Looks...

I honestly don't have too much to report on this week. It's been very laid back. Emma's been having a bit of a rough time again/still with sleeping. She goes down between 7:30-8:00 and does great until around midnight. Then she starts waking up screaming. On a good night, she's up twice to eat. On a bad night, she's up once an hour. It's a nightmare. We're not sure what her exact issue is. Like I've mentioned before, we've tried the "cry it out" method with no avail. I've read a TON on the internet and it seems like the best method so far is the "No-Cry Sleep Method." It's a book that aims to solve sleep issues in babies and toddlers. According to what I speed read last night (got the book yesterday morning), it seems that her issue is the pacifier. The author explains that when you have a baby who wakes up frequently at night, they have sleep associations that are issues. A sleep association is basically something that the baby has been trained to think that it needs in order to sleep. When the paci falls out in the middle of the night, she wakes up because she thinks she needs it. We've done the Almighty Paci dance for about 3 months now. It's no fun.

Anyway, the author explains how to gently teach Emma that she doesn't have to have the paci to sleep. We've just started the removal process (you basically take the paci out of her mouth very gently once she's falling asleep. If she cries, put it back in and try again.) She's pretty good with us removing it after she falls asleep for the first time. Not so great after her first wake up. We'll get there.

I wish that I could say that her naps are better. She has actually had some pretty good naps lately, but it's not consistent. Another thing the book says is that for a nap to serve it's purpose, it needs to be a minimum of 90 minutes. Any shorter doesn't count. It also says that Emma needs to be taking 2 naps rather than the 3 that she currently takes. That's what we worked on today. She did pretty well. No big meltdowns - she frequently has huge screaming fits before bed when she's overtired, usually starting around 6:30. Tonight she did great missing that nap, up until time to put jammies on, but it was short-lived. She was EXHAUSTED when we put her down, so we'll see if she sleeps any better tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed. We've got a lot of activities coming up because of the holidays and I'm praying that we get Emma back to being her sweet, happy little self before then! Could make for lots of cancelled plans!

Like I said, we haven't done much this week. I've been trying to catch up on some much needed sleep, which hasn't worked out too well! I got our Christmas cards mailed out much earlier than I usually do. Proud of that!

A lot of people have mentioned lately how much Emma is starting to look like me. I've noticed it too. I'll be the first to tell you that up until now, she's been a little baby Brad. She's had moments of looking like me, but just barely. She has my fingers, feet, nose, and mouth. Lately her eyes have looked like mine as a baby as well. I'll let you be the judge. Here's a picture of Brad as a baby, then one of me at 6 months, then Emma. I've been remiss in taking Emma pictures this week, so here's one from fairly recently. I'll take some soon and post them so you can see how much she's grown.