Thursday, January 24, 2013

Eden Update - 5 Months

I know it's been a while since I talked about Eden at all so this post is long overdue.

Often when I'd talk to people about how difficult Eden was they would share their own stories of difficult children and all of them assured me that things would get better.  Each baby seemed to have it's own time frame with no magic age that cured them all.

Well for Eden apparently the age was 5 months.  It's nothing short of a miracle but this lady, all of a sudden turned into a very normal baby.

Let me remind you how things were before.  She woke up at 7 ish and I would spend about an hour trying to find some way to keep her content.  A couple minutes in the bumbo, a couple minutes in the exersaucer, a few on the floor, some time on my lap and then repeat the cycle.  Once she started to be cranky (her nap cue) it would be the dreaded nap time.  I would rock her, swing her, sing to her and usually lay down with her in my bed until she finally fell asleep.  She'd then sleep for about an hour and we'd start again.

The worst part of the day came around 7:00 pm.  I think by then she was exhausted but refused to sleep so the rest of the evening would consist of Brad and I taking turns (mostly Brad) standing and rocking her until she finally drifted off to sleep around 11:00.  We'd put her down in her crib (in our room) and she'd sleep for maybe three or four hours until she woke up again, sort of hungry but mostly just annoyed and I'd be exhausted so I'd bring her to sleep in our bed where she'd roll up squashed to me and we'd sleep until 7 ish the next morning (if I was lucky).  Those were our days.  I was tired, cranky and extremely miserable.

Just after Christmas I think I'd complained to my Mom enough times that she took pity on me and offered to take Eden for a visit.  She had her for 5 days and it was heaven for us.  Brad had time off work so we did all sorts of fun things with Catie.  We got a babysitter a couple times and went out in the evening.  We really took advantage of our time and tried to recharge for when our baby came home.

Every day I'd talk to my Mom who kept telling me Eden was doing great and she was fine which only bugged me, clearly I was the problem then right?

Well Eden comes home and we're ready for this different baby Mom kept telling us about only she wasn't really all that different.  Her evenings were a little better but not much.  We had a couple bad days in a row and felt even worse about our situation than before.

Finally we decided we were going to cry it out.  We set up a pack n play in the office so she was out of our bedroom and we were determined to not go through this anymore.  Well it turns out we didn't really need to let her cry it out... Mom was right, she is a different baby.

Let me tell you now about our day...
She wakes up around 8 or sometimes 8:30.  She's happy and smiley and giggles and is generally a pleasure to be around for about an hour and a half and then it's nap time.  I put her in her sleep sack, sing her a short song, give her Geoffrey (her bunny) and walk away.  9 times out of 10 I don't hear a peep out of her, she goes to sleep for usually 2 hours, sometimes less and sometimes a little more but usually about 2 hours.  She wakes up and we repeat the now pleasant cycle until about 7 or 7:30 when it's bed time.  I put her in pajamas, repeat the rest of the bedtime routine and she goes to sleep until about 8 the next morning.  If she ever has a hard time going to sleep during the day it's usually this time but an extra bottle or a little cuddle will often do the trick.  Occasionally she wakes up at 10:00 pm or the other night she woke up at midnight but she only woke because she was hungry, ate and went right back to sleep.

It's a miracle.

I swear I had the worst baby and now I think she's better than average.  We did nothing to change things, she changed on her own and we couldn't be more grateful.  The fog of our previous life is lifting and we have started doing all sorts of things again like folding laundry, cooking real dinners and I even sewed the other day.  Brad pulled out his guitar on Monday, just because he had some time.  We're enjoying every smile and restful night and give thanks every day for our different daughter.
It's been a while since I compared Eden and Catie to remind you all of how different they look so here they both are at 5 months old.  Eden on top (see those adorable two teeth?), Catie underneath.  I didn't have the same clothes so the same pose will have to do.


I thought I'd mention some of Eden's milestones too.  She rolls from back to front all the time and occasionally front to back, she's reached that phase where she doesn't really stay where I put her.  She really reaches out for toys and is interested in the them.  She can sit on her own for a few seconds at a time and like I mentioned in the picture above has two teeth already.  She giggles easily, mostly at Catie.  Her hands are constantly in her mouth, especially when she's happy.  

I remember at this point Catie was really moving around.  She scootched herself backwards easily and was very mobile, Eden not so much.  She likes to be held and would rather sit with me then try to get anywhere else.  She's also started to be a little nervous around people she doesn't know well and would really rather be held by me or her daddy.

So there's an update on our different life.  Hopefully that means more frequent blog posts.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

What the Girls Wore #92

Cute?  Why yes I am very cute, thank you.

Catie went to her first alone, friend birthday party this week.  One where I dropped her off and then came back later.  It was a pirate party and she got all this awesome pirate stuff in her treat bag.  I should have had her hold the cool sword.  Just look at that expression and it's not to hard to hear the Arrrg that she's saying.  Did you notice the earring?  It's my favourite part.

Gwen came to visit and the ladies had a bath.  I only had to moderate two fights, one where Gwen was touching Catie (the horror) and the second when Catie spat water in Gwen's eye.  Silly girls.

Sorry for the lack of photos, the fabulous iPad I got for Christmas has all sorts of perks but the one disadvantage is that I no longer carry my phone around as often so it's not as available for random photo ops.  I'll try harder.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Christmas Treats for Gifting

Christmas this year was busy with Eden so I had only planned on the basics, meaning I had no intention of giving away and treats.  But then we had a good night and I felt inspired, I came up with these.

Ever since I got my Silhouette I've been wanting to make a box, I think they're adorable and this was the perfect reason.  I used this box from the silhouette store and it was just what I wanted.  It cuts the shape for you and scored the lines were you need to fold so assembly was super quick.

Once they were made I filled them with store bought truffles (at least I had something to fill them with).  I tied them with a ribbon, using different paper and different ribbon for each box.

Then I used my sketch pens and my Silhouette to make some little tags, they say Merry Christmas from the Wiebe's.  Here's the sad part of the story though... I think I made 6 boxes and we ended up giving away 2.  Oops.  Oh well, it's the thought that counts.


My favourite part of the box was the detail on the flap.

They turned out so great that I think I'll try to do something similar next year.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Pants out of Pants

It's kind of a miracle, things in our life are getting so much better that I actually sewed.

I had these brown lounge-y pants that I loved but they'd gotten to be pretty holey.  They were the perfect comfy pants for around the house.  Brad gave me some new pants for Christmas so it really was time to retire them.  I couldn't bear the thought of just throwing them away though because I loved them so much, so I cut them up and made some pants for Catie.


I used the original hem for the bottom and I used the original waistband only I cut off a couple inches.  They turned out even better than I had hoped.  I used some of her pants to draft a pattern, adding a couple inches to the bottom.

She was so pleased that I was making her pants and told Daddy as soon as he got home from work.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Sunbeams

January was a big step for Catie, she became a Sunbeam. I've been doing my best to prepare her so she was excited on Sunday. She was a little weepy in the beginning but quickly got over her nerves and settled. I hear she had a great time.

The girls wore their Christmas dresses that their Aunt Renee made and they looked so cute.




She's now been a second time, I dropped her off and she was just fine.  I think she's settled right in.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

What the Girls Wore #91

She's finally figured out that the bouncy chair is an okay place to sit.

She told me about the bag she put on her head but I didn't know what she was talking about until she came upstairs like this. She was very proud of herself. 



I painted her toenails for the first time, I forgot that at this age it's really a two person job and could certainly look better.



Loving these two together. Catie loves to make Eden laugh.





We went to Burger King the other day so Catie could play on the slide, Eden and I sat and watched.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Skating

Brad and I have always loved to skate so we figured it was something we wanted to pass on to Catie. We signed her up for skating lessons (which we sadly have to cancel) and we bought her some skates. We took Gwen with us and headed to an outdoor rink.

We knew she wouldn't be great but we didn't expect her to not even be able to stand. Brad and I quickly Tom off our own skates to help the girls. They I proved while they were there and they both had a good time. More importantly they both wanted to go again.

So here are some photos to prove we were there and had fun.

We had one real pair of skates and one pair with double blades that strap to your boots. The boot ones were definitely a big hit.

Gwen wearing the double blades. You could definitely tell she was a year older and could physically manage a bit better.


Wearing her real skates.


Someone else on the ice was kind enough to let us borrow her ... Orange thingy...




We're excited to go again, hopefully we can install a love of skating in her.

Christmas

Obviously this is late but I love Christmas morning photos.

She wore her Christmas Eve Panamas and was so excited about every present.



Christmas morning mess.


We really thought she would enjoy this hat a lot more than she did. She likes to pretend to be a cowboy so when my Mom bought it she was sure it would be a winner. We had to talk her into wearing it for this photo and I don't think she's looked at it twice.




This was o e of two gifts that Eden got, thanks Grandma!


One of her favourite gifts was this shovel that's just her size. Hr and Daddy tested it out that afternoon and she loves it.




Later in the day Catie's cousins came over, here they are playing Uno Moo.


And everyone reading and watching a movie.


It really was a lovely day.