Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Giving the Paci the Pink Slip and Braving CIO

The first six months of Ky's life we were all absolutely in love with the pacifier.  When nothing else would calm Kylie down, the paci would pull through and do us a solid.  Kylie would immediately quiet and suck away, happy as a clam.  She would fall asleep with it, the paci dangling from her mouth as she fell into a deep sleep.  As she grew older, the paci also moonlighted as a toy, Ky would get bored and pull it out of her mouth, studying it and chewing the sides. 



However, the past couple weeks the pacifier became the bane of our existence.  Kylie would spit it out and then scream because she spit it out and wanted it back NOW.  The worst was at night.  She would fall asleep sucking on the paci, but of course it would fall out after she fell asleep and then she would wake up in the middle of the night, realize that it was not in her mouth like it was supposed to be, and then promptly start screaming.  Yeah.  Not fun, especially when it was happening 3-4 times a night.  It was particularly frustrating because before Kylie was sleeping through the night no problem, without waking up at all.  I wasn't getting any sleep, and that didn't exactly sit well with me, since now I have to wake up at 3 in the morning to get ready for work. 

So after much deliberation, Rex and I decided it was time for the pacifier to kick rocks.  I'd done some research and talked to the pedi, and they all agreed that now was a good time to stop using the paci.  Kylie was old enough to find other ways to soothe herself.  And I felt bad because we had started using the pacifier as our go to thing to quiet Kylie down instead of making it our last ditch effort.  We were being lazy, plain and simple. 

Taking away the pacifier led to a new problem though.  How was Ky going to fall asleep at night?  She had always used the pacifier before, and very rarely had she fallen asleep without one.  After more deliberation, we decided to let her cry it out.  And we decided to go with the rapid extinction method, the one where you don't go in to see them at all.  I like the idea of the Ferber method, but I knew that if I went to her crib I would have to pick her up. 



Let me tell you, CIO is not for the faint of heart, and you have to be 100% committed to it.  Or it won't work.  The first night I gave Ky her bath, put her lotion and jammies on, fed her for the last time, and read her a bedtime story.  Rex and I both kissed her goodnight and laid her down in her crib.  The next hour and ten minutes were absolute hell.  It took Ky a couple minutes for her to realize what was going on, and then she started whining.  I was like, "ok, I can handle a little whining."  But then the whining turned into crying.  And then into screaming.  I thought I was going to die.  I wanted so badly to go and scoop her up into my arms.  It took everything in me to stop myself.  It was hard.  She finally fell asleep a little over an hour later.  She woke up a couple times that night, but went back to sleep within a couple minutes with no intervention.  Then the next night it only took her ten minutes to fall asleep.  And the night after that, and the night after that.  It's been eleven days and every night she has fallen asleep by herself within ten minutes with no crying and only minimal whining. 

It's the best frigging thing we've done so far.  I used to dread bedtime because she was so hard to put down, but know I practically look forward to it.  She is still having some difficulty falling asleep during the day with her naps, but she's getting better and is now sleeping longer when she falls asleep.  She used to only nap for about a half an hour, but now she will stay asleep anywhere between 1-2 hours.  We've still kept the pacifiers just in case, we weren't so brave that we threw them out, but we've only tried to use a paci once during a moment of weakness in the car and Ky completely rejected it.

So that's our experience with giving the pacifier the pink slip and being brave enough to try CIO.  I was afraid Ky would hate me after that, but she still wakes up every morning with a big ol' grin on her face for Rex and me.  Don't be afraid to try it, it's so hard to do, but once you actually do it, you'll never regret it.  Believe me.  It's saved my sanity.


My new "Zen" baby


Friday, February 18, 2011

Odds and Ends

So this has been another crazy week here in our household. I'm on my lunch now at work so I thought I'd tap out a post real quick on my iPhone, so please excuse any spelling and or grammar errors. Thank you much!

Rex is currently on disability for his back. The doctors think he has a compressed or ruptured disk, but workers comp is taking forever to approve an MRI since they are so expensive. For right now he has physical therapy 3 times a week but it's not making much of a difference. Now that he is off of work for an indefinite amount of time, Rex is now Mr. Mom. And he is doing an amazing job at it too! Him and Kylie are having fun hanging out with each other, taking long walks every day, cuddling with chihuahuas during naptime, and running errands together. I'm kinda jealous. But I think it's been good that Rex has been off because it let us see what each others lives are like. Now I know what he felt like after working 40+ hours a week and he knows what it feels like to be at home with a baby all the time with no one to give you a break. So we have been a lot more understanding with each other which is really nice.

And Kylie keeps doing all kinds of new things. She can now get into a crawling position when she is sitting up. She is starting to wave at people by opening and closing one hand. Ky is babbling more than ever now too. It's funny, when she gets really mad she'll just yell,"mamamamamamama." When we are listening to music in the car Kylie will hum along to her favorite songs, particularly to Rise Against. At first we couldn't figure out where the sound was coming from so we turned down the radio and heard her humming in the back seat. Too frigging cute, lemme tell you. Kylie loves when Rex doesn't shave, she will stroke his scruff while she is eating or trying to fall asleep. And then she will feel my face and look at me in disgust when she realizes I have no scruff.

That's all I can think of right now, but in a couple days I'll have a post dealing with pacifiers and crying it out and where I stand with both of them.

Happy Friday y'all!!!!!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Sometimes I Want to Scream

I've always been a fairly patient person.  Sometimes too patient if you talk to Rex.  I just go along with the flow and try not to make waves.  That's why I probably married Rex, he is definitely a wave maker and stands up for me when I won't.  I've always handled stress well too.  I wouldn't freak out or anything, I'd just think of ways to make stuff easier.  And if I didn't get everything done, then so be it.

That's the opposite of me now.  I'm frazzled, disoriented, and pulling my hair out crazy.  I knew having a kid was going to change a lot of things, I just didn't know how much.  It's incredibly stressful, having this little person be completely dependent on you.  All.  Of.  The.  Time.  No breaks, no sending her back to mom and dad, because we are her mom and dad.  Nights where she can't fall asleep and I've already been up for 20 hours straight.  Days where she doesn't want to nap and is cranky and irritable all day.  Times when she is sick and her nose is so stuffed up and she can't eat very well and screams during feedings.  When I've worked a ten hour shift at work and then come home to a dirty house, dirty laundry, dirty bottles, a tired husband who also worked 10+ hours, and a baby who is dependent on me to feed her, change her, bathe her, play with her.  When I feel like sleeping for three days straight but have to get dinner on the table, work clothes washed for the next day, bottles made, diaper bag packed, shower, and then try to stay awake for a husband who would like to have sex every once in a while. 

Sometimes I don't know if I can handle it all.  There are days where I just completely break down and cry.  Then I feel so guilty because what kind of mom sometimes resents her child?  What kind of mom wishes she sometimes never had a kid?  And in my heart I know I'm not a bad mom at all.  I love Kylie more than anything in this world, I love everything about her.  She is so perfect and pure and everything that I want to be.  I wish I could see the world through her eyes, full of wonder and excitement. 

I want to be the person I used to be.  The one that could handle everything and anything.  The one that didn't have a heart attack when everything little went wrong.  The one who loved living and the world around her.  I'm going to find her again.  It might take a while, but I will.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Ky and Me


Kylie and me before going on our walk yesterday.  Rex and I try to get her outside at least once a day for a  little while.  We want to instill love and appreciation of the outdoors in her.  I want her growing up wild and free, like I did.  I don't want her cooped up inside playing video games and watching tv all of the time.  Ky still loves our walks and now has a comfy view from the baby jogger.  We will take the chihuahuas with us and she loves watching them bark and play in the sunshine.  I can't wait for it to be summer time because then we can take Kylie up in the mountains for hikes.  Right now it would be a bit too chilly.  So for now I'll just have to day dream about lazy summer days. 

Thursday, February 10, 2011

What's Been Happening Around Here

is that Kylie is getting way too big and cute for her own good!  Seriously.  It's like she's grown up overnight.  It's scary!  Here's some of my latest iPhone pictures...


Kylie and my cat Pork Chop.  I should probably say Kylie's cat Pork Chop, since Pork Chop absolutely adores her.  He follows me around whenever I have her, and as soon as I set her down anywhere he plops right down next to her and starts to purr.  She can even pull his fur and tail and he loves it.  It's great that he is nice to her, but weird, especially for a cat.



Kylie and her "stunna" shades.  We were in Big 5 the other day so Rex could look at guns and we had an impromptu photo shoot with Kylie when we saw all the cute kids sunglasses there.  We thought this pair looked the best.  Ky thought we were crazy though.  Ha ha.




And finally little miss Ky Bug in her crib.  Standing.  My arm was only there to make sure she didn't fall over and hit her head.  Yes, she is now able to stand while holding onto things.  Not for very long though.  But it's still crazy.  She's growing so fast!!! Ahhhh!!!!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Six Months!!!

My darling little Ky Bug is now six months old.  A half a year.  Yikes!  I can’t believe that she is getting so old.  She is continuing to grow in leaps and bounds, and in her case rolls.  Kylie has developed such a big personality and nothing is better than coming home from work and having her greet me with a huge smile, arms reaching for me, and squeals of joy.  She sure knows how to make me feel special.  Or when she takes a nap with me in bed, her breathing slow and even as she is cuddled in my side.  Completely trusting and at peace. 

Some stats for y’all
-Her eyes, which have been a gray-blue since she was born, are turning slightly green in the centers!  Rex is beside himself because of this but that’s just because he has green eyes.  Hmph.  Kylie still looks like him too.
-Her hair is getting lighter and lighter.  It’s a light brown now, with blonde-red tints in it when the sun shines on her head.
-She talks up a storm most of the time now.  Her favorite place to talk is in the car.  She will tell all kinds of story to her little birdman toy that hangs from her car seat.  She can say mama and baba, but still hasn’t said dada.  She grunts and squeals at the dogs, it’s so cute.  Ky loves smacking her lips together while making the mmmmm sound.

-Kylie is sitting up by herself now, for the most part.  She still tips over every once in awhile though.  She will no longer lean back for baths, she loves to sit up and splash in the water with her hands instead of her feet.  Kylie can roll from her back to her belly and then from her belly to her back.  Often several times in a row.  The other week she scared me half to death when she rolled off our bed onto the hardwood floor.  Thankfully there was no serious damage to her little noggin.  I think it took a couple years off of my life though.  She loves straddling people’s legs and bouncing up and down as much as she can.  Ky still loves her exersaucer, and will jump up and down in it now.
-Ky is still sleeping through the night.  Her nap schedule has been less than perfect lately though.  I feel bad since I’m back at work full-time and it’s hard to keep a schedule with work, errands, and chores.  This week I need to really sit down and come up with a schedule that will work for Rex, Kylie, our sitter, and me.  Any tips from working moms?  I could use all the help I can get.  She still loves sleeping with us the best for nap time, but lately has been napping fairly well in her swing and in her car seat.  At night she is likes to make Rex and I worry about her by rolling over onto her belly to sleep.  We know that once she can roll over by herself we can’t really stop her and that the SIDS risk goes down, but we still can’t help but worry. 
-She is wearing clothes anywhere from 0-3 months to 6 months.  Basically all of her onesies still fit her, but in the pants department she needs the 3-6 or the 6 months.  Such long little legs!  Hopefully they stay long so she doesn't end up like me with stubby little legs!   Kylie is still wearing size 2 diapers and cloth diapers when I am at home. 

-Kylie is still on breast milk and formula.  I'm so proud of myself for making it to six months with breastfeeding!  It's gotten a lot harder since I am back to work full time, but we are still trucking along.  I am going to do my darnedest to make it to one year!!!  Ky is also getting rice cereal and oatmeal.  We have tried bananas, but she screwed up her face for those and had black flecks in her poop after that.  That was last week, so today we are going to try sweet potatoes!



-Ky is now learning to voice her opinion on things now too.  Like if she doesn't want to be set down or stop eating or have her toy taken away from her.  Sometimes this makes me miss the little newborn that just wanted to eat and sleep.   But then she is just so gregarious and funny now, and it keeps my life much more interesting.  She loves playing with the chihuahuas now.  She will pet them (i.e. grabbing their fur, luckily they are good sports and are already protective of her) and smile and laugh at them.  Ky still loves being outside and we now have a baby jogger to take her on walks on all the dirt roads around us.  She is just starting to get wary of strangers.  If she is unsure about someone she will raise up her arms in front of her face and peek around them every so often.  She can be a little diva as well.  When she is tired and is trying to go asleep she will often fling one hand across her eyes and sigh or whine.  Too cute.  I let her pick out her outfits now.  I'll hold up two of them and she will always make a beeline for one.

So there you have it.  A half a year old.  I'm sure I'm forgetting to write down a million other things she has done, but this will have to do for now.  I'll add her height and weight when she has her well baby checkup.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

My Bathtub Tried to Kill Me

The last couple weeks have been rough. Working full-time again with Kylie is a whole hell of a lot harder than I had ever imagined. I'm sleep deprived and it's causing me to be extremely clumsy lately. The other night Rex and I were taking a shower and I reached down for the conditioner bottle, and BAM, I slipped and fell. I almost took down the shower curtain too and narrowly missed hitting my head on the toilet. I have to give Rex credit though, he asked if I was okay before he started laughing at me. Now my thigh is sporting a huge ole bruise and so is my wrist. So don't get all complacent and think that only little old ladies fall in the tub, twenty-three year old mamas do it too. And yes, after work I'm going to Target and buying the little grippy thingies to put on the bottom of the tub. Don't laugh (well, maybe just a little). So y'all be safe and beware of the bathtub!