The new normal. Or is it?

Still slowly getting back into a rythm after the holidays...

Is it just me, or will caring for a baby, as cute as she can be, slowly lowers your IQ? I miss using my brain!!! After 3 months, it feels like the real adjustment to this new life as a stay-at-home mom is happening now. Right when Yummy decided that sleeping at night, especially between 2 and 5 AM is optional... Everything now revolves around her naps, and trying to maintain a schedule. Not easy. And cabin fever has set in.

Oh, we went away to Maine and New Hampshire last week-end, but since she was up from 2 AM to 6 AM the first night, and I ended up with about 2 hours of sleep, I couldn't enjoy my time away as much as I would have liked. I'm sooooo thankful we were with amazing, understanding friends... who had brought fantastic wine... S did the second night, as I passed out for 9 hours straight, amid the noise of the others staying up, without ever moving in my sleep. At least, the fever has somewhat gone down!

First time in ski boots! :o)))














Having fun during the prize draw during happy hour at the ski center
(picture taken by Daddy with his new toy... ;o)










So yeah... tired... brain dead... not feeling like writing... That's why I've been neglecting to come here lately: I feel like I have nothing to say. And yet, so much is happening, right in front of my eyes!

My baby, who couldn't sit on her own very well when we first met her 3 months ago, is now crawling all over, and walking holding on to furniture. She understands so much, and is starting to "talk" and say words, using 2 signs together ("more"+"eat"), pointing to body parts, doing animal sounds on demand, learning a new sign in a matter of minutes, learning to feed herself with a spoon. She loves books, and has started to turn them over when they are upside down, with specific sounds for specific images. She has started some pretend play, using all kinds of things as a telephone and babbling into it. And she has started to test limits, which is actually quite funny: if she does something and I say "no", shaking my head, she'll do it again, look at me, then shake her head. It's hard not to laugh!

I worked as an OT with developmentaly delayed kids for 18 years, and I find all of that to be quite fast. The charts we used might have been generous. Why am I so in awe? Isn't it just what normal kids do? Anyone?...

Oh, and the sweetest: she's coming to me more and more for a cuddle during the day, is laughing much more easily, and is showing more and more real attachment towards us.

So, she's doing unbelievably well. By daytime that is... Too bad the seleeping is getting worse with time, not better. I've tried co-sleeping again: that's now a definite no-no! She gets way too excited, scratches the sheets, kicks me... We've been told over and over again not to let her cry. Fine. But now, she can basically only fall asleep in our arms, or after we've patted her cute little butt for what seems like hours in her crib. She used to go right back to sleep when she woke up crying for her rag: for us, it was 10 seconds, in and out of her room, give it back to her, quickly go back to sleep, yay! Those were the good days, and we didn't know it. Even jetlag was easier! Now, getting out of her room when she seems to be sleeping is like crossing a minefield with giant shoes on. And one person who could help us is simply not returning my calls... So much for our great, free healthcare system. She won't even call to give me private resources I would be willing to pay for!

Interestingly, the only good nights we've had in the last month have been those rigth after a few nights away... Maybe we need a cottage...

************

What exactly do you mean, sleep?...










No way!










I'll just be cute instead...