Week 23- Rollin'

We have been in full swing, enjoying this holiday season. Of course just when we had a nice groove going, things are always getting changed up and we're learning to roll with the punches. There is definitely never a dull moment around these parts! 




On a Roll
As predicted last week, Karis has gotten very good at rolling from back to front and seems especially eager to do so when she should be falling asleep. Every time I would put her down for her nap, she'd kick around and inevitably flip over and start whimpering. Then I would go in, and roll her back which would make her even more upset because she didn't know why I was there and not picking her up. And of course, the second I walked out of the room she'd flip over AGAIN! I tried various tactics to see what could be done. I tried letting her cry to see if she'd just fall asleep on her stomach (fail), holding her until she was tired enough to just go down without moving (fail, she just would look at me and jabber and play around), I even tried napping with her on our bed which I never ever do! (total failure, she ended up fussing around then crying in my face).

Finally, after two days of pathetic naps and a tired, fussy baby I came up with a set up using some wedges to hold her in place. These wedges have been amazing! I used them for pregnancy, when Karis had reflux to prop her mattress up and now to keep her from rolling! Somehow she still manages to scoot herself to the top of the crib and once there roll onto her stomach, but this only happens at night. Thankfully she now will fall asleep napping within 10 minutes, yay!
Now when she is awake we spend a lot of time working on getting her to roll from her stomach to her back. She is not an ambi-turner yet!
We practice by enticing her with a plastic Christmas ornament.

Sometimes she'll put forth some effort.

Other times she'll just be lazy!
  

Midnight Wakings
Part of last week and all of this week Karis has no longer slept through the night but has been waking up anywhere between 4-6am. If it is before 6:00 I'll feed her and immediately put her back down to sleep, and if it's after 6:00 then I'll just treat 6 as our wake time. Although it's been sad to loose my continuous sleep, I'm just trying to wait it out and figure out how to help her. Part of the problem is she'll end up on her belly and then wake up upset and then realizes she is hungry. Or perhaps she is hungry and wakes up then realizes she is on her belly and gets upset? Who knows?! Hopefully once she learns how to roll the other way and we can get her started on solids she'll be back to a full night's sleep!  

Grabber
Karis no longer is content with sitting and observing and now attempts to grab everything within arms reach. When in her bumbo she'll grab around at the spices behind her and when I'm holding her she'll grab at the logo on my shirt or any sort of jewelry I daringly try to get away with. She also loves grabbing her toes every chance she gets. Thankfully, her wingspan is still quite small, but it is the beginning of really having the be aware of her surroundings.


The Good and the Bad
This past week was a roller coaster in terms of Karis' disposition and nap schedule. On Monday she napped for a total of 6 hours with absolutely no crying whatsoever!! It was amazing because I never thought that day would come. She took a three hour nap in the morning, a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon and 1.5 hour nap before dinner without crying when I put her down nor crying when she woke up. It was crazy and I kept texting Greg telling him I think she died. I think what it actually was was recovering from a long Sunday where she really only got one real nap and was probably overstimulated in the nursery. However, the bliss was not to last, the next couple of days she went back to her 45 minute intruder naps and on Wednesday had a particularly fussy day due to teething (I can tell she's teething because she will tuck her lip under and chew on it, attacks her toys and will protest loudly when I take away her teether to refill it with ice).

Caroling
To keep up with the Christmas traditions, this month we starting singing Christmas carols to Karis before bedtime in addition to the Gospel Song.The only problem is that we realized we don't know the lyrics to most songs or will mix up stanzas or choruses. Hardly a way to set a soothing bedtime tone when we're busting up just trying to get through the lullaby!

Sitting Tall
Karis has been getting stronger and stronger in her core, so I tried her out in the shopping cart on her own. She was a little wobbly, but the strap held her snug. This makes outings to the store so much easier!


Abs of Steel
For some reason Karis hates to put her feet in the water when taking a bath. For the entire duration of her bath she'll crunch her legs up to avoid getting them wet. It must be working out those abs!


GI Victory!
A huge praise from this week is that Karis' stomach issues seem to be solved. She now goes regularly (every 3-4 days) which is an answer to prayer! We still have no idea what was going on, but thankfully the days of suppositories seem to be over!

Karis-isms
Consonants- Before now, Karis' babytalk was mostly just undiscernible noise, but this week she started in on the consonant/vowel pattern. Her two favorite noises are "ma" and "ba" which she'll repeat in a string. Of course she still loves to scream and screech!  
Softies- Last month Karis' favorite types of toys were hard rubbery toys that she could chew on, but this month it has switched to softer toys. We have taken the liberty to name all her toys and her particular favorite right now is Ferdinand the Frog.

Bubbles- This week I broke out some bubbles that we had from when we had the boys and Karis was delighted. It was adorable to watch her squeal and laugh.

Until next time!