Sometimes, you just GOTA take a nap...

The past week has been busy. We have been working hard at some "sleep training". I figured it was time to address the situation. Lola would cry if I put her down but then smile and want to play when I arrived at the crib to pick her up. Heather promised me that if I stuck it out, her tried and true method would pay off in as little as 3 days. It seemed impossible but.......

She was right.

We changed our previous routine around so now we have snack, bath, story and bed with Ocean Wonders in the background. While the few minutes of crying seemed like HOURS to me, the results were definately worth it. She never cried longer than 5 minutes before I went in to check on her and sooth her. The first night, she fell asleep under our hands when we( Wil and I) were talking to her. By night number 3, all I heard was one little squeek before she drifted off. This is great for many reasons. Firstly, she understands that she can put herself to sleep without being nursed. Secondly, she sleeps through the night( now that I figured out I have to turn her night light OFF and remove her mobile or else she sees her buddies and thinks it's playtime). Thirdly, if she DOES wake up, she can usually fall back asleep herself, unless she is hungry.

Selfishly, I am thinking that I may actually get to go out one evening....

My favorite Bed Head

Lola may still have a bald spot at the back of her head but you'd never know it when I pick her up from her crib in the morning. This was the toothless wonder that greeted me this morning at 7:00 am when I went to see what all the noise was about. She doesn't cry, just alot of ennnnnnnnnnn until someone picks her up. Stay tuned for some photos of the "Melis Curls" that occur after her bath....

Evolution: From Ewok to Sheep

We have finally moved on to our pink "sheepskin" from Raquel. The pink Ewok has offically been sent to retirement in yonder storage box. But I do think this is pretty darn sweet as well....

One and two and three and FOUR

Lola loves her kick toy from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Seb. It is part of our daily routine of fun and games and appears in our morning play session AND our afternoon/evening session with Daddy. I like to think of it as a mini aerobics class to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle". She always kicks harder and laughs longer when I sit beside her and call out encouragement and compliment her "technique". She's pretty good and saving all her energy for one sporatic burst in which her tongue sticks out and all her arms and legs get going....

Isn't it IRONIC

Well, I never thought it could happen. She looks sweet as pie in her new favorite chair, but this little lady has a very definate personality.

After all we did, the pumping, the crying( and not just Lola!), the feeding tubes and the endless attempts to breastfeed, Lola has now made a decision.

NO more bottles allowed-AT ALL.

Yes, I know, I should have been more diligent and continued to bottle feed her even though breast feeding was going so well. What to do now? I have no idea. We are trying to re-train her to use a bottle but so far, it's not going so well. WHO would have ever thought that she would "forget" something she did for the first 5 weeks of her life? NOT ME, that's for sure!

Isn't it ironic?

Smiles and giggles

Lola is all about laughing these days. And she's finally able to sit up on the couch. But you have to stay very close because sometimes when she reaches for something she just topples over and she hasn't quite figured out how to roll yet. She's very, very close to figuring that out though. Any day I expect her to "complete" her roll. Right now she gets up on her side and totters, then falls back.

Necessity- the mother of invention

The problem was simple. I needed to carry the empty basket upstairs to get more laundry but Lola wanted to come too. On a lark, I plopped her in the basket only to discover that she loves it. It is now her new chair while I cook dinner and do other tasks. Goes to show you that kids to like the simplest of things....

V- day

Happy Valentines Day! We have been trying to keep ourselves busy with all this cold weather. This is the card we made for Wil when it was blizzarding and too cold to leave the house.

HEY! What are you looking at?

Our darling little girl in her skivies, of course! Check out those baby rolls.....

L-O-L-A Lola...

It's been too cold to do much this week. While it has been nice and sunny the wind chill is making almost impossible for me to take Lola out for very long. This is what happens when we have to stay inside, I have no more "games" to play and Mom and Lola get bored.....

Ladies and Gentlemen, Place your bets!

As most of you have seen Lola's eyes are blue. As most have you have heard,I was really hoping they would stay that way. I was convinced( and convincing myself) that they were going to stay blue just like her Dad. Now I'm not so sure. They are definately changing these days and I think I see some little spots of brown. Only time will tell but is sure is fun to guess!

Toys, toys and more toys

But these are some of her fav new toys given to us by Lyndsey and Laurence. They are perfect for practicing lifting with two hands, have lovely textures and are great for chewing on( you'll notice a pattern here) Oh, and she is amazed at the duck sound. It always makes her stop crying from sheer confusion at what the sound is and where it is coming from. Not that is what I call success!