It's been way too long and my fingers have been itching to blog.
So, for my baby girl's first birthday we had a kiddie pool {of which she never dared step in to}, a bubble machine and a pinata, all thanks to her wonderful tia and grandparents!
She had an amazing cake and cake pops from The Whole Cake. Her theme was cupcakes ;0)
It was an intense day to say the least, but at the end of it all I was very much overwhelmed and humbled by all the family and friends that gathered around to wish our not so baby, baby a happy first birthday.
Two days later I took her into her first year check up where she got weighed and measured and of course she had a couple vaccines. Side note: she has yet to cry when getting shots. Not even her very first shot after being born made her cry- she's a strong girl.
Her doctor said she was off the charts healthy and strong, Praise God! He asked if she was sleeping better at night since he knew her history of waking too often to eat. I told him she was still waking up twice a night about every 2 to 4 hours. I got the raised eyebrow look and he inhaled...exhaled and said:
"Now, honey. She is a healthy girl. There is no medical reason for her to still be a) on the bottle and b) eating twice at night."
"But, I've slowly been weaning her off the bottle and only really uses it at night."
"That's great. Very good. Now, the first 4-5 nights will be the hardest. She'll eventually understand that she will not get her ba-ba and eventually sleep for about 10-12 hours every night. Now, isn't that even more wonderful?"
He wasn't letting up. Wait, "sleep through a whole night?" That was something I haven't done for almost 2 years now. Sign me up!
He answered some other questions I had about diaper changes at night and what if she's in pain, yada, yada, yada. at the end of or visit I really felt empowered and prepared for what the rest of the week would entale.
My "empowerment" paraphernalia consisted of ear plugs, an eye mask and a whole lot of prayer. Every night her crying was less and less and we quickly learned that checking in on her made things WORSE. At one point we almost gave in but instead we held hands and just waited for her to fall back to sleep.
It took less than a week for her to catch on to the new way of things. I wish I was strong enough before to do this, but I guess it just wasn't the right time. It really helped to have my husbands support. Without him I'd still be sleeping on the floor next to her crib ever night.
It was not an easy feat at all. But it feels good to know that we, as parents, are disciplined enough to dig our heels in when it comes to the health of our family. Trust me we were ready to give it all up a couple times, but we understood that it would help her sleep habits and not to mention ours as well. It's about the long run, people. Not just the quick fix.
She's loving her milk {organic whole milk} and doesn't seem to miss the bottle one bit. She's eating 6 times a day and is just the happiest of babies. This tell me we are doing a pretty good job. Also, I have so much more free time since I'm not having to wash those stinking bottles every 2 seconds. Ha!
So, it's goodbye ba-bas! So long, midnight meals and hello again 8 hour long slumbers!
Now, about the binkie...
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