sleeping training

after 13 months of nursing, rocking and and bouncing to sleep multiple times a night, we decided it was time for sleep training. since we returned from hawaii, her sleep had declined and we were all tired and frustrated. there is always a debate between the no-cry sleep solutions and the cry-it-out methods. it comes down to having to decide what your limits are and what is best for your family. and when it is best for your family. we decided to go with the ferber method, which is a cry-it-out method. the first night was awful. about 80% of the time was spent with her crying and us going in in intervals reassuring her that she was ok. but we were not to pick her up or stay in the room till she feel asleep. this also meant no nursing! this was hard for me and my boobs. the next day was a bit of a mess since none of us had gotten much sleep. but that night there was a huge improvement. we decided it would be best for zach to do most of the reassuring because he was a bit more strong willed that i was. so for the first time in 13 months i got to stay in bed for an entire night (this does not mean i was asleep the whole time but it's a start). tonight is the 3rd night and she has only woken up once.

it feels a little bit too easy but i'll keep you posted.

hawaii

second vacation of her life - hawaii! we went to hawaii for zach's parents 40th anniversary. it was quite the journey with 10 flights total roundtrip. she slept for all 5 flights out to hawaii and was fairly pleasant for the 5 flights back. each way we stopped over in phoenix for a night to break up the trip and visit with aaron, jenn, emma and milo. we also got to see my dad for a bit.

the trip was fun but traveling with a one year old is exhausting!!! and not really like a vacation. although it was nice to have grandparents to help out!!

pictures of the trip can be found here.

juniper turns 1!!!

i can not believe it's been a year since juniper came into this world. what a crazy wonderful year. i couldn't have wished for a happier, cuter baby. to celebrate we had a small party with family and friends. we had primo hoagies and my mom made a lemon chiffon cake with strawberry pudding filling. pictures of the day can be found here.

photo courtesy of bridget pizzo

back to work

i've had the wonderful opportunity to stay home with juniper for almost a full year. but just recently took a freelance job at free people, doing post production work for their catalog. the job is for 3 months while my friend amy is on maternity leave. as i was making this transition, zach was going through a transition of his own. after 5 years he decided to leave covenant house and go back to school to get his PhD. the timing was pretty perfect. he left his job and became a stay-at-home dad and i became a working mama for the summer. it's been great to have juniper and zach grow their relationship. and great for me to gain some independence.

11 months

preferred method of getting around - scooting around on her butt

has 4 teeth and two more coming in

eats more finger food - loves meats

bed time is 7:30, still gets up at least two times/night

10 months

first vacation - outer banks, nc (pictures here)

starting to scoot on her butt

eating more foods, mostly purees

napping has improved

has two bottom teeth

drinks water from a sippy cup

food

she's getting slightly more interested in food. she prefers to feed herself so i've been giving her things she can hold herself:

cantaloupe

pineapple

pickle

french fry

dorito (!!)

graham cracker

roasted potato

piece of chicken

bread

i'm not sure how much she's actually ingesting but it's a start!