We think she is saying Ry Ry. She still loves her big sister. She has a little doll-thingy from the McElmurry's called a "blah blah." Today we were calling it a blah blah while she was holding it and it sounded like she said "blah blah."
I don't think I've written much about her sleep. I think I mentioned that we put her in her pack-n-play to cry it out at the end of July. I remember that because Morgan was here. I think it was the 31st b/c the Lindbloms were here eating with us. Anyhoo, the first couple of nights were bad and she cried and cried. Our first step toward sleeping independently was to get her to sleep in the pack-n-play until 10 p.m. and then we put her in our bed and she stayed there the rest of the night and nursed about 787,382 times each night. She was using nursing as a pacifier so we thought moving her to her own bed to sleep all night was going to be torture. Well on or around about Friday August 14th we decided that she needed to be in her bed full time. I can't remember what happened because it's been over 2 weeks but she had a bad night of sleep in our bed and I was going to lose my mind. She hadn't been disruptive in our bed and never really disturbed me until this particular week. She didn't realize the love affair I have with sleep and that one misstep would boot her to the pack-n-play all night. The new plan meant that she did not get to nurse in the night and Pat would give her bottles. Well it's worked out great (except right now it is 6:06 a.m. and she is screaming in the pack-n-play. A little distracting. But she slept all night until 5-something this morning without getting up.) She's generally been able to sleep 12-13 hours in it and will get up and have a small bottle one or two times which is great considering how many times she was getting up. We can lay her down after her bottle at night and she will roll over and go to sleep. Now Ryan was a different story. We rocked and walked and patted her until she was deeply asleep and then we tiptoed out of the room so she wouldn't hear us. It was torture. Sometimes it would take an hour to get her to sleep. Now it is so peaceful when rocking Charley and giving her the last bottle because I know that she'll just roll over and go to sleep. God is laughing right now as he plans to show me tonight how much control I really have over this. By the way, she is still crying. This isn't typical. She is usually sleeping until 7-ish. Naps are also going very well. She'll have her bottle and get in her pack-n-play and sleep for an 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Ahhh! So, when Ryan is at school I can count on at least two hours to get things done. When Ryan is home it is more like 1 hour because she is up while Charley takes her morning nap and she and Charley take their afternoon nap at the same time. Two hours sounds like a long time and that I could probably get my house whipped into shape. Not true. Basically it is over by the time I've had time to unload/load the dishwasher, wipe the hardened rice cereal off of the highchair tray, wipe the spilled food off of the table, wipe down the counters, go through mail or paperwork, possibly do a load of laundry, return phone calls without squawking offspring in the background and if I'm lucky go to the bathroom and maybe have a sip of water. If I'm really tired I will take a nap on the couch downstairs which has become my refuge and safe haven. I haven't done this in a couple of weeks because I guess I haven't been that tired. But, I'm trying to let myself rest if it is what I feel like I need to do instead of pushing myself to be productive all the time. Because, let me tell you hanging out with these two munchkins would sap the energy out of anyone after a full day of preparing meals, forcing said munchkins to eat prepared meals, clean up after meals, change diapers, race to the potty in time, providing comfort if we didn't make it to the potty in time, running upstairs to get new panties, finding out that she didn't want Dora panties and wanted Princess panties and having to go back upstairs to switch them out, determining if this is the time Ryan wants to be independent when putting her panties on or if she wants me to help because if I misread the situation and do it wrong tears ensue, go grocery shopping with Ryan alternating being in the little car at the front of the cart, in the big basket part of the cart, in the front part of the cart with Charley, or walking alongside me trying to find groceries which at this point it is hard to know whether milk is a vegetable or I need to go to Home Depot to get some seedless grapes because the last three packs I've bought have had seeds, get home and unload the munchkins and said groceries without incident, attempt to have some sort of meal halfway prepared for dinner, and pay bills. So, if I feel like I might want to spend my time resting I've decided that it's OK. It has taken me a few days to actually finish this post and now Charley has ended up in our bed three different nights. Lesson to self: never get comfortable and assume things are going to stay the same! I knew God was chuckling as I thought I was in control:)
Charley's eating and reflux is much better. Since she's not nursing all night long she is taking more ounces in the day and she probably was getting as much as she was supposed to when she was nursing at night but I didn't know it because during the day she wasn't taking what I thought she should. So, she was only taking about 12-15 a day and now she's taking 21-25 a day. It's not a fight. IT'S AWESOME. She is eating oatmeal in the AM and rice cereal at night. Dr. Moody said she needs to be eating different flavors and textures at this age so she can get used to them. She had already eaten all of the different baby foods but I stopped them because I wanted to make sure she got as much milk as possible (milk is the most important thing until 1). So, I've just been giving her some bites of the chunky baby food with chunks of veggies and meat. She does really well with them. I've also given her cut up pancakes, pasta, and bananas (we probably didn't do this with Ryan until she was over 1) and she really liked them. Last night she had bits of raisins. She eats these yogurt puffs that are REALLY good and pretty big and she can handle those well. She likes to be in control and feed herself better than being fed a bottle or with a spoon. Dr. Moody said that was "advanced" and more like a one-year-old. Well, I'm glad something about her eating is advanced because I feel we've been on the remedial path until now. By the time she is one she will only have to have 16 oz milk per day and she will really like that and she'll be able to eat more finger foods. Again, a few days have passed since I started this paragraph and Charley has spit up a few times this morning. Remember lesson from above paragraph: don't assume that things will stay as they are!
Charley can pull herself up to standing if she grabs on to our legs if we are sitting on the floor but she hasn't been able to do it if she is pulling up on something taller than her (like a couch or her small table). She gets to kneeling on her knees and gives up. I think she could do it but she doesn't try. She can stand without holding on to anything for a few seconds. Wow-since I started that paragraph a few days ago Charley has now pulled herself up on Ryan's Dora lawnchair and the chair in the living room. Things change fast around here.
Charley is so loving, too. She will lay her head on our shoulders for a "hug." When she does it we usually say "ahhhh" so she makes a similar sound at the same time. She kisses her dolls and herself in the mirror.
Yesterday (Sept 4th) she learned to put her finger in her nose. She thinks it's pretty fun!
Charley has had ringworm. It's been lovely. She had her 9-month appointment last week and weighed 16 pounds-13 ounces. She gained more in last 3 weeks than she had the 7 prior weeks. She's made it to the 25%tile for head circumference, height, and weight. She is looking chunkier!
Ryan has said some cute things. The other day I was tired and feeling frustrated and told Ryan I was sorry and that I was just tired. She said "it's OK Mommy...me tired sometimes." SO SWEET!
Recently I was putting Ryan to bed and I was telling her that God and Jesus love her and she said "where are they?" That's a hard concept because it's kind of scary to say they are always with you if she doesn't really understand what that means.
Ryan was looking at a picture of Pat and me from before she was born and she asked where she was. I told her she was with God-and she said "Oh...with Ma Ma and that cat." That cat is Bobo (T & T's cat).
When we went to Ryan's open house at school we were sitting in little chairs listening to the teachers talk. Ryan was in the middle of Pat and me. She was so excited she could have burst. She looked over at me and had the biggest smile ever and her shoulders raised and she said "me so glad you're here." I could eat her up! She also said that at the grocery store the other day but Pat told me that in her Llama book it has that line when they are at the grocery store. It's sad that I didn't feel the same way at the grocery store but it made me feel glad in spite of the chaos.
Ryan LOVES this child named Bonnie at school. She's apparently 17-months old and Ryan calls her Baby Bonnie. She pretends she is Bonnie all of the time and makes us call her Bonnie. She talks about her all of the time. The first day she was talking about Baby Bonnie and said she can't walk and she followed her around and around and around. We thought she was confused with Bonnie Fagan but she was right. The teachers say that she follows her around most of the time and that she is fascinated with her. She talks about her every time we pick her up. When I went to pick her up the other day they were next to each other playing with rocks. She was so excited and had me touch her hand. She gave her a hug goodbye. Yesterday she told me that "No Baby Bonnie know Daddy...Baby Bonnie cried....have you met Baby Bonnie?" So I reminded her that I had and she kept saying "No Baby Bonnie know Daddy...Baby Bonnie know Mommie." I guess Bonnie cried when Pat tried to "meet" her. Her other friends at school are Emma, Kaitlyn, Jorie, Anna, Allison, and Hattie.
Ryan told me the other day that "Gin Gin scared of birds."
Ryan started dance lessons last week. It's a combo dance and gymnastics class. She cried at first the first time because no one can go back with her but she seemed to have a good time this week. Pat and Charley have walked with her downtown to class. It ended at 6:05 the first time and they didn't get home until 7:00. She walks in the speed of a reverse treadmill as Miss Michelle has said about Logan.
Ryan put Pat's work shoes on and said she was going to work "to help people feel better." That's how we describe being a psychologist but later we figured out that she thought we made medicine.
Last night the Ongs came over and Ryan had a great time playing with Noah. She was a bit bossy and kept asking him to push her in her baby stroller. He did but other times he would say "Ryan...I'm coming", "Just a minute Ryan", and "I'm playing with this....stop it." Her response would be to say "Noooooah-push me in the stroller" even louder. Evetually her nagging won out each time. She would be jabbering away at Noah and he would be focused on a toy oblivious that she was trying to have a conversation. They were like an old married couple.
I think that's about it. My only other comment is about my relationship with God. I've been doing Bible studies or reading books with biblical topics at night. It always makes me feel better and keeps me centered with perspective (as much as possible when you are the least centered person on the planet). When I start "feeling better" I tend to stop doing this and always know it's a bad idea. That is usually when I start relying on things of this earth or my circumstances to keep me happy and at peace. So, the other night I was going to do my reading and thinking to myself that I wish I didn't "have" to do this to be "OK" and wished that I could be like other people and not be so dependent on God. Then I thought that was absolutely ridiculous. I really should be glad to be dependent on Him because He is the only thing that is real and stable. I know where the source of my peace and happiness comes from and I should be happy that I turn there instead of things that are temporary. Around that time I read in Ecclesiastics about the meaningless of life without God and thought that 95% of the time I go about my life with my own agenda and it's all completely meaningless if God is not at the center of it. So, I'll try not to begrudge Him when I really want to read The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo for book club and force myself to focus on Him. It shouldn't be this hard but I guess I am human.OK, that's it for now.
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