SOS Call for Help!

Do you like this picture of Naomi? She's such a cutie, huh? Well, let me tell you some things about this cutie...

We're having some issues with sleep patterns in our house. To be more precise, I do not approve of Naomi's late hours. She was staying up until 10:30 or 11:00 PM and sleeping in until 9:00 AM. I tried getting her up earlier in the morning, hoping her whole schedule would get moved a couple hours earlier. I believe the phrase "the plan backfired" completely fits here. Apparently it was much too logical to actually work.

The first day I got her up earlier in the morning, Naomi went to bed even later than usual that night and got up at 4 AM or something like that. I tried it a couple mornings and didn't really get much response. So I let that die out and figured I would just have to survive this late bedtime until she's old enough that I can do something about it.

Unfortunately, Naomi's sleeping pattern did shift, but not the way I wanted!! She has started going to bed after midnight and sleeping in until 10:30 or so. I'm not a night owl, so this is a huge struggle for me, especially when I read that the optimal bedtime for babies is between 7 and 8 PM. Basically I go to bed around 11:30 and Matt has duty the rest of the time until she gets to sleep. ARGH.

IF YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE, MAKE SURE TO PASS IT ALONG. You may be responsible for keeping my sanity intact (what remains of it, that is).

It's a darn good thing she gives such huge smiles when she wakes up. She makes me laugh, melts my heart, and is probably consciously manipulating me so I will continue to allow her late-night schedule. Silly girl.

1st doctor visit (other than well-baby check-ups)

On Monday Naomi had her first doctor visit for illness. She's developed a hacking cough, sneezing, some raspy breathing, an extremely red sore throat, and (GASP) nose juice drippings. (I just can't bring myself to say my child has snot coming out her nose.) The doctor verified that her lungs and ears are all clear.

So now we get to put nasal saline drops in Naomi's nose and pound on her back to help loosen up the nasty stuff inside. She's not a fan of the drops going up her nose. I tried them this morning to see what I was inflicting on her and they drove me nuts, too.

I also have the same symptoms as Naomi, so Matthew gets to sit in the living room and listen to Val coughing from one bedroom followed by Naomi coughing from the other bedroom. He has informed me that Naomi's coughs are much cuter. I didn't take offense - everything gets cuter when it's in a smaller version.

Naomi in the jogger

Here's a fun picture of Naomi in the stroller, ready to head out for (what else would you do when you're in a stroller?) a stroll.

Evolution of sleeping position

Testing the waters and pushing the limits already!

When we put Naomi in her crib to sleep, we always put her on her back...up until last Friday, that is. In accordance with the "Back to Sleep" campaign, you're not supposed to put babies on their tummies to sleep. Once Naomi learned to roll over, we put wedges on both sides of her to keep her from rolling. That worked great for awhile!

Naomi eventually learned how to work around the wedges and still get onto her tummy. Sometimes she would scootch far enough up and kick the wedges down so that the wedges would end up on the opposite side of the crib from her. Last week she decided to really let me know exactly what she thought of me putting her in those wedges: she didn't get out of them like she normally would, she just slept right on top of them. (See picture 1). I can't decide if it was a defiant act or if she's already conquering everything that's in her way!

So we took the wedges away and started putting her on her back in the middle of the crib. It only takes about 20 seconds before she rolls over to her tummy, so she's now a tummy sleeper. She does tend to move herself around with those legs, though, and occasionally she'll stick an arm or a leg through the bars. (We are considering the bumper pad options to see what would work best to prevent her from injuring herself by sticking something through the slats and then twisting really hard.)

Sometimes she'll get her knees under her and they don't slide out. (See picture 2). That's a pretty dang cute sleeping position! I'm not exactly sure why it's comfortable, but I've noticed lots of tots seem to enjoy it.

Tummy time with Daddy

When Matthew does tummy time with Naomi, she gets to use the boppy and it's way easier than when Mommy is in charge of tummy time and makes Naomi lay on the floor. Here's a picture of tummy time with Daddy yesterday.

5 month update

Naomi is 5 months old today and she is doing great! She is propping up well as you can see from the picture. (Normally I don't leave her in just a diaper, but after two clothes changes due to spitting up and one clothes change due to oozing green poop, I felt a preemptive strike against cleaning more clothes was in order.)

Naomi's latest interests include:

1. Doorknobs and locks: they are shiny, on both sides of the door, and they move!! She can stare at them for longer than Mommy wants to stand by the door, and she's just started grabbing them.

2. The roll of paper towels on the counter which are still in the package: a great toy for Naomi! It crinkles (which she loves), it's soft (so when she pushes it over on her foot it's not a big deal), it rolls around, and it's almost bigger than she is! When she tries to pick it up, it's more like she's hugging it than anything else.

3. Grabbing things with her hands: for the last couple weeks, Naomi would stretch out her arms and then move them together in front of her in a circular motion, gathering up whatever happened to be in her reach in the process. In the last couple days, though, she has started shooting her arm directly at what she wants instead of trying to sweep it up. I love it!

4. Octopus tentacles: Naomi loves the octopus on her sea-life mobile. (I have to admit I'm a bit partial to it, too.) At first when we would stand her up in the crib and let her watch the mobile turn, she was pretty tentative and needed encouragement to see that her hands could interact with the toys. Now she uses her whole body to lunge towards the toys! She definitely favors the octopus, though. Her arms will reach out for it, and if she misses it, her whole body turns to watch it move away from her, and then she sees it coming around again and twists her body to watch it approach.

5. Tummy time: we have been doing lots more tummy time per the doctor's orders, and it really shows. Naomi is now much more comfortable on her tummy, and she can hang out there for quite awhile. (Of course, if my mom did crazy things to keep me entertained when I was on my tummy, I'd stay there just to see how long she would keep going and what she would come up with next!) When she gets tired of propping up and seeing things, she puts her upper body on the blanket and starts pushing up with her feet. Every once in awhile, her feet or knees will catch. Then she either lunges forward (scraping along on her face!) or her bum goes way up in the air.

6. Sitting! Naomi can't sit up all by herself, but she's needing less support by the minute.

All for a washing machine...

We've been looking for a washer and dryer, and on Saturday around 3:00 we drove over to central Tucson to check out a washer. The owner was moving and Matt did a bit of haggling and got her to drop the price.

Once we secured the washer, it was time to find a way to move it. We borrowed our home teacher's truck to pick it up. However, he's in high school, and like most high schoolers, not too into checking the gas tank level. SO...on the way to the gas station, the truck ran out of gas and Matt had to push it out of the intersection. Luckily, a very generous elderly man at the nearest gas station's cash register let me borrow his gas can.

In the meantime, we received a call from the washing machine owner telling us that we had taken too long and she had to leave for a dinner appointment. Matt finally convinced her that Sunday morning was not the ideal time for us to pick up the washer, so he arranged to get it at 9:00 Saturday night. Matt picked up our borrowed laborer (my visiting teachee's son who is home from college for the summer) that evening and headed back to central Tucson. On the way, he saw somebody getting beat up on the side of the road, so he stopped and called 911.

WHAT A DAY. All for a washing machine...next time we might just pay more to get a new one and get the stupid thing delivered.

Monday morning

Monday morning, 10:30 AM, and Naomi's already had two clothing changes due to absurd amounts of spitting up (not including the customary one from pajamas to daytime outfit which Daddy did this morning). Bring on the week!

2006 Utah Trip - Part 3: Monroe

We spent the last 4 days of our trip in Monroe with part of the Jones family. We had a great time with Ed, Connie, Grandma & Grandpa Schlueter (and Taz!), the Fieldings (Julie, Paul, Jordan, Jared, and Julisa), and the Sehers (Bethany, Dahlia, and Bobbie). We had a hot dog roast up the canyon, a work project involving cow stalls for the guys, a lunch outing for pizza (a huge event when you factor in so many people and small children!), and lots of card games. Here are some great snapshots of:

1. Julie hangin' with Naomi (the latter wearing her awesome orange overalls)
2. Jared entertaining Bobbie during picture-taking; smiles for his girlfriends might be common, but I don't see them much, so I gotta keep this picture around!
3. Bobbie chowing on some watermelon. Dahlia is carefully monitoring Bobbie's intake and impatiently waiting for her turn to attack the watermelon rind.
4. Connie, Val, and Naomi in Monrovian Canyon
5. Grandma Schlueter entertaining Naomi

2006 Utah Trip - Part 2: Festivities

On Saturday (July 1), Bethany, Dahlia, and Bobbie joined us at Kenny and Echo's for some food, fun, and fireworks. Kenny cooked shredded BBQ beef with just the right amount of garlic, and the girls ate hot dogs (or in Bobbie's case, large handfuls of ketchup). We spent some time playing outside in the grass, which was a nice change from Tucson. (WHAT?? GRASS? And playing outside during the afternoon? It may only be 12 hours south, but it's a whole different world!)

Later that evening we pulled out the fireworks. Sadly enough, there were a bunch of duds in the package, but we got in a few fun ones and later on watched the professional fireworks from the Stadium of Fire.

On Tuesday morning, we watched a good portion of the Provo parade. Some were coerced into going, but we all ended up enjoying it. It was a bit more fun having a local (Echo) to give us details on the bands from the various high schools and other such info.

2006 Utah Trip - Part 1: Provo

We just returned from a trip to Utah to see lots of family and friends. We had a wonderful time, and Naomi did surprisingly well in the car. (Although Matt would probably say that the memories of the screaming must already be fading...)

We stopped by Monroe for a day of rest on the way up, and then continued on to Provo. Lucky Val - I got to drive the last two hours alone with Naomi, who screamed and fought so hard in the carseat that she turned herself sideways twice. (Aaaahhhhhhh - the memories are coming back!!) I also thought I got a flat tire in the pouring rain and was wondering how on earth I was going to change it with all that rain and a not-so-happy baby. I offered many thanks to the heavens when I discovered the tire hadn't gone flat!

Here are some pictures from our time with Kenny, Echo, and Allyson. We did lots of hanging out, went to the BYU Bookstore and got Naomi's first BYU t-shirt, went for a walk in Provo Canyon's beautiful new park, and hit some great restaurants (Cafe Rio and Tucanos, to name a couple).

Some firsts for Naomi

Naomi tried some new stuff on our trip to Utah:

1. Licking a carrot - she really went at that carrot!!
2. Munching on Aunt Allyson's thumb - yummy!
3. Sleeping on her tummy - just once so far, but it was comforting to see she could do it.
4. Slurping water - we put a few drops in her mouth at a time, and she literally ate it up!

Upcoming move

Matt and I have found a townhouse we love, and we will be moving in at the end of July. (Not buying, just renting.) We are excited to have so much more space (we'll be moving up from 900 square feet to 1500) and to actually be in a place where all the walls aren't painted a stark apartment-white color. Another exciting feature - it doesn't have a number attached to the address!

We thought we'd share our excitement with you and show you some pictures of the front of the house. If any of you will be in the Tucson area, you are welcome to stay with us. (You've always been welcome; there just hasn't been much room to offer!)

Happy 3rd Anniversary!

Matt and I had our 3 year anniversary yesterday. Here's to three great years, and we're looking forward to many more!!