It Was The Best Of Times

I put my Nylabelle to sleep tonight. Here's what I whispered to her as she fell asleep.

Nyla, thank you for coming into our lives this past year. Thank you for growing in me and coming to be a healthy baby girl. I adore you, I love you. It's an all-encompassing kind of love that borders on obsession in the best way. When I look at you, I see God and I know that your father and I are so blessed to have you in our life. This past year was the greatest year of our lives. It was the happiest, the sleepless-iest, the funniest, the most unnerving-est. You are my life, my love, and my world. I can't wait to go through 2012 and many years after with you. I love you, my girl. Happy New Year. 

Happy New Year everyone! What a difference 12 months have made in our lives.

Kiss Kiss

Our sweet one has learned how to kiss...kind of. When you say, "Nyla give me a kiss" and make kissy noises, she responds. She will turn her head to you, lean forward, then it gets awkward. She opens her mouth as wide as it will go and sticks her tongue out...hmmm. But she is ready for a kiss because when you do, she smiles and giggles. Just don't linger too long or she will pull your hair and bite your lips. Savage monkey for sure.

She definitely isn't giving up on the biting either. She will gnaw on anything within reach: shirts, tables, couches, Okie , her spoons, books. You name it, there are teeth marks on it! Miss Thing better learn real quick that it's not nice to do that. The other night she bit Paul on the arm.

What are we going to do with this girl?

Savage Animal

The world is no longer safe from Nyla's teeth. At approximately 11:08 tonight, my own child bit me. She woke up crying around 11, so Paul and I decided to put her in bed with us in hopes that she would fall asleep.

At first things went well. She just whimpered a little and rubbed her eyes. Then the savage animal emerged. Out of nowhere, she started crawling all over us, raking her fingernails all over us. At one point, she climbed up to my shoulder and rested her head. "Awww she wants to snuggle" I thought to myself. Just as I was going in to give her some sweet kisses, *CHOMP*! All five of her teeth sank into my skin and stayed there! I almost rolled her off the bed because I was so shocked! Nyla had bit me!

First it was chewing socks, then her crib. Now she has resorted to chewing on people, her own mother no less! A savage beast indeed! More proof that we shouldn't have made those savage jokes while I was pregnant.

I'm a Zombie

Nyla has a new nighttime schedule. How lovely.

9:00-Bedtime
12m-A little whimper
2:30-Banshee crying
2:36-Diaper change and bottle
3:30-Back to bed.

The other morning, I was so tired from everything, I literally felt like a zombie. My mascara from the day was smudged almost down to my cheeks, my hair was all askew, I could barely open my eyes, and I think I made a zombie-like groan when I got out of bed. To make matters worse, since I was still damn near asleep, Nyla felt like a thousand pounds. I was so dramatic with carrying her downstairs, putting both arms all the way around her and tucking my head around her neck while stepping with both feet on each stair. All this with zombie noises at 2:30am. My zombie noises are a cross between Chewbacca and Frankenstein. I'm sure that's pleasant to listen to in the middle of the night.

What happened to the sleeping through the night phase, Nyla? Mommy and Daddy loooooved that phase. Let's go back to it, okay? Thanks.

The Best Mornings

For the last three mornings, I have had the best wake-ups ever! Miss Nyla is in her crib and starts her morning "mama-maaaaamaaaa-maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and so instead of getting up, getting ready, and heading downstairs with her, I've changed up our routine.

I have gotten into the routine of putting her back in bed with me and pulling the comforter all the way over us! Then we play and kick our legs together and push the comforter up high and let it fall down on us. I know it may sound lame, but it's so stinkin' cute with her. She laughs and snuggles into me. What better way to start a day than with a snuggly monkeygirl?

Now I better get to bed so that I'll be ready tomorrow morning. The only downside: Miss Nylabelle has to put up with mommy's morning breath. Poor girl. I need to find her a mask or something.

Bad Habit #1

Nyla has developed a nasty habit for only being able to sleep next to us or when we're holding her. "Oh Elizabeth, it's so adorable when they're sleeping in your arms. You can cuddle and coo...sweet." Yeah, it's really sweet to still be holding the baby at 2:30 in the morning because she wakes up every time you put her in her crib. That's sweet. You know what else is sweet? Getting dead arm because your arm is stuck underneath Nyla from when you transferred her into your bed because she's refusing to sleep in her crib.

I must take deep breaths. Yes, I do love snuggling her. But I also like to have a little time to do what I need to do: laundry, dishes, have a few moments of silence all to myself. As I write, she's having an all-out fit in her crib. Nevermind ten minutes ago when she was in my arms, she was open-mouthed, passed out asleep on me.

Sometimes I just don't get this girl. I think we need to revert back to our "cry-it-out" method during sleep/nap times. She only cries because she knows I'll come get her. No more though! I'm going to put on my Mommy-pants and I will persevere!

Savage

When I was pregnant with Nyla, Paul and I always joked that we would have a savage child; the child who was hanging by her teeth from the trees, growling and chewing on other people. I'm thinking we shouldn't have joked that much...

Last week when I was in Nyla's room, I noticed that her crib had a little imperfection on it. I'm not a stickler for this type of stuff, it just stood out. A scratch on her crib. Then I noticed that there was a whole line of scratches. "Elizabeth, what is that?" I thought to myself. Then I looked at Nyla, who had her teeth firmly clamped into the rail of the crib. Ooooh, I see what's going on now.

Nyla has started to chew on her crib with her four teeth. She couldn't chew on the blankets or her little stuffed animal in her crib. She just has to chew on the crib. Great. Savage child, indeed!

She's in action here.

Savage teeth marks.

I Thought This Would Pass

I was thinking the other day, when was the last time I hugged someone other than my husband and Nyla? And not just a hug bye or hello, just a hug for no reason? Our families are very loving and affectionate people, so this was a genuine concern for me. When I think back, I think my last "just because" hug was weeks ago. This made me a little sad because I miss those hugs. I miss that small time of attention. Who's all the attention directed at now? Miss Nyla.

Now I'm not trying to be selfish, because Nyla trumps everything right now. And that's totally okay with me! I just can't believe that there are times that I'm still struggling with being number 2 or 3 or 14 in our family. When Nyla was first born, I was mad because I was losing myself and it was an internal issue that I had to work through. But now, I feel like the forgotten person. I know Paul feels that way too sometimes.

You always hear parents, "oh it's great going to people's houses because they will take the baby for a few moments and you can have a rest." Yes, that is completely true. The support we get from both of our families is very appreciated. But along with that comes a sort of disregard for anything about you. It's always about the baby. We can damn near go to anyone of our family's houses, walk in, and it's like Nyla is just floating into the house...Paul and I are barely noticed. Thus, the forgotten.

Hm. I'm not complaining. I'm not even upset about it. It just occurred to me that that is our new life now. I don't mind it being about Nyla all the time; she is our world. She is the center of everything. I just think I'm in a time where I'm coming to grips with it. Sure, it may be a little late, as we're almost 9 months in, but that's okay. At least I'm recognizing it.

On another note, in the time since Nyla was born, I could also be super pregnant about to have another one. Isn't that the most horrific thought ever? Two going at once right now. Um, let's wait a little longer, thank you.

Lesson #4,604,134

Here's something to remember for baby #2, whenever he/she comes along. When a schedule is established, hold to it at all costs. AT.ALL.COSTS. For Nyla, if one element of her schedule gets messed with or she misses, she's a disaster the next day.

For example, on Wednesday night, Nyla pooped in the middle of the night, thus waking her up. I went to change her diaper, gave her a little bottle, and back to bed she went! Not even 45 minutes had passed from start to finish. But that little lapse of time totally disrupted Nyla's normal schedule and yesterday, she was off. Crying, crying, crying, fussy, more crying. She wanted to be held, didn't want me near her, wanted to stand up, wanted to crawl around, wanted her apple juice, didn't want her apple juice...disastrous. Of course nap time was almost non-existent. And you know what that means...more disruption for today! Hooray.

She woke up again last night around midnight and stayed awake until 2! Grrrrrr....hopefully will get this monkey back on her schedule tonight.

I should have known this was going to happen. Paul said the words of death the other night:

Dad: So is Nyla sleeping through the night?
Paul: Oh yeah, she's slept like 10 nights in a row so she's good! Always sleeps through the night. 

PAUL ELLIS! DO NOT EVER SAY THOSE WORDS! :)

They've Got It All Figured Out

I started wondering why Okie was hanging around Nyla so much lately. I just thought it was because she was really getting used to Nylabelle and they were becoming friends! I was right...sort of.

The other afternoon while feeding Nyla her lunch, I noticed Okie sitting right next to Nyla. After she finished her delicious peas (gross), I gave her one of her rice crackers to munch on. I turned my back to put the dishes in the sink and heard it. *munch munch* I flipped around and there they were! Okie and Nyla! Eating the cracker!

Nyla has started to bribe Okie with food, and it's working. Nyla will take a bite of her cracker, then give Okie a piece, take another bite, give Okie the rest. This is how they are building their relationship. I even have photographic evidence of this!

One for me.

Here you go, Okie.

And Okie just waits for her next treat.

What am I going to do with these girls? :)

Feeding Times Are Disastrous

For the last few months, Nyla has afforded us some very successful and clean feedings. She would politely sit in her high chair, take the whole spoon in her mouth, and polish off her food without so much as a drop of food anywhere.

 "Hey Paul, I bet she doesn't even need a bib. She's so good when she eats."

Words of destruction. 

For the last week or so, our eating child has been replaced by a overzealous, ravenous animal who flails her arms and sways back and forth and tilts her head into her food. This is our child. It is not uncommon for her to have food in her hair because she has put her hands into the food and then her hair. Hm.

She's real sneaky about getting dirty, too. First she'll start the eating by being calm and collected. Then Frankenstein comes out and she swats at the spoon and dives over for the bowl. She laughs uncontrollably while food is showering out of her mouth. It's such a special time when I get to remove Nyla from her chair and I notice that she has spit food down into her lap. Lovely.

I guess I better find those bibs again.

Victory Is Mine!

Oh, how times have changed. My 18-20-year-old self would deem victory when I was able to be free and hang out with friends, feeling like a grown-up. My 21-27-year-old self (that's a looooong time span) would be excited and victorious over making it to happy hour with more than 15 minutes to spare. Oh, the good ol' days.

Now, my 30-year-old self is feeling high and mighty at only one time: nap time! The sense of sheer domination and accomplishment that washes over me when I'm able to get Nyla down for a nap is staggering. I feel so accomplished that I've even developed a dance to signify my victory! It is only when I'm able to successfully transfer her from my shoulder to the crib upstairs that I unleash The Victory Dance. It is as follows:

Elizabeths' Victory Dance
1. Close eyes and get ready to shimmy
2. Finger point (with both hands) to the sky, alternating upward points
3. A quick shimmy of the shoulders
4. Scissor motion of the legs
5. Saturday Night Fever disco arm moves
6. Finish it off with a rousing rendition of the cabbage patch, rotating in place complemented with some silent "oh yeah"s.

All this must be done in silence because I'm standing right outside of Nyla's door. It might be quiet in the house, but in my head I've got a rocking song going...although sometimes they don't make sense. Today's song was "Dude Looks Like A Lady" by Aerosmith. What? I have no explanation for it, but it synched well with my dance.