4th Wedding Anniversary

Four years ago today, on the Carnival Fascination with just our immediate family as guests, Dave and I said "I do". In so many ways, the last four years have flown by in the blink of an eye. It also feels like he's been in my life for so much longer though, if that makes any sense! We had a bit of a whirlwind romance, and married relatively quickly by today's standards. There have certainly been some relationship growing pains along the way, but I can honestly say that being married to Dave makes me a better person. He makes me want to be the very best version of myself. Growing up, I didn't have a traditional family life, so I wasn't able to witness what a successful and happy marriage should look like. Dave was really my first (and only!) very serious relationship, so when we began dating I had a lot to learn about what it takes to be in a true partnership. Over the years we have gotten ourselves out of debt, bought a house, went through fertility treatments to conceive, changed jobs, and had our beautiful daughter. Through it all, Dave has been such an amazing husband. He supports me, stands by me, respects me, and loves me. He makes me laugh every single day. Sometimes it's really the little things that say the most about a person, not the grand gestures. He makes fresh coffee for me in the mornings even if he leaves before having any. He lets me have the big tv to watch my trashy reality shows. He tolerates my OCD and keeps the house much cleaner than I know he would if he lived alone! He's an amazing father to our daughter. He works hard to support our family so that I can stay home with Abby, which was always my dream. I wake up every morning feeling so incredibly lucky to have him and Abby in my life! I can only hope that we have many, many more happy years together!

Coming up soon, a different kind of anniversary...

Three Months Old!

How on earth is our sweet girl three months old already!?!  I really can't believe it.  Plus, it's been nearly four months since I left my job...crazy!  Abby is getting so big!  It's no secret that for the first six weeks or so I had a bit of a rough time adjusting to things.  Blame it on hormones or postpartum depression or whatever, but it definitely took me a while to really get the hang of things.  Fast forward to now, though, and I'm loving being a mommy so much!  Abby is SUCH a good baby.  That definitely affects my feelings towards motherhood and being a SAHM.  She is honestly my greatest joy.  She's just the sweetest little girl.  Dave and I have even started talking about when we'll be ready to try for baby #2!  Right after Abby was born, I didn't think I wanted to try for another baby until she was at least two or so...but now, I really think I would be ok with having one much sooner!  I want to nurse Abby for a full year, plus my body needs time to fully recover from the c-section, so we definitely won't be having Irish twins or anything like that.  Getting pregnant again is definitely on the radar though!  

Lately Abby has settled into a pretty predictable pattern, which makes planning our day much easier.  She goes to bed at 7pm and will usually wake up around 5am or so to eat, then go back to bed until about 8am.  Some nights she wakes earlier than 5am, and a few nights ago she woke up at 8:30pm but then went back to bed and slept straight through until 8am!  I'll be thrilled when she starts sleeping a solid 11-12 hours every night, but for now I have absolutely NO complaints.  She also usually takes one hour long morning nap, a three to four hour afternoon nap, and then another 45 minute or so evening nap.  She's such a good little sleeper!  (Ok, edited to add that she's a good sleeper most days - as I'm writing this post she is refusing to nap!)  She's started giving us tons and tons of big smiles, and she babbles and coos quite a bit.  She can bat at toys on her play mat now and can grasp things, although I don't think she really knows yet that her hands are attached to her body!  Abby can also roll from her tummy to her back in both directions.  She loves being read and sung to, and she's started to show a real interest in the tv whenever it's on!  I haven't put any kid shows on yet and probably won't for some time, but it's pretty funny to see her try to turn her body and crane her neck toward the television...even when boring soccer is on!  She doesn't cry much at all these days, except when she is uncomfortable or REALLY tired.  In fact, when she really gets going we know that we need to get her to bed ASAP.  She still loves bath time too.  I ended up getting her a different baby tub the other day because the one that we had just wasn't working very well for her anymore.  Now her body is more submerged and she kicks her feet like crazy.  It's so cute!  She decided that she loved her new tub so much that she pooped in it TWICE the first time we used it!  Yuck.  It was pretty hilarious though!  I think she just wanted three baths that night :)  Here are some recent pictures of our little cutie pie:

Crib Training

The weekend that Abby turned ten weeks old, we decided that it was time to transition her from sleeping in her Rock 'N Play to her crib. She was starting to get a little flat spot on her head (although it wasn't concerning to her pediatrician at her two month check up) and there are a lot of reviews online for the Rock 'N Play about babies getting flat spots after using the sleeper for an extended amount of time. Abby also just didn't seem particularly comfortable sleeping in it any more. We still swaddle her in the miracle blanket, and when I would go in to feed her in the middle of the night, she was often really scrunched up and had somehow managed to wiggle herself really far down into the Rock 'N Play. Prior to transitioning her to her crib, I had tried getting Abby to take a few naps in there. The longest she would sleep in her crib was an hour or so, which made me pretty nervous for the big move! In the RNP, she was giving us a solid 5-6 hour stretch of sleep every night, and I was hoping that moving her to the crib wouldn't change that. We started on a Friday night, so that if she was up a lot more than usual Dave could help me out and not be a total zombie for work the next day. Here is how things went for the first few nights in her crib...

Night One
7:30pm: Bedtime
7:30pm - 9pm: Fussed and cried off and on. Dave and I both don't agree with CIO (cry it out) at such a young age, so we never let her cry more than a minute before going in to soothe her, put her binky back in, rock her, etc.
9pm: Finally asleep
9pm - 3am: 6 hour stretch of sleep, yay!
3am: Up to eat
3:30am - 6:30am: Up fussing/crying every thirty minutes. Ugh.
6:30am - 8am: Sleep

Overall, not a terrible night, but certainly a regression from how well she had been sleeping in the RNP. Saturday we all ended up taking a three hour nap together in our bed since Abby wouldn't nap in her crib for more than 45 minutes (one infant sleep cycle). I seriously considered letting her sleep in her RNP that night, but Dave said we should try the crib again and just be consistent.

Night Two
8pm: Asleep in crib (we usually aim for 7:30pm but she went down a little later that night)
8pm - 4am: 8 hour stretch of sleep!!! Her longest stretch ever.
4am: Up to eat
4:30am - 7:30am: Sleep

Much better! Things were looking up! That Sunday was Easter and she napped in the car on the way to and from Dave's parents house, plus took a two and a half hour nap in her RNP at their house. She was tired!

Night Three
8pm: Asleep in crib (again, we aim for earlier but we were at Dave's parents house and got on the road later than anticipated)
8pm - 5am: 9 hour stretch of sleep! Wahoo!
5am: Up to eat
5:30am - 8am: Sleep

An amazing night! This past week Abby has been sleeping incredibly well. She had one night where she was up a bit earlier in the middle of the night to eat, so then she woke up one more time to eat that same night. Otherwise she has been consistently sleeping between 7-9 hours, waking to eat, and then going back down for 3-5 more hours! I have to say that I LOVED the Rock 'N Play while she was a newborn. I honestly think it helped her to become the great sleeper that she is right now. From three weeks on she pretty much consistently slept 5-6 hours straight unless she was going through a growth spurt. I'm also SO pleased with how easily she transitioned to the crib! She seems to love it now. We barely rock her before putting her down, and we always put her in her crib while she is drowsy but still awake. She falls asleep on her own, which is incredibly important. This entire week she has also been napping really well in her crib. Almost every afternoon she has taken a 3 - 4 hour nap! Amazing! Last night she also had her longest stretch of sleep yet - she went to bed at 7:30pm without a peep and didn't wake up to eat until 5am. Abby really is such a good baby! Plus, with how well rested she has been lately, she's in such a good mood (most of the time!) while she is awake. We took her to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings yesterday and she was quite content to sit and look around until she finally got tired and fell asleep. She's such a cutie and is chunking up nicely! She got pinkeye this week so we had to take her to the doctor, and we found out that she is 10lbs 11oz, so she is still gaining weight really well! Here are some more recent pictures of Lil Miss :)