She Who Will Not Sleep Unless Held

After 4 consecutive nights of sleeping through the night, we thought we had tamed the sleeping shrew, but it wasn't to be. Every night after that has gotten progressively worse.

It started with waking once a night, then multiple times. It progressed to waking up when we put her down, no matter how asleep. Last night it escalated to holding her all night while she slept.

She also wouldn't eat baby food yesterday. We are guessing at 2 things, either she is teething or has an ear infection. We are going to see how she does today at the sitters, but will take her in tonight to get checked out. She has an appointment in 2 weeks for her check up, but we can't wait that long if she is sick. Guess we'll find out tonight.

2-Nighter

The little girl in her jammies slept 2 nights in a row without waking!



She still awoke at 6:30 on Sunday, but this morning we had to wake her up to go to the sitters. She, like her brother, is opposed to light early in the morning. Once she was fully awake she was as happy as a clam.

Our bodies, however, are in shock from being allowed to sleep so long. Now we just have to get the caffeine withdrawal in check and we'll be almost back to normal.

Dress Up

The little girl known as 'the one who will sit for pictures' had her picture taken last night with Santa. Her brother, being the Grinch he is, refused pictures with Santa due to his fear of Santa. He rode the train instead.


Tori was in fine form as the Santa photographers got more smiles out of her than the people who took her last photos. She was dressed as Santa's reindeer for the occasion. Instead of her nose being bright, there was just a bit of additional slobber. A couple of smiles and pictures later we were on our way with 2 bags of M & M's for the train rider and more pictures of Rudolph the slobbery reindeer.

Player

The Squirmy Worm has grown into a very active bug. She scoots, rolls, grabs and chews everything.



The past couple of nights, she started to discover her feet. The bad thing is that she wants to play with them in the middle of the night or before she falls asleep. 2 nights ago, at 3 am I hear a thump, thump, thump coming from the monitor. I thought a cat was trapped in her room. I went in and she was raising both her legs and slamming them down on her mattress in her sleep.

Last night while she was laying in bed, she was on her side with her legs extended grabbing her feet. Apparently, they are the new discovery. It won't be long before she is really mobile. We will be in real trouble then.

Embarrassing

We all have embarrassing photos of us and this is just another that Tori will probably hate in her future.



How could you not think this is cute? The bewildered look must be because of the head band that she is wearing. Then there is the matching dog. I'm sure she'll hate the picture in a few short years.

Say Cheese

The little Miss had her first photo session on Saturday. One of her outfits that she wore is shown below.


The experience was fairly awful. We ended up not getting any of the pictures of her in that dress. We got a couple of profile pictures, but that was it. She tired and ready for a nap, so not many smiles were to be had. The people taking the pictures didn't know how to deal with kids and the photos that were taken weren't good.

It was hard to hear anything with all the people, so we weren't sure what we were supposed to do while looking at the shots. There was also the hard sell of extra's like black and white or special poses.

Another quick question, why try to sit up a 5 month old in a chair? Why try to take a picture of a child sitting, who can't sit? I don't know either, but she tried it 3 different ways and none worked. Next time we won't be going to Portrait Innovations, we'll be going to a regular place that knows what they are doing.

Piper Meet Tori

Roll Over

Tori has started trying to roll from front to back. Her arm keeps getting in the way of the roll. She doesn't know what to do with it. She is mobile in every aspect of her life now. She plays in her exersaucer, swing, bed and floor. The only time she stops moving is when she watches the fish.



This weekend she will be getting her picture taken for the first time. Her brother may or may not be in the picture with her. We are hoping they'll both smile for 1 picture. I'm sure they'll try to gouge us for the rest of the pictures as well.

3 AM

These too culprits got and kept their Mama up at 3 am. Tori was awake and in the living room with her mom. Ollie was rustled out of our bed by the light in the living room 10 minutes later. These two are NOT good sleepers. Tori eventually fell asleep on the way to the sitters. I'm hoping she gets her sleeping straightened out and if she's going to have a bad night, she may as well do it during my shift for a change. Her Mama has been getting every one of them recently. We hope it changes for the better soon.

Mobile Monkey

Our little girl is moving as much as possible. She loves wriggling, rolling and scooting. She can't flip over from her front to back yet, but she has mastered back to front. She has also mastered it in her bed, which she hasn't done up to this point. I found her on her tummy at 4:45 am this morning with her head in the corner and at an angle to the bed. I left her flat on her back in the middle of the night, so she was active in her sleep. The only thing I worry about her sleeping on her tummy is SIDS. I'm hoping she doesn't flip again for awhile, but I doubt I'll get my wish. Other than that she is an extremely happy child who likes to make monster noises all the time.

Hershey's Kiss

Pictures of the 1 child we could get dressed up and still force would take a picture for Halloween.





That was her adventure for Halloween. Next year, she may try the real thing!

Squirm Baby

Tori's newest object of her affection is the ceramic kitty that Tresa got from her aunt. Last night, I laid Tori down near the kitty and she kept scooting, rolling and trying to get close to the kitty. It didn't take too long and she was near head butting the kitty. She kept doing 360's on her back and inch closer to it. We'd stand her up and she'd laugh or make a noise of approval like "Heh, I'm going to get you kitty".



She was very happy and ready to go. She went to bed at 10:30 and when she woke at 2 am for food, she was turned sideways and had no where else to go. Her Michael Jordan imitation also lasted all night. She loves sticking her tongue out at you, just don't take it personally.

Party All Night Long

The Push-Up Queen was up most of the night last night with her Mama. She went to bed at 6 pm, got up around 8 for a bottle and was up about 2 am for the day. She took 1 nap during that time. It led to one tired Mama. Somehow, I always get the good nights, her Mama seems to get the bad.

Other than that, she enjoys her being on her stomach more now than she did. She loves sticking her tongue out and will probably be a thumb sucker. She is already better at sucking her thumb than Ollie. She is reaching and grabbing things, which makes it really hard to give her a bottle at times. She also seems to no longer want her pacifier. I don't think we will have any kids that will need to be broken from a pacifier. She eats much better than she has in the past. Pears seem to be a current favorite.

One other thing, this morning after eating 3 oz. of milk, she spit a lot of it back up on me. I guess all that patty-cake movement caused the upheaval. I'm glad I was still at home so I could change.

Long Night

Not real sure if it was because she had a hard day, slept less and had went to be earlier or if she was just tired out from all of Monday's activities, but Tori slept until 4 :30 am! Her parents were shocked that she hadn't woken up. After a quick bottle, she fell back asleep on my shoulder and slept for another hour.



I'm sure it won't reoccur tonight, but it is nice that it happens every once in awhile.

Pumpkin and Kiss

For Halloween Tori was dressed for the day as a pumpkin.



She seemed to enjoy the glowing in the dark part. At her mom's work, she had her picture taken as a Hershey's Kiss. She got to wear tights and a white long-sleeved onesie underneath her costume. She was very good for the entire thing. Her mom had to hold her upright to have her picture taken and we got a small smile out of her.

Her hat didn't stay on well, but it worked for the hour she was in the costume. Everyone thought she was the sweetest thing (pun intended). Once home, she spent the rest of the night answering the door with her parents as a few kids exclaimed how cute she was without her costume. Maybe next year she'll be able to go trick or treating.