So happy!

Even after my 6 month shots, I was a very happy girl after my hour and a half afternoon nap!






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Sippy Cup!

I still need a little help to actually drink out of it, but I love to chew on it and pour water all over myself!

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Happy Monday!

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Both Gemma and I got flowers from Paul today!

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6 Months!

Happy Half Birthday, Gemma Lynn! You have brought us love and happiness beyond belief! We are so lucky to be your mommy and daddy!

The past month has been devoted to Gemma's sleep here at our house, and it is really starting to pay off! After our consultation with the sleep coach, we had a plan that involved Gemma being put into her crib awake for bedtimes and naps after a wind down routine. The first three nights and following days we sat in a chair right next to her crib. We then progressed to the middle of the room, to the doorway, then outside the door every three nights. The first night was kind of hard- it took an hour and a half for her to fall asleep, and there were tears, but I could comfort her and picked her up a couple of times. The second night was down to 45 minutes, and it got less and less ever since. Most nights we now put her down, leave the room, and she will protest and wiggle around for a couple of minutes, but she's almost always asleep within 10-15 minutes, often times less! And, a week ago she started consistently sleeping through the night without a feeding! She sleeps for around 12 hours at night now! Sometimes she stirs around 4:30 or 5 for awhile, but she puts herself back to sleep.

Naps have been a little slower to make progress. She almost always falls asleep within 20 minutes, and often times under 10. Unfortunately the naps sometimes only last 30 minutes, and she can be quite tired during the day. We are starting to get more days with longer naps, and yesterday was awesome. Her first nap was an hour, her second nap was an hour and 40 minutes, and she had a third nap of 30 minutes. Hopefully we'll start to see a little more consistency in the naps soon. I think back to where we were a month ago though, and what a change!

In the past few days Gemma rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time, and she has also discovered that she can make funny noises with her lips and tongue. She loves to play with her feet and chew on her toes. We have started to do more reading during tummy time, and Gemma often gets a big grin on her face when I read all the different books. She has started to notice our cat, Bubbles, and she watches her intently. In fact, Gemma watches everything intently! She doesn't like to miss a thing! She still loves her jumperoo and "flying" with daddy too.

Gemma has become a bit of a mommy's girl in the past few weeks as well, and some stranger anxiety is starting, especially with men. We had friends and family visit over the weekend, and her bottom lip came out and the tears started a bit a couple of times when she looked at a couple of the guys. When this happens, she only wants mommy!

We've started a few more foods- chicken, different vegetables. So far, so good! I bought Gemma a sippy cup, so we'll be trying that out soon too.

Gemma is such a fun little girl, and even with all the sleep changes she has been overall very happy and smiley. Here are some photos from the past month!














































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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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