I know, I know. I've already shown off my kids in their costumes this year. And I'm sure you've read about 50 'Happy Halloween' posts in your Google Reader today. But I took some pictures with my real camera as we trick-or-treated for the second time on Sunday and just want to share. Yes, we went ToT'ing twice this year and we are NOT going tonight on actual Halloween. Milwaukee is odd like that---all of our suburbs have their own chosen days and times for the event. Which means we can rotate around the town to get as much candy as possible, of course:)
Saturday night was our own neighborhood's trick-or-treating, and since we've never lived here during Halloween before we had no clue when it would be for us. We kind of assumed it would be on Halloween day, like it was at my in-laws duplex just a few miles away but nope! Saturday night. And we found this out during the week, so it was sort of last minute notice to go around our own neighborhood with my in-laws. It was cold. It was dark. And the kids did amazingly well for one hour and then we were all just d-o-n-e.
Then Sunday was the big day we had actually planned in advance. Andrea, Erin and I had emailed about getting together in Andrea's neighborhood this year and it was a blast. A chaotic blast with 6 kids this time, and still very cold and blustery, but definitely worth it. Since it started at 4:00 and we had a bit of daylight this is the time I managed to snap some pictures with my real camera. I love these three big boys and these three growing babies so much. It never gets old seeing them interact together.
Halloween fun!
He not only face-planted while running up the sidewalk once (first meltdown) but he also fell out of the wagon while sitting in Thomas after that (second meltdown). Pretty intense physical day for this trick-or-treater. And somehow he pulled through with more candy:)
and an iPhone picture of our whole family--fave! We look so cold because we were.
Any annual event makes me nostalgic for remembering past years. So I had to compare all three Halloweens with mister Truman.
And with his daddy two out of three years---love how Truman's face is basically the same in these pictures. Very unamused. And Nate is very happy. Perfect!
Now if the absurd amounts of AWESOME Halloween candy would magically disappear from our house. Without me consuming 7-9 pieces per day..
Likes: That lady with the milk jugs, nursing while falling asleep, delicious hands/toys/anything, watching big bro be rowdy, drooling, pretending to be teething just to put mom's mind at ease about awful sleep, smiling a HUGE open-mouthed grin (silent laughs) all day long.
Dislikes: sleeping longer than two hours in a row, being overtired, being held by anyone other than mom when overtired.
(comparison time! My how time flies...)
Biggest Achievement of the Month: Tolerating a few true crib naps. Gotta start with small goals, people.
Biggest Challenge of the Month: Sleep, or the lack thereof. What else is new?
Secret Tricks of Parenting: Well this is awesome--I honestly didn't realize until staring at this topic right now that baby girl doesn't really require any tricks anymore! I mean, sure---her sleep sucks but she is not having super fussy moments anymore. Praise.The.Lord.
The Mecca (aka Sleep): Eh, I don't even feel like complaining about it right now, but alright...twist my arm. ;) Cecelia still hates to sleep for long stretches at night. We had a great week thrown in the middle of October when she lasted until 1, 2, or even 4 am before waking and then she might go another few hours after that before demanding the boob. My new definition of a good night is if she sleeps past midnight without waking, by the way. So we had a few good nights this month. And then? Back to her old habits of waking around 9 or 10 for the first time then every two-ish hours after that. Sigh. Last night she woke at 11, 1, 4, and 5:30 before waking for the day at 6:45. That's actually not too horrible in our world, so I can't be all full of doom and gloom for this post.
Currently I'd say that bedtime itself isn't too awful if I can get her to stay asleep for the first 20 minutes of laying her down---if we get past that magical point, then we will probably sit pretty until around 11:00 before she wakes. But some nights she will just not.go.down without a fight. Meaning, she pops her eyes open as soon as she hears the freaking floor boards creaking when I leave. Or she wakes within 5 minutes of me sitting downstairs, assuming 'she's asleep!' I really dislike spending the majority of my evening hours going up and down the stairs, soothing baby girl back to sleep by popping the pacifier back into her mouth or rocking her. During these rough evenings I usually do not nurse her again just because I hang onto any shred of control that way:)
Naps are getting a little bit better because I'm getting her to nap in her crib for about an hour at a time, maybe 2-3 times per day. Yesterday she napped for 45 minutes in the morning, a TWO HOUR nap in the crib around lunch time, and another hour nap in the afternoon. She will also cat nap while nursing during the day if I'm home and will sleep in the Ergo or the BOB if I must be out and about with her. I am pretty proud of the fact that she can fall to sleep for a nap without nursing down, and without being rocked to sleep. I will usually give her the pacifier, rock her a bit to get her nice and comfy (and to get my fill of cuddles, since she buries her face into me while we rock), then before she falls asleep I'll lay her down. She might squeak and squawk a bit but usually not more than 5 minutes.
Temperament/Personality: CC is so happy and content 98% of the time now. It's awesome. Do you see those giant smiles in the 'five month' pictures? Just.so.happy. She will laugh if I'm tickling her now and also had her first real laugh that was unprovoked a few days ago. I was carrying her up the stairs and Truman was walking in front of us, when all of a sudden she busted out a belly laugh. I guess she found Truman's stair climbing hilarious, and why wouldn't she? Because anything her big brother does seems to give her the biggest open-mouthed smile. Blowing raspberries and trying to get us to do it in return is a favorite hobby right now. She's still super vocal, too, and will let you know if something is not right in Cecelia-land. But luckily for us all, it seems that this child is pretty darn happy despite the persistent sleep issues. She's the best snuggler and is super touchy-feeling, preferring to be held and will almost always grab onto your hand or your clothes. I love it so much. Hope her sweet cuddles don't go away any time soon.
Eating: Still nursing great! Basically have to pull her off each time we nurse to end a session because CC could nurse all day long if I let her. On a typical work day she will nurse at 7:30 before we leave, then she takes 10 oz in two bottles while at Lori's around 11:30 and 1:30. She will nurse right when we get home at 4:30 and then at 7:00 for bedtime, which makes about 5 feedings on the days I work (and probably about 4 more at night, so whatever). On my days at home with her, I'm guessing we bump it up to about 6-7 feedings during daytime hours.
We haven't introduced any solids yet--not even rice cereal or oatmeal. We gave Truman rice cereal on his five month birthday but I'm just not feeling it this time around. I kind of want to research baby led weaning a bit more and would prefer to skip rice cereal all together, maybe jumping to finger foods at 6 months. We'll see. I'm in no rush at all for 'real' food this time around.
The Superficial: The Hair is still my fave.
She is in 6 or 9 month clothes, but the sixers are getting too short in the legs. My tall girl;) And for disposable diapers, we are moving up to size 3's because the 2's are barely covering that precious booty anymore. In cloth, she has bumped up a row of snaps in the rise already which seems nuts to me. But hey, my baby IS almost half of a year old so this growth stuff is bound to happen. ;)
(winter coat in size 12 months, just a little too big right now;) )
Another superficial thing? Tons of constant drool graces her pretty face in every picture now. Had to bust out a few bibs this month but I generally dislike bibs and how they 'ruin' outfits:) So we deal with a lot of saliva up in here.
Motor Milestones: She rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time this month! I think it sort of surprised her and I'm sure my maniacal cheering and clapping didn't exactly soothe her, either:) But it's just so much fun to see babies hit milestones and I hope she keeps up the rolling. Perhaps it will be the key to sleeping longer at night? (notice how everything is potentially the magical 'key'?) She's SO close to rolling from back to tummy---that darn arm keeps getting in her way and she just keeps on trying to plow it over anyway.
And the girl can spin like a champ when she is laying on her back. If I put her on a blanket facing the windows she will almost always wiggle her booty around in a 180 degree turn to face the opposite direction. I think she accomplishes this simply by attempting to roll over and over again, making it to her side then falling back each time. Hilarious!
She can prop sit for a few seconds before her stomach is basically on top of her outstretched legs:) This month marked her first time in the kitchen sink for a bath, and then her first dual bath with big brother using a bumbo seat! Can't wait for her to sit unsupported to make baths easier, if nothing else.
Her hand-to-mouth coordination is amazing at this point, because she can finally grab the pacifier and purposefully pop it in and out of her mouth. I still remember this milestone with Truman---so sweet to see them control objects like this, and so weird to see her with a pacifier in her mouth when nobody put it in there for her. If you hold a toy in front of her she gets a really excited face and will bring both hands to the toy, grabbing it with gusto. I've gotten a couple of good old hair yanks from little miss myself and yep---her grip is pretty strong!
Out and About: Biggest event this month was her baptism on September 30! Already did a separate post about it, but I'd say that was a major outing for sure.
(two great-grandmas and one vain little girl, checking to see how cute she is on camera)
Reading back over Truman's five month post leaves me with a few comparison thoughts. Both kids have been super alert at 5 months. Both love to put things in their mouths, especially Sophie. Both vocal, both happy, both crappy sleepers and into the half-rolls. Truman's eyes were already starting to change to his pretty hazel color but Cecelia's are still a bright blue right now---wonder if that means hers will stay? But the only thing that makes me sort of sad when I read his 5 month post is that Truman would totally let Nate soothe him back to sleep at night. He loved his mommy but he allowed Nate to help out a lot more than Cecelia will tolerate. And I hate that, because it makes me feel like Nate and CC can't bond like he did with Truman. Obviously, as a second child it's just different because we each take a child now, since it's 1:1 defense and no longer 2:1. Nate usually handles Truman and I usually handle Cecelia when we are all home---and I know all little babies need their mommies most of all. But I want to be a little bit better about switching it up and having Nate change C's diapers on the weekends, holding her just to bond, and spending more time just the two of them while Truman and I get a little one-on-one time, too. I mean, it's not the end of the world and I know that Cecelia does love Nate, too. But I just want him to be able to help a little more without her freaking out, because he's an amazing dad who is more than willing to offer some daddy-time to his little lady. He watched her for two hour long stretches on Saturday this weekend and it went great, so maybe we are turning the corner with the daddy-daughter bond:)
The kiddos
And this video is too cute not to share. Truman's take on Simon and Garfunkel's song. 'Oh Cecelia--you're breaking my heart. You're shaking my calm and my baby.' I die.
We all love you so much, boo-tiful Cece. You are so happy and fun and sweet. Not a day goes by that I don't feel humbled and incredibly blessed to be your mommy. Yes, even when I'm exhausted because of your lack-of-sleep. Even then, I love you. :)
