Day at the park

Today Payton and I met Marla, Parker, Kelli, Jackson, & Garrett at the park. We all ate lunch and let the kiddos play, including Payton. They had a swing for babies there, she loved it. I bet she swung for a good 45 minutes.

Payton before we left, she is supporting the Dallas Cowboys. :)















Here are some videos of Payton and Parker swinging.

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!!

Sippy cup

I gave Payton a sippy cup the other morning with juice and water together. When she was born up until 4 months she took a pacifier. She knew exactly what to do with the pacifier, or so it seemed. I always had to help it stay in her mouth, but it seemed like she got the concept to suck the paci. I know mothers that have children who take a pacifier and can't seem to break them of the habit, but when Payton was crying so much and fighting sleep I tried giving her a pacifier on more than one occasion. She acted like she had no clue on what to do with it. It's like she forgot how to suck, although she takes her bottle nipple just fine. So I thought I might ought to start practicing the sippy cup with her here and there just so she can learn again. She didn't really know what to do with it. She chews on the spout/nipple part of it. I don't understand why she doesn't try to suck that like she does the bottle. But I know she will get it sometime, its still early!

Holding her bottle

Payton has been trying to hold her bottle while I feed her. She more or less is playing when she is doing it. But the other night I was cooking dinner and my sister was feeding her and Payton decided she wanted to feed herself!!

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!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Sneaky little girl

Yesterday I laid Payton on her back on the floor. I went to take something to the kitchen and came right back and this is how I found her....



She rolled over from her back to her stomach!! I was so upset that I missed it!! She has only been able to roll from her stomach to her back. I had the video camera near by all day long to try to catch her doing it on film, but the little stinker never did it again. So stayed tuned for a video of her rolling over, I am sure it is only a matter of days before she is doing it all the time.

So while I had the camera out... why not take some pictures of this sweet baby girl!!

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.

One month

Today is our one month wedding anniversary!! In honor of today here are a few pictures from our special day!

She's got the giggles...

The other night my sister and Parker were over and Payton was playing on the floor. It seemed like every time she saw Parker she would just get so excited and start laughing, her arms would go 90 to nothing, and her little legs were just kicking everywhere. This is what we got on video. :)

If you are wondering why Parker keeps lifting her shirt it is because she thought I was going to take a belly picture. She has been doing this ever since her momma has been pregnant and takes belly pictures. It is the cutest thing.

Videos

Several people have told me they were unable to watch the videos of Payton. I changed the privacy settings (I think). So please try to watch them again and let me know your feedback!! Thanks!

First time rolling over

Green bean & sweet potato videos

I know I am a little late posting these videos but I was having trouble getting them uploaded. So here you go...

First time eating green beans.



First time eating sweet potatoes.