Hockey & Homecoming

We had lots of fun last weekend which started with attending the Rochester homecoming parade on Friday afternoon.  I normally like going to the parade to see all the kids and floats but this year was extra special!

 

Sue decided that Kinley should be in the parade with her cousins so she "walked" with the Rochester Soccer Club crew.  I thought she was a little crazy but was really excited :)

Orange & blue lining the parade route

A parade isn't complete without the band!

 

I caught the RSC float at the end before they got to the high school and it was chaos!

 

I found Kinley passed out in her stroller.  All that "walking" will wear a girl out!

Check out the tutu that Aunt Sue made for her - love it!

Brayden & Delaney posing with Kinley

 

Kinley & I picked up Aunt Cora after the parade and we swung by Panera on the way to Scott's hockey game.

This girl LOVES her food, especially mac n cheese!

 

Scott was playing in the tournament to raise money for Danielle Loftus and Caring Bridge. I'm sure most people know that Danielle was involved in a devastating wave runner accident a few summers ago. Scott has played hockey with her dad for years so participating in events like this are really special.

Terrible picture of Scott but it's the only one I had on my phone.

 

After the game Scott decided to teach Kinley how to be a real hockey fan and bang on the glass.  She learned quickly how much fun it is and was hitting the glass and waving in no time!

Daddy's girl

  [Side note:  We got home late that night so I knew after a long day with hardly any naps, Kinley would sleep immediately!  It's hilarious how wrong I was!   She was overtired and would NOT give in so she played in her crib from 8-9:15 and then the meltdown began - her bedtime is 7:45/8:00.  She didn't want held or rocked or put down, nothing made her happy...Finally, after listening to her sob until 10pm, I decided that this preggo mama was driving to Steak N Shake for a milkshake!  And wouldn't you guess, she was asleep before we left our lane.  What.a.night!  (Of course, I didn't make Scott come home because it was a special weekend with his hockey buddies but boy does he owe me).]  

Scott had 2 more games on Saturday but Kinley and I decided to do a little shopping with my mom, dad, & Cora that morning.

 

We were looking for gifts for Ava so, naturally, Kinley had to try everything out first.  And she may or may not have gone home with 2 out of the 3 toys shown below...

In my defense, grandma bought them for her house!  :)

Scott won his game that morning so Kinley & I ran home to get in a quick nap before his next game.

 

Delaney came to the 2nd game after gymnastics so we had more entertainment!  Can you guess whose lap Kinley wanted to sit on?

Scott won his 3rd game and played for 3rd/4th place on Sunday.  They ended up winning & taking 3rd, yea!

Normally, Scott has hockey on Sunday nights so we took advantage of his night off and went to Lake Pointe for dinner.  Kinley LOVED coloring while we waited!

I'm laughing as I post this because Kinley has a blue bow in her hair with a pink & black outfit but I didn't notice that day...?  Ha, I'm losing it!

Anyway, we had a super fun, busy, and exhausting weekend so I'm ready for a lazy fall weekend at home. :)

Resolving our sleep issues

This post might be super boring (no pictures) and very obvious for some but I wanted to document it for future reference.  And yes I know, we should have done this a lot sooner!

I think we've finally rounded the corner in the sleep department but I haven't posted about it because I didn't want to jinx it! 

After we got back from Sanibel we were going in Kinley's room almost every hour of the night to put her paci back in & a few times that wasn't even helping her go back to sleep.  I finally got so fed up & exhausted that I was ready to try to let her fuss a little more.   Normally I waited a few minutes but wanted to get in there before she actually got really upset.

On April 13 (Friday) I came across a blog & the mom said that they solved their sleep issues using a technique called "progressive waiting."  I read reviews on Amazon about the book that she recommended and bought it for my Kindle that same day because reviews were so positive. 

It's written by Ferber & I know he got a lot of crap for the cry it out method but the book has been updated and doesn't recommend shutting the door and letting the baby cry all night like (I think) it used to.

The idea is that the 1st night you let them cry 3 minutes, then check & comfort (but not pick up), 5 minutes, then check, 10 minutes, then check & if they are still fussing, every 10 minutes after that. Then we repeated the process every time she woke up at night (I think 3 other times that night).

Every day the time that you wait gets progressively longer and the issue should be resolved within 7 days, if not less.

It was tough the first night but not as bad as I had expected!  Like our doctor said, Kinley needed to figure out how to sooth herself to sleep. Darn doctor knew what she was talking about because Kinley was only up ONCE the next night and twice on Sunday.

(BUT the Dr also said don't go in her room at all & there was no way I was following that rule...I'm still a little sensitive to her crying, lol). 

We've been doing ok for about 10 days now but we've had an off night or 2 where she woke up a few times instead of once.  I think we even had 1 night where she didn't wake up until 5:30am and she hadn't done that since before Christmas!

We also had to stop giving her the paci at night because otherwise we weren't going to let her figure out how to sooth herself. That broke my heart & I was in tears before we put her to bed because I felt sooo bad! But she figured it out, thank goodness!

Now we're phasing out the paci & she doesn't really seem to mind. It's a lot sooner than I had anticipated but whatever works! We'll still give it to her during the day if she's fussy though.

Hopefully this sleep pattern continues so we can all be a little less grumpy during the day! :)

The Paci Game

Sleep...Hmmm...Remind me what that is again?!

Yep, we've been having those kind of nights at our house since Christmas.  I'm not sure where it came from, but it needs to stop (quickly).  Kinley was always a good sleeper from the beginning.  During the 1st few weeks, she would wake up to nurse but she outgrew that phase pretty quickly.  I would have to look back at the blog to see when she first slept through the night but it was a lot earlier than I had anticipated which was great!

The current problem is that she just wants her pacifier back in her mouth so she fusses until we come in and stick it back in.  As soon as it's in her mouth she grabs it, immediately closes her eyes, and she's off to dreamland before we're back in our bed.  This process happens every 45 minutes to an hour from midnight to 5:30 when I finally get up to nurse her.  She sleeps well from 8pm to 12-1am & then it's on.  This.is.getting.really.old.

I know it could be worse, we could actually be getting her out of bed to feed her or rock her back to sleep so sticking the paci in isn't a huge deal.  BUT, not getting to sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time is starting to wear on us.

The internet & baby message boards have been my best friend lately so I googled the issue & a lot of people said that you just need to let them cry until they get over it.  This could take a few nights but they quit "needing it" to sleep.  I figured that was the answer I would find so I kept looking...  Who really wants to listen to their sweet baby get so upset over a pacifier?  (I guess I'm a pushover, or a new mommy, whatever, but I don't).  The only other thing that we can think of is that she might not be getting enough to eat during the day so she's hungry and the paci satisfies her until she eats in the morning. 

Hopefully we can figure it out in the upcoming weeks & get our good sleeper back!  I'm sure like every other phase I'll look back on this and hardly remember how exhausting it was.  But for now, it's all I can think about!  Does anyone have any advice or know anyone that this has happend to?  I don't think it would be so bad if she hadn't spoiled us in the first few months with great sleep! 

With all of these angel baby pictures, you'd think she's the best sleeper in the world!  The only thing that's helping me get through this is to remind myself that I get to see my sweet Kinley's face everytime I get up.  : )