Zoom, Zoom!

We have a baby on the move!

Hello, friendly Blog Readers...it's been awhile. And while I want to apologize for that -the reality is that I've been doing what mamas are supposed to be doing....working hard at work and taking care of the family at home. There hasn't been time to keep up the blog. And, our home computer is it's last leg, so uploading photos to anyplace is pretty much impossible. We're going to be buying a new system soon...but we're (read my husband) is waiting for Windows 7 to come out in October, he doesn't want Vista. So...for the time being, I don't have a way to share photos.

In the last few weeks, Madelyn has really made a lot of huge leaps. She is now a baby on the move! No more putting her in one spot and expecting her to be in that spot if you walk away for a minute. She's not full out crawling, but she's doing a pretty good belly crawl. And it's pretty amazing how far she can get on her belly. She's crawling under and around our coffee table, from her bedroom to her bathroom (if I let her get that far), all the way across our bed (so you have to keep a sharp eye!). We'll be childproofing soon - but in the meantime, we're having to keep a darn close eye on her!

Little Miss has also figured out how to pull herself into a standing position. She's can't get from lying down to sitting - but if she's sitting up, she can grab a hold of anything around her and pull herself on up. Which meant, it was time to put the crib down one level. Once she's sitting, we'll have to put it down even further...but for now, one level will do.

And speaking of cribs...our munchkin isn't happy about it, but she's now one of the "victims" of crying it out. I say that because those of us who use some sort of "CIO" method are often lambasted by the mothers who are into the more "attachment" style parenting. And trust me....I tried the "gentler" versions of teaching her to sleep. No one likes to hear their baby cry...at least, any mother with any sense of connection to her child doesn't like to hear that.

But when you haven't gotten more than an hour and a half worth of sleep in a row since the child was born and she's six months old, you start to get desperate. Not to mention that it's not good for your little one, either.

So...finally...we cried it out. And I must say, the first night I cried right along with her. But she's done really, really well. The first night (which was five days ago) she cried for half an hour and woke up once in the night and went back down within 15 minutes. Last night, she cried for 15 minutes and was up once for five minutes. She's starting to figure out it. It still completely sucks when I put her down. She cries as if I've physically hurt her...and I can't stand that...but I know she's fine....and within 15 minutes she's cuddled up to one of her three lovies and she's just fine.

I wish that she'd been one of those kids that would have taken to the gentler approaches, because all in all, while I'm a pretty good mix of "old school" parenting and "new age attachment" parenting. Jim and I both believe in instilling a strong sense of values, clearly defined boundaries, and as she grows, letting life teach her the lessons she needs to be taught instead of enabling her or coddling her. That having been said, I want to be there right by her side to guide her, encourage her, and kiss her boo boos. I've been reading "Positive Discipline" and it has some pretty cool ideas about how to do that - be loving and kind, but firm.

So...I'd have preferred if we didn't have to cry it out. She's my little baby...I don't want her to cry :( But, since she seems to be stubborn like her mama, at least she's catching on quick.

Now eating....eating is easy, peasy with this kid. With solids, at least. She still tends to be a bit of a grazer when it comes to the bottle....but with solids, she's a champ! In addition to the sweet potato, cereal and bananas (her favorite, hands down...) that you've already heard she's into, we've added carrots (loves 'em!), peas (doesn't love 'em unless they're dipped in bananas), green beans (again, only with the naners), pears, peaches, squash (she's so so on these, she'd rather sweet potatoes), apples, prunes, whole grain cereal, turkey (which she flat out won't take any which way...she just gags) and beef (ditto...seems we have a vegetarian on our hands).

We keep being goaded gently pushed into starting to add cheerios or the like to her diet by my pesky more experienced sister-in-law Jenni. I say this in jest because I'd be lost without Jen. She is definitely one of Madelyn's favorite people and she takes amazing care of our little girl while Jim and I work. But since she's raised three of her own and also takes care of her sister's kids (one of Jim's other sisters)...she's been there, done that and is pretty good at letting us know what to do next. And to our credit, we did offer Mads an incredibly soft piece of cooked carrot one night. But she just looked at us like we were insane and spit it out.

So it seems she's not ready for that. I know Mama and Daddy aren't ready for it!

This weekend Maddy and I are going home to Idaho for a family wedding. We're really, really looking forward to that. Or at least, Mama and the family in Idaho are. Maddy probably could care less, as long as she gets her naps on time, relatively, has lots of people to play with and it's not too hot.

After that, we'll just be enjoying the rest of the summer. All three of us will be going home to Idaho again in September, but other than that...we're just enjoying each day as it comes.

And quickly they come, when you're trying to keep up with a precious little munchkin.