Life with three little girlies is going well. Madison and Eden adore Leila and shower her with kisses and beg to hold her all day. Usually they are happy to hold her for a just a minute or two. Of-course, Maddie keeps insisting she is old enough to hold her baby sister without assistance but Mommy disagrees. ☺
Leila is a hungry little thing and growing like a weed. A pretty weed though. ☺
She has a cranky period every evening from oh right about now (8pm... Daddy is on duty at the moment) until um... 11pm or midnight... or 1am. We have had a handful of really good nights... meaning she slept soundly from 11pm until 3am and then slept until 8am. But we've had as many, if not more, not so restful nights. I'm working on scheduling her, and she is in a natural 3 hour feeding pattern right now. My challenge is motivating her to get a good full belly before conking out. If I don't encourage otherwise, she would be "snacking" all hours of the day instead of really filling up and being content for a few hours. For the most part, she is a happy fun baby with lots of personality already. ☺
It is my intention to end every paragraph of this post with a smiley face, whether it is warranted or not. ☺
In the midst of our newborn occupied life these days, I decided Eden was more than ready to be potty trained. She was going through about 20 diapers a day since she can NOT tolerate being the least bit wet. At 2 yr.s and 5 mo.s, she was VERY ready and was MUCH easier to train than Madison was. And boy, am I grateful!!! My approach was different this time around... for starters we offered no incentives. Simple praise and cheering was enough to please her, and I really think the M&Ms were more of a stumbling block for Maddie than a help. Maybe it's because she is such a sweets lover (I know who she gets it from...) and she became totally fixated on the candy rather than focused on the potty. And if one day she decided than she just wasn't in the mood for M&Ms, she would just not go on the potty. Grrrrr.... Anyway, with Eden there were no charts, no pull ups, no demonstrations with baby dolls. We just put undies on her and said "We really need to keep these dry!" and she agreed. When she did have accidents (usually she's go a bit and stop herself) she was completely devastated. She is a wee bit dramatic, my little Maureen O'Hara impersonator. I can only hope Leila will be as easy in a couple years...
Oh, excuse me! I forgot: ☺
Maddie and I also celebrated birthdays since Leila's arrival. Maddie turned 4 yr.s old on Sunday, the 17th. The oddest thing happened on her birthday: After Sunday dinner, we were about to serve her birthday cake and let her open presents from her Grandpa, Nana and a couple aunts and uncles when suddenly, the poor birthday girl had a mental breakdown! She became so shy and withdrawn (detesting every pair of eyes that looked upon her) that she burrowed into her Daddy's shoulder for the entire "Happy Birthday" song. She didn't even emerge long enough to blow out her candles! And then... you're not gonna believe this... she did not even want to open presents. I mean I've heard of shy kids but I've never heard of a four year old who did not want to open her presents!!! I was at a loss of what to do. I was embarrassed that she was being so ungrateful so I considered sending the gifts back with the givers. Finally, after I opened one for her and revealed a nifty sit-n-spin, she decided her curiosity was stronger than her timidness and she started to open them for herself. ☺
A few days later, I turned... shall I say it? TWENTY SEVEN. Wow. That's awfully close to 30, isn't it? ☺
So while I may not be posting with any great frequency these days, know that I am doing well. I'm often found nursing my little cutie or cleaning up messes made by my other cuties. And sometimes... only sometimes... I'm found sleeping. ☺
Love,
5 comments:
and where may i ask are the pictures of all three of them together?
I know, Kristina!! When I do have all three with hair done and clean outfits on, we are rushing out the door! I am going to really work on it though... maybe we will be ready for chruch with a few extra minutes for a photo session tomorrow... or maybe we'll be rushed as usual! =P
Your baby, your blog, but I just have to add my two cents. First f all I love your blog and sweet honesty. Your daughters are gems each one. I KNOW there are many thoughts on scheduling baby...I used to be a scheduler, but I just have to say I am so glad I threw that out for the baby's sake. Fussy times, the watching the clock etc.. ended when I saw my schedule as truly selfish. Today, my babies have no regular fussy time. There are no passifiers, thumbs etc.. I nurse when ao baby fusses and in the end our babies are very happy, usually healthy, they all sleep well and smile and then chatter very early on. These days are so so short s ENJOY! :-)
Missionary Momma, I'm not at all a rigid scheduler. A hungry baby gets fed around here. I've never had a need to let them "cry it out" until much older (over a year). But I do think the snacking habit makes her less content overall and wears a nursing mommy out. Right now, her cranky time of day isn't helped by nursing... she's not hungry, just wanting to be held. Sometimes with a little burp that is taking it's time working out. So the paci is our friend during that time! =)
:-)
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