A good day for Alida!

Well...today she has been most impressive (except for going down for her naps)! She slept the night through and didn't wake to eat until 5 am. She has been doing pretty well at night. There was one incident in which she woke at 2 am...I tried to let her cry. After 45 minutes of a mixture of crying and fussing I had to go and get her. I warmed up 3 ounces of milk thinking that if she was truly hungry she would take it whether I nursed her or gave her milk in a cup. Well...she sucked it down in minutes and went back to bed. I guess she only woke because she was hungry! That's a bit of a relief!! So, anyway...back to today. She woke up for the day at 7 am (I think- you never can tell if she's awake before you actually hear her) and ate a very good breakfast at 8 am. She napped for almost 2 1/2 hours in the morning (after 30 minutes of fussing before she fell asleep) and then ate an AWESOME lunch! She had broccoli and cauliflower with apples for dessert. She ate it all!!! I have been giving her a spoon to play with as I feed her...it seems to help to keep her entertained a bit. I just put her down for her afternoon nap....so far she's still awake....I hear her talking in there. Here are some photos of her from this morning....she was in such a good mood!

She can read my mind....

I swear! Last night was the first night in a long time that she actually slept!!!! She didn't wake until close to 5 am after going down at 8 pm. Almost a full 9 hours!!!! Before I put her down I told her that I was going to have to let her cry if she woke during the night.....I thought it best to give her a heads up! I can't explain it...maybe I slept straight through her crying earlier on. I can't imagine that was what happened. The whole thing was just a fluke I guess. We'll see how she does tonight!

CIO

I finally made the decision (early this morning at 4 am when Matt and I were arguing) to start the CIO method. (Cry it out.) I am so nervous about it! I am such a softy when it comes to letting Alida cry. I absolutely hate it!! She has been waking in the night for the past 2 months now to eat (or to be with her mama - not sure which) and I am really starting to feel the effects of not getting solid sleep. Ugh! I was hoping that it was just something that she was going to grow out of....a growth spurt or a teething phase....no such luck! So, tonight will be the first semi CIO night. I say semi because I won't let her cry longer than 15 minutes or so. Fussing is one thing but flat out screaming is something I cannot handle! My plan is to let her cry if she wakes before 8 full hours of sleep. If she has slept 8 hours and she wakes I will feed her. That's the way I plan to do it for the next week and then I will increase it to 8 1/2, then to 9 and so on. I really feel as though I can't expect her to sleep 10 - 1 2 hours off the bat and since she has been getting the night feedings her body will need to adjust to eating a little more during the day. At least that's where my "thinking" has led me. She won't be able to sleep longer than 10 hours anyway....since I have to wake her by 6 am to feed her and get her ready to drop off. I just checked out some message boards and read about 10 - 15 different posts on June babies, all Alida's age and all of them are sleeping through the night! Insanity! Alida really spoiled me with that sleeping through the night thing at 3 months old! I was too confident that she would just keep it up forever! I hope tonight goes well......poor Alida. I feel bad for her already!!

Predictability out the window!

I can't say that I have it bad.....Alida is by far an excellent little baby! But let me tell you how unpredictable she is! There are days when all goes well....she eats good, sleeps good, goes to bed well, etc. Then there are days where all she wants to do is nurse and screams every time I try (or anyone) tries to feed her. She won't go down for her nap well and when she finally does she will only sleep for 30 minutes or so. She'll fight going to bed with all that she has left!! It amazes me....just when I think I know her "schedule" and how things are going to work out she changes it up! I thought babies liked predictability!! I thought that they thrived on routine! Well...this little girl is surely her own person....even at the young age of 7 1/2 months. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it!! I just hope that this isn't a snapshot of what's to come!

Feeling Better!!

Alida with her best friends, Mason and Olivia!

Sleeping with Da-da, AGAIN!

Proud in her Eagles sweats (she doesn't know they are out of the running!!).

Rockin' Adidas!

In the exercauser...."snacking" on her book.

Alida is getting over her first illness. It is so sad to watch a little baby with a stuffy nose and a horrible cough...there is nothing you can do to make it go away any faster. I feel so badly for her. She has definitely been a trooper though....not as cranky as I expected and still sleeping through the night pretty well. I just hope that she doesn't get sick again for a very long time!! Hope everyone is well!!!!