Six months of Avery

Avery turned six months old last Sunday. This last month has been the best one so far! She is so much fun now that she is turning into a little person. Avery's sixth month was all about her learning how to maneuver her body in the world. It started with her getting better at manipulating toys - passing them from hand to hand, accurately getting them in her mouth, and banging them on the floor or table. She mastered rolling over both ways, and is now sitting up all by herself without too much wobbling over. And her latest trick is popping up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. Crawling is surely not far off.

This has been a big month for Avery because we have been on the road all month long, and we're still at Yaya and Poppy's house in Las Vegas.  We started our trip here and made a gradual journey down to Florida for my sister's wedding last weekend.  I had originally planned to go straight back to Hawaii with Adam, but decided at the last minute to break up that long, grueling trip with another stop in Las Vegas.  It's been an exhausting month for Mama and I'm very road-weary, but Avery has weathered the traveling like a pro.  She's now been on 8 plane rides, including layovers, with another two before we're home.  We visited cousins in Washington DC and saw my friend E while we were there.  And we met all sorts of relatives at my sister's wedding including Avery's Great Grandmother and her Great-Great Grandmother, who is 99 years old! 

Sleep is still our biggest challenge!  Avery is still often waking every hour or more all night long and it's slowly draining me to the point where I feel seriously depressed at times.  Sometimes I feel so drained I don't feel able to cope with her during the day!  I keep feeling like I need to Do Something about the situation, but I'm really not sure what... I'm too sleep deprived to think clearly and objectively about it.  I'm hesitant to try anything new that might result in me getting even less sleep than I already am.  I have tried a few times to take her out of her swaddle, and to put her down in a crib and not in my bed, but it has always resulted in hours of frustration on my part. 


Last night was a mini-breakthrough in that she slept unswaddled all night long for the very first time.  She surprised me with how well she did, although I don't think it decreased her night waking as I hoped it would.  And I got even less sleep because she was sprawled out in the middle of the bed and I was hugging the edge, trying to get comfortable, wanting to toss and turn, but trying to stay still so as not to make any noise.  Not to mention my brain was on alert monitoring her all night.  And she was moving around more, of course, and I hear every little sound she makes and my brain turns on - what's she doing?

I'm torn about moving her to her crib.  On the one hand, I know she really needs a separate sleeping space because she disrupts my sleep too much when she is right next to me (and honestly, I probably disrupt her sleep to some extent too).  Part of me thinks (hopes) that if/when she is in her crib, she will sleep longer stretches.  On the other hand, there are many good reasons to keep her in my bed, the biggest being that I don't have to get up and work on getting her back to sleep in her crib.  I can just plug her in and let her fall asleep nursing, which she often does in a matter of minutes.  Easy!  BUT, if I only had to get up once or maybe twice, it would be worth it?  Maybe?  Rather than be awakened hourly all night?  Also, when she's in bed with me she doesn't have to wake all the way up to get my attention.  She never has to cry in the night.  She is happy and well rested, even if I'm not.  And part of me thinks I should just stick it out and wait for her to reach the developmental point of sleeping longer on her own.  I have thought about sidecarring our crib, but luckily she does nap regularly in her crib and I am loathe to mess with that.  Buy another crib?

Parenting is so hard!  And I haven't even gotten to the *really* hard decisions! 

She is such a happy baby.  Aside from the sleep issue, I have nothing to complain about.  She is our little angel, always smiling and laughing.  She will smile at the air when she wakes up in the morning - she is just happy to be alive.  We are so blessed and I fall in love with her more every day.

In cousin Henry's jumperoo - we are definitely getting one of those - she LOVED it.  She was squealing with excitement.

Playing on our bed at our beach house in Florida.  Such a happy girl.

In the exersaucer on the balcony at the beach house.  She also loved the exersaucer - we might have to have one of each.  Anything that entertains the baby and gives Mama 15 minutes to make a sammich is a Good Thing - nay, a Necessary Thing.

With her Daddy in the beach house.

Now that's a cute baby.

Yaya taught her to drink water from a cup!  She loves it, it's so funny.

Five Generations

Avery got to meet her 99 year old Great-Great Grandmother AND her Great Grandmother!

Nom nom nom

Zzzzzz......

When Avery naps in the Ergo she likes to put her face under the strap - it's so adorable! 

Pretty pretty princess

I thought that hat we tried on in Nordstrom the other day was so cute on Avery, but I didn't want to pay the $25 price for it (yikes!).  We were in Hobby Lobby the other day getting some last minute wedding stuff and I found materials to make one for just $2.  Score!  How fun is this?

I think Avery likes it.

Untitled from Michelle Seiler on Vimeo.

Leaving on a jet plane...

We're in DC now!  On our way to Florida.  Avery is becoming quite the little traveler!

Favorite toy

Is that good stuff?

Tasting an apple 10.9.10 from Michelle Seiler on Vimeo.

Shopping with the girls

First Airplane Ride

Well, Avery survived her first trans-oceanic airplane trip, and I am back on the mainland for the first time since 2008 - yippee!  And I am at my parent's house for the first time since 2006.

So how was the trip?  Avery was a dream baby.  And thus I did not have an anxiety attack at 40,000 ft in the air.  She rode happily in her Ergo, watching all the new sights in the airport, she sat quietly chomping on her toys in the airplane, and she went down easily and took a nice nap on me.  Everyone around us was commenting on what a good baby she was!  EXCEPT... when we were descending on our first flight into Los Angeles, she cried the whole time.  For about thirty minutes!  It was AWFUL!  Poor baby's ears were bothering her :( I felt so bad.  I kept trying to get her to nurse, but I had nursed not long before we started descending so there wasn't much (if any?) milk left and she wasn't swallowing.  She kept looking up at me with these big, hurt eyes like why can't you make it stop mom??  :(  

I felt terrible. Of course, she was totally fine as soon as we landed, back to her normal smiling, chirping self. The next flight I made sure to save one side for when we were going down. But she fell asleep and slept the whole way so I didn't have to worry about it.

The hardest part was going through security - I had Avery in the Ergo, and our carseat (which I gate-checked) and the stroller base for it, plus the diaper bag and a rolling carry on packed with extra diapers, wipes, changes of clothes for both of us, my laptop and the boppy pillow. I looked like a pack mule!

I couldn't have picked a better time to come home, either. The weather is spectacular here right now - mid-seventies, sunny and DRY! I haven't been in DRY weather in forever. I love me some desert climate.

We are on our way to my sister's wedding at the end of this month in Florida and on the way we'll be stopping in Washington DC to see Avery's new little cousin. It's Avery's first big adventure.