ivy and orchid

Christmas was just a couple days ago and we had a lovely time. Abigail became really clingy and she is still a bit needier than usual now that we're home. Tonight begins our first now of quitting "milkies" cold turkey. She will still be in bed with us, but hopefully! once she is weaned, she will sleep through the night which will enable us to put her on her big girl bed on the floor next to ours. When I stopped nursing her during the day, it was not too difficult and she stopped asking (on a regular basis) after a week. I am willing to have a very difficult week, maybe two, but that's it. Doesn't it take seven days to break a habit? I still believe that nursing is still beneficial and comforting, especially since Abigail does not have a pacifier or any other sort of "lovey" besides myself. I would even continue nursing if I was getting a good sleep at night and if we weren't having a baby soon. I am determined (although at times doubtful) that attach...

I had my second prenatal appointment on Monday and everything is going smoothly. Audra confirmed that I am indeed about 18 weeks and no, I am not having twins or having a baby a month earlier. Baby B's heartbeat was so lovely to hear and Abigail gets a kick out of it every time she hears it. Shawn will get to go to the next appointment where I will be 5 months. This pregnancy is going so quickly! I remember Niki said that it was really slow when she was pregnant with Jackson, because she already knew what to expect. I was afraid that would be the case, but it is just flying by! Abigail is a great 17 months old now. All 4 of her incisors have cut and she only nurses at night. Once school is out and Christmas is over, Shawn and I are going to work on weaning Abigail completely and getting her out of our bed. I think that will be the only way I can survive once B is born. I think we can try Dr. Gordon's approach again and hopefully it will go better now that she's older. She i...

It has been one week since Abigail and I went to our fist appointment at the Birthing Center. Clarice said my due date is about May 6th as long as everything is correct. With that being said, she felt my abdomen and said my uterus feels larger than 13 weeks. The most likely scenario is I'm growing larger and things will slow down later. She also said I could be a month further along than we think or it could be twins. I could not handle that one. My next appointment is Dec. 5th and Audra will measure me. If I'm still large, I will probably have to get an ultrasound. Abigail and I got to listen to Baby B's heartbeat, in which Abigail smiled when she heard it. The Doppler also made a 'bloop' sound when the baby moved. Abigail always got really still when she was in my tummy so this was a new experience. It's very exciting and I can't believe we're going to have another baby again!

It's that time again, folks! We found out on September 11th that we're going to have another baby! I'm guessing that B will be born the beginning of May, but we'll know better once we go to the GBC . Also, we are not going to find out the sex of the baby. I'm hoping for a girl simply so we do not have to buy new clothes. Of course I would be happy with a boy! My goal for this blog is to keep you updated on Abigail and her sleeping patterns, but also to compare this pregnancy to the first. So far, I have nausea and I forgot how tired I get, but Abigail is great and lets me be lazy when I need to. On getting Abigail to sleep through the night: there has only been one night she did not wake up until 6 am. Most of the time, she wakes around 2 and has a screaming fit and Shawn has to put her back down. It is frustrating, but I'm surviving. I crave lots of sweets and spicy food, but garlic makes me sick. Also, one reason we thought I might be pregnant was how sick th...

Shawn and I have decided not to proceed to the final step of the Gordon Night-weaning approach. Abigail has not been nursing for 7 hours at night for over a week now, but the sleeping is horrendous. She wakes practically every hour crawling and squirming all over us and crying a good 10-minute cry at least once a night. We can't imagine doing the same and not being able to pick her up (the rule is you can touch her, kiss her, talk to her et cetera but not pick her up. Usually, but not always, she falls asleep lying on our chests. Some times, she will just roll over and sleep which is a great, but last night, I did not see any progress. I do not blame it on the system, however! Reason No. 1 Abigail wakes so frequently is those darn molars! They are so close to cutting, but not out yet. I am hopeful because once teeth come in, it's about another 2 months until the next will cut. The 15-month mark seems to be a common maturity point for attachment parents and I am hopeful! Many pa...

Today, Abigail woke very happily, but after her first nap, she was extremely clingy and whiny. It could have been because I was teaching and could not spend much time with her, or because of the lack of sleep. After the 40 minutes of crying last night, she woke 3 other times and each had crying that lasted only about 5 minutes. It only got frustrating after my darling husband had to be forced awake (apparently a crying baby does not wake him). Tonight, she went to bed an hour earlier and slept an hour and half before her first wakening and cried less than 5 minutes. I really hope this works! I read many personal experiences of Dr. Jay Gordon's night-weaning and many said it works until an illness or vacation et. al and then they start again. Other stories mention the baby does not nurse in the night anymore, but still awakens. Oh boy! I really hope this works!

Abigail is now 13.5 months old and such a darling little girl. I've decided to begin writing because there are many nights that I am so wide awake because I drink too much coffee in the day. So I have decided I will write on the adventures and experiences of Attachment Parenting (AP). Before I had Abigail, I had never heard of AP and realized there was a name for the style in which we are rearing our sweet baby. I also think that it is just instinctual parenting which needed a label for all of the slack that it gets. When I am not around the amazing midwives or mothers from the Greenhouse Birth Center, I pretty much feel as if most everyone judges the way we raise our baby. Here are some things we do which would be considered Attachment Parenting: 1.) Breastfeeding beyond 1 year 2.) Breastfeeding to comfort 3.) Baby wearing 4.) Bed-sharing 5.) Constant affection from the parents (traditionally this style focuses on mother-baby relationship. 6.) Not letting baby/toddler C...