I guess she didn't want to let go...

This afternoon I was driving and Payton was just talking away, laughing, & putting her feet in her mouth. She has been doing this a lot lately. She loves her feet. Well- all of the sudden she got quiet and went to sleep.

Still holding on.... SO precious!!!!!!!!!!

Why isn't she sleeping???

We had been doing really good, or I say WE I mean PAYTON. She was sleeping through the night so I thought everything was good with night time sleep. I think I will always have a battle with the naps. But I told myself that was fine, I could deal with little naps as long as she slept through the night. Well- the past 5 days or so she has been waking up a lot through the night. When you get woke up in the night and you are so tired (I am so tired) then my first thought is to go get a bottle and go and feed her. But then as I am sitting there rocking and feeding her in the middle of the night I am like "why did I make her this bottle? Is she really hungry? Does she just "think" she needs this?" Since I know she is capable of sleeping through the night it makes it that much tougher for me to decide what to do?

Her cry is not just a little whine cry like "I am tired and about to fall back asleep cry" It is the "help me cry I am hurting...." (She isn't really hurting, it just sounds like that.)

So after many nights of this going on and waking up every 3 hours. I went in and still fed her at midnight. I then remembered that I HAD been laying her down wide awake after her bottle and she put herself to sleep. Well- about a week ago she cried one night so I rocked he to sleep. I guess I have been continuing to rock her and not "just lay her down". So I started thinking is this the problem??? So after the bottle at midnight, I decided to just lay her down. Well she started to scream. I let her cry for about 20 minutes. Well I can't sleep because even with the monitor off I can still hear my baby crying. I don't like to hear that, at all. So I go back in there, try to rock her, she continues to cry while I am holding her (which usually does not happen) but I guess she got herself so upset she couldn't calm down. So I thought well if you are going to cry while I hold you then I will just lay you down and let you cry. (Mean mommy, I know) Well she cried harder...... So I go back in there, rock her SOUND to sleep, lay her down asleep, walk out and she begins to make little cries but nothing too bad then stayed asleep for almost 4 hours.

Why is this happening? Has anyone else had this issue with their baby?? I thought could it be teething? But I really do not think so.

Bumpers!!

Last night we put Payton's bumpers on her bed for the first time. I have never put the pretty little thing on her bed because I have heard so many horror stories about them. But, now that she is older and moving all around in her bed I thought she could handle them. She has been waking up crying because she gets her legs caught in the bars on her crib. I was trying to think of a way for this not to happen, and then a brilliant beyond brilliant idea popped into my head.... that is what those things they call bumpers are for!!

Crib Recall

I am sure you have all heard on the news recently about the 2.1 million baby cribs recalled. Well- lucky me, ours is one of them. We got our crib from an officer that I used to work with at the police department. She gave me a really good deal. We only paid $100.00 for the crib and the dresser. (and then we purchased the changing table to match) Anyways, it was like brand new, her little boy hardly slept in it. So at the time I was thinking, we for sure will get our moneys worth out of this. Even if we spent $500 on a crib, we would get our moneys worth for as long as she would sleep in it, much less use it for our next baby. Well now I am glad that we only paid $100 for it, basically $50 for each piece. Since we didn't pay much for the crib, then I would have to say we still got our moneys worth since she has slept in it for over 7 months now.

I really didn't know what to do. I didn't know what crib to get. I knew that we didn't have an extra 3 to 5 hundred bucks laying around to go buy a crib. (I mean of course I would if I had to). But it really worked out for us. My mom had bought a new crib just before we moved out from their house. Well all they had at the time was Cherry finish. So she settled for it, even though she is doing her baby room for the kids in Black finish. So since we need a Cherry finish we got the one from her house, and now she gets to go get the crib she wanted to begin with.



It doesn't really match the design of Payton's furniture. But as long as she is safe that is all that matters!!!

Sleep Update

Well- I guess I spoke too soon. Payton had 2 nights where she slept straight through the night for the 9 hours. But since I posted the blog (bragging) she hasn't done so hot. I have still let her cry herself to sleep but she is waking up to eat still. Last night she woke up twice. Once at 1 a.m. and then at 4:30 a.m. Nights like these wear me out!!! It is so frustrating because you don't know what else to do or try with them. And her nap time, oh wait there is no nap time. She is fighting it so hard. I tried letting her cry herself to sleep for nap time too, but she cries harder than she does at the night. She needs to nap, if she doesn't it seems like she doesn't do as well at the night.

Our little stinker!!!!




She would smile at me, then my flash would go off and then her eyes would shut. So I had a hard time getting a good picture of her!!

Guess what........

I laid Payton down last night wide awake at 9 p.m. and she made some cry outs and some noises for about 3 minutes and that was it until 6 a.m. this morning!! She slept 9 hours and went 10 hours without being fed. Second night in a row for sleeping 9 hours straight. Then I fed her at 6 a.m. and she slept until 10 a.m. I know this could change at any given time do to teething or anything. But I am so happy, literally I am sleep happy myself!!!

I went in to check on her last night when I didn't hear her crying just to make sure everything was ok. And she looked so stinking cute, she was rolled over on her side asleep. I wanted so bad to take a picture of her, but I couldn't risk waking her up. When I went in at 6 to get her she had turned the total other direction than she was when I laid her down at 9, and her legs were hanging out through the crib holes.

Then, when I went in to get her at 10 a.m. same thing, she was facing the opposite direction than I had laid her. She is a crazy sleeper I guess.

You know other moms have been telling me for the past 3 months to just let Payton cry herself to sleep, and I would try here and there, maybe 10 minutes and then I would give up because it was too hard for me. But I did value the advice that these mothers have given me. I just realized that until I was ready to let her cry herself to sleep that I wouldn't be ok with it. Every baby is completely different, I know that my next one may be different than Payton, but there are already things that I would do different with my next one. But it is a live and learn experience, and although times do seem hard I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Being a mother to Payton is so precious to me. I love her so much and she makes me smile each day!!

So the moral of my story is.... it does get better!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Random

I did so well a week ago with posting blogs. But this past week I slacked. I will try to do better.

I did take pictures of Payton last week, just failed to post them!!

This is Payton propping her feet on her toy, too cute. She loves her feet. Last night she was actually trying to put her toes in her mouth, she almost succeeded but not quite.









Phil & I went to the State Fair this past Saturday. We had a really good time. A much needed time to get away. Payton has been fighting sleep for the past week or so. It has been really rough on me. Our days seem so long when she doesn't nap and fights sleep. Then come the night she wants to be held and rocked. Which I have, I mean had, no problem with rocking her if she would go to sleep and then let me lay her down. But she has started this thing where she goes to sleep and then as soon as I lay her down she starts to scream. The past two nights I have been letting her cry. It has been hard, but I know it is something that I have to do. Last night it took me almost 3 hours to get her to bed. This is how it went...

8 p.m. fed her
8:20 p.m she feel asleep after eating her bottle
8:30 p.m. laid her in her crib (asleep)
9: 15 p.m. I hear her crying.... she's awake
9:20 p.m. started the crying process... I let her cry for 20 min

This went on till 10:45 p.m. (I went in after every 20 min)

Every time I went in to pick her to calm her and let her know that it is ok (maybe it was more for me to know that it is ok) she immedietly stopped crying, I would lay her back in her crib she would start kicking her legs and her arms start going 90 to nothing, as soon as I turned around to walk out she started to scream. SO.... this tells me my child is SPOILED!!!!!! There is no other answer. So then I start not feeling so bad that I am letting her cry.

End result, the last time I laid her down she made a few cries and sounds and then I guess finally went to sleep and slept from 11 p.m - 7:30 a.m. I woke up and couldn't believe it. We will see how the next few nights go!! Wish us luck!!

I told Phil "We are in charge, not her." And he laughed at me, but said "yeah I know that is the truth." It's just sometimes I feel like she is in charge of me, or I let her be. Sounds funny I know, but that is how my day(s) goes.

Anyway, I didn't plan on blogging about her sleep on this post, but I just couldn't help it. I needed to vent.

My reasoning for telling you about Phil and I going to the fair was to show you this.

Phil won this HUGE bear at the Fair. I do not like stuffed animals, and honestly if the truth be told this bear will be in the trash in a few weeks when we move. But since Phil won this for Payton I decided to take a few pictures of her with her bear.

What to do??

Since Payton was born I have always tried to put her to bed (which means lay her in her pack n play) at around 10 o' clock. For the first 2 months she would wake up 3 times. How I come up with 3 times.... if she wakes up anytime from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. When she hit 2 months old she started only waking up around 2 times. But, for the past 2 weeks she has been back to waking up 3 times during the night. It isn't every single night, but it has been most nights. When she wakes up, she goes back to sleep no problem, I can hardly get her to hold her head up halfway through the bottle. So I ask, "why doesn't she just keep sleeping?" We have been going more places and doing things during the day because it seems on those days that she sleeps longer through the night. The past few days we have done stuff, and it hasn't helped her sleep longer!!

I am thinking that I am going to try to give her rice cereal at night. I really don't know what else to try? Anyone have any suggestions??

Also, her nap time. I take full respsonsibilty for my child being spoiled and not wanting to be laid down during her naps. I have always rocked her and then some how I ended up holding her through the nap. But, in my defense the reason I did it most of the time was because she would wake up each time I laid her down, so at the time I wanted to get in a little nap too so it just seemed easier to hold her. Well- now you can imagine I am having a hard time getting her to nap without me holding her. She has taken a few naps that last about 30 minutes without me holding her. And maybe that is all she wants to sleep?? I don't know. But she still seems tired when she wakes up. I am wondering if I should put her in a sleeper for nap time too? I really don't know. I ask myself all the time "where did I go wrong?" I know she is only 3 months but it seems to be the most important time since you are trying to get a baby on somewhat of a schedule.

Does it ever get any better??

I am diagnosing my child with COLIC. (I don't even know if it something to diagnose, but I am) If she isn't eating or sleeping she is screaming at the top of her lungs. I can't stick a bottle in her mouth every time she cries this way, but it seems like I end up trying to feed her because I don't know what else to do for her. At this point I am very stressed and in tears. I thought maybe she just had a few rough days, but no this happens every single day. I know I have my mom and step dad helping me out but it isn't the same, I wish Phil was here with me. I miss him terribly.

I was originally going to blog today with these pictures I took of Payton in her swimsuit, but as the day has gotten more stressful I thought I would blog about her crying. But I will go ahead and share these pictures, this was a moment (literally a moment) that I got lucky and she was not screaming.

I think this might be the trick...

Yesterday I decided to lay Payton on her tummy to take her nap and she loved it. This way I am not holding her through her entire nap like I have been. I watch her very closely. But I know once her head is stronger and she can hold it up then this little girl will be sleeping on her tummy full time!! These are pictures from this mornings nap.





These pictures have nothing to do with her napping, but I was talking to Payton this morning and she just kept smiling so much. If I had of been thinking then I would have gotten a video of her smiling the whole time. Maybe next time!!

I think my child is spoiled

Before I ever had Payton I was told by many people that you can't spoil your child by holding them too much while they are so little. Well I am beginning to think that statement is untrue. I spend most of my day holding Payton. She spends a lot of her day sleeping. Those two don't go together. You would think that if she is sleeping then I would be able to get things done and she would be lying in her pack n play. But that is not the case with this little one. I decided to blog about this after trying to lay her down 3 times today. This is after rocking her for long periods of times, and she is literally passed out in my arms with mouth open and all. So I feel like it is safe to go lay her down, wrong. Within minutes, sometimes seconds she opens her eyes and begins to make her little noises that leads to outbursts of cries. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love holding her while she sleeps. But I know that if I keep doing this now, then I am going to have a hard time ever getting things done in months to come. Payton knows when she is being held by me or someone else, she loves it. So moral of the story, my child loves being held while she is sleeping, the minute she is laid down, she wakes up. She is already spoiled at 5 weeks old.

But I guess like my Papaw always said... "that's what you have them for" :)

This is how she likes to sleep

She likes to lay on mommy's chest





This is how I lay her down after she sleeps on me... this lasts about 5 minutes.....