Friday, December 4, 2009

Randomness

Wow, I haven’t posted anything since returning to work so I thought I’d
give a quick update. Ashlinn is now five months old and I feel like
Ryan and I are finally getting this parenting thing down. The first
couple of months were long, and beyond difficult, but our baby girl has
outgrown her colic and now gives us lots of smiles and giggles. She is
still an “unsettled” child meaning she hasn’t quite adjusted to the
outside world as of yet, but it is by no means a permanent label and
will be something she outgrows soon (we hope!!!).

Ashlinn is still a very strong and highly intelligent child for her
age. With very little support, she can walk around between mommy and
daddy, talks up a storm (can’t understand it just yet of course!), and
always has a look of deep thought when faced with a new situation or
individual. It seems as though he brain is always working overtime.
Unfortunately this works against us when it comes to sleep, especially
naps. Ash often fights naps, and it looks almost as though she’s
worried that something wonderful is going to happen while she’s
sleeping, and therefore, wants to make sure she doesn’t miss it. I am
constantly working with her trying to establish healthier sleep habits.
We may go with more drastic measures very soon (cry-out method or
something similar) because all three of us and the cats are very sleep
deprived.

Not surprisingly, Ashlinn started teething very early – around 2 months
in fact. This makes for a cranky child at times. There have been times
she’s awoken in the middle of the night, screaming bloody murder while
desperately grabbing at her gums. It breaks my heart to see her in
pain. We have gotten Baby Orajel for her which takes the edge off, but
it’s not her favorite thing so we try to limit usage. I’m not sure if
it’s the taste or the numbing effect, but she has a horrible looking
scowl on her face for a while after we apply it.

Ashlinn has become the joy of our lives and we always look forward to
spending time with her; that does NOT necessarily mean we’d be opposed
to having someone babysit who needs their baby fix. Breaks from her are
few and far between and always welcomed.

In other news, both Ashlinn and Mommy are very proud of Daddy and his
new Assistant Director to College Seminar (University Studies) job. He
worked hard on preparing a presentation in addition to preparing for the
all-day interview, and it paid off. I think the thing that put him over
the edge was Ashlinn’s critiquing of his speech. She’d scowl and talk
angrily when it didn’t sound quite right, and coo and smile when it was
just about perfect. Crazy baby.

Unfortunately, starting in January, Ryan will not be able to spend his
normal Tuesdays and Thursdays at home with Ashlinn, so she’ll need to be
in daycare almost full-time. We’ve worked out a great situation with a
friend who watches her Mondays and Wednesdays now, but she may be
returning to the workforce and unable to care for Ashlinn in the
upcoming months, so if anyone has any good recommendations for
childcare, I’d love to hear them. Luckily I’ll have Fridays at home
with her and may still be able to work out something else with my job.
We’ll see.

Sorry I wasn’t feeling more creative or inspired to recant a fun story.
I can’t think of one at the moment. Maybe next time, after a good
night’s sleep! Until then…

1 comment:

  1. You guys rock as parents! BTW - I want to babysit!

    ReplyDelete