Cutie Pictures

I mentioned in a previous post how my daughter only takes five second naps thus making it very difficult for me to get anything done.  Well in the past week she has started taking a glorious two hour nap every afternoon!  It comes at a price though... instead of sleeping until around eight each morning, she is wide awake and ready to play at around five.  She has always woken up at five, but she used to eat and then fall right back asleep for a few more hours.  No such luck anymore.  I lay her next to me in bed and beg her to go back to sleep.  I am NOT a morning person, and five in the morning may as well be the middle of the night to me.  She crawls all over me and puts her hand on face and pulls my hair.  I ignore her and close my eyes hoping she will get the hint and go back to sleep.  She doesn't.  If I continue to ignore her, she just crawls over to Dustin and attacks him.  Then I feel guilty since he's the one who has to get up and work.  So I try to entertain her on my side of the bed until I'm awake enough to actually make it out of bed.

I can't say that I like being woken up at the crack of dawn, but she's just so cute.  So I forgive her. =) 

Some cutie pictures of her lately:

 

For Labor Day this weekend, we are going to South Padre.   I am so excited!   I haven't been there in years, and Dustin has never been, and I can't wait to watch Eden play in the sand and water!

Eden - Seven Months (and one day)

Eden had a busy day yesterday.  She tagged along with me to the grocery store, a baby shower, out to eat Mexican food with some friends and then to my grandparents' house for my brother's birthday dinner.  When we finally got home last night she was NOT in the mood for pictures.  We had to wait until this morning to take her seven month picture instead.  She doesn't look like she's too happy in this picture either... she was; she was watching and laughing at Dustin.  But my timing with the camera was obviously off. 

This is absolutely my favorite age so far with Eden.  She just keeps on getting better!  SHE IS SO MUCH FUN!  She's exhausting... but FUN!  She has yet to get up on her knees to crawl, but she army crawls and pulls herself from place to place with the greatest of ease.  She's lighting quick.  I spend all day following her around because she seems to have zero interest in any of the toys that I've bought her, but she has a fascination with the cat water bowl.  And it's amazing what her teeny-tiny fingers are able to find on the floor and put in her mouth.  As soon as I feed the dogs in the evenings, I blink, and she's suddenly right there in the middle of them trying to get the food from their bowls.  So I think my days of actually accomplishing anything are over for a while.  I'm afraid to take my eyes off of her for even a minute!  She's also become the world's shortest napper.  I'm lucky if her morning nap lasts twenty minutes.  I run around like a madwoman in those twenty minutes... practically brushing my teeth while unloading the dishwasher and sweeping the floors.

It rained last night and today was just a gray, dreary day.  When you looked out the window, it actually felt like it might be cold outside.  (It wasn't... it is still August in Texas.)  But it was just one of THOSE days... Dustin and I decided to make it a lazy day.  It was wonderful.  Together we made a big pot of beef soup.  We laid around watching TV while Eden kept herself entertained with empty water bottles (again... why do I buy toys?).  We baked cookies, and then this evening the three of us all took a nap together.  Eden right there between me and Dustin.  It was bliss. 

We are rested and ready for the week.  =)

Changes

I feel like when Eden was first born, she did pretty much... nothing... for a long time.  I mean, I loved her, I adored her... I was perfectly happy just watching her sleep and yawn and lay there.  But for the first few months, they really don't do much!

Then all of a sudden, it's like BAM!  I guess she has to make up for lost time!  Every day it's something new!  Every day she does something that I've never seen her do before.  She makes a new face, a new sound, a new discovery.  She's growing right before my very eyes. 

So we've had some major changes around here!  The first one is a big one people... Eden now sleeps in her crib in her room at night!  She has now slept there for an entire week! 

That first night was tough. I really wasn't ready to move her, but she was outgrowing her bassinet, and she was waking constantly throughout the night because she had no room to move or roll.  So we made the move.  She did great.  I bawled like a baby.  After I got her to sleep in her crib, I crawled into bed and cried.  I'm not talking a few little tears.  I'm talking I sobbed so hard I was coughing and choking.  Dustin is never quite sure what to do with me when I act like that.  But I couldn't help it!  There were so many nights when we would all go to bed... me and Dustin... Eden in her bassinet right next to me... Drake and Max on their beds next to Dustin... usually a cat curled up at our feet... and I would think to myself how wonderful it was, all of us so cozy going to sleep together.  I felt so bad that Eden was in her room ALL BY HERSELF.  So Drake got kicked out too.  I dragged his bed over to the crib, and he slept all night next to Eden.  It made me feel better.  Now Max and Drake seem to take turns sleeping with her.  I'll go to sleep and one of them is in there with her, and when I wake up the other one is in there sleeping instead.  It makes me happy.  I got zero hours of sleep that first night.  She kept rolling over and sleeping on her tummy which was FREAKING ME OUT!  I think I got out of bed every thirty minutes to make sure she wasn't suffocating herself.  But she did just fine.  Turns out she's a tummy sleeper like her mama.  I've calmed down since that first night.  And it's allllll worth it when I go and find this in the mornings.

After Dustin leaves for work, I still put her in bed with me and we sleep for a couple more hours.  I always think that I should get up while she's still sleeping because I would be able to get so much done around the house while she's STILL... but I just can't seem to make myself.  Snuggling up with her in the mornings is absolutely my favorite part of the day!

Eden also eats food now!  She's been doing that for about two weeks.  So far she has had avocados and oatmeal and bananas and peaches and sweet potatoes.  She loves it all.  She hasn't spit anything out yet, so we're doing good!  Here she is all ready for her first meal:

I bought the Baby Bullet so that I can make her own food.  For some reason, I find great joy in making baby food.  I don't know why... but I get so excited about it!  I love my Baby Bullet.  And it comes with the cutest little jars to put the food in.

I also started using cloth diapers.  Maybe I'm just insane.  Because I seem to find great joy in that too.  I like the fact that she's wearing a comfortable, cotton diaper AND they're just so darn cute.

Okay, so those are some of the major changes we've had around here.  Also, if you have a baby or are going to have a baby, you must buy a door jumper!

Her playmat, exersaucer, all of her other toys... They can occupy her for a little bit here and there... But I think she would bounce and jump around in this thing ALL DAY LONG if I let her!  Seriously... if you have a baby... go buy it! 

Laters!