THE BLAND FAMILY

Wow! SO much to write about - it's ridiculous! I've been trying to find time for like 3 weeks now to sit down and blog. Just been impossible. We'll see if I'm able to finish this post the same day I start it. :)

Nope - didn't happen. I started this Sunday. And I actually just found another post that I started almost an entire month ago. :) I'm staying up until this one is finished. Haha. SO - where to begin?!

Avery Update:

Sleeping: Sigh. I'm not sure what to even say. This was the start to my unfinished post last month, "Well, since it's 11:00 and my daughter JUST went to sleep.......although we started our bedtime bottle around 7:30.....I'd say it's not going well this week. :( She did have a couple of nights where she pretty much slept through. But we've also had several where it takes FOREVER to get her down and then she's up every couple of hours starting around 1 am. So frustrating. Napping is about the same. I just want so badly for all of us to figure this sleep thing out. She's such a happy baby but she needs more sleep!"
I guess I'm pleased to report that it's gotten better, but.....not that much. It got so bad a couple of weeks ago (waking every couple of hours all night long) that we had to resort to some sleep training. I didn't want to have to, but we finally had to let her cry for a while. It's heartbreaking to listen to her cry. But she NEEDS sleep. A book I was reading helped with the guilt. We didn't really do a full "cry it out". More like "fuss it out". The first couple of nights sucked. But it seemed to help a little. The goal is to get her to sleep better at night so she can nap better during the day. And vice versa. She's a definite cat-napper. She wakes up at almost exactly 45 minutes for naps. Which, from what I've read, is a sleep cycle. So we need to help 'train' her to get through that transition. This sleep thing is so hard! She's going down a bit better at night now. And this weekend, she fell asleep like clockwork for her morning nap and slept an hour and a half both days! I was hoping we were on to something, but she's back to 45 minute naps so far this week at daycare.
We put her to bed early - start bath, etc. between 6:30 and 7:00. That's helped a ton. And recently, we've been trying not to rock her completely to sleep. (But that's where the crying comes in..... :( ). I honestly don't remember the last time she slept through the night though. Not sure if it's growth spurt, teething, or that we just haven't taught her to sleep on her own. I guess I'm not nearly as exhausted as I was last month. But I'm still pooped. We'll all figure it out eventually I guess. Just hoping that it's soon. She's such a happy baby when she gets the sleep she needs.

~~Cereal~~ Baby Food!: Well, one of the biggest updates with Avery is that she's now eating food!! And she loves it! She caught on fairly quickly. And now, she's like this little bird who sits there w/ her mouth open for more if I don't feed her fast enough! I don't remember exactly what we did with Carson so I'm just kind of winging it and doing what feels right. We started with cereal once a day, then twice a day. Then we started introducing fruits and veggies slowly. Right now, she's doing cereal w/ a 1/2 to full (small) pack of fruit in the morning, between morning bottles. For dinner, she normally eats a full veggie. So far, we've had cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, squash, pears, green beans, and applesauce. We have a doctor's appointment this week, so I'll see how much I should be feeding her. She definitely seems to like it. And want more. :)

First bite of cereal! 8/18/12

Another day of cereal

Hmmm....that's not so bad Mommy.

Sweet potatoes! 8/25/12

Bananas! 9/1/12


Squash! 9/3/12

Pears! 9/8/12

Green beans! 9/11/12

Not a fan, Mom

Applesauce! 9/15/12

Carson joined in on the fun too and helped feed her. :)

He's also been wanting to taste her food lately. I told him to grab a spoon a couple of times. He liked bananas. And did NOT like sweet potatoes. Haha. He kept telling me how Avery likes that, but he does NOT. :)

Sitting up!: Avery's now sitting up on her own! We noticed the last week of August. She'd been trying for a while and then all of a sudden, she just got it. Now, she's fulling sitting on her own. She LOVES to sit. Still hates to roll, but likes to be upright, on her own.

Practicing - 8/12/12

Oops - fell over. Thanks big brother!

Awwww


Getting better.... 8/25/12

9/1/12

9/6/12

9/16/12

She's now sitting up in her rock n play and bouncer - she refuses to lie down........

Big girl bath: Kind of. We moved Avery's whale bath into the big bath. The bathroom counter was no longer working! Now we can fill it with more water and she can splash, splash, splash! Lucas and I just were talking tonight about how it's time to take out the insert and flip her around so she can sit up. :) Almost ready to sit in the big tub! Looking forward to just one bath a night with the two of them together!

Big girl car seat!: Avery's getting bigger and bigger! From weighing her at home, it appeared that she was getting close to the weight limit. And my back was killing me from carrying her in the car seat! We miss the convenience of it at times, but so glad she's in her big girl seat now! I think she's more comfortable. We bought Carson new convertible booster seats and put Avery in his old one.

New big boy seat!

"Hmmmm.....this will work"

First Bears game:

First Bears game w/ Daddy

Go Bears!

High chair and Exersaucer: Avery sat in a high chair for the first time on vacation. She did so well! So we finally broke out the high chair at home so she can now eat dinner with us. I cannot believe how quickly she is growing up! We also broke out the exersaucer. Bye bye to the rock n play, bouncer and swing!


Despite that adorable pout, she was really happy to be sitting on her own!

Carson Update:

Potty training!!: That's the big news for Carson. He is doing awesome! We finally started hard-core Labor Day weekend. We spent pretty much the whole weekend on his little potty in the living room. We just put him in underwear and went with it! Quite a few accidents naturally. We were really nervous about going to school in underwear that first day. But he did really well, and he's been getting better every day. He still has accidents occasionally. This actually hasn't been the greatest week at school. But he's doing really well at home. He likes making his potty sing. And he loves getting M&Ms. The big problem is pooping. Poor kid is terrified. He pooed once on the floor. Awesome. And once on the potty. He usually begs for a diaper when he has to go. :( Hope he gets over that soon. Anyway, still a long way to go, but he's getting there! Progress!! So proud of him. :)

So proud!

"Avery, look at my big boy underwear!" So cute!

Avery's getting into the spirit too! :)

New loves: Carson LOVES Dora and Diego lately! (Or "Eggo" as he calls it!) "Click - take a pic!" "Swiper, no swiping. Swiper, no swiping!" :) Their songs are a bit catchy too. Mommy's favorite is probably the rescue pack song. I've been caught singing it while he's not around. :)

Carson's also obsessed with the ICC geese. I love driving to daycare lately because there are geese everywhere! There seriously are at least 30-40 geese that hang out around the pond area. Carson gets SO excited when we drive by. :) One morning, they weren't there. Carson said they must have gone home. I asked him where home was and he replied, "Home is with their mommy." Aww. Love him. We've been missing the geese this past week. I hope they're not gone yet for the season.

Crossing the road

Big brother: Carson continues to be the best big brother! Avery just adores him! And he loves her. He always wants to be sure to give her a kiss and hug when we drop her off in her room at daycare. I think he likes that she's interacting a bit more now. I'm sure that will end once she's messing with his toys, but.....for now, they're pretty adorable together and love each other so much.