I Scream, You Scream...

My baby has found her voice... and she loves to use it. She began screaming to tell us she has woken up, to tell me she is frustrated, to tell me she needs something different, to tell me she doesn't like what is happening. I can tell already that she is gonna have major temper tantrums soon. She is already very stubborn and impatient, and it won't be long until she lets me know it's her way or nothing else. Obviously, Jesse's personality genes did not make it into her DNA...

sigh...

But she is so very sweet most of the time and still can melt my heart with a smile. I can listen to her blowing rasberries all day and watch her sweet little face til the cows come home. Screams or no screams, I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.

7 Months

Wow, where has the time gone?

• weight: 17 lb
• will hold arms out if you ask for her hands
• understands "Reggie" (she will look at him if we say his name)
• sleeps about 11 hours at night, naps about 3 hours during the day
• will scream if frustrated
• can pick up small things like Cheerios, but hasn't mastered the art of releasing the grip in her mouth
• can feed herself a cracker, except for the little piece that gets left in her hand, and bananas
• can pick up and drink from a regular cup without spilling too much
• loves to eat and can tolerate more textures
• reeeeally close to crawling, but not quite there - still inchworming
• makes strange, but is starting to warm up faster
• likes to bang things
• loves having her face washed and lotion put on afterwards
• will kick at the sight of a new diaper in protest

... i'm sure there's more, but that's all for now...

Weekend

My cousin Lawrence and his wife Jill are expecting in just a couple of weeks and we went to Edmonton for their baby shower on Sunday. It's always nice to see family, even though it was hectic with the many people there, including kids. Gemma spent most of the time crying, but she had good moments in there where she would let people talk to her and even hold her sometimes. I think we are making progress with her making strange.

When my cousins heard about me taking away Gemma's soother, they were surprised and questioned my rationale for it. My one cousin's kids did not take soothers, my other cousin doesn't have any kids yet but still wondered why I did what I did (in a questioning manner), and my other cousin said her kids had them until they were two and it was easy to take it away at that point. I'm really happy with our decision to take away her soother now, but I have to admit, I was surprised at the lack of support and I found myself questioning myself, whether I had made the right choice in doing this. 

It's true Gemma's naps are not as great as they used to be. I think partly the reason her naps aren't as good is that she is getting older and not needing to sleep as much as she used to. Now, Gemma's total nap time is about 3.5 hours a day. Before, it was around 5 hours or more. And it is getting easier everyday to settle her down for her naps without her soother. Her nighttime sleep, as mentioned before, is much better.

Yesterday morning was a challenge in that Gemma was not going to nap. After struggling with my thoughts all the day prior, I decided to give her a soother (I had missed one in the cupboard). I figured if I only gave it to her for her naps, it would be okay as eventually she would stop napping altogether and not need it anymore. I totally expected her to stop shrieking immediately and start sucking as if all was right with the world once again. Instead, she screamed harder as to say "Get this thing out of my mouth". So I did, then cuddled her a bit more, and she fell asleep.

So how did I feel after that?

GREAT. It assured me that Gemma's sleep disturbance isn't due to her missing her soother; I am not depriving her of something she still really wants; She has apparently forgotten it already. It put my inner conflict to rest. It gave me peace...LOL... and I'm proud of her.

I know the cliche: I know and should do what is best for my family. But sometimes that is easier said than done when it seems everyone thinks you're wrong. Oh well. One thing is for sure: Gemma isn't gonna be one of those toddlers running around with a soother in her mouth.

Amber Necklace

At the last December babies get-together, I noticed one of the babies was wearing a necklace. When I asked her mom about it, she told me it was an amber necklace to help alleviate teething symptoms. I had never heard of this in my life and was fascinated. She said her baby was at a point where she couldn't even take the necklace off because she would notice symptoms right away. Since then, I've talked to a few other moms who have used the necklace on their babies. The believers outnumbered the skeptics, so I decided to get one for Gemma.

So today we drove out to Babes in Arms in Calgary (I'll probably never go back there again just because the parking was absolutely horrible!) and spent $25 on a cute little amber necklace for Gemma. Surprisingly she didn't fuss about it being around her neck. Whether it works or not, I guess only time will tell. Although she didn't have too hard of a time with her bottom teeth, I figure if it can or does help her at all, it would be worth the $$... and if it doesn't work? well it still looks pretty darn cute on her.

No-Soother Update

So it has now been 10 days since we said (rather, I said) bye-bye to the soothers. By the end of the week, it got really difficult. The naps were getting worse and even her night sleep was affected a couple of nights. I could see her fatigue was catching up to her during the day in her play and I felt so horrible for making her like that. I also struggled with guilt about taking away something she found so comforting... I considered letting her have a soother for her naps, but in the end I decided not to because I wanted to be firm - guilty or not guilty...

The weekend came and things started to look up. I could calm her a lot more easily before sleep and she would cuddle with me as long as I was wearing my robe (she is really attached to one of my bathrobes). And I found that putting her right back to sleep at 6 AM instead of letting her wake up for the day at that point really helped. 

Last night was great. I put her down at 7 and she didn't make a single peep until 6:30 AM. This is the longest she has ever gone I think, 11.5 hours. She was actually only awake for an hour before she was tired and wanted to go back to sleep.

So I think things are looking up now. I think she is either forgetting her soother days or accepting the fact that she isn't going to get one. I notice she is gnawing on her fingers a lot more than before, but as long as she isn't sucking her thumb, I can live with that. Cross your fingers for me that things continue to get better!

Swimming!

I finally got my butt in gear and took Gemma to the pool. I was kinda scared because she isn't a fan of the sound of water or the big tub (guess i didn't take it slow enough). Well we got there and she did fine in the change room until some girls wanted to come and say hi to her... For some reason, Gemma particularly doesn't like kids. That really sucks because she has so many cousins under the age of 9. Anyways, she wasn't sure about the pool at first and whined, but she watched Olivia just go nuts and eventually warmed up to it. By the time we left, Gemma was splashing herself, kicking as if she was actually swimming, and really loving it. She would make this really funny face if the back of her head touched the water when I tried to lay her down.

The showers are unfortunately very hot and that made it challenging, especially when she doesn't like showers in the first place. I just washed her off as quickly as I could and then dressed her in a sleeper - because i heard from many moms that swimming just tires their babies right out. As soon as I got home, I put her down and after like 2 small wails, she is now quiet. Hopefully she will sleep for a bit. If this gets her to sleep, I may take her swimming everyday!

But seriously, I really enjoyed this time with her and will try to go more often. It would be nice if Jesse had a day off so we could go together.

Gemma forgot...

...how to nap. 

My once phenomenal put-down-to-sleep-awake-and-will-sleep-2-hours-easy baby seems to have gone elsewhere. While she has become an even better night sleeper (without waking once and sleeping 10 hours or longer), she seems to have lost her ability to nap. Poor, poor baby is so incredibly tired and I can see it affecting her now. It has been 2 days in a row where she has not slept more than 1 hour in TOTAL in naps, including the first morning nap. Her eyes are glossy, she is whiney, cranky, and constantly rubbing her eyes and pulling at her hair. When I hold her, she is busy burying her face into my chest and shoulders.

Seeing her so incredibly tired is making me wish I could give her a soother for naps. Unfortunately I threw them all out (because I knew I would be tempted) and have nothing to give her. I have tried to give her another lovey, but she won't take it. I even went for a drive today to see if she could sleep in the car a little - anything to get her to sleep...it didn't work.

I know it will take some time before she gets used to this new routine, but it sure is hard.

Baby & Me

Today was the last B&M of this cycle - it's like a school year, running from Sept to June. I have to say I am sorry I didn't start going to it sooner than I did. I was so afraid of going out and being judged by others, but I am so glad that I was able to muster up the courage to go. I have gone pretty well every week since I started when Gemma was 3.5 months old. And I guess Gemma feels comfortable with everybody there too because it's the only place where she doesn't make strange. She lets other moms hold her and will now get in there and play with the toys and interact with other babies. Truly all the moms I have met there are awesome - i don't have anything negative to say about any of them and they have never made me feel judged or unwelcome. They are still going to hold 4 classes throughout July and August and I hope I can fiddle around with my schedule to keep going once I start work again.

Now what will I do on Tuesdays?

Sootherless Day/Night #3

When we woke up on Sunday morning, we felt encouraged that this was working. She slept 2 nights in a row very well without her soother and her mood was overall good. Sunday was also Father's Day and we had plans for brunch at 11. 

Normally, because she woke up around 6:30, she would be back down by 8 and sleeping until 10ish. I must have missed her sleep cues because she was still awake by the time we left at 10:15 and, according to my mom, only slept half an hour while we were gone. I put her down once we got back and again she only slept half an hour. So I let her cry - 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes. After that, I just brought her out of her crib and let her stay awake. So she napped a total of 1 hour yesterday - but she never looked that tired. She just wanted to play ALL day.

We put her down for the night at 7:30 and she cried out an hour later. I just went in and stroked her hair and she seemed to fall back asleep. Then again maybe 20 minutes after that, but she put herself back to sleep. Then I didn't hear from her until this morning, although earlier than usual, at just before 6 AM.

It's 7:30 right now and I've just put her down. She is crying on and off (and at this moment, it's off), but I'm hoping she can sleep and get back into routine.

I must admit that I am feeling frustrated today. I think back to just last week when I could pop her soother in her mouth and she would nap over 2 hours with EASE and I wonder, what have I done? I am just trying to tell myself that this is better for her in the long-term...but it sure is tempting to rummage through the garbage to find those soothers...LOL

Sootherless Day/Night #2

Day #2 was Saturday, the day she got really sick. But once she got some sleep, she was pretty well back to her old self and by evening, it was as though nothing happened that day. I know that it may seem kinda heartless to take away her soother while she was sick, but I had already begun the process and felt I should just continue. If she was sick BEFORE i actually took the soother away, then I would have postponed it until later.

Saturday night, she went to bed a little later, I think closer to 8:30. She again slept until 6:30 without a peep. 

So the nighttime sleep is looking alright. Naps, however, I noticed are definitely shorter. Even when she was exhausted from vomiting and could barely keep her eyes open, she didn't quite make it to 2 hours.