Naps

Nap time comes three times a day, sometimes four. Every time nap time rolls around lately a battle ensues. Adilyn is tired (I am tired because she is just getting back into sleeping for a long stretch at night due to having a cold) and I am ready to put down for a nap. Will she fall asleep on her own? No. Why would she fall asleep easy when she is tired? Life would be too easy. So I try to help her fall asleep. I rock her, I pat her back, and I even make a shhhhhh sound to help her relax. Sometimes this works quickly and sometimes she just cries because she is tired and wants to sleep. Honestly the logic of a four month old baby does not make much sense. When she does fall asleep I try to hold her for awhile because if I put her down too soon she starts crying again because she wants to be held. Lately this has been sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo frustrating because I don't want to sit and hold her for half an hour while she decides to fall asleep or scream in my ear.

Let me tell you about her bed time. She goes to sleep easy peasy. She passes out while I feed her or while I sing to her. If she wakes up when I put her down she cries for a minute or two and then goes right back to sleep. Honestly why is nap time so different? Maybe because she is so exhausted by the end of the day going to bed is easy. Or maybe because I have a routine for bed time that she is use to. I try to do something similar for nap time, but I guess it needs to be more obvious to her. I just don't know. If this keeps up I am going to have to sleep train her for naps. I don't really want to because I don't want to hear her cry for a long period of time.

Usually I want to take a nap when she is napping so I do whatever it takes to get her to sleep, but it is not really working anymore. It is times like these that I wonder how the Duggar family got so big so quickly. How did that mom have time to do anything? She must have a science about getting babies to nap because it seems to take me forever to get Adilyn to sleep some times. I just want her to figure out that going to sleep at night is just like going to sleep during the day.

When Orion is in charge

The other day I asked Orion to change Adilyn while I got ready to go on our walk. I came out of our room to find this....

I told him her onesies (I have no idea how to spell that word) goes on the inside of her pants. He told me that he thought it looked better this way, almost like she was wearing a leotard.

Honestly that man is so weird sometimes. I wonder what Adilyn will look like the first time I leave him alone with her for a long period of time. On a side note her beanie is a duck, you can't really tell in the picture but there is a duck face on top of her head. I think it is so cute!

Things that I miss

• Sleeping in
• Sleeping through the night
• Going to bed at the same time as Orion
• Having the desire to stay up past ten ( I am sensing a theme of sleep here)
• Being able to do things on a whim
• Going to the movies
• Being able to stay out past 7

There are lots of things that I miss since becoming a mom, but those things don't matter as much as Adilyn. My life seems so much more important now that I have a sweet little lady to take care of. Yeah I would love to get more sleep, but that time will come. I don't know if I will ever go back to staying up past ten because Adilyn loves to wake up around 7 and wants to eat right then and there. Life is constantly changing and it can be challenging at time, but I am enjoying being a mom. I love having Adilyn. Sometimes when I am falling asleep at night I think about all the things I can't do now and sometimes I get sad. I then remind myself that I have so much more in my life now than I did before. 

There is something about a baby that makes everything cute. You dress them up for Halloween and no matter what they are dressed up as they are cute. You put a hat on them and they are so cute. I can't think of anything that you put on a baby that does not instantly become cute.

Regular little cardigan becomes super cute when placed on a baby.

Little flower pants are so cute when you put them on a baby.

A hooded towel is the cutest thing ever when placed on a baby. I have a better picture of her in the towel but she is crying because she is cold.

Nothing she is wearing matches, yet you can't help but describe her as cute.

I might be biased but I think Adilyn makes everything cute.

Awkwardly Pregnant

When we went to the beach on our quick little trip to the coast two weeks ago I looked awkwardly pregnant most of the time. Thanks to my Moby Wrap. (honestly I think all moms should have one for their little babies. It is so amazing. It folds right up and fits in a diaper bag and is really comfortable). I just put Adilyn in that bad boy and we walked around for as long as we wanted. She stayed awake and looked around, then we she got tired she took a nap. SO amazing.

It was cold while we were visiting to so I needed to wear a jacket. Lucky for me I have been losing weight (16 pounds lighter than before I got pregnant) my jacket was nice and roomy. I just zipped it up over Adilyn to keep her nice and warm.

I have a baby under that jacket. She was happy as can be in there.

 There she is sleeping away. The only times she will actually take a pacifier is when she is in a baby carrier and sometimes in the car. Other wise she just cries when I try to give it to her.

You can't even tell there is a baby under that jacket. (If only we did not look so tired in this picture...)

Oh look I found Adilyn. When we got back to the car I unzipped my jacket and heard a strange noise. It was a lady in the car next to us letting out a gasp once she saw there was a baby on me. She said she was wondering if I was pregnant. I am happy to report that I was not such a funny shape when I was actually pregnant. I hope I never look so strange for future pregnancies.

Halloween

For Adilyn's first Halloween she was a skeleton. The skeleton glows in the dark. After we were down trick or treating I just threw her sleeper on the floor after I changed her. Apparently that thing was still glowing at three in the morning when Orion randomly woke up. We were staying at our brother and sister-in-laws place and Orion was sleeping on the floor. I got the twin bed and Adilyn was asleep in her bassinet.

I dressed up as Cleopatra (sort of) and Orion was a boy scout leader. We did not take a picture of him though. My sister-in-law thought it would be cute to draw a heart on Adilyn's face. She did not like her face being drawn on at all.

Here she is holding her trick or treat bag all by herself! She would hold it open at the door while I said trick or treat. (I had to help her keep it open of course but she pretty much held the bag all on her own) You would not believe how much candy people would give a little baby. Obviously she is too little to eat it. My little lady is getting so big!

A Dad's Love

Orion is so loving towards Adilyn. He carries her around proudly when we go to church or the store. (That is when she is not being fussy because he hands her to me when that happens.)  He just loves our little lady so very much. My mom got Adilyn a little outfit that is oh so true.

She has a little bit of a smile here because she knows it is true!

It looks like Adilyn has inherited Orion's lack of picture taking ability. They both are making weird faces. She does not really like having her picture taken. I think it is the flash that bothers her.

He finally decided to smile, but of course Adilyn did not want to work with us. She does what she wants.

In the mornings before Adilyn goes down for her first nap Orion likes to snuggle with her. That is if he has woken up yet. He normally sleeps in after I get up with Adilyn because he goes to bed much later than we do. Perks of his job.

I can usually find them on the couch like this after I come out of the bathroom or finish putting a load of laundry in the washer etc.

She sure does love her dad and blankets. Mornings are definitely her favorite because she gets the best of both worlds. I am so grateful that I have a lovely husband who loves being a dad. I can't imagine raising Adilyn on my own. I don't know how those single parents do it.

Swaddle

My little lady loves to be swaddled. She falls asleep rather quickly when she is wrapped up nice and tight. I thought maybe she would have grown out of that by now, but no she has not. Instead she has started to love holding her blanket when she is not wrapped in it. Sometimes after a nap we just bring her out into the living room still wrapped up and she is happy as can be.

She just loves being a baby burrito.

Orion says she is on lock down when she is swaddled.

If she is getting a little upset we sit her in her chair and hand her a blanket. She instantly (most of the time anyway) becomes much happier. She pulls the blanket close to her and acts like she is giving it a hug. Then she tries to eat it.

I wonder if she is going to be one of those kids that carries a blanket around with her. I watched a little boy who was like that. As long as he had his blankets with him (he had two small blankets he loved) we could do anything.