Half a Year

...we've had brand new lives for half a year and it feels like no time at all. Days/weeks/months seem to fly by. I'd like to say that I can't even remember what life was like before Bonnie came, but that'd be a lie. Oh I remember...the freedom. Even when I thought I was busy before, I know now that I absolutely was not. The memories of when every day was my own, to do whatever I wanted with it. Sleep usually took precedence. Funny how if given the choice we used to sleep our days away. Sleep doesn't come around here much anymore. Johnathan says he loves the waking up early because you get so much done in a day, and it's true. And maybe I don't miss the sleep as much as I miss the freedom to sleep, frustration at the lack of choice. But I suppose I should be honest with myself, I do have a choice. I chose to have a child, which everyone knows means I chose a life of sleepiness. :)

Regardless, I'd choose Bonnie over my old life any day. What a lovely, lovely child we have! It's definitely over the last month that she's started becoming more and more independent. She gets into anything she can, within reach. She can't crawl yet, but shows great promise. For someone who can't crawl she sure can get round. I'm sure wiggling and squiggling is involved. I root for her to start crawling all the time, but am also terrified of what that will mean for our life :).

She had her 6 month check-up on Friday, where she weighed 15 lbs 12 oz (50th percentile) and 26 inches tall (50th percentile). She's not been happy at the doctor's office lately. We took her there a few weeks ago because she had her first fever (it only lasted a day). She had an unhappy time when the doc had me hold her down so he could clean out her ears. I had never seen her so upset in my life. So much so that when she had fallen asleep in my arms afterward she was still sniffling in her sleep. She must have remembered that, because she did not like being held down for her height measurement and cried during the normal exam too. We didn't help the situation by giving her 3 shots later.  Thank goodness we don't have to go back until 9 months, and I think no shots then.

Bonnie Brags

• She pretty much sleeps through the night now, in her own room. Goes to bed between 6:30 - 7 (usually goes down quickly and easily) and sleeps til 4 at the earliest. If she wakes up around 4 or 5 I can usually entice her to go back to sleep for a little longer. But if she wakes up after 6 then she's pretty much up. I'll take it! Sold!
• She's just such a sweet happy baby. I know I can take her into public situations and 99% of the time she'll be a perfect sweet angel. She is hardly ever fussy and if she is, it's not the kind of meltdown that you sometimes witness in public. She gets lots of attention because of her overwhelming cuteness. Johnathan and I went separate ways in Target the other day and when I went looking for him, I was having trouble finding him. I looked at the Target associates and said, "I can't seem to find my husband." They said, "I think that's him right there." I turn around and there's a swarm of women around him cooing at Bonnie. I couldn't see him through all the broads ;)
• If you lay Bonnie down on the floor, she can get up to a sitting position by herself and stay that way.



6 months and sitting up

• If you put something in front of her on the floor she'll get on her hands and knees and pretend like she's going to crawl towards it.






• She thinks that Jericho is hilarious and giggles at him all the time. Too bad he's terrified of her touching him, it's almost like he thinks, "Eww baby germs!".

• She's graduated to high chairs, grocery buggies, and no seat in the tub (we're going to inflate her ducky bath next). It's like a whole new world for her, sitting up and looking out.

• Her hair is getting longer. I try to sweep it over to the side, but I haven't decided if that's the look I'm going for or not.

• She loves remotes (we have since bought her her own baby remote), cell phones, laptops, iPads, pretty much anything a grown has and uses. I about lost my breakfast plate with a full breakfast on it the other morning because of Miss Grabby. 

• She is working on loving her doorway jumper, I think she just needs a little more control. Her Grandma got her a stationary jumper and she loves that one MUCH more. Even wore the skin off her little toe while she was jumping for joy, needless to say she didn't care.

• She gives kisses, but they are open mouthed, sloppy, and violent. Basically the best kisses in the world.

Mission: Baby Bird in the Nest

As you know, we've had Bonnie in our room with us since day one. At first sleeping on us, but then graduating to a contour changing pad in between us. It's worked great for keeping her close and safe. She still doesn't sleep through the night, so the convenience couldn't be beat. However, as she started growing and developing, we started to see that the situation couldn't last long. I kept trying to stretch it out because, did I mention she doesn't sleep through the night?! When she learned to roll over, we started putting pillows on either side of the bed, just in case she rolled out while we weren't in the room. She never did, because she was too busy sleeping. However, there were a few instances when Johnathan woke up with a baby laying across his back in the wee morning hours. Then the other night Johnathan called me into the room. Bonnie was on her tummy on the bed, between her pad and a pillow looking back at me, faced the completely wrong direction! So not only did she roll off, she spun herself around 180 degrees. The changing pad has straps on it that we could use to hold her in place, but I was hesitant to use those when she's sleeping. As Johnathan said, "we need to do something about this."

The obvious solution is/was to use the perfectly good nursery across the hall. It's been ready for a baby since day one, but rarely been used for anything but changing diapers. Sure, there were a few times we used the crib for naps and/or baby corral but it was truly a wasted space. I tried to move her in there weeks ago after we got back from the beach when Johnathan declared he wanted his bed back. But she woke up crying several times and I declared she wasn't ready yet. So yesterday I decided to make an honest to God go at it, get serious about her sleeping in there, sacrifice my ability to doze while I get her back to sleep upon her inevitable wake-ups.

However, to make mommy feel better, I needed some supplies. After work, I went and bought a breathable baby bumper (cause she's already managed to get her limbs stuck between the bars several times), a wireless camera (so I won't have to go in and bother her if she's doing just fine), and a small fan (we use one in our room for white noise and to help keep cool, so she needed one). I had been going into our room and sitting on the bed with her, playing her CD, feeding her, and putting her to sleep with me sitting next to her to help her settle down. So I moved the process to her room, hoping she'd fall asleep during her bottle so that the transition to the crib would be easy. Of course, my luck doesn't go that way. She was wide awake once her bottle was done, so I laid her in her crib, turned on her mobile (it lights up, not the one above), and sat back down in the chair. I had her bedtime lovie and a blanket in the crib (not that she allows herself to be covered up, but it probably smelled familiar and I wanted her to be comforted by that). The new camera I bought can be watched on a phone or iPad, so I sat in the chair and watched her on the camera. Just to make sure she didn't get herself into any trouble. She stayed in place while the mobile was on, but once it stopped she started scooting around having a little crib party. Squealing, and scooting, and rolling around. She found the blanket and pulled it all of the place, I watched and made sure she didn't get wrapped up in it. At one point I stood up, and moved her back into position in the crib. A few minutes after that, she fell asleep.

She woke up at 12 and 4. I think I could have stretched the 12 out, she looked like she would have fallen back asleep, but I felt like I needed to feed her for my own comfort (if you catch my drift). But the big news story is that she slept until 7:30 which is 30 to 45 minutes later then she normally sleeps. Honestly, going in there to feed her 2 times wasn't that bad. The chair we have in there is comfy, and if I can just figure out how to cushion my head, maybe I can even doze a little bit. I have hopes that once she's used to being in there and isn't being disturbed by our sleep sounds she may even sleep through the night. I could be dreaming though (nice pun Wendy!). So at the risk of George W. Bushing it, I'll say, "Mission Accomplished!"