Beach Baby

Annika and I have joined a mom's group which walks on the beach or the park several days a week. On the beach there is often a glare, so when I saw these adorable wrap around pink sunglasses, I couldn't resist. She loves them!

We leave around 8:30 in the morning for our commute down the coast on the PCH to our walking destination on the beach. She gets silly and giddy when I put her in the car seat -- it's almost like she knows where we're going! She loves our walks, looking at the birds, meeting new people and just being outside for several hours a day. She takes better naps afterwards and seems to sleep better at night on walk days (me too!!!).

Additionally, I'm meeting new friends with babies all around the same age, and meet up for coffee and lunch as well. Meetup.com has been a lifesaver!

My sneaky sister Carolyn flew into town last night to surprise me for my 40th B-Day. It's so nice to see her and Annika adores her.

Chillin' in her new shades.

Our cat Osa sniffing my shoes...she gets her head in there and starts acting crazy. Hmmm...don't know what that means.

Bedtime antics, continued.

I think she's one step ahead of us...let me explain.

Yesterday was one of those 'I think I'm a bad parent' days after she spent two straight hours of crying/yelling/screaming/fussing in lieu of taking a nap. Nothing could entertain, distract, or calm her. Needless to say, at the end of those two hours my nerves were shot and I can honestly say she wasn't my favorite person in the world at that moment. Yet, still madly in love with her.

Anyway, V and I decided to implement a more structured, tough love bedtime routine that was going to include increasing 'cry it out' intervals starting at 2 minutes, three minutes, etc. I was stressing out all yesterday afternoon and evening preparing for the coming bedtime battle. So, here's how we planned our bedtime routine that we intend to use every night.
7:45 - bath
8:00 - final bottle (based on her historic schedule)
8:20 - story and prayers
8:30 - bed, and if refuses to clam down go in at 2 minutes to console and calm, but not pick up or take out of room.

What a great plan! :-)

Here's how the night went:
7:45 - pleasant, uneventful bath.
8:00 - daddy fed her a bottle, drank 6 ounces (normal)
8:20 - fell sound asleep on daddy's shoulder while being burped, didn't wake until 6:30 this morning.

So much for all that time stressing for the battle!

Tonight, planned the same routine.

She started fussing for a bottle about an hour earlier than normal, tried to entertain/distract but ended up feeding her at 7:00 PM. She fell asleep in her rocker and simply was out. I finally put her in her crib, fully clothed, at 9:00. Not a peep since.

I think she knows we want to put her on a schedule, but she wants to do bedtime on her own terms? What a clever little girl.

Or, it might be the 2-3 hour walks we took yesterday and today that knocked her out. Who knows. I'm grateful for two nights of hassle-free bedtime!

Bedtime antics

Argh. We coddled Annika at bedtime for a week or so during her cold, i.e. rocking her to sleep, sleeping in her rocker to be elevated - basically broke with our routine. Don't get me wrong - I still adore her, but man! We've tried to go back to the pre-cold routine and dangit, she'll have no part of it. Oh well. We're rookies and will fugure this out too... :-)

The 40th Birthday week is here!

Propped on the couch. She hates being on her back - needs to see what's going on!

I figured since my 40th (yes, fortieth!) birthday is smack in the middle of the week on Wednesday this year, I'm going to claim the entire week as a cause for celebration!

We started celebrating on Friday by escaping the city and trekking up to Big Bear Lake in the mountains. We had a very cozy, QUIET cabin right off the lake with a fireplace. It was a very restful, peaceful weekend (except for some brief moments when Annika wasn't so restful nor peaceful).

She's been a bit off the last week or so with a cold. Due to the sniffles and slight congestion, she's really uncomfortable on her back so has been sleeping in her Fisher Price infant-toddler rocker. Can I mention we love this thing? So does she, by the way. She can sit up or recline in it, and it's good to up to 35 pounds and will be around awhile.

Tongiht, she sat outside in her bumbo while Daddy cleaned the patio. She loves being outside and gets cranky on days we don't go for walks - she actually will get grousy and complain. This is sovled by a quick trip outside around the block, or even to the mailbox. I find on days we take our walks, she takes better naps and sleeps better overnight too.

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Adorable!

View from the cabin at Big Bear Lake

The cabin

Bundled in the car ready to drive home early Sunday

My two favorite people in the whole wide world.

Catching up (aka - OK Mom! I'll post some pics!)

It's been a really busy month so far! My brother Doug flew down for a long weekend at the beginning of the month, and the same day he left, Annika and I flew to Salt Lake to see my other brother Jim and his fun fam. Shortly after our return from SLC, my niece Scout came down over the President's Day weekend for some fun in the sun - and a surprise trip to Disneyland! Those pics are on another camera and I'll post later. It has been an exciting month so far, and isn't letting up! More on that later too... in the meantime, here are some pics from the month!

Annika's second airplane trip. She's becoming quite the experienced little traveler!

Utah fam - code names Princess and Dutch. Out for a walk on a sunny day!
Annika all bundled up in the stroller. She loves going for walks! She now can sit in the stroller (as opposed to the car seat) and loves having a better view.
Princess and Annika hanging out.
Dutch, Annika and I playing patty-cake. 'Dutch' shares the same birthday as Ronald Reagan, so I thought it was a solid blog nick-name for him.

At Cabelas in Utah. Love that store! Found a pink camo blanket for Annika, and a new pink backpack. Annika loved looking at all the animals.
Passed out on the beanbag. We caught a nasty cold on our trip and came home early. We were lousy house guests!
At home, Victor set up her new saucer. She had just started to grab things and thought she was ready, and she was!
She loves this little toy and spins the wheels around and around and around.
La curiosidad mata al gato. Cats in a box.
Sweet little daddy's girl!
Playing on her new camo blanket from Cabelas. Can you find the baby?
Beach baby! Laying on a blanket at the beach inside a little suntent that broke the first time we used it....grrrrrrr.
Walking along Huntington Beach with Uncle Doug.
Uncle Doug and Annika.
Hanging with mom.
Napping with dad.

Anonymous

Hey all -
I've had a site pest leaving anonymous, cowardly and babbling comments on my blog so I've had to enable comment moderation. Since this is a rated G site, I don't need any controversial or icky comments. Obviously this person doesn't understand that it's one thing to accept and love a person, but one doesn't need to accept their behavior. Totally different concepts. Hoping they are able, with God's grace, to grow in wisdom and true tolerance.

In other news - having a great weekend! My brother is in town for the weekend and we spent the day sightseeing in LA! We'll have some pictures up later.