Seaside

Katya had such a good time at the beach! We went for a walk 'downtown' to look at the shops. She enjoyed the walk very much. She got to ride on a carousel thanks to grandma Sharon. She wasn't sure at first but warmed up quick and did NOT want to get off! On the drive home she was saying "more, horse." She also liked the ocean water after a little while. She was not too sure about the sand at first but it did not take too long. Doug, Sharon, Don, Joan and the Grands had rented a darling house just 2 blocks from the sand. It worked out great that someone was always at the house to man the baby monitor during Reagan's naps. Unfortunately we had to eat and run after an early dinner to get our kiddos to bed at a decent hour. Especially since Reagan is going through a huge adjustment with her sleep; consistency is so important. The drive home went smooth (Katya was much better behaved) and we got home by 745pm. What a lovely day!

I will post pictures after I get them from Sharon, I forgot the SD card for our camera!

Sleep training day 3 & 4

Day 3: Great naps with little crying. Bed time at 7pm (she does not have a set bed time yet, we just put her down no more than 2hrs after her last nap). Cry time: 50 mins. She only got up once to nurse and slept until 7:30am, fantastic!

Day 4: We went to Seaside today (a beach town about 1.5hr from Portland) so that messed up naps a bit. Reagan took a really good morning nap at the house in Seaside but her second nap was poor. And then she was up way too long because of the car ride home (my kids don't sleep much in the car). She did not go to bed until 8:30 and cried for 20minutes. I went to her because I had to put some stuff away in her room and set up the monitor. I nursed her again because she had not eaten much right before bed. She ate well and when down. Cried only a few minutes off and on! Total crying: 22 minutes

Sleep training: day 2

Last night we put Reagan to bed around 6pm. She screamed; I went to her after 20 minutes to make sure she did not need a diaper change; she did not so I attemped to sooth her without picking her up (no luck) and then left. Total crying time: 1hr 30minutes. She woke up after only an hour and a half of sleep. I went to her, nursed her, changed her and put her back down. She cried for only a few minutes and fell asleep. She only got up one more time to nurse and slept until 7:30am. Not bad (besided the hour and a half of crying of course; how our hearts ached)!

Yesterday she napped in her crib all day. Her naps were not great but not terrible and it makes sense that it will take some getting use to before she is back to her super napping. She only cried for a few minutes each time she was put down for a nap in her crib and the last nap she did not cry at all!

This morning she went down for her first nap about 9:30 and is still down at 1230! She barley resisted being put down in her crib; I am so happy how quickly she is taking to the crib. Craig said that she did wake up after being down for only about 30 minutes and cried very weakly (more fussing than crying) for about 30 minutes. She fell back to sleep without intervention.

Here is Katya in her darling Halloween costum from Grandma and Baba Faulkner. She is the cutest Tinker Bell ever!

Sleep training: day 1

Last night was our first night of 'teaching' Rea to sleep in her crib. We were planning on waiting until after the baptism weekend but she has been increasingly fussy and resistant to bed time lately (even while being held which is the only way she will go to bed without screaming her head off). Craig tried putting her to bed last night and she would not settle down, even in his arms. If she is in need of nothing but sleep, yet still cries while being held, it is real easy to decide to let her cry. But leaving her to cry herself to sleep is INCREDIBLY hard. The thing is, if we leave her for 10, 20 or even 30 mins crying but then go to her she just learns that she has to keep crying and eventually mom will come get her. And then it is that much harder for all of us next time we try and put her down. But what if she really does need something? So hard!

I went to her last night after 30 minutes and discovered that she did infact need something, she had pooped. I changed her and tried soothing her but she was so PO'ed that she kept crying. So I kissed her and but her back to bed. She continued to scream; total crying time: 1hr 35 minutes. She then slept for an hour and woke up crying. I let her cry for a few minutes to see is she would settle back down but then went to see is she needed something and sure enough she had pooped again. I changed her, offered her milk, soothed and then put her down. Immediately she started screaming; I headed downstairs to pump off the rest of my milk, and low and behold, she fell asleep after only a minute or two of crying! What a relief! She woke up once, kicked her legs and wiggled for a while but did not cry and fell back to sleep. After that she woke up 2x to eat and went back to bed in her crib with very little resistance. Success!! It sure makes the crying worth it to know that she is going to sleep so much better in her crib once she gets use to it.

I wasn't committed to trying the crib vs the swing for naps today because I feel that it is more important that she naps well during the day, and is put down in her crib at night. But I definitely wanted to try. I soothed her and put her down sleepy, she did not cry immediately but then started up. She only cried hard for a few minutes, then fussed a little, and is now asleep! Yeah! Hopefully she will stay down, for a good long nap (her morning nap is the longest, usually 3-4hrs) in her crib.

I expect a good amount of "resistance" crying (as Dr. Weissbluth would say) again tonight but I think we are on the right track. I am so anixous to get the worst of it over. It is crazy how hard this is even though I know it is super important and is in her best interest.

Video clips

Here is a clip of Reagan in her bouncy toy. She is slightly young for it still but does pretty good with close supervision. She loves the green frog and is pretty amazed when she inadvertently hits it with her hand!


Here is a clip of Katya 'reading' "Goodnight Gorilla" to Reagan. She is such a sweet big sister! The funny faces she makes is mimicking a character in the book.


Katya amazed us last night by 'reading' "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy" to herself. You have to watch it and know the book to be properly impressed but I will try to explain. She flipped through the book and recited several of the lines, on the correct page. Here is Katya's version of the darling book her Aunt and Uncle Smith got her: "Hello." "Puppy, puppy, puppy!" "Awwww. Puppies!" "Right now! Right here!" "AUUUGGGGHHHH!" "Change mind." "Waawiee." (That last line reads: I want a Walrus).

Love to all, Brenda

Fun with daddy

Here are some picture of Craig and Miss Reagan.

Birthday video clips

Here are some video clips from Katya's birthday. I wish we had a microphone on our camera!
She kept rearranging her table and chairs. She would move an chair and say, "right here!"

She loves all her gifts, even though it may not look like it from some of this videos:0) She is 2 after all...
The sugar high.