Fall outing and Friday updates

Today Eloise and I went to the park in between her naps so I could get some pics of her in the leaves. She's such a perfect model; I just love that about her. Always letting mommy put her in new, interesting places that she's never explored before all for the sake of some photographs. Today she held leaves for the first time (of course they quickly went to her mouth so I had to dive in and make sure she didn't eat them). And she visited the park at the end of the street for the first time. Pics below.

In Friday's updates - as we celebrated yesterday, Eloise rolled over from back to tummy for the first time. Today she continues to practice, which is really cute. She's all over this roll thing. After she did this yesterday, I had to look up whether or not I needed to worry about her in the crib at night. Will she all of a sudden roll over in the middle of the night and if she does, is this something I need to be concerned about? From the sources I read, I shouldn't worry. She's got great head control if she were to roll over during the night but on top of this, for now, it's unlikely that she will do this when she's asleep.

In the nap area, Eloise continues to do much better. She's definitely got the 'falling asleep on her own' skill down. On top of this, we've got a nice nap time routine in place that effectively signals to her that it's time to wind down and get ready for 'night night' or 'nap time', as we say. The only area left that is a little kluge - but hopefully will get better - is she's still a 'short napper.'

Each time I put her down, she'll sleep for 30-45 minutes. Most often around 40 minutes. And she doesn't settle herself to sleep again. Instead she wants to get up. The short naps are fine but the bummer is, I'm constantly putting her down for a nap. Exactly 1 hour after she wakes up, she starts yawning. It's like clock-work. So when I see this, we head upstairs and do our nap time routine again. And again, and again, and again. Serious act of patience around here for all parties involved, including the baby. This is all fine and good, and we'll keep at it until her naps lengthen but the conclusion is, she's taking on average 5 naps per day for 40 minutes each. 5 naps. That's crazy.

Teething obviously continues and I've changed her to Motrin vs. Tylenol, which seems to be helping. Also, I got the Hylands teething tablets, which seem to help as well. Her teething chew toy of choice are her own hands. We've tried everything from pulling out the pacifiers from the cabinet to wet, cold wash cloths to baby carrots and nothing seems to be more soothing to her than her own hands.

Right now, running is our favorite past time. We keep using the Bob and are super excited about this addition to our daily routine. So far this week, we've run 18 miles and counting. It's so nice that she fits in there. And even better that she enjoys it. I love the opportunity to run and finally get back in shape, she likes being outside, and another awesome addition - we can collectively accomplish all of this all during the daytime. No more worrying about daylight savings time and it being dark out before or after work (former winter time complaint). No need to worry about getting a Y membership (former winter time running solution). Now we can strap in the Monkey, head out for a run between naps and we're both happy. Huge win for the Vail household.

This weekend is Halloween and we're suuuuper excited!! I'm sure it'd take you one guess as to what the Monkey is going to be this year:).

Happy Friday!

The Monkey rolls over!

Today the Monkey rolled over from back to tummy for the very first time and luckily enough, I just happened to have the camera in my hand!  She was rolling back and forth all day today and was so close to completing the full-blown roll that I thought, I should really get the camera and document how far she's come. She'll get over that shoulder and get herself completely over soon, no prob.  Well, as soon as I grabbed the camera and starting clicking, and clicking some more, I realized, she was really going to make it this time, and boom...she did it!

The shoulder/arm is the tough part. She'd get as far as having that one arm stuck underneath her and then roll back over to where she started. But this time, she kept at it and all of a sudden, there she was, looking up at me. I am so proud of her! You know what a sap I am - I got tears in my eyes just watching her. How cool that she did this, and then that I saw it, and best of all, that I had the opportunity to get it on camera! Way to go Monkey!!

Ok, so literally, here is the Monkey roll over play-by-play....(this is like paparazzi style. lol!)

A new holiday costume, teething video, and Sweet Pea's bully

Random collection of goodies to report today. First, Eloise received a new holiday sweater dress (and snuggly PJs and a new jacket!) from her Grammie Judy complete with a faux fur lined hood. It's so super cute. She, of course, immediately put the fur hood in her mouth. Gotta love teething.

And speaking of teething, I'm posting a video of Eloise with her Sophie doll from last night before bedtime. You can share with me the true joy she gets out of this dog-toy-look-a-like (thanks for the funny, Julie!) Sophie seriously resemebles a $2 dog toy. Click here.

In running news, the Monkey and I went for 4.5 miles today. She is really digging the outdoor time and doesn't even mumble a peep from in there.

Also, Azriel (aka Sweet Pea) was officially found in the crib. I've seen him on numerous occasions in the Pack-n-Play and have just let him be. We don't use it anymore except for changing Eloise's diaper on occasion so if he wanted to sleep in the P-n-P, I let him be. His world has literally been turned upside down for the last 4 1/2 months that I figure if he can get some comfy shut eye in there, so be it.

The crib though, that's a different story. One side of me feels really badly. The poor cat just wants attention. He's needy to begin with, and now seeing all of the attention that we give the baby, I'm sure it's enough to make him quite envious. So of course I removed him from the crib and filled him in on this particular area of the house that is off limits. Honestly, I don't think he would go into the crib with Eloise in there. Once he hears her screaming or even sees her squirming, he always high-tails it (literally and figuratively) out of the room. And even if he did for some crazy reason stay put, I just can't imagine he'd even go near her. Either way, the crib is off limits and he's not to be in there. I now make sure her door is completely closed. (before I would just pull it closed but leave it just a little a jar.)

In additional cat news - I know you all tune in to hear about Sweet Pea:) - he's being bullied by a new neighborhood cat. It's such a serious bummer. Sweet Pea loves to be outside. He's great about staying at the house or very close by. He's also very friendly and wouldn't hurt a fly - well, he probably couldn't catch a fly so therefore, he wouldn't hurt one. Now he's totally being chased around and cornered and hissed at and all-things cat bullying.

The antagonist's name is Panther, appropriately named because he's a giant black cat. Sweet Pea is giant but I'm telling you, Panther is seriously giant. And Panther has some audacity, really. He'll see Sweet Pea from all the way down the road and literally come running and corner him on our porch until one of us runs him off. But then he returns and it starts all over again. What's weird is they've never gotten into a full-blown cat fight. Instead Panther just hisses and corners him and stands there. It makes it so much worse when he does all of this on OUR porch. I mean come on already. Anyway, Sweet Pea is staying inside more (bummer for him) and I'm trying to keep an eye on him when he's out.

Last bit on the Sweet Pea bully story, apparently the neighbors are already involved in this situation as I guess Panther is a serial bully. All the cats on this block are getting a run for their money by the black beast. I guess someone is going to send an email to the owner asking them to keep Panther inside. Can you imagine? This is the drama around here. But I do feel bad for Sweet Pea. Let's hope this works itself out soon. Because the rest of the cats around here get along perfectly fine. We need Panther to calm down or beat it!

The Monkey and her new sweater dress and...Sweet Pea.

Teething

The Monkey is officially teething. I actually believe she's been teething for quite some time but now I've seen enough signs where I can unequivocally say, she's teething. It's official.

Everything has been going to her mouth for awhile. On top of this, she's been a drool machine for weeks. (literally every picture of her on here has a nice stream of drool sliding down her chin and onto her clothes.) And if you offer her a finger to gnaw on, watch out. It really hurts.

Now today she had her first diarrhea diaper and although doing really well in the nap department, she's been popping awake after about 10 minutes, been very fussy and then resettling herself after sucking on her hand. So she's basically doing double time on putting herself to sleep, which is a good thing, but the poor little girl is telling me she's in pain.

So the teething remedies are in full effect at the Vail household. She has what seems like a million teether toys so those are at her disposal. She doesn't care for them too much (meaning the ones that you chill in the fridge - they all seem too big for her mouth - weird that they wouldn't have smaller ones. she loves the Sophie giraffe though.) so we've resorted to a cool wet wash cloth. She'll chew on it and the coolness is supposed to help her dull the pain. (one other teether toy that was unsuccessful for Eloise but other babies may like - RazBaby RazBerry. it seems like a perfect teether toy but Eloise isn't into pacifiers so this one didn't work for her.)

In addition, I was told about Hylands teething tablets (need to make a Target trip ASAP) and in the meantime, I gave her a 1/2 dose of Tylenol to try and give her some relief.

As a tribute to her teething, here's a collection of Monkey drool pics....(you can click on each pic and make it bigger if you want to get right into the slime-fest.)

Oh and a running update - the Monkey and I went for 6 miles yesterday and she was fine the entire time. I glanced in on her a few times and she was enjoying a nap. (again - motion naps are ok at the Vail household:)

Today, it's a rainy mess so we're taking the day off. Even though the Bob does come with an inclement weather shield, we'll pass. Tomorrow is supposed to be much better so it's worth the wait. And I'm already looking into local races for us to do. Just a 5k here or there to give the Bob (and Eloise) a trial run. Stay tuned here...

The Tripod

Eloise is not quite sitting up but she's scoring a solid 8 the tripod category. (she's still a little wobbly) This is her latest trick as of yesterday.

Old posts

These two older posts crack me up. 1st is this one - Preggers Progress Report - as I did indeed have the Monkey on June 11th, exactly as the Dr. predicted. Smart cat.

Then this one - False Alarm or Dry Run - because although that night was a 'Dry Run', we later had a 'False Alarm.'  It's like I jinxed us. After tracking contractions for 5 some odd hours on June 9, we went to the hospital, checked in, spent the night, all to be sent home the next day because I "wasn't progressing". Rejected is what I call it. Lol.

Anyway, we all know the outcome. The Monkey arrived safe and sound when she was good and ready. It's just funny to look back at these older posts and read the crazy things going through my pre-baby mind.

Dawn of a new day

The Monkey finally fits into the Bob stroller (minor modifications made in order to make this happen. details to come.) and therefore, today was the dawn of a new day. Oh yes.....running again in full force may now begin people. We are psyched!  Not only can the Monkey and I add one more activity to our day but I can finally get back into a more normal running routine. No excuses allowed. Yesssssssss!

Yesterday, we busted out the Bob, put in the previously (and sadly) unused  Kiddopotamus into the seat to give her more padding, reclined the back to give her a comfy ride, and boom - we've got a jog stroller that fits the Monkey perfectly.  No more protective strap coming across the jugular. Great news.

Our first outing was just a walk and it was only for a couple of miles. We wanted to make sure she was in there securely, was having a good time, and not gearing herself up for a meltdown. Outing number 1 was a success. 

So today, we suited her up (58 degrees here today) in a longsleeve onesie, leggings, socks, with footie PJs over top, then a fleece jacket, hat and mittens. Tried not to go overboard but since she's facing forward in the Bob, and it was both cold and breezy today, we thought it was best to bundle her up and keep her snuggly warm for the ride.  Need not have a cold Monkey as the reason she gets upset, if she gets upset at all.

Then....off we went. We stayed in the neighborhood to play it safe. Best to be close to the house in case she decides mid-run that she's had enough. So I did a lap of the neighborhood's perimeter. This perimeter loop is about 1.75 miles. I'm thinking, if we can get one loop done, that will be good practice for her and we'll add to it daily. 

Well, one loop came and went and she was totally fine. Not a peep came out of her so I took a quick peek and she was nearly asleep (we went as soon as she got up from a nap so maybe - and highly likely - she didn't sleep enough). So off we went for another loop. Again, not a peep from the Monkey. I was about to go around for a 3rd time when I thought, I probably shouldn't push it with her and instead, I should just head home. Hindsight, I think she would have been totally fine with another loop so we'll do that tomorrow.

I'm also scouting out new routes where the streets are wide enough for us and passing cars and also, those areas where the sidewalks aren't all banged up in case we need them. Love this site and its access to discovering route distances. Very handy.

So here we are. Me and the Monkey in the Bob stroller today. Distance - 3.5 miles.

(no, I didn't realize Mike was taking pics of us running down the road until I got home and saw these:)

5-star day

According to today's paper, Capricorns (Allison), Geminis (Monkey) and Virgos (Mike) are all to have a 5-star day. I don't pay much attention to horoscopes but I do get the weekend paper so I will admit, I always cruise by that page to see what it says for the three of us. If it's good, I love it. If it's bad, I ignore it. Perfect.

Since I read the paper at roughly 8:30 this morning, that was early enough for me to think, we have to do something fun today - it's going to be a great day! What should we do??  Well, sleep training continues so leaving the house isn't the wisest idea. Why don't we cook delicious snacks, and watch the DVRed season finale of Real Housewives of Atlanta, and then go for a run (maybe we even bust out the Bob stroller and see if the Monkey can go for a run with me!), and who's playing who in college football today? So many options.

Mike's on his way out the door heading to Trader Joes to get our snack list purchased. He continues to do all of the grocery shopping post baby. I'm not a total slacker but I will admit, I'm not brave enough to bring the Monkey along for a full grocery store run and on top of that, Mike actually enjoys food shopping - imagine that? I'd rather poke my eye out than go to the grocery store. Cooking - I love. Food shopping - agh. I'll pass. On top of all of this, we have a relatively new Trader Joes in the neighborhood and Mike loves it.  He claims it's cheaper and that they have a totally different (and better in his opin.) selection of food than we're used too. Perfect.

What's on the snack menu this weekend at the Vail household? Tonight we're going to have beef stew and rolls and then for dessert, gingerbread cake with cool whip. Yum. Then tomorrow, we're making homemade lasagna. Delish!

Update on yesterday's lunch outing - it went really well. Believe it or not, I did not have to sing Old McDonald on our way to Southpark. Maybe our car rides are getting better? It takes a village. Also, during lunch the Monkey was great. She hung out, fuss-free the entire time. Love it!

Oh, before I forget, I watched The Proposal this week when Mike was out of town and I totally recommend it. I laughed out loud quite a few times and Ryan Reynolds is so super cute. Very funny movie. It's a tinge on the chic-flick side of things but I think Mike would have thought it was funny. Head out to the Red Box or get it at the library (Judy brought it over!). It's worth renting.

And last, but certainly not least, here's the Monkey playing with her ball this morning.

Friday's update

Today the Monkey and I are heading to lunch to meet up with a friend and her two little nuggets. In preparation, I'm trying to perfectly map out our morning naps so that she's a fuss-free baby during our outing. So far, we're doing well. Good recipe = 2 good morning naps + one 'Old MacDonald' filled drive over to Southpark and we'll be in business.

We've got one nap down already this morning and it included very little crying (6 minutes). In general, sleep training is going very well and she continues to put herself to sleep over and over again, our original goal. She will still cry sometimes before she goes to sleep but thankfully, for most naps, it's only for 5-10 minutes. And that should get better with time - my hope is it'll go away all together of course.  We're 2 weeks into sleep training and so where we are today feels good. Naps are still far from perfect but we're getting much, much better (that includes both me and the Monkey).

One update about the blog that kind of annoys me - Blogspot updated their editing software for each of us users and so I began using it yesterday. It's supposed to make posting a lot easier with picture placement, links, etc. So far it's been fine (last night's post was my first with the new editing tool) but the annoying part is the line spacing. Personally, I feel single space is hard to read and the blog is single spaced right now and I can't figure out how to change it. For now, I apologize for the next few posts being difficult to read. I'm working on it. UPDATE - I just posted this and apparently line spacing has fixed itself. Great!

Off to put the Monkey down for nap number two this morning. (Looking forward to her naps lengthening!)

Happy Friday!

Pics from playtime today...

The foot sandwich

I'm not certain why I call it the foot sandwich but it just came to me one day and it stuck. The foot sandwich is what I consider the most perfectly placed feet sandwiched together so that each toe lines up with its significant other from the other foot.

Whenever I pull off the Monkey's socks, her toes immediately gravitate to their mate - i.e., the foot sandwich. At the moment, this is my obsession. So of course, I had to share.

Here the tooties are, coming in for a perfect landing...

Ah, the perfect foot sandwich.

And one more for good nature. I'm obsessed.

Here's the Monkey from our walk today. (of course, foot sandwich in tow.)

Sophie la Girafe

Miss Eloise's new toy, Sophie la Girafe, arrived yesterday and is a big hit. I heard from the nanny that Sophie is the 'must have' baby toy for your little one and also a perfect shower gift because babies absolutely love them. So the Monkey's giraffe came in mail, we gave it a quick scrub and handed it over and indeed, she was in love.

Sophie is a teething toy that mesmerizes babies because of the rubber texture, the spots, the squeak, and the multiple places to hold on and chew. The packaging of this toy is pretty interesting. It appears to be the baby toy in every country but America. The write-up was written in what seems like every language imaginable and the english version was just that, English. You know, like fun British words and spellings such as 'straightaway', 'whence' and 'recognise'. Miss Eloise is getting a little taste of international culture at such a young age. That's my girl!

In addition to some Sophie pics, here is one of some of our fall plantings and pumpkins. I love this time of year!

Flashback pics

Going through old pictures of Eloise and thought these were too cute - and she was so tiny. This reminds me of yesterday's post with car rides. I guess she's never liked them. (this was her first car ride on our way home from the hospital.)

Old MacDonald

Thank god for Old MacDonald. Who knew that a monotous nursery rhyme from the early 1900s would be such a life saver? You know that Miss Eloise loves music and she also seems to be just fine with my out of tune singing. Well now she's found herself in love with my version of Old MacDonald.

I recently discovered that if I sing "Old MacDonald had a farm" over and over again, I can drive from point A to point B with a fuss free baby. Excellent! Except, some of our voyages take us for 35+ minute car rides and I'll tell you, singing this one song the entire time is enough to make a person clinical.

It's my fault really. I don't know enough kid songs to sing something else. (Remedy - Mike made me 10 - yes 10 - discs of Disney songs and nursery rhymes so the Old MacDonald infatuation is quickly coming to an end.) I'll know a verse or two and then that's about it. What happened to all of those years of babysitting? Anyway, Old MacDonald has been a hit with the Vail family and has been a serious cry-free hook-up for a few weeks now.

Oh, and one other thought on the latest creative way to get Eloise to enjoy car rides - my farm is quite unconventional. It's tough to think of enough animals and the sounds they make to use in the song.

Here's my list so far. (we use singular and plural of all of the following - makes the song longer. and of course, all of the above are repeated as needed.)

Cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, cows, sheep, goats, ducks, birds, horses, chickens, pigs, zebras (aren't they horses??), bears, lions, tigers (don't these last three all 'roar'?). What else? Please help.

Pic from last night in her fleece jammies. Have I mentioned it's freezing here? Literally.



Off to Dance Party....the Monkey is "'Gettin' Jiggy Wit It'....like George and Weezie"....go Monkey!

Pumpkin patch

Today was pumpkin patch day with the Monkey and it was really fun. She was a bit chilly (the quiver lip forced us to speed things along so no dilly dallying with tons of pics. But, don't worry. we still got some good ones.) We came home with 4 pumpkins all together. One for Mike, one for me, one for the Monkey and one for Sweet Pea. Can't wait to start carving!



And....BIG news on the nap front. On the way home from the patch, the Monkey fell asleep. (Pumpkin patch - i.e., church parking lot. Next year we'll do the hay ride, corn maze and pumpkin patch out in the boonies. This year, we elected for a quick run close to the house just in case the Monkey wasn't feeling the fall festivity spirit.)

Well, I figured per usual, this would be a 30 minute nap so I asked Mike to take a Sunday drive, as I call them, while she slept. Exactly 85 minutes later - please let me repeat this for shock value purposes....exactly 85 minutes later the Monkey woke up. Seriously - this is an all time record in the nap department. And although this was a 'motion nap' and I guess technically doesn't count, (I beg to differ on that front but whatever), we now know that she has it in her. Eloise Vail CAN nap longer than 30-40 minutes. Yessssssssss!!!! And this was after a good weekend of naps without crying and lots of putting herself to sleep action. We are making progress, people. We are making progress!! (and of course, I had to take a pic:)