Whew.... What a Weekend!

We had a jammed pack weekend planned! Sunday morning we kissed daddy goodbye and headed for Bloomington. We had a cousin's baby shower on Sunday and a visit from one of my very best friends flying in from Georgia. Luckily she makes a few trips a year for State Farm training which just so happens to be in Bloomington! Its a great way to see my friend I miss SO SO much! I had stragically planned our departure time so that Mya would sleep the entire way down and be ready for MANY visits with friends and family. It's going to be a great weekend. What could go wrong??? EVERYTHING!!!!

What's a daddy to do when his wonderful wife and sweet baby girl are gone for a few days? Sulk in sorrow.... mope around in loneliness.... catch up on work? Hardly! An hour into my drive to Bloomington I called to check in on him. I hear, "Turn left up here. Then take a quick right." Hunh? "Who are you talking to?" I ask naively. "The cab driver. I'm headed to the city!" Interesting... did I mention it was 10:15 am??? So much for moping and sulking! Guess he gets a free pass....he's not home alone often! Anyway, his own actions will be his own worse punishment. Again, did I mention it was 10:15 am and he was starting to drink?

My drive was a bit stressful to say the least. My strategic departure time was a complete failure. Mya was wide awake! I was completely stressing because I know my baby. If she misses her morning nap she is a complete nightmare (remember Christmas at Matt's Aunt's house?) I pulled over 3 times to insert her pacifier. All 3 times she greeted me with a great big "I'm not tire, Mommy!" smile! Great!

I was right. She was a complete nightmare. She was a bit cranky when we stopped by to see papa and change my clothes for the shower. She pulled the ole' crying bit whenever mommy left the room (I secretly get an ego boost from this). Once we got the the shower she remained crabby. She held up for the first hour or so. But, it all when down hill when my cousin Natalie tried to paint her hand green for a baby gift. She went crazy and screamed for the next hour. It wasn't Natalie's fault, just one overtired baby! I decided it would be best to leave the shower. Afterall, it was a baby shower for first time parents. I'd hate to scare the new mommy into labor!
The weekend continued to have go south (no pun intended!) when I got a call from Kari telling me there was a blizzard in Georgia! What??? It doesn't snow in Georgia! Sure enough the so called blizzard (3 inches I think...um... come visit IL and we'll show you a blizzard!) had Atlanta airport at a complete standstill. Her flight was cancelled not once but twice! 3 days later she got on a flight and we ended up seeing her for a total of 20 minutes at the airport! She had to get to her training and we had to go back home to LZ. It was a very short visit but it was so good to see her! I am glad she was finally able to meet Mya.

Lots of downs mixed with many ups made our trip to Bloomington well worth it. Mya did great sleeping at Auntie Kristy's house. Auntie Kristy even let mommy watch 3 hours of "the most DRAMATIC rose ceremony EVER" on the bachelor. I think I have her hooked!

Toe Jam!

Mya wants to know, "Can you do this?"

Apparently a big bowl of cereal wasn't enough for dinner. She had a little toe for dessert! YUMMY!

Hallelujah!

More news on the sleep front....

If you remember my post after our 4 month appointment with Dr. Brown, I was basically told I was doing everything wrong! I got LOTS and LOTS of comments/suggestions from all of my mommy friends! Most of you couldn't believe that the doctor suggested waking Mya up to feed around 9-10. You also thought 6:00 seemed pretty normal of a bedtime. Well, after listening to your comments, we have tried to make some adjustments. Mya now goes down around 7:00. This is a much better fit for our family! We can enjoy her a bit longer, but still enjoy our evenings without baby! We began sending Daddy in at Mya's 2:00 am wake-up to insert her pacifier that had fallen out. This worked.... silencing the little lady and putting her quickly back to sleep! BUT..... she quickly realized if she cries, in comes her daddy! We, in return, quickly realized that when daddy was greeted at 2:00 am with a smile, we were being played! She didn't care as much about her pacifier as she did about seeing her beloved daddy! Ok, time for another adjustment.... Operation: Playtimes Over Missy! We decided it was time to axe the 2:00 am wake-up! According to Dr. Brown she was supposed to be sleeping for a solid 9-10 hours. hmmmm..... what to do, what to do?!?!?! We decided to let her "cry it out" at her 2:00 playdate with Daddy. This was absolute and complete TORTURE!!! I must say I was the strength and Daddy was the weakness in this experiment (surprise, surprise, right?!?!?!). Here are the results

Night 1- Mya cried for 45 heart-wrenching minutes(Her daddy wanted to go to her on minute 4...can you say "softy?") However, she finally soothed herself back to sleep sucking her thumb. Have I mentioned I LOVE the video monitor?

Night 2- Mya cried for 30 heart-wrenching minutes (I think her daddy wanted to go to her on minute 7 this time). Toughy Momma stuck to her guns and we let her cry! Again, heart-wrenching and torture is the best way to describe this period!

Night 3: Mya cried for 0 minutes!!!! HALLELUJAH! (Her daddy got his first complete night sleep in several weeks! Looks like mommy's toughness paid off!) Mya slept through her 2:00 wake-up. I fed her at her usual 4:15 feeding and she was back to sleep! Good Girl, Mya!!!

So, for all of the skeptics/critics of crying it out.... it may be terrible for a couple of nights but in the long run, we ALL get better night sleep! I cross my fingers that tonight will be just as good! I am longing for the 12 hour nights! Next mission- Operation: Sleep All Night

Sibling Rivalry

Diva meet Diva! The two little princesses in the Wiegman household have finally begun acknowledging eachother after months of ignoring. I think each of them has felt the normal twinge of jealousy that goes with sharing the attention from Mommy and Daddy. Mya has begun tracking Jasmine's every move. In return, Jasmine sniffs Mya's toys, playmat, and even Mya herself. Mya's eyes follow the kitty and she reaches to touch her. Jasmine, has been very aware of Miss Mya from the day she arrived in HER house. She has left us many, many "gifts" to tell us that she really doesn't appreciate the new sibling. After 5 months, I think both of our little girls have finally started to accept the other. Today, I captured a moment between the two divas! I think they were making an attempt to "reach out" to one another!

Is it weird that our cat is bigger than our 5 month old baby?

5 Months Old

I can't believe it, our baby is already 5 months old! She is getting so big! As you can tell by our "monthy" birthday pictures, she is really starting to "ham-it-up" for the camera. She wasn't quite as cooperative as she has been in the previous months! Sometimes goofy, sometimes serious, but always absolutely adorable!

At 5 months old Mya is going through some changes! As you can see, her hair is thinning and lightening with age! Her eyes have stayed a bluish-grey color but seem to be getting a little darker. She loves to talk and try to imitate sounds she hears. She is a very happy little girl that smiles and giggles throughout the day. Mya still loves her pacifier, toy crab, playmat, and loves to listen to Mommy and Daddy read books. Although she has rolled over before, she seems to have forgotten how to do it! Her darn arm gets in the way and poses as a great obstacle. We continue to do tummy time and hope she gets the hang of it again soon. For now, Mommy and Daddy are enjoying her immobility!

"Say Cheese"

She's growing, growing, growing!

Look, I'm taller than Mr. Bear!

"I'm so silly!"

We Found Nemo, But Where are the Penguins???

We spent Sunday at the Shedd Aquarium with Uncle Eric, Aunt Amy, and Quentin. It was crowded, but considering it was a Sunday (of a 3 day weekend) and it was neighbor to the auto show, it wasn't really all that crazy. I haven't been to the aquarium in years! It still amazes me how many different species of water creatures there actually are, we even found Nemo! I have to admit I was a bit disappointed in the aquarium though. It seemed so much bigger when I was younger! I would say for the money you spend on admission you would think they would create bigger habitats for some of these creatures. And where did the penguins go??? I swear they use to have a penguin exhibit! The Wild Reef in the lower level was awesome and actually resembled the ocean. Beyond that, I just wasn't too impressed! But, I am glad we took the day trip and was able to spend time with family!

Mya was a trooper and held up pretty well considering it was a long day for her! She was surprisingly attentive and seemed to enjoy looking at all of the different fish and all of the people! Putting her in the baby bjorn worked out really well; although, Mommy's back killed her the next day! Words of wisdom for any future museum-goers.... leave your stroller behind! There simply isn't any room for strollers and they don't have a stroller check!

After the museum, we packed into the car and headed for Uncle Eric and Aunt Amy's for pizza. The 1 mile drive was a bit intense. I was part of a baby sandwich, Mya on one side and Quentin on the other. Mya cried the entire drive and Quentin stared at her wondering, "What's with this girl?" Once we arrived, Daddy tried to squeeeeeeze our car into a very tight parking space. His attempt was unsuccessful! He managed to scrape the entire side of my car getting into the spot! Of course, once he got in he had to get back out.... again scraping the side of my car! Whoops!

Despite the crying, overtired baby girl and scraped car we had a wonderful visit!

Mommy's Little Helper!

I'm training her already! Here is Mya helping Mommy grade lots and lots of Science Tests! She's such a good little helper! How'd they do Mya?