For a change, this has nothing to do with parenting aside from the fact that one of the best things you can do for your child is to make your marriage a priority.
A while back Cameron and I had a serious conversation about our relationship. We have these from time to time where we evaluate where we are and where we've been and where we want to be, and how we feel about all of it. I think it's important to do this at least a few times a year. During this conversation, something came out (truth) that had never been said before. Our life has been pretty hectic with the new addition of Violet and being back around family and friends, so it took a while for the new truth to set in and for my mind to wrap around its implications. Once it finally settled in, I got into a bit of a funk. This past weekend I couldn't stop thinking about it and finally spoke to Cameron about it Saturday night. I expressed to him that the new truth I was living with changed my perception of the past. I was mourning memories that were put to death by the truth. I was very sad.
We know that areas of our marriage need work- we knew going into marriage that we would struggle in these areas. We want to not struggle. We want to have the kind of marriage that is described in the Bible. It's the desire of our hearts. We often get discouraged because we fail so many times, and even when we don't, we still live with the consequences of past failures.
Sunday, at church, the message was about the Holy Spirit, also called the Spirit of Truth. To be honest, I was tired from our late night conversation. I had a hard time listening to the message, but God still had something to say to me. The Spirit of Truth comforted me. It's okay to mourn, but better to rejoice that we now live in the truth.
I am a huge advocate for marriage: for "til death to us part," God can heal ALL things, marriage. I believe in communicating, supporting each other, and being best friends. I believe in a biblical definition of marriage. I believe that the description of the relationship in the Song of Solomon is something that God intends for us all to have and enjoy. I believe that all of the descriptions about the roles of husbands and wives in the Bible are exactly how we ought to live, and they are what I want. I WANT that marriage. We both do. However, as much as I support and firmly believe in God's description of marriage, I often forget that God is a much better advocate than I am. I forget that what He describes, is what He wants for us.
We don't need to despair over the trials we face, because we know that God is our advocate. You see, when our desires match up with His desires, we can rest assured that our God is a good father and will give us the desires of our heart. How lovely is it to know that the marriage we long for is exactly the marriage that He longs for us to have?
That is something worth rejoicing over. When we live in the truth of God's word, He turns our mourning into praise. That's the work of the Spirit of Truth. Praise God.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Sweet Time
I realized a few days ago that it has been several weeks since I have written a new blog post. It's not that I haven't had a million different ones in my mind that I intended to write, but lately, I'd rather spend time with my Violet.
I think we've hit the sweet spot. I feel like we are currently at the magical period of time where Violet is the easiest she will ever be. Right now parenting is a complete and total joy. She is gorgeous and smiley and laughs and loves to just chill with us.
She really likes it when Cameron and I sing to her so I've been trying to jog my own memory to recall the songs I learned in VBS and day camp at church to expand our repertoire. Yesterday we were going through compilations of children's songs on Spotify and came across "My First Hymnal:75 Favorite Bible Songs." Violet heard the little kids singing and her face lit up with a smile. We started singing along, and seeing my sweet baby smile as her daddy and I sing songs we learned when we were little is one of my new favorite memories. She even makes sweet little sounds as if she were trying to sing along :)
She has grown into such a happy and sweet little girl. She sleeps for 10-12hrs every night, takes at least 2 naps a day, and just smiles as big as she can when I go in to pick her up in the morning. She giggles and kicks and splashes and coos. Sometimes I just can't get over how much I love her. She's becoming a real little person. My only real complaint anymore is that she spits up her new formula so much... and loves to get it all over me. But hey, that's part of being a mom right? We wear our hair up so it doesn't get pulled, we wear clothes that are easy to move around in, and our earrings rarely dangle. Makeup is ALWAYS optional. Oh yeah, and all of those little vanity sacrifices... we don't care about them. I like looking nice, and feeling clean, and getting dressed up, but right now, that gets to happen like once or twice a week and that's okay. Laying on the floor with messy hair pulled into a ponytail while making ridiculous faces and singing songs to make my sweet baby laugh is totally worth the trade off. I know the nasty milk smell isn't permanent.
So if you see me at the store in my t-shirt and stretch waist band shorts with flip flops and a messy ponytail hunched over, talking to my baby girl as I push the cart... feel free to laugh. I know I look ridiculous, but she thinks I'm hilarious and I'd do just about anything in the world to hear her laugh and see that giant smile.
I think we've hit the sweet spot. I feel like we are currently at the magical period of time where Violet is the easiest she will ever be. Right now parenting is a complete and total joy. She is gorgeous and smiley and laughs and loves to just chill with us.
She really likes it when Cameron and I sing to her so I've been trying to jog my own memory to recall the songs I learned in VBS and day camp at church to expand our repertoire. Yesterday we were going through compilations of children's songs on Spotify and came across "My First Hymnal:75 Favorite Bible Songs." Violet heard the little kids singing and her face lit up with a smile. We started singing along, and seeing my sweet baby smile as her daddy and I sing songs we learned when we were little is one of my new favorite memories. She even makes sweet little sounds as if she were trying to sing along :)
She has grown into such a happy and sweet little girl. She sleeps for 10-12hrs every night, takes at least 2 naps a day, and just smiles as big as she can when I go in to pick her up in the morning. She giggles and kicks and splashes and coos. Sometimes I just can't get over how much I love her. She's becoming a real little person. My only real complaint anymore is that she spits up her new formula so much... and loves to get it all over me. But hey, that's part of being a mom right? We wear our hair up so it doesn't get pulled, we wear clothes that are easy to move around in, and our earrings rarely dangle. Makeup is ALWAYS optional. Oh yeah, and all of those little vanity sacrifices... we don't care about them. I like looking nice, and feeling clean, and getting dressed up, but right now, that gets to happen like once or twice a week and that's okay. Laying on the floor with messy hair pulled into a ponytail while making ridiculous faces and singing songs to make my sweet baby laugh is totally worth the trade off. I know the nasty milk smell isn't permanent.
So if you see me at the store in my t-shirt and stretch waist band shorts with flip flops and a messy ponytail hunched over, talking to my baby girl as I push the cart... feel free to laugh. I know I look ridiculous, but she thinks I'm hilarious and I'd do just about anything in the world to hear her laugh and see that giant smile.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Hi, My Name is Violet and I'm 3 Months Old Today!
Violet Grace:
3 months old
12lbs 7oz
23.25in long
Wears 0-3 and 3month clothes.
Size 0 shoes.
Size build-a-bear sunglasses
Violet loves smiling really big and is laughing more and more each day.
She likes taking walks through the neighborhood in her stroller and she enjoys being close to mommy/daddy in the sling when they go shopping.
Violet spends most of her day (when she isn't eating or napping) playing with mommy. Practicing standing and bouncing are her favorites along with making silly faces that involve sticking your tongue out. She also is VERY interested in watching mommy talk to her- sometimes Violet even tries to join the conversation with her sweet little voice :)
While Violet has a ton of fun with mommy all day, she can't wait for her daddy to get home every evening. She loves bouncing with daddy and cuddling up on his chest when she's tired.
Violet has recently become interested in mirrors, watching mommy play with her toys, batting at toys that hang, and sucking on her hands.
When it's bedtime, Violet takes a bath, puts on jammies (PJs), and sits in daddy's lap while mommy reads a bedtime story. Then, daddy has her fold her hands and they all say their "bedtime prayers." Mommy and Daddy kiss her and tell her how much they love her, then put her in bed and turn on her sleep sheep. Violet curls her legs up under her, puts her thumb in her mouth, and goes to sleep.
Now, all of the loveliness aside, she does whine quite a bit. She HATES a wet diaper. She can only handle being awake and entertaining herself for about 5-10 minutes before she starts crying for someone to come play with her. She does not like taking naps during the day even though she gets very tired, so she cries for 15-20mins almost every time she is put down for one. She fusses late afternoon-evening every day and we're still battling colic the rest of the day (so random bursts of inconsolable crying for no apparent reason). It's getting better though. Since seeing the pediatrician a few days ago, she has greatly improved and is crying less and less and smiling more and more.
I love my baby girl.
3 months old
12lbs 7oz
23.25in long
Wears 0-3 and 3month clothes.
Size 0 shoes.
Size build-a-bear sunglasses
Violet loves smiling really big and is laughing more and more each day.
She likes taking walks through the neighborhood in her stroller and she enjoys being close to mommy/daddy in the sling when they go shopping.
Violet spends most of her day (when she isn't eating or napping) playing with mommy. Practicing standing and bouncing are her favorites along with making silly faces that involve sticking your tongue out. She also is VERY interested in watching mommy talk to her- sometimes Violet even tries to join the conversation with her sweet little voice :)
While Violet has a ton of fun with mommy all day, she can't wait for her daddy to get home every evening. She loves bouncing with daddy and cuddling up on his chest when she's tired.
Violet has recently become interested in mirrors, watching mommy play with her toys, batting at toys that hang, and sucking on her hands.
When it's bedtime, Violet takes a bath, puts on jammies (PJs), and sits in daddy's lap while mommy reads a bedtime story. Then, daddy has her fold her hands and they all say their "bedtime prayers." Mommy and Daddy kiss her and tell her how much they love her, then put her in bed and turn on her sleep sheep. Violet curls her legs up under her, puts her thumb in her mouth, and goes to sleep.
Now, all of the loveliness aside, she does whine quite a bit. She HATES a wet diaper. She can only handle being awake and entertaining herself for about 5-10 minutes before she starts crying for someone to come play with her. She does not like taking naps during the day even though she gets very tired, so she cries for 15-20mins almost every time she is put down for one. She fusses late afternoon-evening every day and we're still battling colic the rest of the day (so random bursts of inconsolable crying for no apparent reason). It's getting better though. Since seeing the pediatrician a few days ago, she has greatly improved and is crying less and less and smiling more and more.
I love my baby girl.
Monday, June 24, 2013
No Lie
"No lie" is a phrase that was really common towards the end of my high school years and the first few years of college. I feel like my roommate and I both said it incessantly. The thing is, I feel like the idea behind the trend is something we need to re-embrace. I'm tired of the lies women tell.
I always wanted to be popular growing up. I tried in high school, tried in college, and even in my adult life at church. The truth is that I just don't fit with the popular girls. I refuse to smile and pretend like my life is perfect and laugh off any small incidences that might make it look like my life is any less. I refuse to pretend to be a dog person. I love my cats. I don't say "God bless you" to people on a regular basis and I don't tell people I'm going to pray for them very often because the truth is that my prayer life is selfish at best (working on it, but honest about where it is). I rarely look "put together" and I haven't had my hair done in almost a year. I don't like to commit to very many things. I guard my time because it's precious to me. In college, when I was still trying to fit in with the kids I thought were popular, I tried to be involved in all kinds of organizations, projects, even a sorority. One day I realized that I was so busy doing things I had committed myself to, that I was missing out on all of the fun things my real friends were inviting me to do. That's when I decided that there are enough things in life that we are obligated to do, everything else that we do, we should do because we are passionate about it. So I quit a whole bunch of stuff, dropped a class or two, and changed my major. I don't regret one bit of it.
So here I am, years later and I see the adult versions of these people I so wanted to be friends with and I can't decide if their lives really are what they make them out to be and they are really that different from me, or if it's all just some facade that I can't bring myself to create to fit in.
Here's the truth: My husband and I have both made HUGE mistakes in our marriage- the kind that people get divorced over. We forgive each other and move on. We heal slowly from the hurts we cause each other. We make it through because we made a commitment with God and He never fails even when we do. As parents, we get annoyed by our child. We get annoyed by other people's children too. We let our baby cry it out sometimes and we feel like it's what's best for everyone in our family. We let people hold her- friends, acquaintances, whoever. I let animals touch/lick her. I take her wherever I go. I take my kid out in the heat. She'll live. Between the shade of her stroller and water when I think she needs it, she will survive Texas heat just like everyone else did before air conditioners were invented. I turn down the monitor so I don't hear her crying the first 10-15 minutes after she has been put down. We sometimes struggle to pay our bills and I'm not sure if we will ever get out of debt even though we keep trying.
Honestly, I think a lot of parents put too much pressure on themselves. When did we become responsible for our children's psychological well being? I love my baby. I think she is adorable and when she smiles, she melts my heart. I hate the idea of her being in pain and I want to give her every opportunity for success in life. I don't, however, feel that she should be put on a pedestal. I should not have to sacrifice my life for hers- she is an addition to my life, not a replacement. I'm not going to show her my frustration (mostly because it becomes a vicious cycle) but that doesn't mean I can't be honest with other moms about the truth of how hard it is to take care of someone's every need/want. I called my pediatrician's office this morning because there is something wrong with her and I don't know what it is. That's okay. I don't have to know how to deal with everything parenting brings my way and I'm going to mess up in some areas. But at the end of the day, if my child is loved, and being trained according to God's word, then I succeeded. Why do some make it all so hard? Don't do this or that, and make sure you do this or ____ will happen to your kid. I feel like there is an insane number of rules you have to keep to be a "good" parent. I wish everyone would just be honest and we could go back to helping each other out- truly raising our children as a community instead of this ridiculous notion that mom's are supposed to do it all. I know I've mentioned some things we do in our home that others judged us for. I don't really care though.
That's the point. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'm a wife and a mom and I'm doing things the best I can without stressing out over whether or not it fits someone else's definition of the "right' way. I refuse to lie about my life. I refuse to feel bad if it doesn't match the picture everyone else tries to paint of their families. I love my picture. I think it's beautiful. No lie.
I always wanted to be popular growing up. I tried in high school, tried in college, and even in my adult life at church. The truth is that I just don't fit with the popular girls. I refuse to smile and pretend like my life is perfect and laugh off any small incidences that might make it look like my life is any less. I refuse to pretend to be a dog person. I love my cats. I don't say "God bless you" to people on a regular basis and I don't tell people I'm going to pray for them very often because the truth is that my prayer life is selfish at best (working on it, but honest about where it is). I rarely look "put together" and I haven't had my hair done in almost a year. I don't like to commit to very many things. I guard my time because it's precious to me. In college, when I was still trying to fit in with the kids I thought were popular, I tried to be involved in all kinds of organizations, projects, even a sorority. One day I realized that I was so busy doing things I had committed myself to, that I was missing out on all of the fun things my real friends were inviting me to do. That's when I decided that there are enough things in life that we are obligated to do, everything else that we do, we should do because we are passionate about it. So I quit a whole bunch of stuff, dropped a class or two, and changed my major. I don't regret one bit of it.
So here I am, years later and I see the adult versions of these people I so wanted to be friends with and I can't decide if their lives really are what they make them out to be and they are really that different from me, or if it's all just some facade that I can't bring myself to create to fit in.
Here's the truth: My husband and I have both made HUGE mistakes in our marriage- the kind that people get divorced over. We forgive each other and move on. We heal slowly from the hurts we cause each other. We make it through because we made a commitment with God and He never fails even when we do. As parents, we get annoyed by our child. We get annoyed by other people's children too. We let our baby cry it out sometimes and we feel like it's what's best for everyone in our family. We let people hold her- friends, acquaintances, whoever. I let animals touch/lick her. I take her wherever I go. I take my kid out in the heat. She'll live. Between the shade of her stroller and water when I think she needs it, she will survive Texas heat just like everyone else did before air conditioners were invented. I turn down the monitor so I don't hear her crying the first 10-15 minutes after she has been put down. We sometimes struggle to pay our bills and I'm not sure if we will ever get out of debt even though we keep trying.
Honestly, I think a lot of parents put too much pressure on themselves. When did we become responsible for our children's psychological well being? I love my baby. I think she is adorable and when she smiles, she melts my heart. I hate the idea of her being in pain and I want to give her every opportunity for success in life. I don't, however, feel that she should be put on a pedestal. I should not have to sacrifice my life for hers- she is an addition to my life, not a replacement. I'm not going to show her my frustration (mostly because it becomes a vicious cycle) but that doesn't mean I can't be honest with other moms about the truth of how hard it is to take care of someone's every need/want. I called my pediatrician's office this morning because there is something wrong with her and I don't know what it is. That's okay. I don't have to know how to deal with everything parenting brings my way and I'm going to mess up in some areas. But at the end of the day, if my child is loved, and being trained according to God's word, then I succeeded. Why do some make it all so hard? Don't do this or that, and make sure you do this or ____ will happen to your kid. I feel like there is an insane number of rules you have to keep to be a "good" parent. I wish everyone would just be honest and we could go back to helping each other out- truly raising our children as a community instead of this ridiculous notion that mom's are supposed to do it all. I know I've mentioned some things we do in our home that others judged us for. I don't really care though.
That's the point. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I'm a wife and a mom and I'm doing things the best I can without stressing out over whether or not it fits someone else's definition of the "right' way. I refuse to lie about my life. I refuse to feel bad if it doesn't match the picture everyone else tries to paint of their families. I love my picture. I think it's beautiful. No lie.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
It gets easier, but it doesn't hurt less.
I've been looking forward to having some time alone: time to myself, as well as time alone with my husband. My mom has been asking for quite a while when I would let her take Violet overnight again. Last time my mom took her, it felt like I spent the whole time she was gone crying. I knew that it would be hard to be away from her, but I had no idea the sort of doubled-over, gut-wrenching pain that letting her go would cause. It's fairly terrible.
This time I thought it might be different. You see, last time I let her go I knew I needed the time, but I didn't really want her to go. This time I WANTED the time. I thought that because I was looking forward to the time alone, I might feel differently about seeing her leave. I was wrong.
It hurts to turn around and know that your baby is going away in a car without you. I trust my mom with Violet more than anyone else in the world (besides Cameron of course). I have no doubt that she uses the utmost caution with her, and that she would do anything to protect my child including give her own life in a second without even thinking about it. I know my baby is as safe as she can possibly be with my mom. However, it doesn't erase my fear that something uncontrollable will happen, and I will never see my baby again. It doesn't change the fact that I worry she will be looking for me and wondering where I am, sad that I haven't come to hold her or play with her. She can't ask for me. She can't tell my mom if she's sad because she misses mommy. That kills me.
Last night I got up to use the restroom and had the urge to check on Violet, but remembered that's she's not in her crib and decided that it would be neurotic to wake up my mom and ask her to check on my baby because in the middle of the night I needed to know that she was okay.
This morning I woke up when Cameron left and laid in bed awake for an hour or so instead of sleeping in. I'm used to waking up then because I'm afraid if I don't, I won't hear her on the monitor when she wakes up.
I miss my baby. Yesterday, I completely melted into a puddle of ugly tears on the the floor after watching her leave. But after crying it out, I put on some makeup, gathered my things, and went out to get some errands done I'd been putting off because I didn't want to do them with Violet. Last night Cameron and I went out to eat and didn't have to take turns eating while the other one held the baby. This morning, I'm updating my blog because I don't have to feed her and change her and play with her and convince her to take a morning nap so I can get ready for the day and do a few chores. No, today I'm going to put on my housework clothes, turn on some music, pour myself a glass of wine, and clean my house. Then I'm going to take a long shower, and put on something that makes me feel pretty and wear dangling earrings because I don't have to worry about my child trying to rip them from my ears. I'm going to take breaks to do nothing. I'm going to have a quiet evening at home with my husband.
Today I'm going to trust that my baby is doing fine. She is taken care of and happy. She loves Nana. Most importantly, I'm going to trust that God is in control of whatever happens.
This time I thought it might be different. You see, last time I let her go I knew I needed the time, but I didn't really want her to go. This time I WANTED the time. I thought that because I was looking forward to the time alone, I might feel differently about seeing her leave. I was wrong.
It hurts to turn around and know that your baby is going away in a car without you. I trust my mom with Violet more than anyone else in the world (besides Cameron of course). I have no doubt that she uses the utmost caution with her, and that she would do anything to protect my child including give her own life in a second without even thinking about it. I know my baby is as safe as she can possibly be with my mom. However, it doesn't erase my fear that something uncontrollable will happen, and I will never see my baby again. It doesn't change the fact that I worry she will be looking for me and wondering where I am, sad that I haven't come to hold her or play with her. She can't ask for me. She can't tell my mom if she's sad because she misses mommy. That kills me.
Last night I got up to use the restroom and had the urge to check on Violet, but remembered that's she's not in her crib and decided that it would be neurotic to wake up my mom and ask her to check on my baby because in the middle of the night I needed to know that she was okay.
This morning I woke up when Cameron left and laid in bed awake for an hour or so instead of sleeping in. I'm used to waking up then because I'm afraid if I don't, I won't hear her on the monitor when she wakes up.
I miss my baby. Yesterday, I completely melted into a puddle of ugly tears on the the floor after watching her leave. But after crying it out, I put on some makeup, gathered my things, and went out to get some errands done I'd been putting off because I didn't want to do them with Violet. Last night Cameron and I went out to eat and didn't have to take turns eating while the other one held the baby. This morning, I'm updating my blog because I don't have to feed her and change her and play with her and convince her to take a morning nap so I can get ready for the day and do a few chores. No, today I'm going to put on my housework clothes, turn on some music, pour myself a glass of wine, and clean my house. Then I'm going to take a long shower, and put on something that makes me feel pretty and wear dangling earrings because I don't have to worry about my child trying to rip them from my ears. I'm going to take breaks to do nothing. I'm going to have a quiet evening at home with my husband.
Today I'm going to trust that my baby is doing fine. She is taken care of and happy. She loves Nana. Most importantly, I'm going to trust that God is in control of whatever happens.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Everything Changes
Welcome to life with a baby: everything changes... all the time. Or maybe that's just what we think is going on, and it feels like it's changing when we are the ones changing (or better yet, learning).
Tonight is the first night since we started giving Violet tub baths as part of her bed time routine that Cameron wasn't here for it. He had to work this evening so I did it myself. We both thought that Violet absolutely loved being in the tub. She is always so happy in there and doesn't seem to want to get out. Tonight it wasn't that way. She cried and screamed and turned bright red and it took me constantly singing in a frog voice with a puppet wash cloth to get her to calm down long enough for me to finish her bath. It was during that time that I realized it's not the bath that Violet loves... it's the undivided attention she gets from her daddy during bath time. Cameron has been giving her baths since she was born. At first I was too scared to hold a wet squirmy baby, but then it just kind of became his thing. She absolutely loves Cameron and lights up in a special way when he holds her and plays with her. It wasn't until she was crying in the bathtub tonight that I realized bath time is the only time when daddy isn't distracted by me or the tv or the cell phone or anything else. The moment he puts her in the tub, it's all about her. Maybe that's why she hates getting out: she knows that her special daddy time is ending and she will have to go to bed.
I feel like I'm learning more about her everyday. She has likes and dislikes and she is different with me than she is with Cameron. He is her fun partner and he's entertaining. Mommy is more serious. We've been trying to read with her after bath time before bed but it never works because she is so upset about the bath being over that she just cries and doesn't pay any attention to what's going on. Tonight she wasn't so upset when the bath ended and I was able to sit down with her and read to her and pray with her. That's something we've never been able to do before bed.
I love getting to know this little girl. I love that every "change" lets me know a little more about this little person God gave us.
Tonight is the first night since we started giving Violet tub baths as part of her bed time routine that Cameron wasn't here for it. He had to work this evening so I did it myself. We both thought that Violet absolutely loved being in the tub. She is always so happy in there and doesn't seem to want to get out. Tonight it wasn't that way. She cried and screamed and turned bright red and it took me constantly singing in a frog voice with a puppet wash cloth to get her to calm down long enough for me to finish her bath. It was during that time that I realized it's not the bath that Violet loves... it's the undivided attention she gets from her daddy during bath time. Cameron has been giving her baths since she was born. At first I was too scared to hold a wet squirmy baby, but then it just kind of became his thing. She absolutely loves Cameron and lights up in a special way when he holds her and plays with her. It wasn't until she was crying in the bathtub tonight that I realized bath time is the only time when daddy isn't distracted by me or the tv or the cell phone or anything else. The moment he puts her in the tub, it's all about her. Maybe that's why she hates getting out: she knows that her special daddy time is ending and she will have to go to bed.
I feel like I'm learning more about her everyday. She has likes and dislikes and she is different with me than she is with Cameron. He is her fun partner and he's entertaining. Mommy is more serious. We've been trying to read with her after bath time before bed but it never works because she is so upset about the bath being over that she just cries and doesn't pay any attention to what's going on. Tonight she wasn't so upset when the bath ended and I was able to sit down with her and read to her and pray with her. That's something we've never been able to do before bed.
I love getting to know this little girl. I love that every "change" lets me know a little more about this little person God gave us.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Sleep Saga
Now that we seem to be moving out of the horrendous zombie phase (fingers crossed) I feel like I can relate the past few weeks of our little lives.
I want to preface with this: we absolutely love and adore our little girl- we couldn't be more happy that God blessed us with her and no amount of strife could ever make us feel otherwise. However, until about a week ago, she had become more like an angry little monster than a little girl.
About two weeks ago I would say we were in our own version of newborn hell. She fussed all the time, was almost never happy or even just content, and at night, she was near impossible to get to sleep, and even when she did go to sleep, she would wake up 3-4 hours later and not want to go back to sleep for the rest of the night. Because I'm with her all day (and at that point she was fussing most of the day, required me to hold her the ENTIRE time or would cry/scream, and she was eating an insane amount so I spent half the day feeding her), Cameron takes care of most of her needs after he's had a chance to shower after work (so in the evenings I could fix dinner and attempt to pick up a few things)- he was even pulling the night duty solo. What this means is that I was spending about 14 hrs 1 on 1 with her, exhausted, and still healing from the whole having a baby thing, and Cameron was working all day to come home to an exhausted wife, fussy baby, and a night of very little sleep. Needless to say, we were both getting cranky.
We were looking for solutions, talking to friends, and trying everyone's suggestions. Nothing seemed to be working, then someone said we should try taking her to a pediatric chiropractor. We did. The first night after taking her, she wasn't sleeping better, but she was more content. So while Cameron was still up with her a good portion of the night, at least she wasn't crying that whole time. Each time we've taken her it seems like she's more content and it lasts longer.
In addition to regular visits to the chiropractor, exactly one week ago I skimmed the entirety of Baby Wise and immediately put the principles into practice. Violet responded right away. She has steadily worked up in just one week from the above stated night-time torture, to now sleeping 6 hours at once and then wakes up once, gets changed and fed, and goes right back to sleep for another 3-4 hours (it's beautiful). Plus, she doesn't fuss when we put her to down to sleep at night. She's ready to sleep and when she wakes up the one time, after being taken care of, she goes right back to sleep. This means that we put her to bed and we get a little time to ourselves before calling it a night and once during the night Cameron goes in, feeds her and changes her diaper, and within 30min she is put back in her crib and falls back to sleep. I don't hear her until between 7-8am.
To all of those who told me to read Baby Wise before she was born, and to those who mentioned it afterwards, you were right. While I am sure there are babies and families out there who do better with a different system, this one works wonders for us and I am soooo thankful!
I want to preface with this: we absolutely love and adore our little girl- we couldn't be more happy that God blessed us with her and no amount of strife could ever make us feel otherwise. However, until about a week ago, she had become more like an angry little monster than a little girl.
About two weeks ago I would say we were in our own version of newborn hell. She fussed all the time, was almost never happy or even just content, and at night, she was near impossible to get to sleep, and even when she did go to sleep, she would wake up 3-4 hours later and not want to go back to sleep for the rest of the night. Because I'm with her all day (and at that point she was fussing most of the day, required me to hold her the ENTIRE time or would cry/scream, and she was eating an insane amount so I spent half the day feeding her), Cameron takes care of most of her needs after he's had a chance to shower after work (so in the evenings I could fix dinner and attempt to pick up a few things)- he was even pulling the night duty solo. What this means is that I was spending about 14 hrs 1 on 1 with her, exhausted, and still healing from the whole having a baby thing, and Cameron was working all day to come home to an exhausted wife, fussy baby, and a night of very little sleep. Needless to say, we were both getting cranky.
We were looking for solutions, talking to friends, and trying everyone's suggestions. Nothing seemed to be working, then someone said we should try taking her to a pediatric chiropractor. We did. The first night after taking her, she wasn't sleeping better, but she was more content. So while Cameron was still up with her a good portion of the night, at least she wasn't crying that whole time. Each time we've taken her it seems like she's more content and it lasts longer.
In addition to regular visits to the chiropractor, exactly one week ago I skimmed the entirety of Baby Wise and immediately put the principles into practice. Violet responded right away. She has steadily worked up in just one week from the above stated night-time torture, to now sleeping 6 hours at once and then wakes up once, gets changed and fed, and goes right back to sleep for another 3-4 hours (it's beautiful). Plus, she doesn't fuss when we put her to down to sleep at night. She's ready to sleep and when she wakes up the one time, after being taken care of, she goes right back to sleep. This means that we put her to bed and we get a little time to ourselves before calling it a night and once during the night Cameron goes in, feeds her and changes her diaper, and within 30min she is put back in her crib and falls back to sleep. I don't hear her until between 7-8am.
To all of those who told me to read Baby Wise before she was born, and to those who mentioned it afterwards, you were right. While I am sure there are babies and families out there who do better with a different system, this one works wonders for us and I am soooo thankful!
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