Swaddle Weaning

Trying to wean a baby off of being swaddled has got to be one of the most challenging things I have EVER dealt with.  First of all it involves sleep, which we all know is something I am very particular about.  I NEED (not just want) an uninterrupted 5-6 hours of sleep minimum to not be a cranky bee-yotch. 

Having said that, going from Eleanor sleeping through the night (at least 8 hours) to having her wake up every couple of hours like a newborn is NOT in my plans.  Alas we come to the dilemma of swaddle weaning.  We started swaddling Eleanor in the hospital and when we got home we moved to the amazing Halo SleepSack Swaddle.  This. Thing. Is. Awesome.  It wraps our little sweetie like an amazingly delicious baby burrito and not even her super baby hulk strength can break out of it.  According to Halo, you're supposed to use the swaddle sleep sacks until the baby can roll over and then discontinue use.  DISCONTINUE USE.  And how do we just discontinue the use of this magical device Halo?  HOW?  (Can you tell I haven't been sleeping?) 

I tried just going cold turkey, but when you have a kid that takes two amazing naps (1.5-3 hours each) and sleeps for 8+ hours a night, why would you ever want to prevent this sleeping pattern from happening?  Night one: Ellie slept for 3 hours and then was up (and wanting to play) so Mommy gave up and swaddled her again.  Naps the following day: First one I didn't want to even fool with her not napping because I had lawn guys coming that I needed to speak with so I swaddled her.  Nap 2: No swaddle = nightmare.  She refused to nap for longer than 30 minutes and I KNOW that girl was tired.  She was fussy and not her usual happy self and that was not fun for mommy.  So nap 2 was basically nonexistent.  Luckily she got a quick snooze in on the way to dinner and for a few minutes at the table so she wasn't fussy at dinner (Thank you Jesus!). 

Last night (AKA Night 2) I decided after reading some recommendations from some Facebook friends that I would swaddle her with one arm out.  Genius idea - why didn't I think of this?  Well I'm happy to report that it worked!  Ellie slept for 8.5 hours with one arm hanging out!  YAYYYYY!!!!  

Here's to hoping that she keeps this up and slowly but surely I can let the other arm out.

Couldn't find any photos of Eleanor in her Sleep Sack that weren't from the monitor, so here's a picture of a much less cuter baby in the Sleep Sack Swaddle:

Eleanor's Nursery

As we were getting ready to move out of the old house I finally took some time to take pictures of Ellie's nursery.  I worked REALLY hard on this room and I think it was the only completely "finished" room in the house after living there for 4 years. 

Here is some info about the room:

Crib: Graco Lauren in White
Crib Bedding: Custom made by my bestie Sara Baker and her mom Pam Baker! 
Dresser and Changing Table: Ikea
Glider: Craigslist with a Surefit Slipcover
Pillow on Glider: Made by me!  (you know you're impressed..)
Tree Decals on Wall: Target
Mobile: Gift from MIL, Amazon.com
Map Flowers: Gift from Sister in Law, via Etsy
Book Shelves: Ikea
Puffballs above glider: Some made my me, some bought on Etsy by sister in law
Lamps: Ikea & Target
Paint Color: Anonymous by Behr
Adorable Baby: via Sarah & Casey Page

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads, daddies, papas, dadas, pops, and whatever else people call their fathers! With it being Casey's 1st Father's Day, I wanted to make it really special so on Saturday we went to a Dynamo game






And he got to open some cool gifts from Eleanor


Today while he was out at the old house I made he and his dad (Ellie's Pop) some golf themed cupcakes


Now we are heading over to C's parents for a nice relaxing BBQ and maybe a little pool action.

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful daddy, George Wood



, to my sweet father in law Kevin



and a super special Happy FIRST Father's Day to my awesome husband Casey who is a wonderful dad to our sweet Ellie. We love you!!



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Big Girl

Eleanor is SUCH a big girl these days.  She changes more and more each week and has such a fun and funny personality.  She is all smiles all day long and loves to laugh.  Today we went on a walk through the neighborhood and stopped at the neighborhood park.  We hung out for a while and Ellie got to swing for the first time!  She was loving it, but unfortunately the mosquitoes were too so we had to get her out of there.  We are LOVING our new neighborhood!

Crawfish!

Totally forgot to blog about Ellie's first Crawfish Boil!  The Pages had their annual Crawfish Boil which also served as a pool party to break in their new pool.  Although Ellie didn't eat any crawfish this year, she had a blast being passed around, riding on my back in the Ergo (or I should say napping on my back), and swimming.  Waiting to get pics from Casey's parents, but when I do I will upload them! 

Naps? Who needs 'em?

This afternoon's nap looked like this.


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5 months old

Holy cannoli, our little "newborn" is 5 months old!  This little girl amazes me more and more each day.  Here is all you need to know about Miss Eleanor Marie.

Height: Tall... she is so tall! We can't accurately measure her so that will have to wait until next month's doctor appointment.

 Weight: around 15 lbs!

Here are some other updates.  It's been a big month for our sweet little lady!

• Ellie LOVES toys.  She has acquired quite a few this month including a walker (though she's not quite tall enough to walk around in it yet), a Jenny Jump Up (she's still not sold on it), AND a stand up bouncer.  One thing you HAVE to know about Ellie is that she LOVES to be standing up.  She HAS to be standing up.  If she's not standing up, she's probably upset with you.  This kid is going to be walking in no time....
• She is so curious and has started scratching on EVERYTHING.  It started out with her laying on her back on the changing table and she would reach her arm across and scratch the soft fabric, then the wall, then my arm.  She is soooo curious about textures.
• Ellie has started eating solid foods once a day!   So far her favorite is organic rice cereal and mangos.
• She's also drinking out of a sippy cup!  We have to hold it for her right now because she just started a couple of days ago, but she's already figured out how the spout works.  I'm so proud!!
• Ellie can roll over from back to front!  Not just that, but she's figured out that she can get where she wants to go by rolling.  If you lay her down she will roll across a room!
• She had her first bug. :(  She was sick for a few days with diarrhea (awful) and coughing and a runny nose.  She still has a runny nose and has acquired a sexy raspy voice.  Haha
• She l.o.v.e.s. to SQUEAL!!!!   This girl has a set of lungs on her!  She just loves the sound of her own voice (no clue who she gets that from) and will babble and squeal all day long.