Weekend adventure!

Well, we did it! We survived our first big trip with a baby. Elizabeth was a trooper. I'm so proud of her!

Our gradual journey west began last Thursday afternoon when we drove out to Grand Haven, a beautiful town on the coast of Lake Michigan. Craig's parents have a trailer that they had set up at the state park. Elizabeth was delighted to get out of the car (only a 2.5 hour drive) and was ready to take in the sights. We all walked the pier at the entrance to the harbor, with Elizabeth bouncing along with us in the Baby Bjorn. Craig sat her in the sand a few times for pictures, and she wasn't sure what to think about that new texture!
We set the Pack 'n' Play up in the trailer, and Elizabeth put herself to sleep babbling delightedly at the ceiling, which for some reason enthralled her. She slept beautifully, and the next morning she joined us in our little trailer bed and she and I did what we should do on vacation--napped together.

Too much excitement on the new day--she wouldn't take her morning nap and was a bit fussy, but I was determined to get her down to the beach for the first time. Grandma Phillips and I took E. down to the water, placed her little tootsies in the damp sand and held her as the waves washed over her feet. I think she liked it!
Then our little family headed north to the town of Ludington for the biggest part of our adventure--taking the SS Badger, a steam powered car ferry, across Lake Michigan. Poor E. was exhausted (had only grabbed a couple cat naps) and was screaming bloody murder when we arrived to park our car, but quieted when we toted her up the steps to the big ship in her carseat. We spent a little extra money to spring for a state room on the boat so that we could have a private place to rest for the four hour journey. After touring the deck and watching the sun set, the three of us hunkered down in our little room where we all were able to grab a little shut eye.

A good thing, because the ship docked in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, at 12:30 AM. Exhausted, we made it to our hotel room and set up for the night. Fortunately Elizabeth slept quite well again.

The next morning, Saturday, we took a long walk along the pier in Manitowoc after breakfast to watch the boats and see the lighthouse. Then we were off on our next leg--a journey about 3 hours to the west, to the city of Wisconsin Rapids where we would attend the wedding of my cousin Kevin and his fiancee Megan. This leg coincided beautifully with Elizabeth's morning nap, so Craig and I enjoyed a peaceful drive through the Wisconsin countryside. We met up with my parents, who had also just arrived in town for the wedding, for a picnic lunch at a nearby park. Grandma and Grandpa Schneider were more than ready to take E. off of our hands for a bit.

Back at another hotel, and I scrambled to get ready for the wedding while Craig stayed behind with Elizabeth. It was wonderful to see my cousin Kevin (who I still think of as a stocky 4-year-old with a spiky blond mullet) marry a delightful girl, and I had a great reunion with my other cousins who had made it to town (coming from as far away as Connecticut, Arizona, and Hawaii--crazy!).

Back at the hotel room I dressed E. in one of her darling new dresses, and the 3 of us headed to the reception. Again, my parents were delighted to spirit Elizabeth away as much as they could, and Craig and I enjoyed our dinner. We left after only a few hours because all 3 of us were exhausted.
Sunday was the big day. We'd debated about the many ways to go home (go south or go north? try to do it all in one day or spend the night at my parents' outside of Chicago?), and finally decided to take the plunge and drive all the way home in one day--a big 4-state schlep. All in all, it went beautifully. We had to be creative and flexible, like when we stopped at a Walmart in Rockford, Illinois for one of our breaks, because it was rainy and the malls weren't open yet (but that was fun for E.--we spent time in the toy aisle!)...or when we got stuck in horrible traffic right outside of Chicago, and Elizabeth was screaming at the top of her lungs--Craig and I sang nursery rhymes to her in silly voices, over and over again, to get her to quiet. We felt fortunate that Craig's sister Wendy and her family live directly on our route home, so we got to spend some substantial, quality play time at her house. By the last leg of our journey Elizabeth was not thrilled to go back in the carseat, but she made it...we made it...we thank God for keeping us safe on so many roads.

Just thinking about the weekend, in retrospect, kind of exhausts me. But I'm so proud of how flexible, creative, and patient we were on our first big trip with a baby, and even more proud of Elizabeth for being such a take-it-in-stride baby. This trip was a very successful litmus test. We plan to go up to Mackinac Island in late July, which right now seems like small potatoes compared to this journey--let's hope for the best!

Now I am 5! (months)

Holy cow, another birthday?? It's a good thing I don't eat solids yet, or I would be demanding cake--these birthdays happen all the time!!

Life has been a whirlwind lately! It's much warmer outside now than when I was born, and I've learned I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to be outside. Here are some other things I love to do:

Stand in the grass (with Mommy's help)--love how it feels on my toes!
Practice sitting. Just today Mommy noticed how good I'm getting at this! Today I was like a weeble-wobble--I was able to right myself every time I started tipping. I'm working my core!
Ride on Mommy in the Baby Bjorn. I just love seeing everything Mommy sees. And Mommy's happy because this makes her life a LOT easier.
Play the "monster" game with Mommy--she pretends to bite different parts of my body--this is so far the only thing that makes me laugh!
The swimming pool! Our neighbor has a pool and Mommy and Daddy took me for the first time last weekend! I only put my feet in, but...wow. Incredible!
"Talk." I'm learning to make lots of different sounds!
Practice rolling over...unfortunately my favorite place to do this is my crib. So when Mommy puts me down for a nap or bedtime, I practice and usually end up getting my arm caught underneath me, which makes me really really mad!

I will soon be taking my first big trip, to Wisconsin. I will meet a lot of relatives, go to another wedding (that's old hat for me--I've already been to one!), and ride a big boat called a ferry. Hmm, let's see what tricks I have up my sleeve to make the trip as interesting as possible for Mommy and Daddy...

Just because!

Here is one of my favorite pictures of my beautiful babe. It's funny how, as time goes on, less and less I think of her as "looking like Craig" or "looking like me" (I actually don't see any of myself in her face at all). Now, I think she just looks like Elizabeth Audrey!

The Great Experiment

I am coming to learn that raising a baby is one giant experiment! Whenever we hit a snag, it's all about playing with different variables to figure out what works.

Our latest snag is a seriously crappy sleeping schedule, mentioned in the last post. For the last month, Elizabeth has awaken during the night at least once, usually twice, between her usual go-down at 8:30 and get-up at 5:30ish. It has been rough. Wonder Week 19, perhaps, but I think I've also created a bad habit. After each wakeup I go in and feed her--instead of what I should try, which is soothing her without feeding and even waiting several minutes to see if she will cry herself back to sleep. I guess my impatience has done me in, and when that telltale wail drifts from the next room at 2:30 AM and I stumble blindly towards my daughter, all I want more than anything in the world is to be back in bed, and I know that feeding her is the only thing that will quiet her down.

So that's one part of the experiment I'm still playing with. It's hard to play scientist during those bleary, can't-move-my-bones-out-of-bed-one-more-time moments, so it's been challenging.

Tonight I played with a more significant variable. After doing some research, I wanted to see if a little formula added to the usual nighttime nursing would fill up E. enough to sleep for longer stretches. (We're going to wait a couple weeks to start cereal, which is also purported to help babies sleep longer at night.) So tonight, I popped open my free sample of Similac for the first time and mixed it up with some thawed frozen milk, heated it up, and took it upstairs with us for the pre-bedtime feed. I nursed Elizabeth for a while first, then tried the bottle. She SUCKED it down, literally without coming up for air. She even nursed again after finishing the bottle!

Okay, we might have something here. I'm praying that sleep sustains her more tonight. And if she does wake up wailing, I'm at least going to try to delay the second feeding--we'll see how that goes.

Time to go check on my sweet sleeping science experiment :) Until next time!

"Wonder Weeks"

I recently learned about something called the "Wonder Weeks." According to this website, "research has shown that your baby makes eight major, predictable, age-linked changes during the first year." And during those eight big leaps, baby's personality apparently changes temporarily--because they are so interested in discovering their new world. Among patterns that change because baby is going through this big leap? Sleep!

I was kind of relieved to learn about the Wonder Weeks, because Elizabeth, at 19 weeks, is apparently in the middle of one, and it explains a lot. On the positive side, she's just about hitting a big milestone--rolling over! She can roll from tummy to back, and is working on back to tummy. We put her in her crib, and if she's awake, she "practices"! The fun stops when her arm gets caught under her--she's not sure what to do with that, and then gets ticked. However, Craig checked on her in the crib the other day while she was down for a nap, and found her on her tummy! That little sneak must have rolled over on the sly, with no one to see her! We are eagerly awaiting viewing it ourselves. In related news, Elizabeth finally tolerates tummy time and probably even LIKES it--because she can now raise her head high enough to see the world!

Anyway, the downside of this Wonder Week is a newly-crappy sleep schedule. For the last couple weeks, more nights than not, her sleeping is like a newborn's--up every 2 to 3 hours! I've been playing around with whether or not to feed her or just comfort her; I'm a bit paranoid about her weight, so I often just feed her in the middle of the night when she rouses, although I'm probably starting a bad habit. And consequently I'm a zombie--I got spacey and started nodding off in front of my computer at work last week, and this morning I almost started nodding off IN THE CAR. Yikes! The good news is, is that I only have 2 more weeks of work before a glorious break for summer.

Despite how frustrating this Wonder Week is, we just love watching our daughter absorb the world like a sponge. She is amazing in what she is learning and how she is changing.