Oops...Try It Again

If you read the post below, you may have noticed the video was "private".  Oops...I'm a newbie to You Tube.  {sad I know}

Okay, all is well.  I fixed it.  Try it again.

Too sweet to miss.  I promise.

A Very Important Person

Jack had VIP day at school this past week.  He had to choose one person to bring.  One person that was very special to him unlike any other.

Jack chose Maggie.

I tried to talk him out of out...encouragingly, of course.  "Maybe you should bring a grown up".  "How about... {fill in the blank with anyone I could think of}".  Followed by "Maggie actually doesn't get up that early". {VIP day started at 7:45 am.}

Jack would have nothing of it.  And I mean nothing.  "Maggie is my most important person."  "But Mommy, I love her." "I want Maggie and no one else".  How could I resist that?

So Maggie was it.  Jack's Very Important Person.

And this is how VIP day went...

Jack was elated to see Maggie when we arrived to his classroom at o'dark thirty in the morning.  He invited her to sit on the carpet with him.  He couldn't stop loving all over her.

He gave Maggie a guided tour of his classroom holding her hand all the while.  Recognize that poster?

Then it was time to introduce his VIP.  Jack took Maggie to the front of the room and the presentation began.

And because no picture could do this moment justice, here is the sweetest video that you just may ever see.



Did you catch the "My Maggie" at the end?  Be still my beating heart.


Maggie admired the artwork and writing that Jack presented to her...

...and then enjoyed breakfast with her very important brother.

Jack said his goodbyes to his Very Important Person in pure Jack fashion.  A good ol' over the top hug and lift into the air.  Maggie ate it up.

God knew what he was doing when he made these two siblings.  Nothing but love.  And I in return feel like a VBM {very blessed Mommy}.

100 Days

100 days of being in Kindergarten.

100 days of waking up at 6:40 am.

100 days of brushing teeth in the downstairs bathroom.

100 days of carrying a Batman backpack.

100 days of being an Eagle.

100 days in a class of 19 students.

100 days of packing a lunch.

100 days of eating it in a big kid cafeteria.

100 days of making new friends.

100 days of becoming a reader.

100 days of doing his best work.

100 days of homework.

100 days of coming home to an afternoon snack and an anticipated 30 minutes of screen time.

100 days closer to summer vacation.

100 days of missing him...dearly...

I Love Lucy: 5 Months

Happy 5 months baby Lucy!  Someone please stop the clock.  Actually I take that back.

This month has been a month of transition...trying transition.  Lots of sweet moments sprinkled in between though {only as Lu can do}.  I wouldn't have expected anything different while making the switch from a 3 hour schedule to a 4 hour schedule.  That's a lot to ask of a wee one.

We did, however, make some serious strides in the past four weeks.  Are we there yet?  Alllllmoooost...patience my friends {or at least that's what I continue to remind myself}

So this update on Lucy's fifth month of life is going to be a lot about the big change and the road to get there.  I'll also share some of those sweet sprinkles that we've had along the way.  Every post deserves some of Lucy's yumminess.  Don't you agree?



Eat

Okay, lord help me on this one.  Never have I ever questioned my milk supply like I have with this little gal.  One minute I'm thinking we are at the bottom of the barrel and the next I've diagnosed myself with a  really bad case of 'Mommy Guilt' and decided it's all just fine.

In response to this concern, everyone says, "is she content after a feeding?".  And the answer is yes. But {and this is a big BUT} if I offer her a 3 oz bottle afterwards she chugs it.  Actually, I could offer her a 33oz bottle and she would chug it.  Little Lu is not scared to eat.

So knowing the aforementioned facts and the obvious that we were transitioning to a four hour schedule {which means only four feeds a day}, I hit the vitamin store and stocked up on Fenugreek {I hate when those horse pills get lodged in my throat}.

Now on to that schedule.

I think it only fair to any baby {especially mine} to make this move slowly.  It doesn't seem right to me to suddenly make a baby wait an extra hour to eat.  So, I sat down with a note pad and a pencil {I needed the eraser} and sketched out a transitional four weeks.

It looked fabulous on paper.  I even showed Lu and she agreed by taking it straight to her mouth.

What I did was add fifteen minutes each week to the time between her feeds.  Which meant I also had to add 15 minutes to each wake time.  And somehow keep her bed time the same.  Easier said than done.

Lucy did fabulous with waiting on feedings.  That didn't seem to be a problem.  {the big problem comes later}

She is however, having an extremely hard time focusing on feedings.  She is turning and craning her neck the entire time just to make sure she isn't missing anything. {ouch!} And she's a popper...on and off, on and off.  All this and I nurse her in her quiet room {imagine if we were really in the midst of the Cibula action}

I have continued to supplement her nighttime feeding with a 3 oz bottle.  And get ready for a sprinkle...Lucy just started grabbing the bottle with both hands.  I have loved watching it go from two fist clumsily swatting at the bottle to ten little spread out fingers actually {semi}holding it {with Mommy's thumb supporting the bottom}.

Activity

With the transition, came an adjustment in activity time.  Each week I added 15 minutes to her wake time. So what once was an hour wake time will very soon be a two hour wake time.  I say very soon because we are getting there.

Lucy has three big activity times during the day and one shorter one in the evening.

She wakes at 8:00 am.  Her wake time after this feeding is only about 1 1/2 hours.  That's how it will remain until she drops her morning nap...in say about 14 months.  So this one is in place-we are there!  Her favorite activities during this time are watching her bigs eat breakfast {especially weekends when both of them are home}, her activity center {which is planted right in the middle of the kitchen floor}, and her bouncy seat {best view in the house to watch Maggie get ready for her day}.

Lucy's following wake time is after her 11:30 feeding {which is pretty set in place too}.  During this time Lu likes to go for walks, have tummy time with a blanket full of toys, or play in the playroom with Mags.  This wake time lasts about 1 hour 45 minutes.  Soooo close.  We are trying to make the stretch to two hours here.

But I must note some serious sweetness for Mommy here...I've got both girls going down for naps within 15-30 minutes of one another.  In another few weeks or so, they should both be 1:30 nappers.  Yay for that day!

Lucy's next wake time is after her 3:30 feeding.  This one can get a little crazy.  We pretty much wing this one here as of lately.  Jack is home {enough said, right?}  Maggie is waking up shortly after and I look like a human tornado.  Probably not fair to assess this one right yet.  She's only just gotten to this "wait until 3:30 to eat" in the past week or so.   It would be an understatement to say, 'we are still working out the kinks here'.  But my goal is to make this sibling time...one day.  Oh, and add rice cereal.

Her last wake time is after her 5:30 5:00 catnap {still working on getting that one to the proper 5:30 time slot}.  Lucy can wake from her catnap anywhere between 5:45-6:30.  We are definitely not at "goal status" quite yet.  Once awake we hang with the bigs and daddy for a bit and then we are usually up to the tub.

The TUB...her favorite activity of the day.  Another sprinkle...mmmm...love watching that  Lucy girl splash and kick water everywhere.  Pure preciousness.  And her latest?  Chewing on a wash cloth while I scrub her up.

In other activity news, Lucy is an amazing raspberry blower.  And saliva bubble blower.  Hence her rosy red rash on her chin.  She couldn't be more proud of herself when she makes that noise and I follow up with an imitation.  {insert adorable gummy smile here}

Lu is also a kicker.  Put her on her back and watch her go.  She will kick everything off of the changing table and if you're not careful she'll get you too.

In the past month, Lucy has perfected her grabbing skills.  Her favorite is my hair or my ears.  Once she's got a good grasp she pulls me down to be nose to nose with her sweet little face.  And she slobbers all over me.  Delicious Lucy!

Lucy has also become a Peek-a-Boo baby.  But, she prefers a modified version.  It's one where we swing our head around really fast to look at her and say some silly word in addition to the standard "peek a boo".  {insert that gummy smile again}  And her favorite song, hands down is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Lucy's little eyes twinkle just like the song when she hears it.

All this activity can wear a baby girl out {especially when your Mommy keeps adding 15 minutes to it every week} and that leads us to...

Sleep

You may have guessed it, but this is where the problem in the transition has taken place.  I knew it would happen...doesn't mean I have to like it though.

Now don't worry, my lovely Lucy is still giving me 12-13 hours at night {or I probably wouldn't be writing this post right now}

Our biggest challenge has been in the way of naps.  This whole transition thing is really a Catch 22.  You want to add the 15 minutes to the wake times, but you have to be careful not to keep baby up so long that they become overtired/overstimulated and their nap suffers.

Hmmm...what to do? Basically, don't rush it.  And that's why we aren't quite there yet.  I was hoping to be by her 5 month birthday, but it looks like we need a few more weeks, maybe only one.  Time will tell.

There were days where her naps really suffered {especially that afternoon one}.  That is not at all my end goal.  So I had to step back and reevaluate.  And that's where I decided that a 1:00-1:30 window was okay for her afternoon nap.  Would I like it to be 1:30? Absolutely.  But, if, in this month of transition, I pushed Lucy too hard, it always backfired on me.  And we all know what follows afternoon naps...the evening....which is trying in itself.  No need to pour salt on the wound.

So basically Lucy has consolidated four naps to two full naps and one evening catnap.  Huge strides and definite progress.  We have still have a little shifting to go, but we are headed in the right direction.

Now...when we finally get there, I may be asking for someone to 'serioulsy stop the clock'.

Until then, one more glimpse of those baby blues that have a way of melting my heart...

Love you Lu and all of the slobber and bubbles that come with you.  Happy 5 Months to our "cherry on top"!