Ailey Grace development update 5 also subtitled Sleep, Glorious Sleep!

A few new developments for little missy also known as Doot-Doot and the Sweetness. Another tooth has begun to grace her mouth with its presence. I checked yesterday and saw the tippy top of one side just peeking through. She's been using her gums to kind of mush food up anyway, but I'll bet those teeth will be seeing some action soon!

Along the same lines, here's an interesting tidbit. Apparently, bananas in their natural form do not sit well with Ailey Grace's stomach. We had two isolated incidents, which was "nice" because I didn't have to do any experimenting to find out what the culprit was. The first time happened during the night after she had gobbled up a half of a banana. I had also fed her some carrots and potatoes that had been in a stew. After she had projectile puked all over my pillow and her immediate surrounding area, we thought it was the potatoes and carrots from the stew. I thought maybe it had been too spicy for her or something. I didn't even consider the bananas because 1) no banana chunks came up and 2) bananas are supposed to be one of the few foods you can feed a baby/toddler/kiddo when their stomach has been upset because it digests so well and is easy on the tummy. Well, I didn't end up giving her any more nanners until last Friday. I fed her part of a banana and about an hour or two later, it all came right back up and out! We had some new friends over and their sweet little 3-month old was spitting up quite a bit, too. It was like some kind of baby puke competition....yuck!;) Anyway, no more fresh bananas for Little Miss Messy! The funny thing is that I give her this multi-grain cereal that has banana flakes along with some other fruit flakes and it doesn't seem to bother her a bit. Just the freshly peeled bananas. Weird.

Okay, here's the best bit of news: Ailey Grace slept all the way through the night last night!!!!! I know....she's 10 mos. old and just now sleeping through the night. Do let me explain. First of all, I had the boys sleeping through the night at 5 mos. I know there are plenty of babies out there who sleep through the night sooner. Mine didn't and I was fine with that timing. It worked for us. The circumstances surrounding Ailey's sleeping routine were as follows. Originally, I had her sleeping in her bassinet right beside my side of the bed in the motor home. Nothing bigger would fit there, so as she began to outgrow it and wake up because she was hitting the sides of it as she turned in her sleep, I started just keeping her in our bed to sleep. I NEVER did that with the boys. The only time I would let them sleep with me was in the morning before we got up for the first nursing time of the morning. Once they were weaned at 6-ish mos, that just flat out stopped. I didn't want them used to sleeping with me because I LOVE my sleep, People!

With Zekey, we had the pack 'n' play set up in the living room and he would sleep in there all night. I believe I mentioned the difficulties with this set up when I talked about Zekes fianally sleeping in the bottom bunk bed in the motor home. Sam gets up really early in the morning to go to work and he would have to basically tip-toe around in the dark and was never able to eat a hot breakfast because he didn't want to wake Zekers up. When Zekes started sleeping in the bunk bed, it was so freeing for Sam! We could always have revisited that option, but it just didn't seem like the right way to go. So, she just made her place right smack dab in the middle of our bed, instead.

I've also nursed her the longest. I'm aiming for 12 mos because I don't want to buy any formula, whatsoever. I don't want to have to pay for that when God has really blessed me and answered my prayers about nursing this time around. I remember with Braden and Zekey, I was ready to stop when they were. They also weaned themselves. They were so busy looking around that they wouldn't nurse long enough. Also, by then they were really into holding their own bottles and they were eating quite a bit of solids. I haven't been in a hurry at all about getting done nursing Ailey Gracie. Ailey is eating solids, but she is also still nursing quite a bit. She's a lot more cuddley than the boys were and is more needy as far as wanting to be held and just be near my person. She's only now getting more adventurous about exploring out of sight of me. Just an interesting difference. :) Girls are definitely a whole different being than boys!

She also stopped taking a pacifier. Remember this post? All that drama and for about the last month, she hasn't wanted a pacifier except to stare at it and play with it. So guess who became the pacifier. Yep. Me....again. Its kind of a mixed blessing. I won't have to wean her off of a pacifier, but now I'm hoping that the weaning from me process won't be dramatic.:) Anyway, all that to say that any time during the night, I was the passy and because of her prominent position in our bed, it was easier just to wake up enough to pacify her and go right back to sleep. Not the ideal situation. Basically, I was just trying to hold on until we had a house with a separate room to get her sleeping through the night.

Well, with all the moving and being extra exhausted and not getting near enough sleep, I was ready to try. I had been nursing her to sleep for her naps. For a few days now, I have been nursing her and then just putting her in her crib and letting her go to sleep by herself. This was something that the boys were doing at around 3-4 mos. Yeah, I'm a little behind schedule, but again...circumstances. She cried herself to sleep after about an hour the first day. The second day it only took 15 minutes. She still cries, but it only takes about 5 mins. or less now. Sam and I talked about what needed to happen so that we would all start getting a good night's rest. I have never been okay with the thought of just letting my babies scream through the night. I don't mind crying for an hour or less, but more than that, I just can't handle. So, I just started praying. I asked the Lord for a peaceful night, that He would keep Ailey snug in His arms and that He would comfort her and let her sleep all through the night. Last night it took her about 20-30 minutes for her to go to sleep. She had originally fallen asleep nursing and I put her in her crib asleep at around 9:15 pm thinking that she might stay asleep for a while. She woke up after about 15 minutes. So, I set up the play pen in the spare room and put her in there with the noise machine, a small bottle of water, two pacifiers and her baby, which she has become rather fond of the last few days. The screaming commenced, but she gave up after about 20-30 minutes. At about 10:45, I went to check on her, noticed the room was cold and decided to put a heater in there. Little Toot woke up, of course and I nursed her a bit, cuz I needed to;) and then put her back in her bed. She wimpered for about 5 minutes and then she was out. I woke up at about 4:30 when I heard Sam getting up. -I then decided we need to invest in another noise machine, which would total 3. Those things are worth their weight in gold as far as I'm concerned!- Anyway, I went and checked on Ailey and she was sleeping most peacefully. I went back to bed. I woke up again at 8-ish when I heard Zekey coming out of his room. I got up to go check on Ai-ler-ler (So many nicknames to choose from!;) When I opened the door, she woke up, popped her little head up and looked at me and smiled. I LOVE it!!! Isn't God so Great!? Isn't He amazing?! Isn't He so good to want to be involved in even the smallest detail of our lives? Thank you, Lord, for taking such good care of me and the family you have given me! Bless you, Sweet, Precious Lord!!! I am still amazed at how much sleep I got last night and, boy, am I looking forward to tonight and the night after that....:D

Something else, I'll mention, just because I tend not to and want to see the outcome of it. Sam noticed a rather large knot/bump on her left wrist yesterday. It seems to have gone down today, but the strange part is that it doesn't appear to be bruised or have any redness indicating an injury caused it. We really don't know what happened. One of the many mysteries of childhood. I remember (and still have this happen now) that I would all of a sudden notice a bruise or bump and have no idea what I did to cause it. I hope my kids don't turn out as clumsy as me. I have those days when I bump into everything and think to myself, "Why did I even bother getting up today!? I should just go get back into bed and start all over!"

Thanks for sticking out to the tail end of this rather long post!