Dreaming

Matt and I saw "Inception" last week. We don't watch TV, so I had only heard of the movie through Facebook posts. I looked it up at Plugged In and we both thought it would be worth seeing.

I don't like giving away the plot of a movie, but I have to explain a little of it in order to expand on my thoughts. In the movie, dreams can be manipulated and people can enter into the dreams of others. It's quite fascinating, and it held my interest very well. (I get bored with movies pretty easily.)

I am ever the realist, so during the movie I reflected on my own belief that one person cannot enter the dreams of another. It makes for an interesting movie plot, but I cannot reconcile it with reality. I don't put much thought into what happens in my dreams. Unless it is an incredibly vivid dream, I leave it behind once the voice an infant rouses me from that dream world. I rarely have time to revisit it in the course of my day.

I have other dreams; dreams that are not simply confined to my sleeping hours. Dreams that are held deep within my heart. I have shared some dreams with those closest to me. Sometimes we share the same dreams, the same hopes for a shared future. I am not sure if those dreams will ever become reality. Sometimes I wonder if God gives us dreams so that we keep hoping for the future. I believe, however, that some dreams are planted deep within us so we will hang on tightly and not let them go no matter how much life tries to wrangle them from our grasp.

I hang on to my dreams. I will keep hoping that one day God will bring them to pass in amazing, mind-blowing ways.

You've heard it all before...

So I'm obsessed with Target. It's old news. Today's deals were again all 75% off.

Again...I cannot resist posting a picture of them. The plastic cups/bowls were all 50 cents for 4. I bought a bunch so we can have some extras for the RV (whenever it is completed). The pool was $3. The toys were all 75 cents. The super cute round tray with handles was $3.74.

And the big red tub. Ah, I'm in love with the big red tub.

I have wanted this tub to come home with me since the first time I laid eyes on it. It's so...big. I can picture it full of ice and icy cold beverages. I couldn't really justify the $20 price tag, so I wandered past it on occasion and hoped it might still be around when the price was, well, lower.

And today was that magical day. At a price of $4.99, I am the happy new owner of a huge red metal tub.

I'm also excited about the toys and the pool that will be stashed away for use next summer by what will then be my...toddler! (Yikes.)

P.S. Everything in the picture (tub included) totaled right around $25. For a little more than the original cost of the tub, I brought home the tub full of fun stuff!

Happy 4 months!

Isabella is 4 months old! It is certainly going by quickly. Her appointment is tomorrow. Matt will be coming along so I can step into the hall for the next set of immunizations. I think he's getting immune to her screaming these days, anyway.

On to the latest developments in the life of Isabella...

In bullet point form, of course.

1. She LOVES to lay on her playmat. She was in a bouncy seat phase, and now she's in a playmat phase. I lay her down so she can see herself in the mirror above. She talks to herself in the mirror, sticks her hands in her mouth, and rolls from side to side. It's so adorable.

2. She is rolling over now! I wrote down the date of her "first" rollover from tummy to back and back to tummy, but it was in the past 2 weeks or so. Today she rolled from her back to her tummy, got her bottom arm free, and rolled again onto her tummy. I'm in trouble when this girl really figures out how to move.

3. Her hands are constantly in her mouth. This is not a very recent development; it seems like she's had them there forever. She still isn't sucking her thumb, so I don't know if she will get that figured out soon or not. (The picture above is classic Boo - hands in mouth, smiling, loving her changing table. She's usually dressed, though. :-)

4. I don't think she is necessarily teething yet, but she is drooling like nobody's business. I changed her twice today because her outfit was drenched with drool. Not that I mind the changing outfits. She has to wear all those clothes sometime before she grows out of them.

5. She holds her head up really well. Her back isn't very steady yet, but I can hold her on my hip now. She's just so tiny. It feels funny to have such a tiny baby on my hip.

6. We are working on sleep training this week (training her to get to sleep by herself). It's very hard, but on the advice of many amazing moms, I believe we need to do it and now is the time for us. She is strong-willed and can scream like there's no tomorrow. Tonight was the best night so far, though. I have hope! And I have part of my evening back, which is a wonderful feeling. I was very depressed spending 2-4 hours a night putting her to sleep.

I am SO excited to find out her stats at the doctor's office tomorrow! I always look forward to seeing how much she has grown and knowing that I am the one who has nourished her to this point. I do not plan to start solids until 6 months or a little after. I am in no hurry, and I realize that eating will take a LOT longer and be a LOT messier when we get to that point. I'll take a few more months of exclusively nursing, thank you. (That's not the only reason, of course. I have done my research and believe it is in her best interests and prefer to wait until her digestive system is more developed.)

Pretty soon I want to blog about something other than my daughter. But sometimes the things I really want to say are much harder to get out. Blogging about her is very easy. :-)

No Rest for the Weary

My daughter sleeps well. She rarely wakes up in the middle of the night anymore. She goes down for naps in the swing pretty well. The thing we struggle with (and by we, I mean SHE) is bedtime.

I try to do the bedtime routine of pajamas, swaddle, nurse when she seems to be getting tired. It's generally between 7:00 and 8:00. She nurses fine and appears to be sleeping to me. However, when I get up to lay her down (or actually do lay her down), she immediately starts getting fussy and going crazy. She stretches out her body and starts whining. She's all of a sudden wide awake. I walk her, rock her, sing, bounce...all the things that usually work to help her get to sleep. Nothing works. I undo her swaddle and she still freaks out.

I think she's starting to teethe, so I gave her a little Tylenol tonight to see if that would help with the pain. It didn't make a bit of difference. I started putting her to bed at 7:30 and she didn't go to sleep until 9:30. I'm at my wit's end. The rest of our day great. I don't understand why it takes so long to get her to bed. I woke her up from her afternoon nap at 4:40, hoping that not letting her sleep to late would help. (She napped until 5:30-6 the past 2 nights.) That didn't make a difference, either. I've tried putting her down earlier. I've tried keeping her up later. The end result is almost always a 2+ hour bedtime routine. I let her cry for 5 minutes tonight, and then Matt went to rock her. It took her forever to calm down from that.

I dread night time. I'm so frustrated, but I feel like it's too early to begin sleep training. Most books I read suggest 6-9 months. I don't know if anyone has any suggestions, but I figured it might be a little therapeutic to write about it at least. I'm open to anything. Except crying it out. I don't think I'm ready for that yet. :-) Come on, veteran moms...help me out! Or at least tell me that it's too early to expect anything more (she'll be 4 months next week).

Poem for Moms

I've heard this poem before, but I don't remember most of it. The last two lines have always stuck in my head. I have said them over and over to myself since Isabella was born.

"I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep." Tears me up even now.

Enjoy!

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo;
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust, go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton