I'm Free!

When I used to try to take pictures of Lily sitting on the couch, she would slide down or fall over. Now, she's getting so good at sitting like a big girl!

Here is a more subdued smile from Lily. For some reason this picture struck me. It's like you can see in her eyes that she is getting so much smarter!

This is a vibrating teething toy that Lily got from my uncle Dennis for Christmas. It vibrates if she bites on any of the three points of the star. I thought it would scare her, but it has been her favorite teether. Every now and then, she'll suck/bite on the ones you put in the fridge, but the vibrations must feel much better. She cracks me up with she bites on it because she bite so hard it looks like she's going to bite right through it. Sometimes, she'll let go of it with her hands and just hold it in her mouth. It's quite amusing:)

Other updates are that we have officially weaned her from her swaddle blanket! (hence the title of the entry) We started by letting her have her right out only, then her left for awhile. It was funny because the first morning she woke up with one arm out, I swear she giggled. I guess that means she's ready. Now, she has both arms out with the swaddle around her middle. The next step is to move her to the sleep sack. It took about 1 and 1/2 weeks to wean. However, I think we could have probably gone quicker. I decided not to push her since she was teething and had a runny nose which woke her up sometimes.

We've also been trying to move her to two naps instead of three. She was getting up earlier and earlier in the morning (closer and closer to 6:00am) and wasn't going down as easily for her naps. So, now I try to keep her up for about 3 hours at a time instead of 2 and she's been sleeping in until about 7:20-7:30am. Much better! I also have been trying a trick I heard from a friend and that is to not feed her right away in the morning (if you do, she'll wake up expecting to eat and might wake up earlier) and don't go to her until you want her to get up. Obviously I would get her if she's really crying, but it's been working pretty well to get her about 7:30-7:45 and feed her at 8:00. I love the fact that she's sleeping longer at night, however we're still adjusting to the tired, cranky Lily during the day as she gets used to staying up longer. It's getting better already though! This is one of the tough parts of parenting...just when you think you have it down and you have a routine, she changes and grows up a little more and her needs become different. Patience and flexibility are a must!