I know this picture is a bit fuzzy, but I thought it was so cute. Riley is now eating a ton of new foods. Some of her favorites are prunes, shown in these two pics, peaches, pears, bananas...really any and all fruits. She will eat a bit of some veggies, but not too much. She also will eat graham crackers, cheerios, and biter biscuits. She is growing up so fast!!
The time was finally upon me to start teaching Riley that night time was for sleeping. Since she was born, she has always woken up a few times in the night to nurse. In the last month or so, she has been waking at the same exact times to just soothe herself for a few minutes then go right back to sleep. She has also been sleeping in our bed so neither Jaron nor I have been getting restful sleep.
I post this simply for myself, so that if we have another child (probably a 5% chance) I will have record of this trial, and for any other moms who read this. I always enjoy seeing how other moms do stuff.
I decided that after Derek and Amy left, I was going to let Riley cry it out. Now, I had done this with Avery at 6 months and it worked beautifully. She woke up and cried a few times during the night in the first 2 nights, but by the 3rd night she was sleeping great. Unfortunately, we moved when she was 9 months old and she ended up sleeping with us for a few nights and we had to train her all over again. By this time, she could sit and pull herself up so she would cry and cry then fall asleep sitting up. When she started to fall over in bed, she would wake herself up. It was horrible. She was not a good sleeper again until she was about 2 years old. All this to say, I was determined to train Riley before it was too late.
I started on Saturday night. I put her down around 8:30pm. She cried for about an hour and fell asleep. She woke 2 or 3 more times (the exact times she had been previously waking up at out of habit), crying for about an hour each time. She finally woke up around 7:30 am. Not bad.
Sunday night rolled around and she had a harder time going down, waking up and crying off and on until around 2am. She then slept solid until 5:30am. She started crying so I went in and put her on her tummy and she fell asleep until 7:30.
Monday night - night #3. As per all the books, by night three, the child usually gets it...and she did! She slept from 8pm, going down with minimal fussing, until 5:30am. At 5:30, I again turned her onto her tummy and she went back to sleep until 8am. A true miracle.
And so every night since, Jaron and I have enjoyed uninterrupted sleep and a bed with zero children in it. Oh how sweet it feels to sleep through the night!
Today we headed out for another adventure. Destination: Big Basin State Park. We started off with a picnic lunch and then went on a .6 mile hike down the Redwood Trail. It was a gorgeous day and the girls were both in great moods so we could not ask for anything more. The trees were absolutely amazing and we were in awe of God's creation! After that hike, we headed out for another one just until Avery got tired. She did pretty well and lasted for quite a while, but after almost 2 hours, was ready to sit in front of the fire at the store. Today's fun was another reminder of why we love California!
On Monday we went on a beautiful drive over part of Hwy 17 and then took Summit road over to Soquel. It was such a beautiful day. We drove through Capitola and made our way to Pleasure Point to watch the surfers and enjoy the view. How we miss living over that way!! Jaron and Avery had a fun time looking for sea anemones, shells, and crabs. Riley and I simply enjoyed watching. We then headed over to Aloha Island Grille to meet up with Matt, Rachel, and Joey and enjoyed a yummy dinner.
Amy made these adorable dresses for Avery, Kaylin, and Ocean and they modeled them for us all last night. Thanks, Amy!!
Avery started a soccer class at the YMCA last Saturday and she did pretty well. I want to expose her to as much stuff as I can, but I am not sure she will be our athletic child. :) She had fun learning to dribble, shoot, and stop the ball, but I think her favorite part was at the end when she got to run through a tunnel the parents had all made with their arms.
Do you ever watch movies and wish that you could change the ending? This happens to me a lot and I often find myself watching the movie again in hopes that I can change the ending just this once to see how things could be different.
I absolutely love period movies. Some of my favorites are Little Women, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Shakespeare in Love, Anne of Green Gables, and today I can add another...Becoming Jane. As I watch, I always wish I could have lived during that time. I can watch these movies over and over again (as Jaron will tell you). I think I have seen both Sense and Sensibility and Little Women well over 25 times each. Thankfully, both of those have wonderful endings.
Anyways, I watched Becoming Jane and was so saddened by the ending. (If you have not seen it and want to, please stop reading!) I so wanted Jane and Tom to end up together! I know it sometimes makes for a "better" movie if the characters do not end up together, but come on...on a rainy day when your kids are both napping and your husband is working a basketball game and tears are starting to fall, you just want that happy ending!
On Thursday morning we (all 4 of us, my parents, and my uncle) set off for Hermiston Oregon to visit my grandparents. We met up with my sister in Portland then we drove the 3 hours to Hermiston. We had a lovely time visiting and eating. On Saturday, my aunt and uncle drove over from Lebanon, Oregon to join us for a nice lunch out. Avery and Riley were excellent travelers and had a great time. Avery was so excited about flying in the airplane and staying in the hotel. Here are a few pics. Most of the pictures were taken by my sis and parents so there will be more to come.
Here is Avery watching Charlotte's Web on Daddy's computer because of course we were delayed again on the flight home. Only 2 1/2 hours this time, though. :)
Avery's new trick is mimicking lines from her favorite movies such as, "I hate you" (from Finding Nemo), "stupid dodo" (from Alice in Wonderland), and "you idiots!"(from 101 Dalmations). How nice.
