determined (sleep schedules)...

over the weekend, i decided it was time to get jaelyn to sleep on her own {again}. i reviewed some parts of one of my favorite books, healthy sleep habits, happy child by marc weissbluth and set my mind on the priority at hand! i am determined to get jaelyn on a better sleep schedule.

over two weeks ago, crying it out didn't seem to work so we gave it a break and i am trying it again. being woken up several times during the night isn't working either. honestly, a lot of my giving in and bringing her to bed or rocking her back to sleep was for me. i mean it was for her because she needed to sleep but it was for me too. i am having a hard time of letting go of my little newborn baby. she isn't a newborn any longer. she is almost seven months old and she is old enough to be on a much better schedule and have much better sleep habits! i just love holding her and snuggling her but it is time to do this during the day and let her sleep soundly during the night.

jaelyn is very determined too. she cries a lot and for a long time and it breaks my heart. she will cry for up to an hour sometimes longer. of course, we always make sure that she is ok while she is crying it out. so we are working on letting her put herself to sleep so that if she wakes up during the night (or nap) she can learn to put herself to sleep. getting her on a good sleep schedule will allow her to sleep better and longer. it is so hard to hear her cry, she is such a good baby and rarely cries during the day, but she is making up for it at night. here are the sleep logs for the last few nights. you can tell by sunday night and monday, i mean business and became intentional and consistent...

saturday:

8:00 pm ~ nursed and put down to bed asleep
9:00 pm ~ awake already, went to her gave pacifier, refused it so rocked her to sleep
9:30 pm ~ put her back down asleep
11:15 pm ~ woke up just as i was going to bed, frustrated, i decided that i was going to have to change to work on getting her back into a good sleep schedule.

sunday:
12:30 am ~ after letting her cry it out and going to her once she fell asleep
5:00 am ~ wakes up to nurse ( a little early, but ok then) goes back to sleep until
8:30 am ~ wakes up for the day/nurses
10:30 am ~ falls asleep in car on the way to church, wakes up when we are taking her into the nursery.
11:15 am ~ awake in nursery/takes a bottle
1:00 pm ~ quick nap in car on the way to lunch
2:00 pm ~ falls asleep in car on the way home, stays asleep after being put in her crib until
3:30 pm ~ wakes up/nurses
6:00 pm ~ eats cereal
7:30 pm ~ nurses and falls asleep, put in crib
9:00 pm ~ wakes up and cries it out, daddy goes in every 20 min. to soothe her ( i am determined to start this week out with the goal of getting her on a good schedule!)
10:30 pm ~ finally falls asleep and stays asleep until the next morning!!!!

monday:
6:55 am ~ wakes up (with some help from siblings getting ready for school) and is such a happy baby!!! /nurses
8:45 am ~ rocks with mommy and then put down for a nap awake, cries for 20 min. falls asleep
10:00 am ~ wakes up/nurses
12:00 pm ~ eats cereal
12:45 pm - 1:00 pm ~ rocks with mommy and then put down for a nap awake, cries for less than 5 min. and falls asleep
1:45 pm ~ wakes up crying, try to let her fall back to sleep for 20 minutes - does not
2:05 pm ~ removed from crib (poor baby has a poopie diaper and is hungry) nurses
4:15 pm ~ rocks with mommy, then put down for a nap awake, cries for 45 minutes.
5:00 pm ~ removed from crib with no nap/nurses
6:00 pm ~ eats cereal
7:00 pm ~ nurses for night feeding, has quiet time and rocks with mommy
7:45 pm ~ put down in crib sleepy but not all the way asleep
8:15 pm ~ wakes up screaming, daddy gives paci and leaves,
8:35 pm ~ still crying, daddy gives paci again and leaves, begins to cry with short spells of silence
9:30 pm ~ finally falls asleep

still not working...

for many many nights straight we let jaelyn cry it out. we would let her cry for about 20 minutes at a time before going in to soother her. trying really hard not to pick her up. usually i would send jamil in. although, that seemed to make her really, really mad and she would cry harder. we really really tried to be consistent and not pick her up. and in the middle of the night for several nights in a row she would fuss and scream for like 4o minutes and i didn't go to her because it was on and off and not consistent.

trying to get her to go to sleep on her own and then putting herself to back to sleep on her own are still a challenge. i decided after like ten nights straight to give it a break, because i just couldn't take it anymore. i needed to sleep. so on the first night of that decision, she slept well without waking at all. the next night, not so well, so i brought her into bed with me. and now she has a fever and a cold, i certainly can not let her cry it out when she is sick and not feeling well. she can't breathe very well and crying will just make it so much worse. the first night of her cold, she slept great. last night, not so well again. she she cuddled with me.

once she is feeling better, we will start it all over again. the crying it out. i think. unless i find something that works better.

first haircut

about two weeks ago, jaelyn had her first haircut. she has lost a lot, almost all of her baby hair and her new hair is growing in and it is straight so far! basically all of her hair had fallen out except the area around the crown of her head, it was soooo much longer than the rest. the rest fell out or got rubbed off but this top part wouldn't fall out and it would stick straight up. and when i tried to comb it down, i actually had to comb it forward b/c of how her hair was growing and it looked like she kind had a comb over. so one night after her bath i decided to trim it ! and of course i saved the little pieces of her hair!

these are not the best pictures, but here they are before and after!

before:

after...not a good shot at all but you get the picture...

separation anxiety...

jaelyn has been a great sleeper. sort of. we have had our ups and downs. we went through a phase around 5 months where she wasn't sleeping as well. after a few weeks, we started putting her to sleep in her own crib, not in our bedroom anymore(she was in a pack n play in our room for fear of her waking up her sister whom she shares space with!) and letting her fall asleep on her own. she was doing great until last week. she began waking up after being asleep for a short time (20 - 45 min). she was/is suffering from separation anxiety. as soon as i go to her she stops crying. she doesn't even want her daddy.

she does sleep best when she puts herself to sleep. she sleeps so much better and so much longer. but it is getting her to fall asleep and stay asleep that is the trick.

she also sleeps well when she is sleeping with me. so nights like last night, after letting her cry it out for way too long, i just brought her to bed with me. it is all about survival some nights.

jaelyn really wants to be with her mommy. she isn't hungry. she has a clean diaper. she is tired but won't go to sleep without the security of knowing i am near.

gosh, it is so hard to hear her cry. and then i wonder is this really the best thing for her? crying it out. especially if it isn't working so well.

well check stats...

jaelyn had her 6 month well check yesterday. she is weighing 14 lbs 7 oz (25th%) and 26 inches (50th%). there was no heart murmur heard again! praise the lord!!! dr. lassiter said she is doing wonderful!!! we talked primarily about two things: her crazy diaper rash and her seperation anxiety at night.

jaelyn had been having a reaction to something which made her red, raw, chapped and peeling around the edges of her diaper. nothing seemed to help it would come and go and get worse and get better and worse again. using aquaphor didn't seem to help, just made it worse. so we tend to think it is the diapers, although she has been wearing the same kind, pampers swaddlers since the day she was born. for some reason she has been having a reaction. dr. lassiter suggested trying a new pack of swaddlers. i realized that this reaction had been going on between to different boxes of diapers. so it didn't seem it would be one pack over another. i really didn't want to try another brand. so i have begun researching cloth diapers.


jaelyn has been having seperation anxiety and not sleeping well at all. so dr. lassiter told me we should try letting her cry it out. i just hate hearing her cry. but i know that it will help her in the long run. she is a good sleeper and we need to return to that good sleeping!

six months old...

i know, i know, i say it every time i write an update about how old jaelyn is, but i can not believe how fast time is going by. jaelyn is six months old today! wow! we will go for her well check next week. i can't wait to see how much she weighs. she is getting a little bit chubby these days. here are some things that she is doing at six months old!!!

~ she can roll both ways
~ she will roll, twist and turn to retrieve a toy she wants
~ she can sit up with assistance
~ she stands and bears weight on her legs
~ she is very chatty, loves to coo and talk and sing
~ she is such a happy baby
~ she is very content to play by herself
~ she loves to have attention, especially that of her siblings
~ she has been eating baby cereal every few days and doing well.
~ she has a love/hate relationship with her soothie pacifier - sometimes she wants it most times she does not
~ she has been putting herself to sleep for naps and bedtime for about two weeks now, she cries very little or not at all
~ she sleeps about a 7-8 hour stretch at night, mommy hopes to increase that time soon!
~ she has organized her sleep, she goes to bed around 7:30 or 8:00, and she takes 3 naps a day, around the same time.
~ she rolls over to her tummy to go to sleep, mommy tries to turn her back over, but she rolls to her tummy again
~ she loves to be in a sling or baby carrier, mommy loves it too! (note to self: take a pic!!)
~ she loves to jump in her jumperoo, she looks really cute in it, like she is running on a treadmill (another note to self: capture this on video)
~ she is all smiles and loves to have her picture taken.
~ she has lost a lot of her baby hair, she has a section on the top/crown section of her head that has not come out it is really long! the new growth coming in is straight so far.
~ she is wearing 3-6 months or 6 month clothing and in a size 2 diaper!

jaelyn is such a blessing to our family. we are all completely smitten with her. she is a sweet sweet baby. it is so amazing how much love you can have for your child, whether it is your first or your fourth. i know from this point on, she is going to be doing so much more and becoming so much older and i just want to freeze time for awhile and just hold onto my baby girl!!

our big announcement part 2....

happy april fool's day!!!!

i hope i fooled ya today!!!

just to clarify...
we are NOT pregnant again!!!!