sleep (or lack thereof)

What mom doesn't think about sleep 24/7? The first thing people ask when they see you, "how's she been sleeping?" If Julian and I had our way, we would be sleeping from 9pm-8am every night. We both LOVE our sleep. Eloise's sleep habits have been so up and down, I never know which way we are going. Sometimes I feel that she is an amazing sleeper and I am so happy with our situation and then the next day I feel like I am the worst mom ever because she isn't sleeping well. But, I have come to realize that sleeping through the night doesn't determine whether or not you are a good mom. Some babies do, some babies don't. I have read pretty much EVERY SINGLE BOOK about baby sleep. I was very into "Attachment Parenting" and agreed with most everything Dr. Sears had discussed in his books. I agree with breastfeeding for a year, baby wearing, responding to your babies cries immediately. But, once Eloise hit a certain age, I started to believe she didn't need to be responded to as quickly anymore. So then I have Dr. Ferber and Dr. Weissbluth. I tried Dr. Ferber's progressive waiting approach and it just never worked for us because I can't go in every couple of minutes and watch my baby crying and not pick her up. It just doesn't feel right, and I feel like whatever path I choose it needs to feel right in my heart. So, that got thrown out the window. Then we have Dr. Weissbluth. His book is AMAZING. I really enjoyed reading about when nap time should be AND WHY and how to deal with sleep problems and he gives great advice and different tips for your different situations. My sister in law gave me this book and all of her kids are great sleepers. My only problem is I can't put Eloise down for a nap/bed awake. She will scream cry, and as I said before, leaving her screaming/crying doesn't feel right to me. No matter how many doctors/moms talk about how 'extinction' works and it won't harm the baby, I just can't do it. So I rock/nurse her to sleep and it takes about 15-20 minutes and then I lay her down and leave. She is a great napper and will take her two naps (she was taking three until recently) at 9 am and around 1pm. I have no problem rocking her before naps. I know many people would be sick of the rocking but "babies don't keep". She won't be this little forever and I want to cherish the time she actually wants to be rocked as long as possible. Sooner or later I will have to give it up, probably with some crying involved. I will wait until it feels right, though. Anyway, So with naptime, we rock and she sleeps. Usually she sleeps about an hour to an hour and a half per nap.

Now, bedtime. UGH. Most nights Eloise will fall asleep early (especially because she has given up her third nap). 6-630pm and we are doing bedtime routine. I felt bad about how early I was putting her to sleep but Dr. Weissbluth recommends an early bedtime (between 6-8) when the third nap is gone. So, every other night she gets a bath to start the night off right :). When there is no bath we still do a massage with lotion, I turn down the lights, we rock and I nurse. She will usually fall asleep nursing (which Dr. Weissbluth says is OK) and I'll wait about 15 minutes and then lay her down. Some nights she will sleep from 630-5!!!! But, that is rare. Most nights she gets up at least once. I have made a decision that the first time she wakes up (around 12-1) I will go to her and nurse her back to sleep. After that I turn off the volume on my monitor and try to ignore any crying. It seemed to work last night but things change. I guess we will see how she does if I keep this up. I just have to remember that as long as do what feels right at least I can say I tried my best with what I had.

8 months old!

**Sorry this is late**

WOW big girl! 8 months has flown by. You are exploring and learning new things every day. You are a beautiful, happy little baby and I love spending everyday with you. You love laughing (especially at Duke). You love playing with daddy's Ipad and my Iphone. You like scooting around and getting into anything that isn't yours :). I still rock you before every nap and bedtime and I enjoy those moments tremendously. You seem less and less reliant on your pacifier and you tend to spit it out once you are asleep and refuse to take it back. Your smile is contagious and I just can't get enough of it! Here are some more things that you are doing this month:

--You creep in all directions. You are a pro at going in a 360 and backwards. You just recently started to go forward. Crawling is right around the corner!!

--You get up on your knees and rock for a couple seconds at a time.

--You started saying "BA" rather than just "YAYAYAYA"

--You have spent time with Blake, Brooklynn, and Ryan this month.

--You are in mostly 6-9 month clothing (some 6mo and some 9mo).

Your daddy and I love watching you grow. You make our lives so much better and sweeter and we can't even explain how much you mean to us. We are constantly discussing how amazing/perfect you are. I can't believe how fast the time is going. You are going to be 1 before we know it!

Eloise at 1 month old

Eloise at 2 months old

Eloise at 3 months old

Eloise at 4 months old

Eloise at 5 months old

Eloise at 6 months old

Eloise at 7 months old

Eloise at 8 months old

The Barker Staples

You know those things you have in your house that you run out of ALL the time? The things you eat on a daily basis? The things the majority of your grocery bill goes to? These are our things, the ones we can barely live without.

First up, chobani and granola



I eat this amazing combo for breakfast 75% of the time and Julian eats it about every other day. My favorite is the lemon yogurt with the fruit and nut granola! Yummy! I buy about 8 yogurts a week and we are always out just in time for the next weeks grocery trip.
Next most important on our list are my beloved organic apples (I've eaten an apple a day for years) and Julian's smoothie ingredients. These include frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, a banana, flaxseed, protein, oats, and almond milk.


Julian and I don't drink cows milk ("cows milk is for baby cows" I can hear my mom now) we drink almond milk. The dark chocolate almond milk is delicious too!
Now, the Costco sized pretzel thins is barely enough for the two of us. We love snacking on these puppies all.day.long.


We also really enjoy tortilla chips and salsa. We have a debate on what the best salsa is (he says Costco's organic and I think Newman's Own) but we agree on the best chips! Costco comes through again!


Now, peanut butter is one of my all time favs. But, with all the talk about mold and allergies we eat a lot of almond butter and jelly! I even like almond butter and agave.


Right now I'm on an apricot jelly fix. That changes though. Oh, and I would totally take a spoonful of JIF if you waved it in front of me. I just don't buy it :)
Another one of our favorite things are cliff bars- the best granola/protein bars EVER! Julian is constantly going to Target to buy more. Yum! My mouth is watering!

I highly recommend all of these thing!! We couldn't live without them!!

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Tidbits

Here are some of the random tidbits going on in my life:

*This article I really enjoyed for obvious reasons. I find this article to be right on point. I might have put it on here before, but whatevs.

*I have been board approved to extend my maternity leave until 1/2/12! I am very excited about not having to go back to work in September. Lately, I have been praying that something would happen which would make me not have to go back to work at all. But, then I realized that it is the wrong prayer. I have to stop asking Him for things and start thanking Him. So, I am now praying about how thankful I am that I get to be home for this long (among all the other wonderful things in my life that I am thankful for). Most working moms have only a few weeks home with their babies. I get over a full year! I am so thankful I get that time with her. Not going back until January means I get to nurse her for a full year (a great accomplishment in my book!). I know going back to work and leaving my baby girl is going to be hard no matter when it happens. But, I have great childcare worked out (my mom) and I get all holidays and summers off. It isn't going to be the worst thing in the world. Anyway, I am so excited to be home for the time that I have with her!

* Eloise is super close to crawling and it makes me nervous. I feel like I have so much to do before she crawls. We have baby-proofing, I need a new vacuum (mine broke), we need to put up sturdy gates! AH! I am so not ready for this next step. I need to get on the ball and start knocking off my list of things to get done before she goes mobile. Plus I think the only thing she is going to do when she starts to crawl is chase Duke around and pull his tail. It's currently one of her favorite activities if he's laying next to her.

* On my grandmothers 75th birthday all her siblings came over to my parents house and we had a little party. I find it so wonderful that they always get together even though my Aunt Paula lives in Florida and my Uncle Ron lives in Massachusetts. Seeing them together and enjoying one another makes me want a big family. They are the reason we have such a big family. Each of them has four or five kids who have tons of kids. I love having a big family and knowing everyone.

* Eloise has been doing much better in the sleep department. I can't believe I am writing that right now, because last night was NO GOOD. But, in general, she's been doing well. She'll have one or two nights a week where she sleeps through the night. I consider that good. I just hope that before I go back to work, she is sleeping through the night. I know I had talked about "ferberizing" her, aka letting her cry it out. But, it is just not in me to do it that way. I am still nervous that she'll always be a bad sleeper because I am not strong enough to let her cry it out. But, my mom said she never let any of us cry and we all slept through the night eventually. So, I guess we'll see. I can't physically do it. So, let's hope she will be really thankful she doesn't have to cry and just sleep. riiiiight.

* Brooklynn Rae was born!! I am so excited for Kelly, Jeff and Blake. I can't believe they are a complete family now. When I saw that sweet baby girl for the first time, I felt my first urge for another one. Don't worry, I suppressed the urge pretty quickly. But, there are at least 2 more in my future (maybe more if I can convince Julian). I love having Eloise and definitely want more children. But,I find it's a fine line between filling my need for children and making sure there is enough of me for each child. I give EVERYTHING I have to Eloise. I don't want to have to take any of me away from her or any other child I have. So, definitely three kids (maybe four :)?)

7 months

7 months! Holy Cow! You are such a big girl! I fall more in love with you everyday! You are turning out to have quite the little personality and you love to have all the attention. You are always smiling and laughing and are happy with pretty much anyone once you've warmed up to them. You used to not let anyone but your mommy hold you. Now lots of people hold you and play with you. If it's someone new you might pout for a little but as long as you see me and I let you know it's ok, you're fine.

This month you:
-got two teeth!!! You have your two bottom teeth and it makes your smile even cuter (we didn't know that was possible).
- you started playing peek-a-boo.
-you roll from your back to your tummy! Now you almost always want to be on your tummy! You still sleep on your back, but when you're ready to get out of your crib you roll onto your tummy and start babbling.
- you eat three 'solids' meals and nurse 5-6 times a day. You like peas, sweet potatoes, bananas and pears!
- solid food means real poop!
- you went to the beach for the first time! Daddy had to work so you went with mommy, nan, pop, aunt Nikki and Dave. You seemed to like it.




I love you so much! I love watching you grow and discover new things daily! It's unbelievable how much daddy and I love you! We can't stop talking about how you make our life so much better! I would love to slow time down because I know these moments are fleeting. But, I am also excited to see what each month has in store for us. I love watching you grow!

Eloise at 1 month:

Eloise at 2 months:

Eloise at 3 months:

Eloise at 4 months:

Eloise at 5 months:

Eloise at 6 months:

Eloise at 7 months:

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The things that I have been loving lately!

*Shameless! William H. Macy is amazing and I have a huge girl crush on Emmy Rossum! Showtime is something the Barker household doesn't have so we spent plenty of time at my parents watching our new favorite show on demand! One little warning though--this is not a show to watch with your dad or daughter and it's practically x rated. Just keep that in mind when you start watching the best show ever.

*Hunger Games Trilogy! These are great books and so 'notputdownable' that I even read in the car which usually makes me sick. But, I was so engrossed with Katniss that I couldn't stop! This is a must read!!

*Laura Mercier SPF 40 for faces! I def don't want wrinkles or skin cancer so staying out of the sun is imperative. But I can't give up those beach/pool days. This sunscreen is the absolute lightest feeling sunscreen I've ever tried. It's almost like just wearing face cream.

*breastfeeding as a form of exercise! I'm not currently working out or dieting but I still feel like my body is still getting smaller. It is true what they say, breast is best!

*Method's new formula for counter spray! It smells super delicious (like cucumbers) and cleans much better than their old stuff! I keep wiping down my counters so my kitchen will smell nice.



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Making your own baby food

Making your own baby food is easy, fun and cheaper than buying organic canned baby food!!! I used my Beaba baby food maker and made sweet potatoes, pears, and zucchini do far! But, you can even do it without a baby food maker...


Sweet Potato Purée
( you'll need 2 sweet potatoes or yams, scrubbed!)

* preheat oven to 425. Prick potatoes with a small knife and place on a baking sheet.
* roast until wrinkled and tender when pricked with a knife, 45-60 minutes. Let cool.
* halve sweet potatoes, scoop out flesh and purée the flesh in a food processor until smooth. Add water, breastmilk or formula to thin them.
* fill ice cube trays for up to three months!!

Enjoy :)


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