Chrissy Pics

Ellie meets Uncle Joshy for the first time. Too Cute!!

Josh was so cute with her ------>
She thought he was very funny, too. He's a very good uncle :) And I think he's already a favourite!

<----- Ellie in her Christmas shirt and Santa Hat







<---- Grandpa bought Ellie this adorable hat for Christmas

Nanna & Ellie look like they're up to something naughty!!

Is it just me?

Or are people really going all out with the whole Santa thing this year?? I don't remember it ever being like this before, but maybe I just never noticed...

You can track Santa, you can watch his flight plan on the news, on MSN videos, everywhere. This is my fave site that I have seen so far... Very in depth. So kids buy all this?? I don't know because we never did Santa.

Merry Christmas!

So, guess who's sick just in time for Christmas? Yup, poor me!! I was feeling pretty bad yesterday and this morning but I managed a nap with Ellie this morning and that's made me feel much better.

I thought I might just miss out on getting sick, no such luck.

Ellie's getting so good at holding things and picking things up. She is always trying to get her dummy back in her mouth, after she's taken it out, of course. Her arms are really strong, too. She is always lifting her top half up so much when she's on her belly. Once she coordinates that with moving her legs she'll be off and I'll be wishing for the days when she would just lay there and be good!!

On That Note

Did I happen to mention that the magic of Ellie sleeping 9.30pm - 6.30am at my parents house has yet to be replicated here? She wakes frequently, especially if she's in her cot. She is sleeping so much better in the pram and I am so tired that after the third or fourth time I have to get up I just give in and put her down in that; in the early hours after a long night I don't care where she sleeps, I only care that she is indeed sleeping.

Her day naps are going well, however. She's sleeping for at least an hour at a time and mostly goes down well... admittedly she's being rocked in the cot because she will no longer have a bar of being held to go to sleep or even get drowsy. She wriggles and cries. I promised myself I would just do the whole cot thing until she and I have caught up on our sleep from the weekend, so soon I will have to figure out how to get her into some better habits but, again, for now I am just pleased that she's sleeping.

Back from Christmas #1

The weekend was pretty busy and full-on for Ellie's first big trip and
stay away from home. My parent's house is so much noisier and there is
always something happening, however Ellie coped well. There was always
someone on hand to hold and play with her, which she loved.



She met her Great Nan and Grandpa Armstrong and Uncle Joshy for the
very first time and took it all in her stride. She adored Uncle Joshy
from the moment she laid eyes on him, which was so very cute.



Uncle Ethan and Uncie Caleb were very excited to have us come, but
unfortunately showed it by being grumpy and fighting with each other.
Hopefully next time they will be better role models for Ellie and make
our stay nicer.

Nanna and Grandpa had Ellie visit them in their room at night to give
James and I some rest and we tried her on S26 when she woke for a feed
at around 9 -10pm. Once she had that feed and was in the pram in their
room she slept all night!! Amazing!

We had Christmas on Saturday night and we got some lovely presents.
Ellie was into the wrapping paper more than anything, but that's okay I
figure this Christmas is mostly for James and I to enjoy and next year
it will be for Ellie. She was mega cute in her '1st Christmas' singlet
and Santa hat... All my photos from then are in the car, so I will post
them later.

Casey and Cameron came on Sunday - the house was very full, but it was nice.

We had our first big scare with Ellie, taking her to
Emergency because she suddenly had a burnt looking red rash on her
chest (where she's had a rash from dribbling previously), was upset and
just not herself. It was horrible to think something might be wrong, I
was almost in tears as James, Nanna, Casey and I hopped in the car to
take her. The doctor we saw said she was allergic to S26, though he
wasn't at all interested in anything we had to say once we mentioned we
had started giving her formula. While we were there Ellie got
considerably better, as did James, who had been all stuffed up for days
and days. I thought maybe whatever James was allergic to Ellie was too.
At the end the doctor at first said he'd get some medication for the
rash, then in the same sentence decided against it and sent us home -
all while speaking over my crying baby. I can tell you I was not
impressed.

That night James got worse and worse until he had to get up out of bed and sit on the couch. My poor hubby.

Tuesday we took Ellie Nanna's work to show her off, everyone was like
"I've seen all her pictures." Or "Oh, I've seen you on YouTube!" It was
a little surreal! Ellie, as always, was adorable and charmed all who
saw her.

After lunch we packed the car and made our way home, I had to drive
because James was still feeling pretty bad. The trip home wasn't as
smooth as the one we had on the way up. Ellie was more tired and grumpy
and cried more, James was miserable and I was tired. James drove for a
while but in the end I decided to relieve him because he just wasn't
well.

I've spent the rest of the week looking after him. We went to the
doctor on Thursday, he got antibiotics and Ellie got some cream for
eczema.

The Hour

Lately I have been so exhausted that whenever I go to feed Ellie during the night I get settled with her on my lap, put my head back and promptly fall asleep. As we've started turning off all the lights and only have a night light in the bathroom, so that I can walk around without making too much noise, I can no longer see the clock which means I have no idea how long I spend in there. Last night I decided to take my phone in with me to check the time, I also decided to try and stay awake.

So, at 12.45am I was up to feed her, I settled us into the chair... and woke up some time later. Oops. I put Ellie back in her cot and checked the time; it was 1.49am. Oops again. The next time she woke I made a conscious effort to stay awake. She was fed, back in bed and asleep in 20 minutes... I hate to think how much time I've spent sleeping in that uncomfortable chair when I could have been asleep in my bed.

It's a vicious cycle, I'm too tired to stay awake when she gets me up but sleeping there isn't refreshing me, I just wake up feeling sore, confused and maybe even more tired.

Okay, got lots to do.

Not Long Now

Not long before we're off to see my family :) Yay. I'm so excited! We haven't been to Bathurst since Christmas last year, luckily we've seen my family at other events and they've come here. I can't wait for Josh to see Ellie!! And for dad to see her again. I don't like that it's been every two months that they've seen her...Mum was here when she was born then everyone came to visit when Ellie was 2 months old and now she's almost 4 months old. Two months is a long time in the life of a baby.

I'm worried about what will happen with the next baby and my family not close enough to help out when I need it. No, I'm not pregnant yet, however, we do want Ellie and #2 close in age for many reasons. I know it will probably be hard for a while and with everyone so far away I get a little sad.

Anyway, must go wrap some pressies!

Not coherant enough to think of an appropriate title

We bought some Christmas decorations yesterday! :) Yay. James has put up some lights and they're looking good, I have gone through and moved 'The Pile' so that our tree can go next to the lounge, near the lights he has put up. It's so exciting, I love Christmas! I love decorating, looking at lights, buying pressies.

I really wanted to get Ellie's picture taken with Santa yesterday, but honestly, I found the guy they had there just a little scary! Maybe when we go see my parents on the weekend we can take her... unless I am going to find any Santa scary, which could happen. I haven't really ever had that much to do with Santa, except that my Great Grandfather used to dress up as Santa, apparently he used to freak me out whenever he put on the big red suit. Even the day he put it on in front of me so that I would know it was him ... So, maybe I have a Santa fear?

***

Michael Buble is coming to Australia next year around the time of my birthday *Hint, hint, nudge, nudge*

***

Okay, gonna go clean some more so we can be all Christmasy :)

 

 

Saturday Morning

I'm sitting here trying to trick Ellie into sleeping, it's a quiet morning... James is still sleeping because we had a late night playing Wii. Ellie was asleep, then Scraps started barking and now she's past it. He makes me so mad at the moment. There he goes again. She's soo tired, her eyes are red and almost hanging out of her head, I've been rocking and patting her for 40 minutes now and just as she starts to relax she'll realise and raise her head or talk to me or Scraps will help her out by opening his big fat mouth.

Success at last!!!

***

It's only a week until we go to visit my family. I'm a little worried
because we've still got two presents to get and it doesn't look like
we're going to town today... I hate being disorganised for Christmas.
We don't even have decorations. We have a tree, it's supposed to flash
but it's not working anymore so we just have a nakie tree sitting on
our wall. James' mum did but us a singing Penguin, which is on the
bench.

***

I'm about to go and tackle 'The Pile' - yes, it is as scary as it sounds. It's all the stuff sitting next to our lounge that has no home yet. There's the eBay section of the pile, the tool section which is essentially all the things that will eventually go into the garage but James still needs them and the random section. I plan to go through each section, make it neater and put it all in a place where it MUST be moved before Caleb comes to visit in January, that way it'll get done.

We have a Wii

Yesterday Ellie and I went for an adventure to Kmart so we could buy a Wii. I had forgotten what it gets like just before Christmas time, even though we were only there on Saturday! It took us a while to find a park and when we did it was an awkward one to get into and not at all anywhere near where we normally park. Eventually we got sorted.

I've come to realise lately that there are not many pram friendly places. Even shops that I once thought would be fine for prams (before we had a baby) are really hard to navigate. So many times I find myself having to go a long way around to get to where I am going and often once I get there I I'm stuck and have to go back! So, once we made our way to the electronics counter with our carefully written list from Daddy (wouldn't want a sleep deprived mummy to buy the wrong thing!) we were set. One by one I requested what was listed. Everything that came out got me just that little bit more excited. Has anyone ever found a box sexy? Anyway, we ended up buying the Wii console with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Big Brain Academy with Wii Remote, an extra nun chuck and a component cable which would make it look good on our TV.

Then I lost my car!! I searched for what seemed like forever before I found it on the opposite side to where I was looking for it. Duh.

Somehow I managed to wait for James to come home and get it out. I was actually surprised by how hooked you get, especially after first seeing the remotes you have to use - I was skeptical that I would be able to do anything with it. We played Wii Sports first, which I quite liked but eventually we were both so tired from it we decided to put on Big Brain Academy. Now, I have to admit that I wasn't really sure about this game. I was happy to buy it because it meant we would have a remote each to play two player games but I thought it would be a silly game that would sit there gathering dust... No! I'm so hooked! We had so much fun trying to beat each other and testing the 'weight' of our brains.

James had already ordered Super Mario Galaxy which also turned up yesterday and Ellie bought me My Sims for Christmas (but it's wrapped so I don't know about it!).

You don't know how fun a Wii is until you have one!! The only reason I wanted one was because Mario Kart will be coming out next year and James and I really enjoy playing Mario Kart 64 together and I wanted to have kid friendly games for when Ellie gets older to avoid her playing the more realistic, violent games. We want to focus on more family friendly games that we can all play. Plus James and I are reliving our childhood with these kinds of games - everyone wins!

Okay, I have to go and clean while Ellie finishes her nap so that when she's asleep tonight we can play again :)

Sleep Update

Ellie has been going down to sleep so much easier the past few days (with the exception of the nap she's currently taking). On Monday when I put her down for her late afternoon nap she even put herself to sleep, which impressed me immensely. Unfortunately she is yet to do that again.

I'm thrilled that it has been easier to get her to sleep and that it's in her cot, however, it seems there's been a trade-off. For the past two nights Ellie has barely slept longer than 2 and a half hours in a stretch and when I've finished feeding her she doesn't go straight back to sleep. Which means I'm exhausted. She still only has half hour naps in the day, if that, so it's hard to get a nap myself. By the time I am settled and about to sleep she's waking up. I don't try anymore, instead I do some housework. Today I haven't done a single thing in the house yet, I don't have the energy!

It would be so nice to find a balance in regards to her sleep. I'm still reading my book and hoping I can build a plan from what I'm learning that will actually work. I'm sure we'll work it out, I'm just feeling somewhat impatient at the moment.

There's so much I want to get done, but the motivation simply isn't there as I'm so drained.  I keep looking at my Tae Bo, thinking how I'd really like to get it out  during Ellie's next nap but it never happens. Then there's the pile of stuff next to the back door that I should go through, everyday I intend to do it.

August 21 Facts

I've started thinking about little facts and information to put in Ellie's baby book (A Book About Me) about the day and year she was born. I have found some news from that day, top singles and albums so far. I'm not sure what else to look for or how to find it...

Anyone have any suggestions as to what I could record for her or any facts about this year that you think might be interesting to her when she's older?

Baby Sign

On Saturday we all went into Batemans Bay to do some Christmas shopping, we got some things, though we're still no quite there yet... Some people are just really hard to buy for.

Angus and Robertson were having a sale so we went to that (I simply can't pass up a book sale) and we found a book called 'Sign Language for Babies and Toddlers' by Christopher Brown and John Clements which was cheap and looked easy enough for us to follow so we bought it. I'm very happy with it, I have been searching for a book on baby sign for awhile so that James and I can get some practice in before Ellie's old enough to really understand what's going on.

We've started using daddy and mummy when we talk to her and today I had a look to choose the other basic words we will use with her for now - I've chosen;

• Please
• Thank you
• Eat
• Drink
• Milk
• Sleep

And once I've started to remember to do these I might start using;

• Book
• Look
• Want
• Hurt
• More
• Thirsty

I think hurt is a great one for those times when we don't know exactly what's wrong with her, I'm not entirely sure how we will teach it to her because you do the sign at the point where you hurt but I am sure she'll get it.

I'm very excited about the prospect of using this, I think it will be so beneficial for us all. The research I have done into teaching babies to sign has all been positive, I simply love the thought of learning together and having another way to communicate with Ellie - especially if it means we're alleviating frustration in those times before she can talk.

***

On other things, she's doing really well with going to bed today, I'm so proud of her. I know she hates sleeping in her cot and would much prefer to sleep in my arms (as any baby does) but she's not fighting it so hard now and is (just) getting over the half hour mark for each nap. I am filling out my sleep logs for the no-cry sleep solution today so that we can really get started on working on her going to bed. I don't mind if she's still waking 2 - 3 times a night, she's a baby. What I don't like is how hard it is to get her to sleep and how sometimes she is very hard to settle. I want to make sleep associations now that will enable us to have fewer issues as she gets older.

***

I've just been in to see her, she was crying so I went into try settle her but when I got there she was doing it herself by putting her dummy back in. She has a tendency to be able to pop it back in when she's stirring but still sleeping and sometimes she can do it while awake if it's fallen in the right position.

Everyday she surprises me with how clever she is and how much she's learning. It's amazing to watch, I get so excited, proud and full of warm fuzzies.

She's rolling a lot now, but only when she thinks no one is watching. James saw it for the first time today, which I have been waiting for, as often as I can I have been putting her on her belly near him but it's just never happened until this morning when he was getting ready for work. The last few times I have noticed that she puts her arm straight up above her head just before she does it and her arm doesn't get caught under her, so I guess she's working it all out. Clever cookie.

Oh My Gosh...

... My baby girl just went to bed without crying!!!

Why is this so shocking to me? Well, we have had two horrific nights with Ellie. We start going along so well and for a moment in time she responds to what we implement in regards to sleeping and then it all changes and we're at square one all over again.

I would be happy to rock her to sleep for all her sleeps if she would just stay asleep when we put her to bed. But, it doesn't matter how we put her to bed at the moment, she cries and cries. Last night she was screaming, so we got her up and took her to bed with us to calm her down, which eventually worked.

The most frustrating part in all this is that I have made a conscious decision to not go down the path of 'Control Crying' or 'Cry it Out' but we're still having her basically cry to sleep even though I'm there to soothe her. The closer to sleep she gets the more she fights, I can tell when she's going to drop off and have to grit my teeth and bare her cries while whispering 'Shh' and patting her bottom. It's horrible. Most of the time she doesn't stay asleep for very long before I have to re-settle her.

I have hope, though. We had ordered 'The no-cry sleep solution' by Elizabeth Pantley from Amazon, it feels like forever ago and it came on Thursday and I really have a good feeling about this. So, I am slowly making my way through it whenever Ellie's sleeping (which, actually isn't all that often).

Her day sleeps last up to 45 minutes if I'm lucky and her night sleeps don't tend to quite make it to the three hour mark, at the moment. Sometimes they barely go past an hour long. So, I'm tired and finding it hard to deal with her sleep issues. Lucky I have James to help me out and give me a hug when it all gets too much. I try hard to stay patient and calm but lately I have had to walk out of her room to have a breather because I am just so tired and all I want is a sleeping babe.

Well, she's awake again, I'd best go.