to work in the morning?  That was super fun.  Surprisingly, she did really good at daycare that day.

Monday night was basically a repeat, but not quite as bad.  But again, not a whole lot of sleep going on.  Last night was a struggle to get her to fall asleep, but once she did, I said a prayer that she would sleep through the night and get the rest she needed.  And 12 hours later, little miss woke up feeling refreshed and back to her normal self.  She also had an extra long nap at my parents house today too.  Such a relief!

Before I became a parent, I had no idea how difficult it would be to figure out how to deal with sleeping issues.  I've also learned that each kid is totally different when it comes to sleeping, mine just happens to be the EXTREMELY sensitive type.  But she's so cute when she's well-rested, isn't she?

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Sunday, March 8, 2009

22 months.

So she did end up getting a nasty cold earlier this week.  And I mean nasty.  The sickest she's ever been.  Poor little thing is finally feeling better today though.  It's like she's been saving all of her energy from the past couple of days and she's letting it all out today.  During breakfast she had to stand on her chair and sing to us, the entire time.  And she's basically been running around the house like a mad-woman all morning long.  Marc is trying to put her down for a nap right now and between her burst of energy and daylight savings time, I have a feeling he's going to be up there for a while.

This has been the month of tantrums.  Up until this point, a tantrum for Poppy would just be whining, which might eventually lead to crying.  Now she has a full blown routine - first she freezes, tucks her head down, sometimes she'll kneel and put her head on the floor, and starts crying.  Luckily this only lasts for a few seconds - until she can see that we are walking away from her, and then she usually snaps right out of it, but it does happen often.  Like all day long.  But I know that tantrums for her age can be a lot worse, so I'm thanking my lucky stars that hers are so short and easily put out.  And at what age have you guys started with "time-out"?  We have tried time-out with her off and on for the past couple of months, but I just feel like she has absolutely no concept of it, to the point where it's not even worth it.

This has also been my first month back to work.  And that has meant A LOT  of changes around here.  She is doing absolutely awesome with all of her daycare situations.  She has pretty much stopped crying when we drop her off in the morning which is such a relief for me.  Before she would usually only cry for a minute or two anyways, but I'm glad that she has gotten used to us leaving and is ok with it now.  We did hit a rough patch with our morning routines - all of a sudden Poppy just started crying about EVERYTHING all morning long.  She didn't want her diaper changed, to get dressed, or sit down for breakfast and was basically crying all morning long- which was a miserable start to everyone's day.  Of course, I blamed this all on myself for going back to work, and I thought it was all adoption-related.  One day I was venting all of this to my friend Natalie, who's daughter is just about Poppy's same age, and she told me that they went through the same thing a couple of weeks ago and she started waking up 20 minutes earlier each day and sitting with her daughter and just cuddling and reading books before they started their routine, and she said that it worked wonders.  So the very next morning I dragged my bum out of bed 20 minutes early and Poppy and I sat in her rocking chair and read about 20 books and just cuddled and giggled and then started our morning routine.  It was like a miracle!  She was immediately back to her happy little self.  Can you even believe what an easy solution that was?  And it was such a huge reminder to myself that not every issue we have is going to be adoption-related, and that most of the time it is going to just be developmental changes she is going through.  Of course, I don't think I will ever be able to leave the whole adoption factor out of the equation, but it is nice to have friends with kids the same age and just be able to say, "oh, Poppy has been going through the same changes."  You know what I mean?

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On a lighter, she also loves playing with all things Melissa and Doug, especially her sushi and ice cream sets.  It's so much fun to watch how her imagination develops.  You can tell that being at daycare with other kids is definitely having an impact on her ability to play.  She's a little less shy and just plays more - which is awesome.  We are going back to the Museum of Play in a couple of weeks and it will be interesting to see how different it is for her this time around.  She had a good time before, but I think she'll like it even more now.

We are going on vacation next month and I am dying to bust out her summer clothes.  I had her try on a pair of pants from last summer and they were floods.  Hopefully a few of her dresses from last year will still fit her though.  And I've already started stocking up on new dresses for this summer.  Oh, I can't wait for summer dresses!  And sorry, I've been super lame about taking pictures lately.  Maybe the weather will be nice this week and I'll be inspired to take my camera out more often.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

nigh-nigh

Not too much goin' on around here lately- it's been a pretty low-key week.  I had to take a 1/2 day at work today because little miss wasn't feeling great.  Just a runny nose and cough, but I hope it doesn't turn into anything...

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How sad is it that she goes to bed at 7 each night, and I'm usually not too far behind.  Guess I'm still getting used to being a working mama.  Nigh-nigh.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Elmo.

Suddenly, about a month ago, "Elmo" was added to Poppy's little vocabulary. Anytime she sees anything red and potentially furry, she says in the sweetest little voice, "Elmo!". So when we found out that Sesame Street Live was coming to town, of course we had to get tickets. Neither of us knew what to expect - this was Poppy's first time in a theatre where it would be dark with flashy lights and loud music. But the concession stand was open and they were selling popcorn - Poppy's most favorite food in the entire world - so I knew it was going to be alright.

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This is was she did anytime Elmo was on the stage (which was most of the show).

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And this is what she did when she couldn't see Elmo. And that was the world's saltiest popcorn, and it was 10:30 in the morning. (and during intermission she attempted to steal her cousin's box of popcorn as well) (and yes, her entire box was empty by the end of the show)

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Leaving the fancy theatre...

She had a great time and totally surprised us by not being afraid of the darkness and loud music. And then of course on the way out, the usher's were handing out flyers for Dora the Explorer Live...
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