Sleep.....or should I say... lack of

O.k. well as many of you know Tessa didn't sleep through the night until 9 months!!! Then gradually got into a great routine of 2 daytime naps and would sleep at night from 7ish to 7ish....things started getting a little off around 14 months, so we worked down to 1 daytime nap and the same bedtime routine! Now.... after a couple weeks of an inconsistent nap routine and waking at night I've turned to the internet (my fave website askmoxie.org) and found that I'm not alone!

She has hit every "sleep regression" so far 4months, 9months, and now (should've known) 15months!! Here is what we've been currently facing:

Naping:

Some days she goes down perfectly and others she completely resists for up to 45minutes. Some days I've been putting her down for 1 nap and others 2, neither seems to help the nighttime sleep. She sleeps anywhere from 1 hour to 3????

Bedtime:

She is very opinionated about who is putting her to bed...she wants me and clings to my neck, but will give in to letting Daddy do it. We give bath at 6ish and then wind down/read books, then at 7pm we give her a cup of milk and rock her to sleep then put her down....she sleeps between 1hr and 5hrs then wakes up and needs put back to sleep. Usually Dan can get her back to sleep easily with patting her back if she wakes up early....but here is the bad part.... if it is midnight or after she has been awake from 1 to 4 hours while we try to get her to sleep! For me she can not tolerate being separated, as soon as I put her down she screams...and now Daddy's method isn't working either!

Today's Research:

Others have experienced these exact same issues around this age...and most found that by around 20-22 months it abruptly stops and they sleep great again!!! O.k. so that could mean 5-7 months of this....seriously?!? CIO (cry it out) doesn't seem to help she just won't give in...we've tried it for 2 hours!! We don't co-bed and she just plays if she comes in our room. So....a couple things I read I'm gonna try; having CONSISTENT nap time and not varying from day to day and establishing shifts in the night so that neither Dan nor I have to feel like we are at it alone and can at least get a stretch of sleep knowing the other is caring for her, and lastly just rock/pat/sing or do what it takes to get through this stretch in hope it goes back to normal sooner than later. If anyone who has been there done that recalls this time and has suggestions I'm all ears!!!!

I also always try to remind myself....."this is just a phase and she is a baby"

On a lighter note...in between the troublesome sleep she is the most adorable, loving, hilarious 15 month old out there. We just have a blast with her....so here are the pictures to remind me of this even if I'm awake to a screaming toddler from 10pm to 2 am....seriously this is no exaggeration!

We went to visit Matt, Janelle, and Rufus yesterday. Tessa loved Rufus and he loved her...she really tested his new doggie school training!! At times we weren't sure who was walking who!!

She thought she was so big (and so did we); she'd go off in the back bedroom and lay on the futon and peek out at us. This is the view we saw...full of mischief!

Little button nose, baby blues, and girly smiles

You can see the learning in those eyes

Watching Daddy take down the Christmas lights...she wanted to wear her hat inside while she watched. It is crazy how she can put 2 and 2 together!

Little Cinderella, cleaning the floors

She rides this bouncy horse all the time...it is really hilarious, and she will do it and then wait to see if you think it is funny or not....quite a sense of humor

Touchdown Colts!!

Testing out her wagon from Mamaw and Papaw from Christmas. It was finally warmish enough last week to try it out...we're going to get a lot of use out of this!

Germs.....

have been a pest this month! For the first time in our little girl's life she's had to use her little immune system to the max. I will be the first to admit that I was WAY protective of her health when she was a babe, minimizing the passing around as a newborn and constant hand washing. And she was also given a huge boost by breastfeeding for most of the first year.
So, as she gets around more, plays with friends, and goes out for fun (like the Children's Museum) she is getting EXPOSED!!! Yikes! It kinda freaks me out a bit, but I know it will happen sooner or later. I can rest assured that she at least went the first year with 1 cold, no fevers, and has yet to have an ear infection....so I'd say that pretty great! Might just be my first lesson in the fact that I can't prevent/fix everything!

Well, a couple weeks ago she suddenly spiked a temp of 102 with chills and all, but never had any "cold" symptoms. When the fever went down she was playing and acting fine. After about 3 days the fever was gone and to my surprise she developed a rash! So where did I turn....the internet and I found out these symptoms are CLASSIC for Roseola! I didn't know that this is super contagious and very common in her age group. Rash went away and she was well!

Then yesterday she had some diarrhea and started getting diaper rash, so we went and got more Desitin. The pharmacist also recommended some antifungal cream twice a day. So after bath we put on her creams and off to bed. She woke up about a 1/2 hour later and had vomited all over her sheets, bumper, lovey, and pjs! So, stripped her down and got her back to sleep....then 4 hours later....diarrhea from head to toe....so we did the whole process over again! But, to add to the mess the new antifungal cream literally burned her bottom, she was fire red and couldn't tolerate being wiped AT ALL, so I had to give her a "bottom bath" in the sink! At this point Dan said he thought it would be good if I'd stay home from work because he wasn't sure how to handle her first GI bug on his own; plus he knew I'd worry all day!!

Today she was normal Tessa, except not too interested in food. We did no milk or juice, just pedialyte all day. And bland foods, so no surprise she didn't eat much! It appears to only have been 24 hours and back to normal....darn germs (Children's Museum we think)!

Children's Museum

Today Tessa and I planned on going to the Children's Museum for the first time; and we had a wonderful surprise...Dan got the day off too!!! So, after Tessa's nap we packed up and went downtown. We thought she would love it, but she did even more than we could've imagined! She was so comfortable and would just run off and play without even worrying about where we were! I know I know we think she is great but there were so many other parents who thought she acted much older than she is and every time I thought a baby was her age they were usually about 4 months older. That's enough I know but you can't help but be proud of your kids!! Here are the pics...they speak for themselves!

First stop...dinosaur dig

Went right off to try it out, no reservations

Mommy and Tessa running the Barbie office. She'll have to learn from the biggest Barbie fan.

Walking out on the runway, dressed up...it was too cute

"Hi" Daddy

Another lesson from the Barbie lover...Aunt Janelle will have to help teach her the rest!

Taking Daddy for a drive, look at the face...priceless

And another...she is such a character!

Here she was trying to yell at some kids to come back.

The Playscape was the VERY best part. It is made for kids 5 and under, so it had all the things she loves to do. It was perfect, she could've played for hours. This is where she really took off, playing with kids, finding toys, climbing, running....all while we tried to follow her around since she didn't even notice us being there.

Sand

Water

We finished the day with a carousel ride, and she had played so hard she was about to fall asleep.

We will definitely be returning again soon, what a fun day!!!

Pure Joy....

This is how I describe my life with a 14 month old! Every day is full of discovery (for both of us), laughter, and love. Who knew that in a short 14 months your tiny little baby would be so smart, have a sense of humor, and have the sweetest heart. At 14 months we definitely have our struggles, but they are truely minor compared to all the pure joy! Here are some pictures and what little Miss is doing these days....

Weight 20lbs

Height 30 inches

(on our home scale, so probably not too accurate)

still wears some 9-12 month clothes, but mostly 12-18 month for the extra length

• Sleep is different every day...for a while we were consistently getting 12-13 hours at night and about a 2 hours nap during the day. But I believe we are in some serious teething right now so some days we do 1 nap for 30 minutes (yikes!) and other we have 1 or 2 naps totaling about 3 hours. She has had a couple nights where she woke up and struggled to get back to sleep, but she's had fevers off and on with her teething.
• She has really made progress with eating; she has always been an opinionated eater, but is now much more willing to try new things. She is finally eating some chicken and lunchmeats. Some of her current staples are ANY fruit, steamed peas, mac n cheese, mini ravioli, nutrigrain bars, and mini lunchables.
• She is doing great with her cups, about 12-15 oz whole milk a day, 1 cup of diluted juice, and water. She would drink more milk if I'd let her but she needs to eat more of her calories not drink them. :)
• Some of her favorite things to play are...baby dolls, cooking on her kitchen, vaccuuming, obsessed with the dog and giving him his toys (squeak, squeak, squeak all day), cleaning the floor and everything else with a dish towel, and coloring with crayons and in the bathtub. She dances all the time still, but she now does her feet really fast like a clogger and drops her booty, which are both really funny!!
• Speech is pretty minimal, still a lot of uh and eh but she gets what she wants and needs so why say anything else, right? She says Dada constantly and pretty much for both of us even though she can say Mom too. She clicks her tongue for Zayne like she is calling him. I think she is starting to say snack and night night. Also, continues to say Done for everything. She doesn't say the word No, but shakes her head no. The more she communicates the easier it is to please her and attemp to reason with her. :)

We of course think she is wonderful in every way, the smartest baby, and adorably cute. She will even do a little girly giggle now....melt my heart.

I was trying to take pictures of her static hair!!!

I put this one on here because it doesn't look like my baby at all. Weird huh?


Of course, fit because she couldn't have the camera. So now not only does she move around too much to get pictures, she cries because she wants the camera.

Here are her bathtime pictures (per Janelle's request). This is one of her favorite parts of the day. When we ask her if she wan't to take a bath she runs to the stairs and starts pulling at the gate!

Her mechanical tootbrush, best idea ever!! I can get her teeth cleaner because I don't have to try to scrub I can just hold it on them.

Very independant

"Mommy, can I please have the camera?"

"Not just for one second?"

"Fine then you won't get any pictures!"

Oh the joys of our little girl!

The Oliver Christmas Festivities

The 2009 Christmas festivities have come to an end. We again had a great holiday and had a chance to visit with all of our family. We can see that each year will only get better as we see the joy of Christmas through our kids eyes.

This year our events were spread out over 2 weeks, so Tessa just thought you get up, drive somewhere, and you tear open paper and surprise...toys!! She was quite the professional at opening gifts; tearing little pieces and even puting them in the trash bag. She was of course completely spoiled by everyone; and we were all so thankful for everyone's generosity! We tried to mostly take videos of her opening gifts this year, but I do have a sprinkling of pictures from the events...enjoy!

We thought she looked so grown up here!

Daddy's Girl

Mommy's baby

Her first experience "out" in the snow!

Merry Christmas!

We turned her carseat to face forward this month. Even though she looks all but thrilled in this picture she really does seem to enjoy the car rides a bit more.

Tessa and Aunt Janelle

(this was our table when we were little)

Christmas outfit #1

My Dad's Family Party

Christmas outfit #2

My Mom's Family Party

She really knows how to have fun, even all dressed up!

Mamaw, Jerry, Papaw, Grandma, Mary

Opening gifts, one shred at a time

Christmas Eve

Mommy and Tessa went to church, and Daddy was home from work when we got home!

Playing with some of her new toys....she is seriously all girl!

Christmas with Grandma, Grandad, Janelle and Matt

@my parents' house

Tessa is really into "dipping" so appetizers were her fave. Behind her is her new playset from Grandma and Grandad

We hosted brunch at our house for Dan's family. Tessa had a blast with all her new toys.

Our nephew David is getting so big and growing up fast. We got him a digital camera and he was taking pictures of EVERYTHING. Tessa loves him so much!!!

Christmas is not complete without writing your thank you cards!!!

We begin our next year of excitement, fun, and love. Happy New Year!!