5 Months!

Time is flying! On Thursday, Gemma was 5 months old! She has changed and learned so much in the past month. She can now roll from her back to her tummy, grasps and manipulates her toys (mostly putting them into her mouth!), and is really enjoying her jumperoo. She has discovered her feet and likes to play with them, but she can't quite get them to her mouth yet! When she is awake, she is a happy, smiley girl, and she has been giggling more and more, especially when Daddy makes her 'fly'! For some reason, she also thinks the word 'quinoa' is hilarious and gets a big, silly grin on her face every time we say it! She has liked all the foods we have tried so far (sweet potatoes, squash, apples, and pears) and now gets a few spoonfuls twice a day.

Since we've been back at our place and things have settled down, I've been working really hard on establishing a daily routine for Gemma, especially for nap and bed times. I've also been trying to get her laid down for naps. Unfortunately things aren't improving very much. Every nap, bedtime, and middle of the night are a struggle to get her to sleep, even though I've been trying really hard to catch her when she first becomes sleepy and before over tiredness kicks in. Some nights this past week she was up 3 times, and for up to 2 1/2 hours at a time. She also wakes as soon as I try to lay her down for naps. I've tried the putting her down drowsy but awake, but have yet to have success with that either.

I know that her sleep issues stem from her reflux and tummy problems. At the time, when she was in so much pain, we had to do whatever it took to get her to sleep. Then, once those issues were controlled with medication and formula, she got a bad cold and we were away from home for over 6 weeks. Unfortunately she has not learned how to 'self soothe' yet and has developed so many sleep crutches, primarily because we were in 'survival mode' for so long. Now I feel as if we're caught in a bit of a vicious circle. I try to get her to sleep on her own, lay her down, etc, but she wakes, becomes over tired, then fights the sleep some more. So, this may sound a bit crazy, but tomorrow we have a consultation via Skype with a sleep consultant based down in Cork. She is a 'gentle sleep coach', as at this age, I wouldn't be able to let Gemma full-on 'cry it out'. After tomorrow's consult we will have a plan to teach Gemma how to put herself to sleep, then we will have weekly follow-ups for 4 weeks to monitor and make adjustments. She claims that most people see improvements in 4-6 days and almost always within 2 weeks. I know it will be hard work, and likely less sleep and more tears for awhile, but in the end it will be worth it!

So enough rambling on about sleep. Gemma has brought us so much joy and happiness in the past 5 months. She is getting to the age where she is doing something new almost every day, and it is amazing.

Here are some of her 5 month pics. It's getting harder to keep her in one place, and all she wanted to do was eat the lion!















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Back to Dublin

Well, the January blahs have taken on a new meaning this year. Not only are the holidays over, but after being with family for so long, both in MN and Louisburgh, it's been an adjustment being back to just Gemma and I all day. Don't get me wrong, it's great being home with her, and I feel very fortunate to have such a long maternity leave, but it's a change at the same time. I have also been working really hard on establishing routines for the day and especially for nap and bed times, so that has meant sticking close to home.

All of our stuff from MN is SLOWLY getting unpacked and put away. I had to change out Gemma's closet and dresser entirely. A lot of the stuff that was there from before we left was 3-6 month, and now she's mostly in 9 month clothes! Little by little, we're getting there!

Here are a few pics since we've been home.






















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Christmas in Louisburgh

We spent from Thursday, December 27th until Tuesday, January 1st in Louisburgh with Paul's family. It was really nice to be with them while we got readjusted to being back in Ireland and on Irish time. We had another Christmas dinner and opened gifts. Here's Gemma in her jumperoo from mom and dad!





Gemma had a few nights of later than normal bedtimes, but again was readjusted to the time change within a few nights. Unfortunately from having the cold and being away, her overnight sleep has gotten not so great. She often wakes a few times per night and can sometimes take up to 2 hours to get back to sleep after eating. They say that at 4 months, babies sleep patterns change, and they often go through a sleep regression. Well, we certainly did and continue to :(

Aside from the not-so-great nights, we had a nice, relaxing time in Louisburgh, visiting family and friends. Here are Gemma and Paul catching some zzzz's.




This one is a bit blurry, but I think it's adorable- hanging out with mom and dad.




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Back to Ireland

The journey back to Ireland was a dream. Gemma did awesome! The only bad part was being extensively screened by the TSA in the Minneapolis airport because of all the pre-packaged, ready to use formula we had with us. All of our carry-on items were unpacked, swabbed, and put back through the x-ray, which was rather annoying since I had everything packed "just so" so it would all fit! I do have to say, MSP airport has an awesome baby/family area for changing diapers, rocking, etc. Best I've ever seen!

Gemma again didn't really sleep from the time she got up in the morning until we got through security. She had a quick snooze from 11:30-12, while Paul and I ate some lunch, then I got her to sleep again around 1:30, just before we boarded our flight to Chicago. She slept the entire flight! She did great in the stroller in Chicago while we changed terminals, went through security, etc. She had another bottle and a little snooze while we were waiting to board the flight to Dublin.

Once on the plane, she was happy to sit on my lap, and once we reached cruising altitude, I gave her another bottle, and she was out for the night. I waited until the meal was served and the cabin lights were turned off to lay her down in the bassinet, which is a cardboard box lined with pillows and a blanket that attaches to a flip-down frame behind the bulkhead. I had to pick her up and resettle her a couple of times, thanks to the unfortunate screaming toddler behind us, but otherwise she slept until about an hour before we landed, when they turned on the lights and started serving breakfast.

She stayed awake, and did great the rest of the flight, going through passport control, claiming our baggage, and getting the shuttle to the long term car park. She was a VERY tired little girl by this point though, and she fell asleep almost as soon as we started driving back to our place.

Our original plan was to go home, unpack, repack, then head for Louisburgh in the afternoon. At this point it was around 9:30 am Irish time (3:30 am Minnesota time), and even though we were exhausted, we decided just to keep going, because if we stopped, it would be very hard to get going again! We made a quick stop at our place, and I just ran in and got formula, Christmas gifts, etc. Our car has never been so full, since we had all of our luggage from MN too! Gemma did wake while we were stopped, so we headed to McDonalds for some breakfast for mom and dad and a bottle and a diaper change for Gemma. She fell asleep again fairly quickly once we were on the road and slept almost the entire 3 1/2 hour drive.

By the time we got to Paul's parent's house, I was literally sick with exhaustion. Luckily there was homemade soup on the stove, and Paul's sister took Gemma for the afternoon, so Paul and I got showers and a nap. I felt like a new person after that! We are so thankful that Gemma did so well during the journeys. Hopefully it will continue!


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Christmas!

So, it's about time I updated this! The rest of our time in Minnesota went WAY too quickly. We mostly just relaxed at Margo and Justin's house and tried to get over colds/flu/ear infections- all of us had something at one point or another! We enjoyed watching our favorite Christmas movies, although it was a bit more challenging with a baby and a toddler, and it took us about 4 nights to finish one movie!

Paul arrived on December 19, and the next day we took the girls to see Santa!



Neither one of them really had any clue what was going on, but at least they weren't crying!

On Friday the 21st, the Shedivys left for Wisconsin for Justin's family Christmas, and mom took care of Gemma so that Paul and I could do some shopping. We hit the outlet mall in Albertville to get Paul's wardrobe for the year and ran a lot of other places to finish Christmas shopping, etc. It is so much cheaper for us to buy stuff in the States, even if it means paying an overweight luggage charge!

On Saturday the 22nd, Paul, Gemma, and I drove out to Belgrade to my dad's family Christmas. Gemma got to meet all the Andersons! Unfortunately those photos are on my camera, and I haven't had time to transfer them yet.

Christmas Eve afternoon we went to church at mom's church. Here are the girls in their dresses. Gemma was lucky to borrow one of Freya's dresses!



After church, dad arrived, and we took more photos, opened presents, and snacked on yummy finger foods and goodies. Again, a lot of the photos are still on my camera!




The Sammin family



Gemma and Grandma Brenda



Freya and Auntie



Me and my sister!

The girls had matching pyjamas for Christmas Eve night, and we had quite the time trying to get good pictures by the time this time of the evening rolled around.






Freya takes Gemma's new doll



Gemma says, "That's mine!"



Freya shows Gemma who's boss!



Freya makes a break for it!

On Christmas Day we loaded up the van and headed out to my aunt and uncle's house, near Hector, for my mom's family Christmas. Unfortunately Gemma didn't get much of a morning nap, and she was overtired by the time we got there. She got overstimulated by all the activity too, so she wasn't a very happy girl that day! Grandma Brenda and Daddy looked after her most of the day so that I could spend time with family, and I was very appreciative of that! On the way back to Margo and Justin's, we had duelling babies in the van! Luckily Gemma slept pretty well that night after she eventually calmed down.

On the 26th, Paul, Gemma, and I flew back to Ireland. Leaving MN isn't getting any easier, but I am so thankful for the 5 1/2 weeks we had there! Thank you to Margo, Justin, and Freya for letting us take over your guest room for that long! Thank you too to all the family and friends that travelled to see us and meet Gemma. And, thanks to Grandma Brenda for taking care of Gemma. Gemma and I hope to be back in the spring before I go back to work. See you then!

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4 Months Old!

Gemma was 4 months old yesterday. Hard to believe a third of a year has gone by already. In the past week she giggled for the first time, which was awesome. She always wants to be sitting up and watching everything. If you try to sit with her semi-reclined on your lap, she will keep straining to sit herself up. On her back she is able to roll onto her side, and she looks like she could be close to making it all the way onto her tummy soon. She has also been grasping toys with both of her hands more and putting them into her mouth- especially those small, squishy balls with all the holes.

She continues to be so much happier and more content with the reflux medication and hypoallergenic formula. Now the only time she fusses or cries is when we're trying to get her to sleep. Sleep is probably the hardest thing. Unfortunately when her reflux was so bad, she had to be bounced and rocked to fall asleep and held to nap well, and this has carried over, even though the reflux seems to be under better control. The minute she is laid down during the day, she wakes right up. I don't believe in doing any sleep training until she's closer to 6 months, so for now I take that time to read on the kindle, send e-mails, update the blog (like I'm doing now!), catch up on Pinterest, etc. At night she had been pretty consistently going to sleep around 8:30 or 9, waking to eat around 4 or 5 (usually up for an hour), then sleeping until between 8 and 9. This has been a little unpredictable the past couple of weeks- some nights she's been up at 2, but not necessarily hungry. She's had a cold since about a week after we got here, so I think that might be contributing to the mixed up nights.

Overall she is a happy, sweet little girl, and when she smiles, she puts her whole face into it! My heart still melts every time I see it!








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First Solid Food!

On Saturday, December 8th, Gemma got her first taste of some solid food- sweet potatoes! She's been drinking A LOT of formula, has more than doubled her birth weight, and has great head control, so I thought we'd give it a go at 4 months (she was just 2 days shy of this). She did really well with the few spoonfuls and managed to keep most of it in. I've been giving her a little bit everyday at lunchtime, and she's getting better with it all the time!



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