Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...

I feel horrible this morning. And I feel like I need some expert advice. So what happens when your baby won't fall asleep? If she cries for a while, that's ok - because she should fall asleep. Right? 

I put Aimee down to go to sleep a little after 8 pm. She screamed until about 9:30. I probably messed everything up because I picked her up for a minute. She fell asleep though, like immediately. And I thought, "Ok - maybe she just needed a little hug." I put her back in her crib. She woke up at like 10:30, then 11:00, then 12:00, then 12:30 (at this point I nursed her, she fell asleep, but as soon as I put her in her crib she woke up)... And as soon as she woke up, she cried really loud. It wasn't a soft wimper cry - the kind they say babies can sometimes get themselves to go back to sleep to. So what do you do? Do you play that game all night?

 

I came back in the room and told Greg "I don't know what to do." He picked up Aimee, brought her in our room and put her in her swing. She slept until 3:30 or so. I woke up to hear her "Ooing" in her swing. She had kicked her blanket off so her little hands were super cold. I fed her, she fell asleep. I tried to put her in her crib again. I laid her down, within 60 seconds she woke up crying. 

I caved. 

Into the bed with us she went.

So this morning I feel like a failure. I let my baby scream and cry for nothing. If tonight is going to be like that again, there's no way I can do it. 

Day 2: Much Harder

People say that their babies cry when they put them in their crib. But do they scream? Like really scream??

Yeah... so I stayed in the room with Aimee for almost an hour. Greg's in there with her now. It's  much harder tonight. I don't know if my being in the room makes it worse. I don't want her to feel abandoned. 

Stephanie and Michael downstairs probably think we are beating her by the way she screams sometimes. 

(Nerves of steel, nerves of steel)

I hope that if we can make it through tonight that the next couple of nights will be better.

A Crib-time Miracle??

I don't know what made me think I could do it. I keep putting it off and putting it off... Many have heard my laments about getting Aimee to sleep in her crib. I've half-heartedly tried it over the 7 months of her little life and once she starts wailing, I cave (win/lose). PLUS - it is super convenient to just nurse her while laying on my side and we both go to sleep (win/win). 

For some reason I feel like tonight is the night. She's been crying for about 20 minutes and screaming now for about 10. Actually she's stopped at the moment. I have a feeling Greg went and picked her up. *Sigh*

For the first 20 minutes of crying I just knelt by her crib, sang her songs, put my hands on hers... I think it just infuriated her more when I would touch her and not pick her up. 

OK - this just in. Greg did not pick her up. She is sleeping. H-O-L-Y C-O-W. I can't believe it! Now you know I won't be able to sleep because I am waiting for her to start crying again.

Could it be this simple? Could this really work? Updates to follow...

Christmas in Florida - Part 5

We hit up the zoo (thanks to Grandpa) and enjoyed watching the animals. Especially the monkeys of course.

You can't really see the animal to well in the background, but it's a capibara (sp?). Greg used to eat them on his mission. Tasty.

Giraffe feeding time! We were in luck. Aimee wasn't too interested. She was really tired and cranky.

The most dangerous animal of all: the Mullet! This dude had a massive one. Seriously, I have not seen so many candidates for What Not to Wear in one place in all my life.

Christmas in Florida - Part 4

Why not a few more beach pictures?

Christmas in Florida - Part 3

Ahh... Christmas morning. I didn't post a ton of these, mostly because everyone looks really tired - with their eyes half shut. 

Aimee enjoying the festivities. 

Me, Aimee, Steph, and my mom. You can't tell we're all related can you? I hope I have inherited my mom's anti-aging genes!

Christmas in Florida - Part 2

Christmas in Florida means you get to spend some time at the beach. We went to Cocoa Beach with my sister Steph. It was pretty ghetto - but offered some good photo ops. In fact, there is a restaurant on the pier (it ain't no Ruby's!), but they charge you a dollar per person to walk to the end of the pier. Lame. So we skipped that part.
They did have this surf board-in-a-wave thing you could take pictures in (below). 
Greg took the opportunity to toss Aimee in the air while we tried to catch a good picture. The one I posted is one of my favs.

Now when your child asks, "Where do babies come from?" You can tell them they come from heaven, and show them this picture.

Auntie Steph with Aimee

Aimee loving the beach!  

Christmas in Florida - Part 1

Aimee was reunited with the Baybas: 

With Aunt Whitney

Mirror time with Stephanie is always fun

The pool - no it's not heated so we stayed out of it, but it's nice to look at.

With "Ahna"

With Grandpa

Pre-Christmas

Here are some pictures of our pre-Christmas present opening. 

Even the kitty liked the presents.

Steph and Michael joined in the festivities. 

Caught red-handed.

She was really more interested in the wrapping paper.

M.I.A.

Ok, I need to do my blogging duties that's for sure. To our credit though, we've been busy AND out of town. So first things first - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We flew to Florida and spent Christmas with my side of the family this year. The weather was so perfect the whole time. It was in the high 70's/ low 80/s everyday. I was so depressed as we flew over the bleak and dismal Wasatch mountain range on the way home. I really liked all that sunshine. I think Aimee did too. 

More importantly though, I got to see my family (minus my brother on a mission). I haven't seen them since Aimee was just tiny. It was really fun for them to play with Aimee too. And I really liked having muliple sets of hands eager to take her at any moment. Greg and I even managed to have a date night. I was sad to leave! I'll post some pics of our trip in a new post.