A Baseball Fan is Made

Jane went to her first baseball game this past weekend. We went to go see the Sugar Land Skeeters play. It was a lot of fun and Jane did great! It was the first time I let her stay out past her bedtime. (no, she didn't sleep later than normal the next day... darn!) My parents, grandparents and my brother and sister-in-law were all great at helping Sam and me keep Jane entertained. It was such a fun family outing. It was really cool because my parents got us all tickets on the front row and they were part of the "Insperity Club" which is like the minor league equivalent to the Diamond Club that the Astros have. A buffet was included with the tickets, along with unlimited popcorn, sodas and ice cream all game long. Needless to say, I stuffed myself and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Hope you enjoy the pictures from the night!

Great View. I liked their Texas screen in the outfield.

Go Skeeters!!

The opposing team's on deck circle was right in front of our seats. Pretty cool! This player's last name was Molina. He also plays catcher. Sam asked him if he was related to the other Molinas and he responded and said no. At least he talked to us!

Hey! Those are some pretty ladies that I love. :)

More good looking people that I love! 

Oh hey look it's us!

Mom, are there anymore sweet potato fries?

I think everybody had a turn holding and entertaining Jane.

Hey Papa, will you share your popcorn with me?

It was great to be on the front row so Jane could run around in front of our seats. 

So you hold the bat like this?

Watching the game with Pappaw.

Double teamed!

I just love this picture. Jane has such a great time with Uncle Scott and Aunt Anna.

I think I like you!

Jane really seemed to enjoy herself and she didn't really get fussy even after her bedtime.

Daddy's girl

You think they look alike?? ;)

I'm so tall!

Jane loved the mascot Swatson! She would smile and wave at him every time she spotted him. 

I will bang on Uncle Scott's head to show my excitement!

It was a fun game. Skeeters lost to the Blue Crabs, but we really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for taking us Mom and Dad!

The one about sleep

I'm pretty sure every mom blog has an entry about sleep and how they helped their baby sleep through the night. Well, here's mine.

Anyone who knows Jane, probably knows she has never been a good sleeper. She gave me 2 weeks after she was born where she would be awake for less than an hour and then sleep for three hours with no resistance. It was wonderful and exactly what I needed to recover from labor. As soon as she was 2 weeks old sleep became an issue. I guess she realized there was a world around her that she needed to experience! Also, 2 1/2 weeks old is when she had her first fever and we stayed in the hospital for a couple days. I'm not sure if that contributed to the problem or not.

Early newborn sleep was awesome

Up until a month and a half ago, I would start Jane in her crib about 9pm after about 45 minutes of nursing/rocking. (I know, I know... sleep crutches) and depending on the night she would wake up 45 min-2 hours later. I would nurse her back to sleep and put her back in her crib. Sometime during the night I would give up on the crib and bring her to the Rock and Play next to our bed. The next time she woke up I would put her in bed with me and co-sleep.

Although not ideal, this sleep program actually worked for us for a long time. I got enough sleep even though Jane would wake up about 4-5 times at night, but only because she went right back to sleep after I would reassure or nurse her. Co-sleeping only worked for us because Sam was fine with it too.

When Jane was between 10-11 months old, things got really difficult. She started fighting sleep like never before and she started waking up every hour at night. The real kicker was that when I put her in bed with me to co-sleep she would not go right back to sleep and would start fussing. I thought "Ok, this is really starting to be a problem!" Sam knew it too. He told me it might be time to try cry it out.

Now this was very hard for me to swallow. Both of us had been against doing cry it out and sleep up until this point hadn't really been a big issue for either of us. Basically Jane forced us to try cry it out. Nothing else I tried worked and none of us were sleeping much any more and we were all getting cranky. It was a last resort! Sam could tell it was wearing on me. The night we decided cry it out needed to happen, I cried. It was really hard.

One thing that made it especially hard was that I had always been so adamantly against cry it out. I had to wrap my mind around why it was ok for us to start now. I am still against crying it out for a young baby. I realized it was ok for Jane because she had started to wake up and cry because she didn't want to sleep. I could tell it was not a scared or hungry cry. She was just trying to get her way. I was able to realize this because during the day she had started to throw little temper tantrums when I prevented her from doing what she wanted.

It will be ok, I promise!

The first night Jane cried for about 50 minutes. Sam and I sat on the couch together waiting for her to settle down. Finally she did! She slept about 5 hours straight that first night! Instant results! The next night was better, especially because I had set up my video monitor and I could watch and make sure she was fine and starting to lie down. She cried about 20 minutes off and on and she slept 9 hours straight!! Amazing! I thought to myself, "Why didn't I do this a month ago!"

After the first two nights she would only fuss a couple of minutes and sleep at least 5 hours before waking up. A few days later I started letting her fuss and let her put herself back to sleep when she woke up around 1-2am. After about a week she stopped waking up then and started only waking up around 4-5am.

About 2-3 weeks into our new sleep schedule, I would put Jane down in her crib awake at 8:30pm (after about 10 minutes of nursing/rocking) and she would go to sleep with no fussing and she slept 9 hours straight most nights! Usually, I would nurse her when she woke up around 4-5am, put her back in her crib and she would sleep a couple more hours.

Jane has stayed pretty consistent with this sleep schedule ever since. There are still nights where she will put up a small fight every now and then, but for the most part it's wonderful!

Jane has finally turned into a good sleeper! Hallelujah! I have my nights back. It's a beautiful thing. I can blog or watch a movie with Sam or maybe even play a video game! I love my daughter so much, but a few hours to myself at night helps me be a better mother and more attentive to her when she is awake.

Sleep, sweet, sweet sleep!

There you have it. That's our sleep story. It's different for everyone. Us mothers all need to put less pressure on ourselves and our babies about sleep. If you have a sleep routine that works for you and everybody is happy then don't worry about it. If sleep is an issue and what you're doing doesn't seem to be working then try something else! Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work either, just keep trying. Your baby will sleep one day! Did I mention that she wakes up happy too?

I love when my kid is happy!

Psalm 4:7-8

You have put gladness in my heart,

More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;

For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

A day in the life of a toddler

So I actually have a blog post in the works that is more than just commenting on pictures of Jane! Amazing, I know. I feel like I've been catching up on life the last month or so. Yes, I finally got to catch up on life, because about a month and a half ago, Jane finally started sleeping through the night!! HALLELUJAH! Can I get an Amen? And yes, that is what the blog post I'm working on is about. Not sure when I'll get that done, but I'm working on it and that's a start! Just so you know, no, Jane did not start sleeping through the night on her own. We had to change a few things, but once we did it was pretty quick. More about that another time. Hey! This blog post is more than photo comments already, woohoo!

The other thing that's changed since Jane's birthday is she learned to walk. Within a couple weeks she pretty much stopped crawling. My baby has officially become a toddler. She can be on the other side of the house in the blink of an eye. It's crazy, but so fun! Here's how a normal day goes for us.

About 6am I wake up and get about an hour or so of work in before Jane's up and about.

Jane likes to read books after she gets dressed. I love that she still loves books!

After breakfast and running around the house a bit, we go for a morning walk before the day gets super hot. Jane enjoys a snack while I get a little exercise in. Win, Win!

Around 10:30, Jane gets tired and is ready for her first nap. She sleeps on my lap while I get some work in! (because that's how she naps the longest and I need to work!)

After lunch we usually go outside and explore the great outdoors. Jane LOVES to be outside. She will walk over to the front door and pound on it. If that doesn't work she'll walk over to the coat closet, grab her shoes, bring them to me and say MAMA! 

She likes the front yard better than the back yard because there are people, cars, and dogs that go by that she can say hi to. The rain has stayed a favorite. Sometimes I'll let her go without shoes so she can splash in the puddles. Maybe we need some little rubber boots! 

This is Jane's new favorite stuffed animal. I named her Miss Peri Winkle. She will carry Peri around with her and she loves to give Peri hugs and kisses. Jane started trying to put her bows on Peri, it was so fun!

Anytime I lie down on the floor Jane loves to climb all over me. So this is definitely a daily occurrence. We have a good time. :) 

When Jane starts getting a little cranky/sleepy, it's time for her afternoon nap and more work for me!

She's up again! We play some more and wait for Dad to get home. Those are little torpedoes pool toys she's holding. She loves them and will carry them everywhere!

More reading. She really loves books. :) She'll pull almost every book off her bookshelf and look at each one.

Dad's home!! Jane gets so excited when Sam gets home. Sam and Jane play while I cook and after dinner while I clean up.

When dinner is all finished, we pick up Jane's toys and get ready for bed. We read a couple books and rock for a few minutes then she falls asleep in her crib. In about 11 hours we'll be ready to start all over again! It's a wonderful life. :) We are so blessed.

Matthew 18:2-4

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

More fun at the park!

Jane loves going to the park! I do too. It's always so much fun.

The baby swing continues to be Jane's favorite thing to do.

Look at that smile!

She can now balance herself on the horse and rock.

She tried the big swing too!

The big swing is still a little easier with me. :)

She really enjoys climbing stairs.

Back to the baby swing before we headed home to cool off. 

Being a mom can be tough sometimes, but man is it worth it! I love it.

A Year In Photos

Newborn to 12 months. 

One picture for every month. 

What a wonderful year!