busta rhymes.

 

Lena, Lena, 

Crawling Machine-a

Gets around so fast, you wouldn't believe-a.

 

Just a Bear Cub in the snow

"Mommy, I don't want to be out here no mo' !"

the end.

hair and sleeping

Hello.  So I have 2 things to discuss and 2 visual delights to share.

Discussion #1:  I love Lena's hair.  I love that it's long enough to stick up in ridiculous sprouts.  I love that her bangs are all in her eyes.  I love that it dries in side curls that would make any Hassidic Jew jealous.  I also love that it tends to stay in positions reminiscent of whatever hairclip was just removed (see visual delight #1)

Visual delight #1:  Lena spent the morning sporting a front sprout growing out of the top of her head.  She then spent the afternoon sans the little pony-tail-holder but with this fabulous cresting ocean wave hairdo.

Visual delight #2:  Just a video.  She has pig tails.  She loves the wall.

Discussion #2: sleep update

SO.  Lena slept through the night.  Once.  Last Friday.  From 10pm-6:30am straight.  After 6 nights of "sleep training" (and screaming bloody murder every so often in the wee hours of the morning, but that may or may not be relevant).  We thought it would last.  It hasn't.  BUT at least now we know it's possible...........  so stay tuned.

Happy Half Birthday, Lena :-)

Lena is 6 months old today.  Unbelievable.

I am back.

Hello.

Sorry for my absence.  Christmas happened, New Years happened, a lot of driving happened, and sicknesses happened.  Everything was great except the sicknesses, they were miserable.

Anyway, hi.  So today I have some pictures and a quick video.  The video is called "Crazy Arms 'N' Legs" and it's Lena showing off one of her best-loved moves.  The parent commentary is a bit overdone, so maybe watch with the volume off?  The pictures have no commentary to be ignored.  So yes, on with the multi-media and then I'll sum it all up with some thoughts.

And here are the pictures:

And the thoughts:

Sleep.  How I miss you.  

Lena does not sleep through the night.  Translation: I haven't gotten a good night's sleep since July.  That was 6 months ago.  I'm getting close to losing my mind.  I just don't know what to do.  I've read all the books (and subsequently threw them against the wall, if you've read my recent posts), google-ed "how to get a baby to sleep through the night" countless times, tried all the tricks (ie: rice cereal before bed, dream feeding, tricking her with a pacifier, etc), and am now at a loss.  Currently she's up twice a night, every night.  at around 10pm and then again around 2am and then sleeps til 6 or 7.  and that's on a good night.  on a bad night it can be much much worse.   I'm currently trying to come up with a good plan of action.

Plan:  Getting Lena to sleep through the night.  

Course of action:  who knows.

Just hanging out

Hi.

So here are 2 things.  A picture of Lena and Aunt Sheryl (notice the hair... Lena's, not Sheryl's... although Sheryl's is quite lovely too)  and a video of Lena being silly.

Enjoy!

 

new things.

The little munchkin is doing some new things.  Most notably, eating food.   AND she needs a haircut too.  Her bangs are so long.  They're all in her eyes.  She's such a big girl now!!! She'll be 5 months old on the 15th which is Wednesday already!  craziness.  Here are 2 shots of her first sweet potato encounter:

So yes, 5 months.  In five months I've learned to do some things I never thought possible.  Change diapers.  Do everything one-handed.  Drive while holding a pacifier in a baby's mouth so she doesn't keep spitting it out and shrieking.  etc.   It's been quite an adventure.  Nearing this momentous 5 month mark I've also recently adopted a new approach to parenting:  throwing out the books.  I like systems.  I like rules.  I like X plus Y equals Z (although I do hate math, go figure).  I like to know that if I do something  the right way, I will get the desired result.   Parenting doesn't seem to be one of those things that can be reduced to a system.  For example:  Book A tells me that 97% of babies whose moms follow their structure sleep through the night by 12 weeks.  (HAH.)  Book B tells me that if my baby still isn't sleeping through the night by a certain time all I have to do is trick her by giving her a pacifier instead of a feeding for two nights and by the third night baby wont even bother to wake up (HAH again... 6 nights of hours of screaming proved otherwise).  Anyway, all these books were ruling my brain and making me feel like I must be doing something wrong if Lena's not cooperating with the systems.   Anyway, now I'm doing things my way.  It seems that for centuries people were parents without these books, so they can't be necessary, right?  Hopefully I won't ruin her...

note:  not that the books were totally un-helpful, they definitely were helpful especially at the beginning when babies were foreign beings to me.  They only became unhelpful when I tried to "systemize" Lena and then doubt myself when things didn't go as written.  So yes, if you gave me a book, thanks, it's not you, it's me.   ;-)

Lena's first Christmas tree

Today was our 4th Annual Christmas Tree Chopping Extravaganza.  Everyone should participate in an Annual Christmas Tree Chopping Extravaganza.  It's awesome.  The day begins with friends coming over for coffee and homemade cinnamon buns with rum-cream cheese icing.  Then everyone piles in cars and drives to Bryan's Christmas Tree Farm out in the PA countryside somewhere.  Ladies in one car, fellas in another.  Mike may or may not forget his boots and have to wear plastic bags over his crocs.  First car to make it without getting lost wins.  Once there you hop on a wooden wagon pulled by a huge tractor and ride up the hill to pick your tree.  It's always freezing.  It's always ridiculously muddy.  After finding the perfect tree, chopping it, and riding back down the hill in the tractor you buy 15 chili dogs for your party of 6.  3 for the guys, 2 for the girls.  YUM.  With full stomachs and freezing fingers and toes you pile back in the cars and head home.  Today Sheryl brought her fantastic camera and fantastic camera skills which resulted in the following fantastic shots of our day.  Enjoy.

Yay for Christmas trees. Yay for traditions.