94 Percent and Sagas of Sleep Training

Well it's official, Tacy and I are awesome!  I had my final evaluation with all my instructors on the 14th where we talked about how I did for the semester.  They all think that I am awesome and have done a great job.  I got one b+ (89%) and then 92% and 94.5%.  So all in all not bad!

I took Tacy with me and everyone loved her.  She just sat on my lap and did her shy smile.  She is so funny in new places because she can't eat well because she is too distracted by all of the things to look at.  This is funny until she gets really grumpy because her tummy is empty.  

Monday, Dec. 17th, Tacy had her 4-month appointment.  She is 26 inches long (94th percentile) and weighs 15 lbs 8 oz (70th percentile) and her head is in the 25th percentile at 40 cm (but the doctor says she is fine because her head has always been in the 20th percentile).  Tacy was given a clean bill of health and got more shots.  Even though the visit interfered with her nap time, so she was pretty grumpy, she did manage to smile a little for the doctor.  And we were told that Tacy can start to have baby food! 

Not too happy about rice cereal

Since being home all day with Tacy I have learned some funny things about her.  For instance, Tacy loves to talk, but she really loves talking to things like the ceiling fan and the mobile of her swing, especially when they slow down or stop spinning.  It can make eating breakfast or getting ready take a little longer when I have to keep getting up to turn them on again, but it's worth it to see her smile and laugh.  Plus it is so funny to hear her carry on what sounds like whole conversations while the mobile. 

Tacy also loves staring at lights, whether they are on or off.  She has talked some to the light in her room or just stared at it.  I lay her on the floor in her room in the morning while I get ready so she can stare at the light and watch her mobile spin.  

We went to IKEA this weekend to look for things to try and baby proof our stuff.  Well Tacy LOVED IKEA.  There were so many lights to look at, people, and bright colors.  She could not turn her head fast enough.  It was a little hard to hold her when she is kicking and squirming so much because she was so happy and excited. Brad and I had to take turns holding her.  I also got a few funny looks when she would do her back bend to look at the lights above us or things behind us.  Yup, that's my daughter.

Tacy holds her bottle every now and then, but this weekend she got so hungry (during our errand run) that while I was mixing the bottle, she grabbed it out of my hands and shoved it in her mouth.  She held the bottle the whole time until she was done (that was a first because typically she gets tired of holding it after a while). It made me laugh so hard.

Tacy is still working on being able to sit up unsupported.  She has the foldover down (this is where she leans so far forward when sitting that her face is practically touching her toes) but she still wobbles sometimes when sitting up straight.  Today she had a whole body shake that made her pop backwards.  She has also started doing this funny scoot/crawl.  Tacy is not the best at reaching with her arms when she is on her tummy (particularly her left arm).  So to get something she uses her mouth and when her mouth is not close to what she wants she will kick and push with her legs.  She really gets her legs going and gets them right under her.  If only she started using her arms she would be crawling.  Instead she scoots and gets rug burns on her elbows, but she eventually gets what she wants.  It's really funny to watch.  One day I will try and get pictures of it but I'm usually too busy trying to help her move her arms.

the "foldover"

We have also been working on standing.  Tacy likes standing.  Sometimes I will pull her up to sit but she keeps her legs straight so she stands instead of sitting.  She has taken 3 steps (kinda).  I am always holding her up and am helping to lean her to one side and trying to encourage her to move a leg.  But 3 steps is all we get then she sits down.

I started sleep training Tacy last week because she had started waking up 3 times during the night and was not napping well.  After a very fussy and unfun day with a tired baby, we started.  I put her down to sleep when she started rubbing her eyes.  As long as her diaper was dry and her tummy was relatively full, she did not fight too hard.  The first night she slept 7-8 hours straight.  Her naps were getting better because I did not wait for her to fall asleep but put her down when she was tired and let her cry/talk herself to sleep.  We have had a few nights where she did need some help, like classical music, but she is getting so good.  She took 4 naps yesterday and slept 13 hours last night.  Now if we can just get her to nap during church, we would be great, cause this past Sunday was a nightmare because she would not sleep so she was grumpy and fussy the whole time no matter what I did.

The 5 generation shot: Tacy, headband made by Mom, onsie made by Grandma Cramer, blanket made by Great-Grandma Bennett, and sweater made by Great-Great Grandma Rottman

5 years and 4 months

Well Brad and I had our 5th year anniversary last month.  So crazy that we have been married that long, but at the same time I feel like single life was forever ago.  I will be on facebook and see friend's posts and then think "how do I know them again?" That's when I have to hunt through the cobwebs of my brain to remember people from my first two years of college!  It makes me laugh when I hear some of the girls at school talk about how long ago high school was for them only to hear that they graduated from high school in 2009 or 2010.  Yup, I feel old.  

In review of our 5 years of married life, here are some of the big things that happened to us:

We were married on 11/24/2007

We went on a cruise with Brad's family Jan 2008 (my first cruise) and Pres. Hinckley died on our drive back.

Obama came into office as our first African American President 2008.

Christmas was in Connecticut and NY with my family to meet my new cousin.

I graduated from BYU April 2009, we went on a cruise with friends, swine flu hit and instead of going to mexico we floated in the ocean for a few days.

We moved to a house by campus and I started working full-time as a medical assistant.

We moved again to a nice apartment south of campus.

I was rear-ended on my way to work (Oct. 2010), our car was totaled, and we bought a Civic.

Brad graduated in Dec 2010 and we moved in with his parents (thank you Obamacare and a car payment)

Brad started working full-time in Feb. 2011.

We went on a cruise with friends in April 2011.

We went on a christmas cruise with my family 2011.

We found out I was pregnant, and then I found out that I got into nursing school.

After 3 years and 8 months, I quit my job, went to the hospital and had our beautiful daughter.  5 days later I started nursing school.

I have now survived my first semester, Tacy is huge, and Brad is still working and waiting to hear about PA school.

Basically we moved a lot, went on a few cruises, both got our bachelors and are trying to actually get degrees that will get us decent paying jobs, and we have a baby.

As for the baby, Tacy just turned 4 months on Saturday.  New things with her:

She has taken up crying for attention and then laughing once you check on her.  Very cute, except when you are trying to get things done.

She loves to stand up so we practice sitting and standing a lot.  She is still working on her core muscles so she doesn't tip over when she sits or fling herself backward.

She loves to look at anything that has an electronic screen (TV, computer, tablet, cell phone, etc.)  They all calm her down and she gets unhappy when you turn her around so she can't see them.

Tacy loves to lean WAY back to see behind or above her.  You have to be careful if you are holding her or she might topple out of her arms when she does this.  The girl throws her head back with force.  It's pretty funny to watch because she will just lean back forever to look at ceiling lights or people behind her.

She still loves putting everything in her mouth and enjoys taking her binkie out of her mouth but she is not so good at getting it back in the right way so then she gets mad.

  

We love our little girl.  She is adorable and fun.  She loves to smile and laugh and tell all sorts of stories.

Snow?! I forgot what that was like

I can't believe that it is almost December!  Life has been flying by, which is good I guess because that means that it's almost Christmas break for me.  It also means that Tacy Lou is getting huge!  I look at her every day and wonder how in the world she got to be so big.  She barely fits in my arms now when I'm feeding her a bottle.

Tacy was blessed on November 11th.  It was a crazy weekend because a snow storm had hit pretty good so it was very wintery and white.  A lot of family could not make it because of the snow.  But my parents drove in, my mom's parents flew in from SoCal, grandma and grandpa Taylor made it, Brad's parents, and his sisters: Jody (with her husband Eric and son) and Kimber (with her fiance Sam) were all there.  Also, our friends Sean and Ashley and Madison and Joni were able to come.  Oh, and Brad's uncle Dave and aunt Kareen.  So all in all, there was still a good crowd.  Tacy was blessed by her dad.  The circle was pretty big as it was with both grandpas, 2 great-grandfathers, 2 uncles, a great uncle, and 2 friends.

4 generations: Grandma Cramer, Mom, Tacy, and Great-Grandma Bennett

It was nice to get to see my grandparents and have them meet their first great-grandchild.  It was also fun to see my parents as always.  Tacy loved the attention, although she was a little fussy Saturday but I think that was because she was a little parent clingy and had never seen some of those faces.  But she was a champ on Sunday.

Tacy Lou with her Great-Grandpa Bennett

Tacy can hold her own bottle (when she wants to, which is rarely, but she can).  She has taken up napping on her side.  She does not love to roll over, but she does love to roll from her back to her side.  She is also quite the talker!  She just loves talking, sharing stories, and talking with people.  Some words sound so clear, like "Hi Dad".  She has said that twice now.  When she is sad/mad she will sometimes say mamama, but I really don't know if she knows what she is saying or just repeating things she hears all the time.  Still fun though.  Tacy smiles all of the time and laughs a lot.  It's especially funny when she is eating and pauses to giggle then goes right back to eating.  It really makes me wonder what is going on in her head.

Our little side-sleeper

I have not weighed her recently, but i'm sure she is at least 12 lbs.  I did measure her and she is 26.5  inches long!  Like I said, she is getting big!  Tacy is also getting better at grabbing things.  She has a set of rings that she will grab now and shake.  It's fun to play with her.  She also has discovered her tongue.  Now at least half of her smiles have her tongue sticking out.  It also means that she drools a lot (I think she learned that from her cousin).  Sometimes when she is talking it is very gargled from her tongue and all of her drool.  But she loves it and blows lots of bubbles when she is talking and laughing.

Tacy still loves to put her hands/arms in her mouth.  I need to wash her teething toys, not because she is teething, but so she has other things that she can put in her mouth.  We pulled out her high chair and have been putting her in that so she can sit at the table with us.  She loves it.  Tacy is happy as long as she can see people to talk to, so her high chair really helps out.  She just sits in it, talks, laughs, and kicks her feet.

Tacy was doing some karate moves for her Daddy - she kept punching out her arms and kicking her legs

As for Brad and I, Brad is still working hard.  He is such as good dad and husband.  We celebrated our 5th anniversary on Saturday.  It's hard to believe that we have been married so long.  We went out to dinner at Tucanos Brazilian restaurant while Tacy stayed with her grandparents.  It was nice to get out and not have the baby to worry about, plus it was a good excuse to use Brad's free birthday meal.

Thanksgiving was a mad house.  We had 20 adults and 2 babies all in one house for dinner.  Insanity if you ask me.  Tacy was woken up by the insanity.  I didn't get to eat Turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and some other things cause there was not room at the table for me so I missed when those were passed around.  Oh well.  I like smaller groups a little better because it's easier to all interact with each other.  I was in my own little world with Tacy.  Brad and I ended up going in a different room that evening to try and find a quieter area for Tacy to nap while everyone else played games.  Another reason I don't love big groups - I hate playing acting games with lots of people because I'm self conscious and it's worse with big groups.

The tongue

School is going....I'm still surviving one day at a time.  I have one more paper left, 2 practice NCLEX tests, and 3 tests for the semester.  Oh and a final Focus pass off, where we have to do an assessment on our simulation patient while the instructors watch and grade us on how well we assess the patient and evaluate their chart etc.  I'm super nervous about that.  I had a presentation today on my personal nursing philosophy. We had to do an art project to represent our philosophy and present it.  Most of the grade was based on our creativity.  Not my favorite because if I was creative I would have been an art major, not a science major.  But I made a collage and all my classmates said that it looked good and that my presentation was great.  I still get really nervous presenting but apparently I hide it well.

I have some Christmas decorations out, but I still need to hang by snowflake banner and some red ornaments cause so far the only decorations out are nativity scenes, gold stars, and snow men.  So it's all very not Christmas colors.  If we had room for our little Christmas tree I would set it up, but we really don't.  Maybe this Christmas break I can make some green/red decorations (for next year).  I dunno, we will see.

Tacy is 16 weeks old (can you believe it) and has her 4-month appointment in 2 weeks.  So we will find out just how big she is then!  

12 weeks and Halloween

Just being cute with her bib

Wednesday Tacy officially became 12 weeks old!  I can't believe it has been that long!  Then I pick her up and realize how big she is getting and 12 weeks sounds about right.  It's getting hard to remember when she fit so nicely in my arms and weighed so much less!  Now, when she stretches out I have put her legs over the arm of the rocking chair.  It's pretty funny because when I am burping her and she is mad because she is still hungry she will stand up in my lap so she is on her tipee toes and yell.  Other than the fact that this sometimes makes me feel deaf, I think it is hilarious.  I don't really understand what stretching herself out does for her when she is mad, but she does it every time.  

Now when she is on her tummy she just likes to look up at you

Tacy doesn't cry or yell a lot, but when you take her bottle away to wipe up her milky chin and she happens to still be hungry, boy will she let you know.  You'd think I was trying to cut a finger off.  The other day I was taking her clothes off to give her a bath and she went from sleepy to screaming at the top of her lungs.  Apparently she was cold and it was not until we had her in the tub and Brad was pouring warm water all over her that she finally stopped screaming.  It really freaked me out because she was not breathing much and her legs were turning blue.  Winter sure is going to fun if that's how she reacts to cold now!  Tacy has also started to pout when she is sad so she sticks out her lower lip and quivers.  It is the cutest/sadest thing ever.  I keep trying to get a picture but she stops as soon as she sees the camera.  Tacy is very talkative now, and her favorite things to say are "Aagoo" which I interpret to be her way of saying I love you.  She also loves hey, hi, aye, be, eee, and dee.  The aye and be are usually said when she is mad.  Hey as well like she is trying to scream for our attention.

Sad face, you can kinda see the lip...

Tacy was a skeleton for Halloween.  We went trick-or-treating at my sister-in-law's work.  It felt kind of silly taking candy when my child is a little baby and obviously won't be eating the candy.  But oh well, Brad and I enjoyed it!  Brad dressed up for Halloween again.  He was a bigfoot hunter.  I think he just loved the excuse to carry around a nerf gun.  He got face paint and put it all over.  It was so funny to see him talking to Tacy while he had it on because she looked at him so funny and you could tell that she was really confused because she could hear Daddy but he didn't really look like her daddy.  I of course did not dress up.  On Halloween I actually had the day off so I finished my big Care Plan paper and studied for my mental health test, oh yea, and took care of Tacy.

School is very busy.  I had two tests this week and another test on Monday.  I thankfully finished my care plan already which is due tuesday.  I have had 7 clinical rotations and am getting a little more comfortable with it all.  I got to administer a suppository (I know, you are super jealous).  I have done lots of flu shots, a pneumonia vaccine, and insulin shots.  I did a wound care rotation and got to change some dressings.  I saw some pretty crazy stuff from these people who had diabetic neuropathy and had ulcers on almost every single one of their toes.  Insane.  I also did a hospice care rotation which was interesting but I still would not prefer to work in that field.  I survived my fist 12 hour hospital shift and have my second tomorrow.  I start at 4:45 am and end at 5:30pm.  Fun!  One of the places we go has some really sick people, a lot of whom have traches (the opening in the throat).  At school we have learned how to suction traches and clean them.  Well, during my clinical last week I was so glad when the nurse I followed just assumed I could not suction because watching the patients choke and gag while she did it was terrifying.  I know I need to do it, but traches just gross me out.  I can handle feces, blood, urine, etc but nasty mucous coming out of the trache and causing patients to gag is not my cup of tea.  I have decided that if I ever have to have a trache to stay alive, I don't want to live.  Seeing those peoples quality of life was sad because the majority of them cannot talk, are unresponsive, and are bedridden.  

All dressed up for church

Brad's birthday is today.  I heart attacked the bathroom and Tacy's room for him.  Hopefully he gets home early enough that we can do something fun before I have to go to bed (since I have to get up at 3:30am).  

Too happy and excited to hold still

Brad is hanging in there, still hating his job, but trucking along and he loves being a dad.

2 months old!

On Monday, October 8th, Tacy turned 2 months old!  I cannot believe that she is already that old and that Brad and I have been parents for that long.  The week before I measured her and she was 23 inches long and weighed 11 pounds!  She is getting so big, but mostly I feel that she is just getting really long.  She has a doctor appointment this Monday so we will see what her percentages are.

Tacy said "Hi" to me on Wednesday night!  It was pretty exciting.  She also said "oh dad" on thursday.  Granted I really don't think that she knows what she is saying and is just baby babble, but the Hi was very clear and she said it to me while smiling at me.  She said "oh dad" when Brad and I were changing her diaper I think.  But it's still cute when her baby babble sounds like actual words!  

Crazy nap hair!

Now that she is 2 months old Tacy likes bath time a little more.  She will at least only cry when she first gets in the water and then she calms down and starts to smile.  

Tacy is talking a lot, in my opinion at least.  She loves to babble and it's so cute.  

She can roll over, but she only does it when she really wants to.  She rolled over 15 times one night.  But then there are other days where she refuses to roll over.  She also will sometimes just roll onto her side and stay that way and never go onto her back.

Ready for Halloween!

Tacy now cries if she has a poopy diaper, she did not do this before.

She still makes lots of funny faces, but she smiles a lot more at us.  However, she has not yet laughed when she is awake, only in her dreams.

Tacy wakes up at 8am almost every day.  She still isn't sleeping through the night but she has started to sleep for longer periods (4-5 hours).  Unfortunately for us she fights sleep now at night so even though she is tired she will cry and we have to rock her, bounce her, etc to try and coax her to sleep.

Tacy sits in her bumbo now and doesn't mind it as long as it is not for very long.  But just like with rolling over, she is only good about holding her head straight up when she wants to.  She tends to lean over when she sits in the bumbo and will sometimes put her arms up on the side like an arm rest which is really cute.

chilling in her bumbo

When Tacy is mad, she stretches her body out (emphasizing how long she is) like she is trying to stand and will be stiff like that until she gets what she wants (usually food).

Overall Tacy is a very happy baby still.  It is so fun that she gets to spend every day with her Aunt Jody and cousin Grant because I think she and Grant are getting to be close.  She was crying one day and Grant reached over and rested his hand on her like he was trying to comfort her (Grant is 5 months older than Tacy).  Also, Granted started rolling across the room when he wanted to get close to Tacy.  The second time that he crawled, it was to get to Tacy.  Now if she is on the floor and with him, he will start crawling for her.  It's cute, but we have to protect Tacy a little because Grant is still working on trying to be soft.

With Mommy

As for me, school is going good but getting crazy.  I started my clinical rotations this week.  I was really scared to actually be caring for patients (I know, silly when that is what I want to do for my career).  But they went great even though all I really did was pass medications, check a blood sugar, give insulin shots, and helped toilet a patient.  Exciting I know.  But now with clinicals, we only have Monday, Tuesday, and Friday for lecture.  So we have a test or quiz and an assignment due almost every class day.  Fun!!!

Other than all that, life is good, and we are staying very busy.

Tacy and Daddy

One Month

Our sweet little Tacy is one month old today. Can you believe it because we sure can't!  We love her so much and think that she is the cutest baby in the world.  Here are some of the things Tracy does right now:

Tacy hiccups. She hiccupped a lot in utero but she still has whole body hiccups. I feel bad for her but its kind of funny too. Unless of course its the middle of the night and then the hiccups wake her up. Her aunt Christine calls her Hiccup (from how to train your dragon).

She makes all sort of faces and is such a poser with her face and hands.

Tacy loves to have her hands by her face.  It can make feeding her hard sometimes when she won't move her hands away from her face.

She has really strong arms.  When she locks her fingers together it is hard to get her arms apart.

She has a very strong neck and loves to swing her head back and shake it like crazy.

Tacy laughs in her sleep and we think she has some crazy dreams because she will have a big smile on her face and then a huge frown and then the maddest face.

If Tacy is ever mad and crying you just have to start smacking her back like you are burping her and she gets happy again.

We love our sweet baby.

"How do you do it?!"

Sweet Tacy doing some tummy time

Five days after having my baby I started nursing school.  It was a good thing I had her early because otherwise she would have been born during school and I would have missed a lot and been behind, which was a big concern for me and the instructors.

Well, having a baby and starting school right away had not exactly been a cake walk either.  The night before school started I was an emotional wreck.  I was crying uncontrollably and freaking out and paranoid about being a bad mom and failing school.  Brad thank goodness is amazing and calmed me down and gave me a blessing.  The first day of school went okay.  The program director was happy to hear that I was healthy, that my baby was healthy, and that we no longer had to worry about me missing school to have a baby.  My nursing class has 40 total students, 5 guys and 35 women.  I'd say about half of the students are parents.  We all had to go around and say a bit about ourselves and why we wanted to be nurses.  Well, telling everyone that I had a baby 5 days previous has made me very memorable.  I had girls coming up to me asking "How are you doing this?" or "You are amazing I don't know how you are doing this!" 

They are all very nice and ask me every day how my baby is doing.  I was ready to quit after the first day of class though.  When they went through the schedule and how fast the program moves and how demanding it is, I was ready to quit.  Brad once again calmed me down and assured me that I could do this.  I survived the first week, even with minimal sleep because Tacy woke up every hour some nights.  The next Sunday night I had another breakdown though.  I had a test the next day and was freaking out because I had not been able to study as much as I would have liked and didn't know how I could manage school and being a mom.  Brad calmed me down again (see how lucky I am to have him?).  

I passed my test the next day.  I can thank my husband and family for helping me by watching Tacy so I could study.  When I have homework or studying to do, there is usually someone I can pass her off to.  Other than the crazyness of balancing school and baby, I have been having a hard time being able to rely solely on breastfeeding.  My doctor said that even with pumping, it's probably just all of the crazy stress/life that I have right now with my crazy schedule.  Granted, formula does help so Brad can get up and feed Tacy at night, or family can feed her while I'm studying, but I wish breastfeeding satisfied her enough because formula is expensive.  Oh well, I keep doing my best and hoping that fenugreek helps. 

On the plus side, I have been doing well in school and actually got a 98 on my test today, which is pretty awesome.  We will see how it goes, but hopefully I can survive this crazy time with a sane mind.  One good thing about my schedule is I have no time for postpartum depression because school keeps me occupied when I'm not home with the baby.