Some Christmas Cheer

Aria has really enjoyed her first Christmas. There's no way that she's understood what's going on around her, but she got her first taste of wrapping paper. And her second. And third... :-)

We've been really grateful to have family support (and patience) surrounding her for the past week or so -- sleeping of course has been rocky, and scheduling has been off. But despite that, she's been pretty easy to get along with. And I wanted a few moments with her by the family tree. She co-operated, but it was a little revealing to my family to see what goes into making these photos. It's more than just grabbing a camera and pushing a button. For one thing, I took I probably 40-50 to get these that I really like (I should have counted...). And I'm lying with my head 3" from the floor to try to get the angle I wanted -- that gets exhausting after not-very-long.

(The one I really liked from the session, that I thought was going to be my favourite was out of focus when I brought it into the computer. Sigh.)



I hope you had a Merry Christmas wherever you are, and whoever you're with. I'm sure we'll get some more pics for New Years. :-)

Teething hurts

It hurts both mom AND baby. Poor Aria has one tooth just poking through on the bottom, and the other bottom tooth is just under the surface (the skin is white, but still covering the tooth). She's FUSSY, and I'm struggling. It's really not easy to deal with a teething baby all day on your own (Brad's been taking pictures of Dogs with Santa). Especially after taking care of her all week.

Pray for Aria that her teeth will come in quickly, and as painlessly as possible (pray HARD for this one), and pray for me that I can continue to deal with her without completely losing it!!! I came pretty close today.

Thanks.

It's Beginning to Look Something Like...

We're decorating our house and the tree tonight. We got the fireplace going, and the Charlie Brown Christmas on the stereo. And it's all helping Aria get in the mood. :-)

Aria's Fingers...

Aria, over the past few days, has been figuring out that her hands can open and close. She's been using them for months, but every once and a while recently, I'll catch her just looking at them and opening & closing them. CUTE!

Today she was doing that out in the hallway of our building, and some people came up to admire her. They waved at her when they saw her doing that, and she, VERY INTENTIONALLY, waved back!! Properly, no less! I'll often see babies wave but their hand is turned the wrong way so it looks like "come here". She waved, and made sure her wrist was in the right direction too! She's SO SMART!

You Mean We Could Have Started This Earlier!?

(edit: I just realised that some of this is a duplicate of what Deb wrote earlier. But you haven't heard it from me, so there! :-) )

Over the past months, Aria and I got into a ritual. I would walk her up and down the hallway until she fell asleep. It was a fun bonding time, where'd she coo, suck her thumb, snuggle into my arms, and eventually conk out. The only problem was that she started to expect that same treatment every time she stirred in the night. That's not on!

So we've started to be more scheduled and more deliberate about letting her put herself to sleep, and letting her fuss for an allotted period of time (5mins at a go) before checking in. And not picking her up, just settling her, and re-tucking her blankets, etc. Well, she's amazing!

The first time she cried for 20mins. We kept checking in and setting the stopwatch. But that was pretty much it. She settled and dropped off to sleep in a snap. Waaahn! Waaahn! Gasp. Gulp. Gone. And we haven't had to reset the stopwatch since!

She sleeps much harder, and can settle herself in the night (we hear her cooing and talking, but she doesn't wail anymore -- much). She does it for naps too. All those nurses in the hospital 8 months ago were right -- she is a happy baby!

But we're sort of kicking ourselves for not starting this earlier. I'll just chalk it up to good bonding time with her, and ignore the many, many times that Deb's sleep was interrupted over the past while. Uh...thanks, Cutie! :-)

Oh, we lost track of when, but it was some time this month: Aria crossed the threshold of being out of the womb longer than she was in it. That's enough of a birthday, or milestone, or whatever to go get some celebratory gelato, right? Woohoo!

Obligatory 'These'll Come Up At Your Wedding' Shots

Or graduation. Or just when we're being introduced to her first boyfriend. Or whatever! :-)

Eating, Sleeping and Pooping

It's been a week of thinking about Aria's eating, sleeping and pooping. She's been on solid foods since she was about 6 1/2 months old, but once we moved from one to two times a day she started getting more and more constipated. This week I took her off food all together until she started having "normal" poops again. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a poop that went all the way up her back & ruined her entire outfit than I was at Brad's work Thursday.
Speaking of which - here's a few suggestions for those of you who may end up changing a baby at the work place.
1. plan your attack first - think about what you're willing to get messy & what you're not.
2. don't change that plan half way through.
3. make sure you have enough baby wipes (I went back and forth to the kitchen for wet paper towels 4 times during the process).
4. Don't put her belly down on the table while trying to clean her back - guess what - the belly gets dirty too.
5. Make sure you have somewhere to put the dirty diaper, and then don't throw that thing away until the whole baby is clean (and all the OTHER stuff you've gotten dirty in the process).

That's all I'm going to say about that - I'll let you imagine the rest.

uinnnnnvifc7pybbbbbbbbbbbbbdftnnnnnkp,ujkmkl

(Aria says "HI") sss jmy m

Finally - sleeping. Aria has been sleeping less and less on her own, and is becoming more and more dependent on Brad or I helping her to go to sleep. If she wasn't in the car, being fed, or being rocked she wouldn't sleep. It got so bad that yesterday at work I had to stand and rock her for a good 1/2 hour before she'd go down. This is not acceptable - and is only teaching her that she gets her own way, and that the world revolves around her, and that if she cries, we'll do what she wants. NONE of these are good things to teach her. SO...we needed another plan. We were inspired by Dan and Caryn who have been dealing with a similar thing with Silas. SO...I called Caryn last night, and she told us all about the technique she's using (and prefaced it with "this is different for every baby, so if it doesn't work, don't feel bad - so much better than "soda crackers ALWAYS gets rid of morning sickness" people). She's read a book on it - and she passed on her knowledge - which is a great way for me to learn things, since Caryn is a book reader type, and I am not. SO, they tried this technique with Silas, and within a few days he had shaped up and was doing MUCH better, so last night we decided to try it on Aria. We weren't going to at first, but after work yesterday, I knew we couldn't wait until after our trip to Ontario, it would have made our time there VERY difficult. Last night we gave it a try, and rather than the "cry it out" method, here, every 5 minutes one of you goes in and lets the baby know you're there and you love them, but that you're not going to get them up. We waited until Aria was ready to sleep, so the first try she cried for less than 5 minutes. BUT she woke up, and at that point she cried for about 20 minutes, but then she settled for the night. AND she didn't wake up until 4:45 this morning for a feed!! That must mean that she figured out how to settle herself. I feel incredible for having a good night's sleep, with only one interruption!
It's now nap time, and I'm doing the same thing. She's been crying for about 8 minutes, and I don't think it'll take 20, but it certainly won't be done in 10.

SO - if you're the praying types - pray that solid foods will settle well, and work better in Aria's system than they did before, and pray for patience for Brad & I as we work on settling Aria, and pray that she figures out how to put herself to sleep quickly. This isn't easy for us, but it's better than the 2-year-old Aria that would be if we continued with the alternative.

I am very thankful for a great sister & sister-in-law who I can ask these sorts of questions to - what a blessing they have been when I don't know what to do. I miss my mom, no doubt, but great other family makes a big difference.

The Lovin' Crateful

A co-worker of mine went out of her way to lend me some sturdy wooden crates for a weekend shoot. (Thanks, Lisa!) Before returning them tomorrow, I needed to get a pic (or two) of Aria in one. And she jumped at the chance. Or at least co-operated. :-)

The First Second Today

Aria was fed actual food twice today for the first time. It's been hard to get pictures because feeding her is easily a two-person job. (This is what she looks like when it's just one person. And you can't see the messy hands and floor...) But as she and Deb figure this out a little better (I'm still lost...), I had to grab the camera to share the moments.

Aria's First Time Swinging.

Brad & I have this game we play running up and down our apartment building's hallways where we catch up to Aria & run away from her. It gets her giggling (sometimes) which is fun. As a side, there's nothing that guarantees a giggle - she certainly doesn't do tricks. So, I took her to a playground with a baby's swing set (harder to find than you'd think, I discovered later) and she loved it, because it was just like the game we play! I'm sorry it's sideways - it got her in better on the camera - but I forgot about posting it...I'll have to remember that for another time.

Just In Case You Were Wondering...

You can leave clothes in a damp clump at the bottom of your washing machine for four days without them suffering serious consequences. They'll reek, and need to be re-washed, but they shouldn't suffer long-term ill affects. Much to my surprise. Can anyone beat four days?

Aria's Oral Fixations...

If you've studies child development or psychology, you hear the theory that children have different fixations at different times. If, as a parent, you try and stop them from experiencing that thing, they end up remaining fixated on that for the rest of their lives. At the age Aria's at, putting things in her mouth (oral) is her fixation. Initially, she wasn't so coordinated with her hands, so she'd aim straight for stuff with her mouth, now she's learning to grab first and THEN put things in her mouth, regardless, everything goes in her mouth.
Here are a few examples of that.

This next one reminds me of a picture of her Great-Aunt Kathy from when she was a baby. **as I was waiting for these videos to upload - I had some lunch. I put Aria in her high chair (thanks Dan & Julie) and gave her some toys. She dropped ONE over the edge and started to fuss, I told her "Aria, you've got three more toys, no need to fuss" and she immediately proceeded to throw the other three toys off the edge of the tray! She's got quite the sense of timing, I must say!!**

I tried uploading a video of Aria having her first try with "solid" food, but Blogger isn't working with me on this one, so we'll leave it instead with a picture of the final result of that first attempt.

Update...

At 6 1/2 months old Aria is 16lbs 12 oz and 25inches tall. And adorable. And sitting up on her own!! Way to go, Aria!

The Obsessed, Unbalanced and Unsustainable

Brad made a very astute post on his livingmartyrs blog - check it out and give him some feedback. I'm interested to hear your opinions, as many of you are very invested in your families (as evidenced by the fact that you are keeping up with our blog).

Here's the link.

Aria's First E-Mail

Sent from her at my work, to him at his. She LOVES the space bar.

Aria says: G8i8888888888888ghmn ggggggggggggggggggvvvv bik vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvrmbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb v ffffffnnn