Mommy 911! Requesting backup at Crib! Outside resources needed!

     Well today is kind of an emergency day. Not like, 911 emergency, but still. Well it WAS a 911 emergency when Haley decided to dial 911 and hang up (oh, hello officer.... yeah, no emergency here... yes I'm sure). No, this emergency is particularly urgent because, well honestly, not only is it unnerving, but it's a little ittitating after a while (sorry, Hal).
     Well, last night, around 11:30pm or so, I hear Haley moaning in her sleep on the moniter, nothing new here... After a few minutes of that, all of a sudden a SCREAM! And I DO mean scream. It was immediately followed by that "I'm terrified" cry that all mom's know so well. Of course, we ran in there to see what was up; of course, nothing. So After a few intense minutes of calming her down and rocking her to sleep in my arms, we were finally able to go back to what we were doing before (you know, parent time... no not that! Get your mind out of the gutter, there are children present!). Anyway, she woke up an hour or so later, but I gave her the bottle while she was still in the moaning stage, no problem. Around 4:30 in the morning, we wake up to the "terrified" scream and cry over the monitor. Again, we both went in there to make sure nothing was going on (it wasn't). This time though, the only way I could get her to go back to sleep was to leave her bedroom door open with the hallway light shining in. Went back to bed around 5 and she was fine in the morning, playing in her crib for about an hour or so before making a peep.
     As hopeful (or nieve) as I am, I figured this was a one time thing, perhaps a nightmare that she had twice or something of that nature. Put her down for a nap, she fought me more than usual on it, but still went down relitively hassle-free. Tonight though, is a different story. Bedtime is at 8pm for her, everynight. She knows that, and will usually get cranky if she stays up much later than that. We get her all changed (on the changing table that she freaks out on... every time, for a week or so), and she was ok afterwards. As soon as she hit her mattress, SCREAMING. Non-stop, red in the face, sweating, the whole nine yards, again sounding terrified. We took her out, brought her into the living room for a while, and tried again (and again). Well finally, around 10:30 or so, I had had it. I was so ready to put my fist through the wall. Any wall would have been fine (hey, I'm a mom, not a saint!). I tried to put her in her little bouncer (the only that looks like a clamshell... yes, you know what I'm talking about), and she screamed the same way as soon as I put her there too. (F!)
     Finally, I decided I no longer cared about anything but getting this kid to sleep. So we took her and put her in our bed and I layed down with her. Mike decided to get her old convertible co-sleeper and set up the playpen part of it so that she can sleep in our room so she doesn't have to be alone until whatever is going on passes. Yeah, no that didn't work either. Same screaming when we put her there too! The only solution was to put her in our bed and hang out with her until she fell asleep (and you KNOW I fell asleep too!). I guess when we go to bed that we can try to move her to the co-sleeper since it is right next to the bed and there will be minimal sleeping baby transportation.
     The emergency part of all this, is the face that I have NO idea what is going on with her... None at all! I'm thinking it could be her teeth, and fro mthe pain came the need to be held and comforted. I have no idea. I am really hoping, though, that that is not going to be a long term thing, where she will be sleeping in our bed and putting up a fuss everytime she sees her crib. I don't think that babies her age (she's 9 months old now, holy crap!) have the capacity to be afraid of the dark, since they really have no concept of anything they can't see hurting them. I guess I could be wrong. If anyone has ANY kind of input, any at all, please, please, please pass it along. I don't know how much longer I can see her like this. I am absolutely starting to worry for her. I'm hoping that nothing serious is wrong with her. I just need some help here. Thanks in advance (feel obligated yet? Because that phrase always makes me).
     Until next time, Happy Momming! (happier momming than mine)

Mommy, Baby, and Friends.

     So, things have been a little sedentary around here lately. Well until last week. Haley was pretty sick so we ended up taking her to the doctors. Turns out she has allergies and got a bronchial infection from them. All I know is that I want to find out who came up with the idea that we should give all medicines to infants via medicine spoons, and have a serious chat with the guy. Further, why did I not think to use the dropper instead of the spoon earlier than I did? Anyway, after a few days of meds (and cursing said guy), she is starting to feel much better.
     Also, Haley is finally crawling! I have been waiting for her to finally get it, and after about a month or so of almost crawling, she finally started crawling! We have been really excited. I have to say, it's pretty cool to watch her learn the art of movment. You don't really ever think of movement as something you have to learn, it's sort of one of those thing we take for granted, most of us, anyway.
     Further, Hal and I have made friends! We started hanging out with a friend of mine who I have known for a long time. I hadn't really talk to her since we were in Junior High, but then all of a sudden, thanks to Facebook, we started talking. Turns out she has a son one month younger than Haley, and is also a stay at home mommy! Who would have thought!? So there areeeee more of us out there... Needless to say, things have been going a lot smoother for me personally having someone around who is in the same boat (or baby tub), so to speak.
     I am definitely encouraging everyone out there, SAHM, or not, to try to link up with some other mommies who have kids the same age. I underestimated the effect of common ground and friendship on stress. Anyway, I am going to go ahead and sell out to "the man" and recommend my favorite Haley toy on here and link to Amazon. Personally, it doesn't matter to me if you buy or not, I'm just sharing with you some of the things that make my life a little easier.

Playing Catch-up.

     Well, what can I say? I haven't written anything since March 21st. I suppose I have been busy, though I'm not quite sure with what. Anyhow...
    
     Haley is starting to crawl (finally!), and I have to confess, watching the learning process is somewhat funny. She is getting all over the house without actually going through the motions of defined crawling. She will go on hands and knees, then hands and feet, then roll around, then sit up.... oh it goes on and on. I was scouring the internet for any helpful websites for crawling and found this to be pretty helpful. There's also a video out there of early stage crawling, but unfotunately I can't find it (sorry, guys!).

     Doing the whole SAHM (that's Stay At Home Mom for anyone acronym(ly?) illiterate) thing has been ok lately. I know I was having some trouble adjusting there for a while. I am finding that once everyone settles into schedules, it's really not so bad. I actually held a Partylite party at my house last night, and even hosted Easter Sunday here this year! As it turns out, having the time to be home and care for your kid as well as your house, itsn't as daunting of a task and I have been making it out to be. Now, I am, by NO means, dismissing the work and stress and effort required of SAHMs, because I know that sometimes it just gets to be too much. All I am trying to say is, finally, after 8 months, I am settling into a routine.

     CONFESSION TIME: A little while ago, I find Haley in her crib after her nap, soaking wet. I really do hate going in there to a pee covered baby, but what can you do? So I change her and get her all dressed in her second cute outfit, pick her up and bring her in the living room to play, and realize by the time I get there, my arm and chest are soaking wet. Well, apparently in my own haste, I forgot to put a diaper on Haley. Yeah, that's right. So that was my fun time, I guess.

     Another thing I noticed: As Haley hit the 8 month mark, she sort of boycotted her sleep schedule, as well as one of her naps during the day. I am wondering if there are any other babies that did this around this age? She is no longer sleeping through the night (yeah, that lasted about 3 weeks) and now she will usually only take one nap a day, some days it's almost non-existant. I have to idea what's going on with this sleep thing, but I do have to say that it is messing with my schedule, and that I am finding it increasingly difficult to get anything done during the day.

     Well, I guess that's about it for now. Mobile baby means not too much time for the computer anymore (or anything else for that matter). Although we DID manage to finally put our mailbox up! Take that township plowers! Until next time folks....

     Happy momming!