Five on Friday!

Happy Friday!!! This week was longgggg because Gabriella had her second cold of the year (and it's still January) which ended up being a nasty respiratory virus. Ugh. We haven't even had a winter and I'm ready for it to end!!

1. Life with a dog

Last September we had to say goodbye to our sweet Chloe. It was so hard but right after that, Gabriella was born and our lives were completely different. Because of the whirlwind our lives became, I sort of forgot how much I loved having a dog around. My in-laws are away for a couple of weeks and we are watching their lab, Yula. Gabriella is in love and squeals every time she sees her. This morning, after a week of not feeling good, she was playing with Yula, covering her with all of her toys and it was so sweet. We're not going to run out and get a puppy but having her here makes me realize that we eventually need another dog in our family!

2. Book review 

I recently read "The Husband's Secret" by Liane Moriarty. It was on my list for awhile so I was really excited to read it. I didn't know too much about it, but I was thinking it would be a lot like The Pilot's Wife which I loved. I hate to use the word disappointed, because it was a good, girly, fairly quick read, but it wasn't what I had hoped. Itwasn't bad at all, just much more Emily Giffin than Anita Shreve. If I had gone into it knowing it was more of a light(which is a weird word to describe it because there are certainly heartbreaking moments), summer read, I think I would have appreciated it a lot more. It would be a good book for a mom's book club though because I think you could definitely discuss "what would you do??".

3. Super Bowl 

If you are a Denver fan, our etsy shop just happens to have some Broncos bibs and headbands in stock!! And if you are a Pats fan, still sad from last week's game, we have plenty of Pats gear to cheer you up :) 

4. Dunkin App

This is a little PSA for my fellow Dunkin lovers... download the Dunkin app! You link it to your debit card, pay with your phone and earn free coffees all the time! Prices are often discounted and they are constantly running promos. Really this message is for my dad and sister...you both go there enough, download it today:) 

5. Spring-like weekend 

Typical New England weather... It's snowing today and next week is going to be almost 60!! After this week's illness you better believe I'll be opening windows, airing out the house and getting some fresh air! 

Have a good weekend !!

xo,

Mary

Toddler Valentine's Day craft

On Friday I mentioned that I was going to try out some Pinterest-inspired toddler crafts for Valentine's Day. Pinterest makes everything look like a piece of cake but let's be honest, is anything with a 1 year old a piece of cake? No. While Gabriella's art looks nothing like the model babies on Pinterest, her cards are funny and will still be sent out to some lucky Valentines :)

This is what Pinterest makes it look like....

 

The reality is that this is a super simple craft. You take a toilet paper roll, fold it to make it look like a heart, tape it up, and begin stamping.

 We were off to a good start. It took her about 5 seconds to realize the thing she was holding had paint on it and about 30 seconds to get a few good hearts on her first card. 30 seconds in and she was basically a Pinterest baby model.

We could have ended it here but I was reallyyyy hoping to get more than 30 seconds of craft time (aka coffee drinking time) in and I figured we should make cards for grandparents, aunts, and uncles so we kept going. Here's what Pinterest doesn't say... after 30 seconds the toilet paper roll will be thrown on the floor and finger painting will start. So the first card looks like this....

and every other card looks something like this...

The kitchen looked like a crime scene but the baby was happy, albeit covered in red paint, and this mom got to have two cups of coffee. All in all it was a winner :)

Happy Tuesday :)
xo,
Mary

Five on Friday!

I can't believe another Friday is here! Gianni has had a crazy week and hasn't been home until after 9 all week so we are really looking forward to having him around this weekend. We were thinking we were going to be snowed in all weekend but it looks like we will just get an inch or two. This winter is crazy; it's snowing like mad down south but here in Connecticut our grass is still green! I really, really, really hate snow in late March and April so I hope that if snow finally comes, it is over with in February!

1. 15 month old appointment
We had Gabriella's 15 month well-baby appointment and it went so well! She weighs 19lbs 12 oz, putting her in the 5th percentile for weight and she is 30 inches tall so she is in the 75th percentile for height! That is for her real age of 15 months, when they put her on the charts for a 12 month old, she is in the 15th percentile for weight and 95th for height! Her doctor is completely fine with her weight and is so happy with how well she's doing. She's completely off of formula now and drinks whole milk. Our next step is to get rid of the bottle; she takes 3 bottles a day so he suggested getting rid of one a month until she is bottle-free around 18 months. She is eating all table food, but cut up as needed. She does not want to be fed anymore so we just put food on her tray and let her feed herself. Her doctor is a big advocate for self-feeding; he feels that even though a child that is feeding herself won't eat as much as a child being fed, it prevents aversions to eating, encourages socialization during meal times, and allows the child to try new tastes and textures with out the pressure of being force fed. It is obviously messy but I agree with his opinion and having a happy eater is worth all the vacuuming and swiffering we have to do :)

1 year ago today!

Happy, messy eater

Enjoying some donut after her vaccines

2. Current obsession
I've mentioned before, but Gabriella is obsessed with the cat. Absolutely in love with her. And since we've entered the phase of giving things to people, she is now into giving things to the cat. Usually its all the things she can find. She also feels that the cat loves to be covered in her things....

3. Snow boots
I had the hardest time finding snow boots for Gabriella this year. She's tiny so her shoe size is infant size 3 and most boots start at size 4 or 5. I found a cute and affordable pair on Amazon and they just arrived. They are really cute, lined, waterproof and tighten with a drawstring. They look like they work best for babies that aren't independently walking yet but do come in bigger sizes. The brand is Molehill and they are roomy enough for warm socks or moccasins underneath!

4.Valentine's Day toddler crafts
I have been searching Pinterest for some craft ideas for Valentine's Day. Two ideas that I found that would work with a 1 year old are making heart shaped stamps out. The first is using a potato and the second is using a toilet paper roll. The photos of the potato stamp look really cute but I am pretty sure cutting a potato to look like a heart is not as easy as Pinterest makes it look. The toilet paper roll looks incredibly easy so I think we may give that a try today. I'll report back with how successful it is :)

5. iMovie
I am really late to the world of iPhones but I just discovered the imovie app. It's a free app that lets you take your photos or videos and set them to music (either preloaded or music from your own iTunes account.). It's so easy to use and the movies are easy to send by text or email! There is also a way to take your pictures and create a movie trailer complete with dramatic talking. Could be good for a laugh if you are snowed in this weekend :)


Happy Friday and stay warm!!


xo,
Mary

Speech Evaluation

Today we had Gabriella's speech evaluation done by a speech and language pathologist with Birth to Three. Speech delays alone do not qualify a child for services so I knew that based on how well she did with her gross and fine motor skills this would not change the fact that she doesn't qualify anymore. But the evaluation was offered so we decided to have it done so we could see if they thought we should look into getting a SLP on our own.

A child's development is so hard to evaluate when you are the parent. There's this broad range of what's "normal", often spanning several months. Beginning to crawl for example is expected anywhere between 6-9 months, supported standing 8-12 months, walking 9-18 months, etc. It's so easy to start comparing your child to every other child in the world and when you add the preemie factor in, with adjusted ages versus actual age, it can become overwhelming. We have been really blessed with Gabriella's physical therapist; she is so down to earth, so patient, and has taught us so much. She was great with teaching us all about normal ranges and kept us focused this year on areas that Gabriella really needed to be pushed (a good example is when we brought her home she would lay completely straight, not curled up like full term infants do. Her PT helped us position swaddle blankets under her shoulders, arms, and bum to help bring her into what we know as "fetal position". This position is really critical in infant development; it helps strengthen their core muscles which leads to rolling, sitting, etc.). That being said, I was really curious how she would score in her speech. She makes a lot of different noises, says dada all day long, as well as a few other words. I was also really interested in how a speech evaluation on a 1 year old would work.

The SLP that came was so kind and we laughed that Gabriella must have known she was there to evaluate her because as soon as I let her in, Gabriella crawled over to her, waved, and said hi. She then pointed to a cartoon drawing of a boy on her bag and said dada. Two checks in the box, greeting someone and recognizing an image of a person (girl knows how to work the crowd :)).

The evaluation consisted of so much more than simply speech. She looked at how Gabriella reacted to new toys, how she would react when frustrated with a difficult toy or object, and whether or not she would recognize familiar toys, people, and objects. When frustrated, she would try the toy and then hand it to me, point at me, and babble a bit. The SLP told me this is exactly what she wanted to see, Gabriella trying, and then reasoning that she couldn't do it but mom would know how. She was also happy to see that while Gabriella doesn't say the words yet, when prompted to "get the baby", "get the piggy", "get your cup", she was able to go get those items out of a line up of other things. At the end of the evaluation, they told me she scored in the 12-14 month old range which is wonderful! Her real age is 15 months, adjusted age 12, so she is scoring even better than they would have expected.

The areas that she is delayed in a bit are the behaviors that a 15 month old will typically show. A 15 month old will start to choose between items ( banana or cheerios, milk or juice, etc) as well as have a lot of "expressive communication". This is when toddlers really use their facial expressions and hands to get across a message. Typical examples are rubbing their eyes and making a fake crying noise when they are sad, stomping feet when they are angry,and hands on their cheeks when they are surprised. I had no idea, but this expressive communication is the bridge between a 12 month old saying simple words and a 2-3 year old telling simple stories with voice fluctuations for emphasis. She told me that because Gabriella is developing normally, this step will happen on it's own, but we can start adding hands and more expressions to phrases when speaking to her and she will catch on quickly.

Gabriella's final evaluation with Birth to Three is being written up and I will sign in next week. I am so grateful for the services we received; we learned so much and Gabriella has thrived. I will really miss seeing her PT twice a month, but "graduating" from this program is another reminder of just how blessed we are.

xo,
Mary

Weekend happenings

Disney on Ice was a success! I was not sure what to expect bringing a 15 month old to a show. Actually let's be honest; I was nearly 100% sure that we would last 20 minutes and those 20 minutes would be spent wrestling a wiggly girl until she had a meltdown. But to my surprise, she was great and was actually really into the show! The music, bright lights, and dancing characters kept her attention and we were able to stay for the whole show. The only thing that I didn't think of was that because it was a show on ice, the arena was really cold. It wasn't too cold outside on Saturday, just rainy, so I had put Gabriella in her raincoat, not her winter coat. Luckily I happened to have a sweatshirt in our diaper bag so she was warm enough (the bouncing around to the music helped as well :))

Gabriella's afternoon nap was sort of nonexistent after so she was ready for bed early that night. We got take out and decided to watch The Martian with Matt Damon. I knew he had won an award for the role but neither of us were dying to see it because we had assumed it was going to be a lot like Gravity. We were completely wrong! Besides the obvious of being alone in space, the movies are completely different. The Martian was funny as well as exciting. We both agreed it was really , really  good; one of those movies where you feel like the actors are portraying the way people would act and react to situations in real life (unlike most all Nicholas Sparks books/movies... I mean, come on, how many times in your life have you run through the pouring rain to your soulmate? ;)) But seriously, it's a good movie; two thumbs up from us!

Speaking of books, one of my goals was to start reading again and I am happy to say I read my first book of 2016! I'm not going to pretend it was anything intense AT ALL; it was The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand. She's a fun author, all of her books take place on Nantucket, they are light, romantic comedy type novels, but not overly cheesy (see above reference to Nicholas Sparks :)) It was the perfect book to get back into the swing of reading.

And some cute baby pics for your Tuesday :)

DJ Gabby Z

Pulling all the hats and mittens out

Looking mischievous

"Playing" with the cat... seriously the cat is a good sport

Bossing the cat around

Hope your week is going well! Looks like we are finally going to get some snow this weekend!! Thank goodness for Amazon; baby sized snow boots are arriving on Friday!

xo,
Mary

Five on Friday!

TGIF! Always makes me laugh when I am excited it's Friday but Gabriella is getting more teeth and has been becoming Miss Personality so having Gianni for back up is great!

1.15 months
Our little pumpkin is 15 months old tomorrow! And as sweet as she can be, she can be sassy! At her 12 month well-baby, our pediatrician said that around 15 months old she should understand the word "no".  Next week is her 15 month appointment and let's just say that this week we had to use the word no quite a bit. The other day she snuggled up to me and then bit my shoulder! I said in a nice but firm voice, "no!", and then she looked at me, squealed, and hit me in the mouth. It was sort of funny but I knew I shouldn't laugh so I had to say, no we don't hit Mommy to which she squealed again and then shoved her finger up my nose. Sigh. Needless to say, "no" is a work in progress over here.

2.Hair
I think Gabriella may need her first haircut. Her hair is thin but wildy curly and she's starting to get a bit of a mullet. When she wakes up it's huge and by mid afternoon it's a wild mess. It makes me smile that our bald little baby now has her own detangler spray :)

Speaking of hair products, Diane introduced me to this great spray that cuts down on drying time.... and it actually works!!

3.Resolutions... more girls nights
Last night I went out to dinner with a dear friend and we had so much fun. The hubbys handled bedtime routines and we had a great meal and great conversation. And the guys (who have had a plethora of guys nights recently) only playfully texted a few times :)

4.One year later
 Saturday is the one year anniversary of bringing Gabriella home. Bringing her home was the best, scariest, most wonderful day ever. I will never forget the very first night home with her; we fed her, changed her, swaddled her up, and put her in her bassinet next to us. We were thinking this was a piece of cake, turned off the lights to say good night only to have her start screaming louder than we had ever heard! We immediately threw the lights on and she stopped crying and gave a tiny little smile. We hadn't thought about how after 3 months in the NICU, she had never been in the quiet or the dark! Since that night, she hasn't stopped letting us know exactly what she wants :) Thinking back over this past year, I have learned so much. We learned how to give her medications, soothe her when her reflux was at it's worst, how to go with the flow and put the rigid NICU schedule behind us, and most importantly, how to trust my instincts as a mom. I can't believe how lucky we are. I don't remember life with out her. Happy coming-home anniversary pumpkin!

5.Disney on Ice
We are celebrating this weekend by going to Disney on Ice! Some of our great friends invited us to go with them and their 16 month old to our friend's company's box. It will be hilarious to see our girls at their first show! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Have a wonderful weekend!!
xo,
Mary

Napping

Happy Monday! It's cold this week... perhaps it will finally be winter??? Not that I am hoping for the blizzards we've had in the past few years, but a few inches every now and then would make it feel a little more like winter!

I wrote on Friday about our battle with getting Gabriella to sleep through the night once again. Knock on wood, the techniques offered in The Happiest Toddler on the Block really worked for us. We haven't had any screaming and it's been about a week with simply putting her down instead of rocking her all the way to sleep. The next decision we're facing is whether or not she's ready to go down to one nap a day. Right now, Gabriella wakes up around 6:30, goes down for a nap around 8:30, is up by 9:30. Her afternoon nap is around 1 and the length varies from 1-2 hours (average around 90 minutes). She is then up until bedtime which has been around 6:45-7.

This works fine for us and she is happy and not cranky. I do wonder though if she would get a better rest if she slept for a longer amount of time in the afternoon. Part of me doesn't want to rock the boat because her schedule now works, but I am not sure just how effective of a nap she's getting each time. When I read about ways to know your baby is ready for one nap tips, on paper she is ready. She doesn't have a horrible day if she happens to miss her morning nap or if it is a short one, and when I put her down, she does often play in there for a half hour or so before nodding off for a short time. This morning we decided to try and follow her cues to see if she would even want a morning nap. We were playing and she kept climbing into my lap, pushing her face into my shoulder, and rubbing her nose (all of which are her typical nap-ready signs). I put her in her crib to rest and she's been playing in there for almost a half hour, not upset, but certainly not showing any signs of going to sleep. I think I'll let her play there for a little bit longer and then go get her out. We'll see if this plan of "quiet time" and just an afternoon nap makes the afternoon nap a little longer!

This weekend Gabriella started to get a little brave and attempted some little steps! She was sitting on a little stool and would stand up, take on little step, and then a giant leap into our arms. It was so cute and she was so pleased with herself!

xo,
Mary

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!  Here's 5 things that went on this week :)

1. Sleep drama
For months now Gabriella has been a fantastic sleeper. I had honestly not remembered the last time she woke in the night. She would go down around 7 and sleep soundly until 6:30-7 the next morning. We were spoiled and loving it.

And then she turned 14 months old. And got a cold with a wicked cough. And all the holidays happened which turned her schedule upside down. The perfect storm leading up to a sleep disaster. The first hit of this storm happened the Saturday after New Year's when we had a sleepover at my parent's house so that Gianni and Thierry could throw a welcome/ bachelor/ get to know you/ man party for Alex. (You didn't have to ask me twice to leave the house when I saw pounds of meat to be grilled and the ping pong table being set up for beer pong...). Gabriella and I were in the same room, me in a bed, and her in her pack and play. She screamed, tried to climb out, and finally ended up in a twin bed with me so we wouldn't wake up Ben and Sandy who were also sleeping over and in the next room. The night was spent with her climbing on me, shoving her fingers into my mouth and saying "tee" (yes, Gabriella, Mommy's teeth are still there), and up my nose (yes, Gabriella, that's Mom's nose).  I was hopeful that it was a freak night simply due to being so excited that we were at her grandparents house, in the same room, with her cousin, etc. But that was not the case. Things were just heating up.

On Monday night, she woke up at 11:45 pm and would not go to sleep unless I was holding her. She finally went to bed at 5:15 am. She would scream like it was the end of the world and then I would  walk in the room, and she would be all smiles. We were exhausted and didn't know  what to do. On Tuesday I went to the library and checked out 2 books with the hope that they would give us some tips on how to fix this sleep drama. The books I chose were The Happiest Toddler on the Block, and Super Nanny. My reasons for picking these two were simple; the show Super Nanny used to make me laugh and I figured that maybe the book would make me see some humor in this situation, and The Happiest Baby on the Block author is well known for his famous 5 S's of newborns (shushing, swaddling, etc).

Both books offered similar tips for getting your young toddler to sleep and I loved their theories. I didn't want to let her simply cry and cry, but knew that something had to change. The first thing I had to change was to stop rocking her all the way to sleep. In my heart, I knew this had to come to an end but I just loved it so much. So on Tuesday night, after her bath, we all played quietly in her room and read books. She had her bottle in the dark, on my lap, in the rocking chair. We then did her normal bedtime routine; prayers, and a cuddle. Instead of rocking her all the way to sleep though, I gave her a big hug and kiss and told her I loved her and it was time to go to sleep. I put her in her crib, rubbed her back and left the room.

And she lost her mind.

We set a timer for exactly one minute (which felt like an eternity) and then I went back in, of course she stopped crying as soon as I walked in), didn't pick her up, instead just rubbed her back, kissed her cheek and said the same thing, "I love you and it's time to go to sleep". She started screaming again as I left the room, this time setting the timer for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, I repeated the same routine, leaving the room and setting the timer for 4 minutes. During the 4 minutes, her crying changed from a scream to a protesting cry. I went in again after 4 minutes, repeated, and came out to set the timer for 8 minutes. All of a sudden, she was crying less and less. She was playing with her stuffed doll, chewing on her blanket, and then she put her head down and by 7 minutes in, she was sound asleep! And guess what, she slept through the night.

I repeated these same techniques since during naps and bedtime and since the first night, there has been NO crying! I rock her for a minute or two, kiss her, hug her, and tell her it's time to go to sleep. She often plays quietly for a little bit but then she puts herself to sleep. It's amazing.

For my mom friends, I highly recommend these books for sleep troubles! They are lighthearted, make you feel completely normal, and offer useful, practical tips that actually work.

2. Pigtails
Someone finally has just enough hair for little pigtails!! Or one slightly bigger "whale spout". I love it!

Pushing my bag around the library

3. The cat
Gabriella has always loved the cat. The cat drives Gianni and I up the wall. But deep down we love her and just when she is getting on my last nerve, she and Gabriella do something funny. She really is good with Gabriella and lets her roll on her, hug her, pull on her, etc. Yesterday, Gabriella decided she wanted to lift the cat. Needless to say it didn't work because I'm pretty sure the cat weighs more.

Trying to get Leila to come with her

4. Looking big
The story of parenthood. One day  you have a tiny baby and the next minute they look so grown up.

5. Full House on Netflix
If you were a child of the 80s/90s, you most likely loved Full House. It was a cheesy TV show about 3 sisters being raised by their single dad, uncle, and best friend and it was fabulous. The cast has reunited for a new show called Fuller House and I am way too excited to watch it. It's probably going to be just as cheesy but honestly, who doesn't love some childhood flashbacks. I sent Sandy and Diane a text saying that I want to have a small viewing party (may be just us haha), and they both wrote back immediately with an enthousiastic yes (along with a "I'll bring the wine".) Love my sisters.

Have a great weekend!!
xo,
Mary

Christmas 2015

Simply put, Christmas this year was wonderful. Despite coughs, colds, ear infections, and laryngitis, it was so memorable and fun. Opening gifts with Gabriella was probably my favorite part of the whole holiday. She didn't quite understand that you have to rip the paper off, but once she saw that there were toys under the paper, she was very interested! We tried to keep her gifts practical knowing that she would be spoiled by her grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles, but there were certainly a few treats under the tree. Santa brought a sled, a bike helmet, new pajamas, a set of hand puppets, a puzzle, a ball, and some other small necessities. There's a page from Nancy Tillman's The Spirit of Christmas that perfectly sums up how we felt about Christmas this year...

Christmas last year was just so hard... Gabriella had a horrible reaction to a vaccine and was put back on life support, I ended up needing surgery, and we were an emotional mess. But this year was just so perfect that the coughs, colds, and lack of sleep didn't matter at all. (Side note... we hit a major 15 month old sleep regression that we had to tackle head on this week. I'll blog about that fiasco another day :))

So here is our Christmas in photos. I didn't take as many as I wish but that's okay. This was a Christmas we will never forget.

xo,
Mary