Dirty Thirty

Happy Birthday to me!! Last Sunday was my 30th birthday!! I'm not sure how this is possible since I'm pretty sure I just graduated high school, like, last year, but it seems to have happened nonetheless.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Bryan and I decided to go to the local Indian casino for some dinner, gambling, and an overnight stay. This was our first night away from Hailey but we knew she was in good hands with her Gram and Poppa. I was a little nervous about leaving her since she has been having the occasional rough night due to teething, but my mother in law was very reassuring and promised to send updates to our cell phones throughout the night (boy, do I love technology!). We went up to the casino with a few of our close friends and had a blast! Dinner was great and the gambling was really fun. My gambling M.O. is to decide how much money I am willing to lose and play until my money is all gone. I don't judge the success of the night by how much I won, I judge it by how long I got to play! =) Lady luck must have been with me, though, because I got to play for a looooong time AND I broke even! That's like winning to me!


As Bryan and I sat at breakfast the next morning, I realized that although I missed Hailey and was excited to go pick her up, it had been nice to spend time together as adults while knowing she was well taken care of. As my birthday present, Bryan gave me an overnight trip to Vegas to see Beatles Love. Knowing that Hailey did so well with my in-laws makes me much more comfortable with the idea of spending the night further away.

Celebrating with good friends was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday! And then I got to come home to this adorable baby!!! Life is good! =)

6 Months!

HOW is it possible that Hailey has been here for HALF A YEAR ALREADY??? It seems like she was just born yesterday, but at the same time, it's really hard to remember life without her here. Crazy how that works.

At 6 months Hailey:

• is a whopping 19 lbs 10 oz!


• is 27 in long


• is wearing Pampers size 2-3 diapers
  
• wakes up once around 2 am to eat
  
• still has blue eyes!! Lucky girl!
  
• has fuzzy, spiky hair that appears to be dark blond
  
• wears mostly 6 month clothes but can still fit into some of her 3-6 month clothes
  
• has the cutest laugh I've ever heard!
  
• smiles all the time and is generally and extremely happy baby
  
• LOVES her jumperoo, taking baths, and being out and about (she no longer hates the carseat! YAY!)
  
• still sleeps swaddled
  
• goes to daycare one day a week and loves it!
  
• is a drooling machine and is starting to teethe
  
• loves toys that crinkle
  
• has been exclusively breastfed until now
  
• started eating rice cereal 2 days ago and is not sure if she's a fan

Most of all, she is the absolute light of my life! I feel like the luckiest mommy in the world to have such a precious little girl!

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

Hailey likes to be included while Bryan and I eat dinner so we usually either put her in the Bumbo in the middle of the table or in the Jumperoo next to us. The other night we were eating and Hailey was jumping so hard she was practically airborne. I turned to her suddenly to ask her what she was doing and the suddenness of it surprised her and CRACKED HER UP! Obviously that means I had to do it 100 more times to get her to laugh over and over. BEST. SOUND. EVER!!

Gratuitous

I have spent the whole last week in a snot-induced haze so there's nothing new and exciting to report. But, since I am trying to blog at least once a week, I will take this opportunity to post some gratuitous photos and video of my adorable (if I do say so myself) baby girl. I can't believe she's going to be 6 months old next week!!!

P.S. Since some of you asked, here is the recipie for the totally delicious turkey florentine calzones I made last week. Enjoy! And if you make them, let me know what you think!

Hailey is trying to put EVERYTHING in her mouth lately. No teeth have appeared yet but some better show up soon or she's going to wash away in her own drool!

This hat was made for Hailey by one of my former students. Ironically, this student HATED me last year because I convinced her parents to transfer her to a more appropriate program at another school. Apparently, she has since forgiven me :)

Hey! I know you! You're my mom!

Have you seen these toys?? They're AWESOME!!

Guess what?? I have a tongue!

Soooo sleepy...can't.keep.eyes.open...

Crash, Yum, Bounce

Last week I received some very scary news... one of my mom's co-workers contacted me to tell me my mom had been in an accident. She didn't have any information other than what hospital she had been taken to and I had no idea what had happened or how badly she was hurt. I was really freaking out because I live 4 hours away from my mom and we were completely socked in with fog so there was no way I would be able to go to her that night. After a few tense hours I finally got the whole story: My mom was leaving work and had crossed the street to where her car was parked. She was unlocking her car door when a driver came down the street too close to the parked cars and hit her!! She was hit on her right hip, spun, and thrown to the ground on her right side. She badly broke her right wrist but, miraculously, that was the worst of her injuries. She did not hit her head or break any other bones, although she has a GIANT black and blue bruise on her hip. She had surgery today to put two plates and screws in her wrist and she's going to need serious physical therapy so she can regain function and continue to do her favorite hobbies, photography and crochet. I am SO thankful that my mom is going to be okay and I know that there were some serious angels watching over her that day.

On a completely unrelated topic, I recently started experimenting with some new recipes. On Sunday night I made broccoli cheese soup from scratch and on Monday night I made these delicious turkey florentine calzones with creamy tomato basil sauce. Yummy! I had a lot of fun making these new dishes and I'm excited to have some new options for home cooked dinners.

Finally, an adorable video of my little jumping bean for your viewing pleasure!

Ferberized

About 2 weeks ago, as I sat feeding Hailey at 4:00 in the morning for the third time already that night, I decided that something had to be done about her sleeping habits. She had slept for a stretch of up to 6 hours a handful of times in the past, but her normal routine was 4hrs-eat-3hrs-eat-3hrs-awake. I had been nursing her to sleep and if she woke up in between feedings, we had to go in and rock her back to sleep. She was also a terrible napper, taking only 20-30 minute catnaps in which she had to be rocked to sleep as well. Most of the time we put her in the swing to sleep for the last stretch in the morning and for her naps because she didn't sleep well in the crib. This system was causing all of us to be completely exhausted! My trusty baby book said that if my nearly-5 month old wasn't sleeping mostly through the night, it might be time to consider "Ferberizing" her. I researched the Ferber method at the bookstore and online (I'm kind of a nerd on that front) and since Hailey is older than the recommended 4 months old, I felt ready to give it a try.

Unfortunately I didn't follow the instructions to the letter the first time out. You are supposed to lay them down awake, say goodnight, and leave the room. I always feed Hailey right before bed and she falls asleep nursing. I figured I would keep doing that and then if she woke up in between feedings, I would then let her "soothe herself" (code for "cry it out"). We did that for a week but it didn't seem to be helping her sleep any longer and her naps were the same as well. I finally realized I needed to follow the method exactly in order to really allow it to work. This time I fed her then changed her and swaddled her, kissed her goodnight, and left the room. The Ferber method tells you to wait through 5 minutes of crying, then go in and verbally reassure her, then leave again. If she keeps crying, wait 10 minutes and go in again. After that you go in every 15 minutes until she falls asleep, staying no longer than 1 minute each time you go in. The first night I put her down at 8:30, it took her 35 minutes to fall asleep and then she slept until 2:30, ate, then went back to sleep straight until 8am!! The next day she took 3 1 1/2 hour naps! The second night it took her 25 minutes to fall asleep and she slept 'til 3, ate, and slept again 'til 8. Every night since then she goes to sleep without crying, wakes once to eat, and sleeps until 8! Naps are completely better too: she rubs her eyes, we put her down in the crib, and she sleeps for an hour or more. It's a miracle!! I am SO THRILLED with how quickly and easily Hailey learned to soothe herself to sleep and I think we are all going to be a lot happier and more rested now.

YAY FOR SLEEP!!!!

New Year, New Tricks

Ok, so technically Hailey accomplished this new trick before the new year, but.... close enough. She's gotten better at it since this first time but she still does it sort of by accident. Every time she ends up on her back she has this expression like, "Wait a minute...wasn't I just on my tummy? How did I get here??" It's adorable. She hasn't figured out how to go back to front yet but she's gotten really good at rolling onto her side so I predict she makes it the rest of the way before long.

I can't believe how fast she's growing!! It seems like every day she's bigger and she's figured out something new. I am enjoying her soooooo much! I love being her Mommy and I want to absorb and appreciate every minute of her babyhood because we'll be onto the next stage before I know it!