Old Baker Farm 2012

 This year we decided to go to Old Baker Farm on Thursday afternoon so that we would be there when it was less crowded and that's exactly what we got. We were one of only 3 or 4 other families there that afternoon. It was great but boring at the same time. Brantley still had a great time so that's all that matters really anyways!

 I love my beautiful girls!!

 Sweet big sister kisses.

These three are the loves of my life! They all have my heart!!!

 Brantley searching for the perfect pumpkin with Daddy.

 Savannah was in the carrier pretty much the whole time and did great! She loved being able to look around at everything and didn't fuss at all. Love her!

We had a great time this year at Old Baker Farm even though it was very low key. Next year is going to be really fun with Savannah walking/running around by then.

Cinnamon Applesauce Pancakes

This is the recipe for the pancakes I made for breakfast this morning. I forgot to post it at the bottom of the video post. The pancakes were delicious and healthier than the "out of the box - just add milk" kind.

The recipe comes from the Southern Living Ultimate Quick & Easy Cookbook that I have. It is actually called Pumpkin Pancakes, but I didn't have any canned pumpkin so I just used applesauce instead.

Pumpkin Pancakes
Prep time: 8 minutes
Yields: 12 (4 inch) pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

2 large eggs, separated
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (or applesauce)
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Directions:
- Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.
- Combine egg yolks, milk, pumpkin (or applesauce) and butter; add to four mixture, stiffing just until dry ingredients are moistened.
- Beat egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently fold beaten egg whites into pumpkin (applesauce) mixture.
- Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot, lightly greased griddle. Cook pancakes until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked; turn and cook other side.

I really wish I had taken a picture because they even looked yummy! Now I'm interested in buying some canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to give the real recipe a shot. I think I'd like them a whole lot. Does anyone else have any really good, healthy breakfast recipes they'd like to share with me. Chase and I are back on our health food kick so we're cutting up as much processed foods as possible.  So far I'm loving it. Yes, it takes more time and it cost a bit more but we're cooking with and eating REAL food minus all the chemicals and filler products food companies put in products these days.

Singing Songs & Rolling Over

This morning the girls and I are on our own because Daddy is having to work today. Bummer! But after making yummy, Cinnamon Applesauce Pancakes for breakfast, we started playing. (I'll have to post the recipe for the pancakes at the end because they were delicious!)

Brantley sang a few of her favorite songs for me.....

And Savannah rolled over on video for the first time....

I will warn you, this one is long but the girls are too cute not to share. This is the second day for Savannah to be practicing and perfecting these skills. I'm so excited for her because, I'll admit, I was getting a little worried that she hadn't done either yet. Brantley is such a camera hog and just loves to be the center of attention...boy does she have a lot to learn. haha! Chase had to have a little talk with her last night about sharing with Savannah. SC was playing with (aka. holding) a toy and BR walked right up to her and took it away. Now SC didn't care but in time that is not going to fly and B-Rae is going to have to take turns and share with her. Anyways, that's all for now. I hope you enjoy watching these videos of our cutie pies!

In other news, Savannah took at hour and a half long nap this morning. YAY!! I've actually realized that I think the 3-4oz of coffee I've been drinking every morning for the past 5 months may have been a big contributor in Savannah's bad sleep habits. Oops!! I really didn't think that little amount would be affecting her, but the past 2 days I've held off and she has slept much better. I'm struggling without my morning jump start but if it means that SC will be able to sleep better then I'll deal with it and my body will adjust, I hope.

Savannah at 5 Months Old

Weight: 13 lb 1oz      Height: I'm not sure

Diapers: Size 2      Clothes: 3-6 months and 6 months

Sleep: (Unswaddled) This one is not a great topic around our house. Savannah still isn't a very good sleeper. Her naps are usually only 30-45 minutes. She takes 4 naps usually, some days only 3. I feel like I've tried everything and nothing seems to keep her asleep for longer (with the exception of today). Today, I watched the monitor and watched the clock as it got to the 45 minute mark. At 44 minutes she began wiggling and then crying, I dashed in there and gave put the paci back in her mouth and patted her back. She actually went back to sleep and slept for another hour and 15 minutes. Hallelujah!!

Her nighttime sleep is okay but she isn't sleeping through the night. Typically, she wakes at 11:30pm and then again around 3:30am or 4:00am. I'm really hoping that she starts to drop the 11:30 soon and just wakes up once. We'll see.

Nursing: I'm still nursing almost exclusively. Every now and then I have to give her formula but it's very rare. That's usually just when I'm leaving her with someone and I haven't had time to pump.

Note: Lately, while she's nursing, she reaches up and plays with my lips. 

Solids: I have started letting her try a few things as of this week. She has had rice cereal, squash and avocado. She really liked the squash but it's too sure about the avocado yet. I'm going to keep trying. She is still spitting most of it out. A friend of mine told me something that I thought was funny about feeding a baby food for the first time. She said "it's like spackling a wall. You put it in, you wipe it off. You put it in, you wipe it off." haha

Abilities:

- Pushed her chest up off the floor pretty high during tummy time

- Will play on her tummy for a good 5-10 minutes before getting tired of it

- She loves the new toy that we borrowed from our friend, Carter. Thanks again, Marcie!

- She loves to jump. In her Exersaucer, Johnny Jump-up, her Jumperoo or our lap. Doesn't matter where she is, her legs are always moving. 

- Her eye-hand coordination is getting pretty good. She can get any toy to her mouth if she wants to

- Puts everything in her mouth

- Not rolling over yet but she's getting there. Maybe by 6 months.

- Plays with her toes all the time. She can put them in her mouth.

- Coos "talks" a lot. So cute!

Likes & Dislikes:
- Likes being held
- Loves her Mommy A LOT!
- Likes her Exersaucer and Jumperoo. She doesn't need the pillow behind her anymore now that her stability has improved and her head control is really good.
- Dislikes riding in the car when she is tired or hungry.
- Dislikes her swing. She rarely ever lets me put her in it for longer than about 5 minutes. Bummer!

Overall, she is a super happy baby and we love her so very much! Despite her bad sleep habits, she is still totally happy and loving life. She smiles ALL the time!! We are so thankful for her!

So that's Savannah at 5 months.

UPDATE: Just minutes after I posted this Savannah rolled from her back to her belly for the first time. She has now done it twice all by herself. She also rolled from tummy to back twice with just a tiny push from her daddy. She'll probably be rolling over in no time both ways, all the time!

Savannah's 5 Months Photos

 

Smile!!

Our sweet Savannah will be 5 months old tomorrow. It's hard to believe! I'll be posting an update of her soon but maybe not until Thursday since that's when I weigh her at the BFing group. Stay tuned...

Sleep Training Update

Okay so after a whole week of racking my brain and torturing my child with sleep training, I have finally figured out a system that works for us. I can now say that I am not a Babywise Mom and Savannah is not a Babywise baby and that is totally okay with me. I decided that trying to make her fit on a strict schedule while I stay at home with her is just silly and not necessary. If she's hungry, then I'm going to feed her and if she's tired then I'll put her down for a nap. 

The things we have changed that we're going to stick with are the sleep sack and the no nursing/rocking to sleep. If she happens to fall asleep at night when I'm putting her to bed, that's okay with me. She has learned to put herself to sleep during the training and that is wonderful. I'm wanting to cherish her being little sometimes since she is most likely our last baby, so occasionally rocking her to sleep is what I'm going to do.

Our nights have been SO much better. We've both been getting more sleep and it was much needed. I was really at my breaking point a day or two ago. She went from waking at least 3 times per night a week ago (and me feeding her each time) to only waking once to eat. If she wakes anymore than that time for me to feed her, then I don't go in to her I just wait for her to fall back asleep. It's working beautifully!

She is still only taking 45 minute naps in the morning and the past 2 days she's taken an hour and a half nap in the afternoon. I'm not pushing the issue. I do however, leave her in the bed for 10-15 minutes after she wakes up just so she knows that it's not quite time to get out of bed yet. My hope is that over the next few weeks she will get more comfortable and will start sleeping longer during her first 2 naps. I've changed a lot on her over the past week so I think considering all of that she is doing GREAT!

Sertoma Park

 We love the little playground/park that is really close to our house. It's so clean and convenient. The playground is great! I like the the ground is covered with that rubber stuff instead of bark, rocks or sand. There is also a big parking lot next to it where kids can ride bikes and scooters. This is great because our little circle in front of our house is not flat enough for Brantley to ride her bike so we've decided to take her there to ride, or be pulled, since she still can't reach the pedals all that well. 

 She loves to ride her bike. We bought it for her 2nd birthday but she still can't ride it by herself since she's not quite tall enough to push the pedals. She's getting really close though now because she's getting taller. My sweet girl will be 3 in January. Ahh!

 One day last week, I took the girls there for a picnic. We ate and Brantley played. It was great! The weather was perfect!

 I LOVE this picture so much! The sisterly love is growing more and more everyday even though Savannah is still so young. Brantley loves her baby sister and tells her often. It melts my heart!

 Nothing like yummy "Chick-a-lay" at the park on a beautiful day!

Brantley loves to swing! Always has and I'm sure she always will.

Sleep Training Savannah

Over the past week I have been on a mission to get Savannah sleeping better. She has been dependent on me to help her fall asleep for her almost 5 months now. I made a few big mistakes in my opinion and they are as follows:
a) I rocked her to sleep every time she needed to go to sleep, at night or naptime,
b) I nursed her to sleep most every time she went down for a nap and during the night,
c) We've been using a pacifier so much that now she is dependent on it,
d) I'd been feeding her on-demand since birth, which means we have no real schedule that we've been following.

I didn't realize it at the time that all these things were going to cause us so much trouble, but now I'm in the trenches of trying to undo bad habits, get her on a schedule (eat/wake/sleep) and get her sleeping better during naps and nighttime.

I'm trying to move her to at 2.5-3 hour feeding schedule. We also have dropped the Woombie cold turkey and now have her sleeping in a Halo sleep sack.  She isn't really liking all the changes right now, but I'm hoping and praying that over the next week she will learn and make the adjustments well. 
Last night was her first night to sleep unswaddled and in the sleep sack. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either.

Here is how our night went: 
- Bedtime was at 7:45pm.  It took her an hour and 20 minutes to go to sleep (9:05pm) and then she woke up the first time at 9:50pm. Only 45 minutes after going to sleep. I thought for sure that we were in for a really long night of waking every 45 minutes. She cried for 30 minutes, I didn't go in there to her at all and she was back to sleep at 10:10pm.  

- She then woke again at 11:17pm. I waited 30 minutes to see if she would go back to sleep on her own but the crying only got stronger. At 11:45pm I decided that I would feed her and then put her back to bed. I laid her back in bed at 12:00am awake. By 12:10am, she was back to sleep.

- Next she woke at 3:10am. This was her shortest awakening. She was back to sleep by 3:20am. Only 10 minutes of fussing/crying! At this point, I'm thinking she's starting to get the hang of the sleep sack and not being swaddled thing.

- She woke again at 4:45am. This time is her regular time of wanting to be fed so I waited 10 minutes but then went in and nursed her. I put her back in bed, awake, at 5:15am. I actually fell asleep before she did so I'm not exactly sure how long it took her to go back to sleep but I doubt it was that long at all.

- She started her morning at 8:00am this morning.

So all in all, I'm still really tired from the night but we are making headway. I'm committed to staying consistent from now on so that Savannah can learn what she is suppose to do when we put her in her bed for sleep. Over this past week I have learned how strong-willed she is. I realized that if I go in to her at all while she's CIO (crying it out) then it just makes her more upset when I leave her again without picking her up. We've changed a lot in her little routine she had going on over the past week so it's going to take some time, but my hope is that after a few days of no rocking, no swaddle and very little pacifier use, she will learn how to "fall asleep unassisted" and be sleeping better/ for longer periods. I have read so much on sleep training and I still feel confused about a few things but now I do have a plan that I am committed to.

Our new plan and routine for sleep:

-We go into her room, close the blinds and turn out the nights. I change her diaper and put her in the sleep sack. I hold her for a few minutes (5 max) while humming or singing her a song. I then lay her in bed, awake, for her to fall asleep on her own. I will not go back into her room no matter how long she cries until she has gone to sleep and then wakes again.

This is SO EXTREMELY HARD for me! I hate to hear her crying. I have to sit and pray most of the time that God will grant me the strength to wait it out. I pray for her safety and that she, we, will be able to get some much needed rest. I pray that she will catch on to these changes quickly so that we aren't doing this for too too long. I pray for peace and endurance to with stand the CIO times, because it is so hard to listen to her cry.

I have to stop running into her rescue when she cries, she will never learn if I do. So from now on she's on her own. Nap times are the hardest times of the day because I can't seem to figure out her optimal waketime lengths. I can't figure out if I'm keeping her up too long or not long enough. This is so confusing and hard to figure out.

Man, I could go on and on and on about all of this. I have been SO stressed out and in tears many times because this is so hard to figure out. I think now I'm starting to get it all figured out and I know what I need to do now. Thanks to my friend, Marcie, who has helped me through texting during the day, I have kept my cool and not totally lost it during the past week. Thank you Marcie for being willing to help me and take time out of your work day and evenings, to help me figure this out. You are a great friend!

I'm going to keep posting updates on how sleep training is going. So far this morning isn't going well. I put her down for her first nap over an hour ago and she's still crying. Boo! I really hate this, SO MUCH!! More to come....