Margo Blue // 6 Months: The Teething Blues
**This post is 3 months late!!! It’s been sitting in my “drafts” box fully written from 3 months ago, but has been without photos. So in an effort to just post it and move on, I gathered these images from my Instagram. Sorry if you’ve already seen these, but hey, it’s been months so you’ve probably forgotten all about them. So basically they’re new.**
Margo’s 6th month can be summarized with one word: teething.
If you’ve parented a teething baby, that’s pretty much all I need to say. If you haven’t, well it’s just an ugly phase that I wish I could somehow Uber my way out of. It’s the pits! At least it can be for some. Mia (my now 3 year old) was hardly phased by teething. I remember her having a snotty nose and maybe being just a bit more cranky than usual. Margo is quite the opposite.
It wasn’t long into her 6th month when we noticed she was very congested. Her nose was stuffy and runny at the same time and she had trouble breathing while napping and sleeping at night. She takes a pacifier only when she sleeps, and she couldn’t use it because she just couldn’t breathe with it in. Getting her to sleep much throughout her days and nights was a true struggle, filled with tears and fighting and exhaustion between both of us. I had a 3-day stretch where I only had 12 hours of total sleep! I was a hot mess.
I don’t know how long this phase is supposed to last, but I’m soooooo over it! Just last night, I tried getting into bed at 10:30pm. Margo had been asleep since 8pm. Of course, as I get comfy in bed, Margo wakes up fussing and then cries. I spent one and a half hours trying to get her to go back to sleep! I tried the paci, I tried rocking her back to sleep multiple times. I’d be successful, but as soon as I laid her back in the crib she’d awaken within minutes and it started over again. I was losing my patience and by midnight, I stuck the paci in and left the room (her crib is in my room, currently) to sleep on the couch. I just let her cry it out. She was back asleep on her own after probably 30 minutes of crying/screaming and then didn’t wake up again until 6:20am. I really do hate to say this, but this is my new plan of attack.
During the last few weeks, I hated letting Margo cry because I worried she was uncomfortable or in pain and I felt it my duty, no matter how exhausted I was, to soothe her the best I could through it. Even if that meant going to her each time she cried during naps and at night. But now, she seems to be feeling better but her sleep isn’t reflecting that. I wonder if she’s now used to getting my attention with each cry. As much as I hate to do this (honestly, I do), I’m going to try sleep training. I mean, I have to! It’s extremely difficult for me to function properly everyday on such minimal sleep. So, when I put her down for the night, I’m not going to her at all until her usual feeding time (which is anywhere between 2am-3am). And then again, I won’t go to her until no earlier than 6am. I know this sounds harsh, but I’m trying everything else and nothing is helping. Her waking every 15 minutes to 30 minutes to every hour is not normal and just doesn’t support healthy sleep for anyone. We’ll see how it goes. My hope is that we’ll only have a really stressful few days to power through, and will have a better sleeping baby at the end of that. What we’re dealing with now has been going on for almost a month, so something’s got to change.
Other milestones and happenings worth mentioning:
- She began rolling last month, and that skill has really improved. She’s like a tumbleweed in the wind. She’s even napped on her tummy a few times this month, which is new for her.
- I thought her spit-up was decreasing last month. Nope. False hope. It’s still going strong. We have our good and bad days. Just the other day she had spit up 90% of the times I picked her up. It literally covers the side of my shirt, flows down my shorts and completely down my leg, on my feet and more on the floor. I really don’t get it. I wish this would stop, it’s just awful.
- We’ve switched formulas from Enfamil’s Soy formula to Gerber Gentle. I’m hoping this change helps her spit-up. I wondered if maybe Soy was harder for her to digest. It’s possible, we’ll see.
- She’s transitioning out of size 6 month clothing and into 9 month.
- She can sit up unassisted for about a minute at a time before teetering over. I work with her daily on strengthening this skill. She’s almost got it.
- She takes 2 naps, daily. On a good day, her first nap averages 1.5 hours and her second nap averages 2 hours. She’s usually in bed for the night between 7:15pm and 8pm, depending on when she woke up from her last nap.
- Dad gets the best laughs out of her. Sometimes all it takes is a silly face to get her cracking up.
- Speaking of Dad, she still loves to be near him (unlike Mia at this time), but gives him a lot of trouble when he tries to put her down for naps and for bed. She won’t let him soothe her back to sleep either, when she wakes up. Mama has the magic touch.
- She’s still doing well with her solid foods. The only new foods I’ve introduced to her this last month are bananas and pureed apples. She likes it all.
- Her appetite has improved since last month. She’s back at eating 5-6 oz per bottle feeding.
- She officially has her two bottom, front teeth cutting through.
- She’s down to taking only one bottle feeding each night.
- We’ve stopped the use of her beloved Zipadee -Zip. It wasn’t hard to transition out of, which I worried it would be. She was outgrowing it and wasn’t able to stretch her arms and legs out much anymore. She doesn’t wear any kind of sleep sac or gown, just her jammies at night.
- She had her visit to the LA County Fair. It’s been an annual tradition for Dominic since he was a kid.
- I started giving Margo Probiotics through her formula. I’ve read so many great benefits of ingesting it daily and for including Probiotic-rich foods into our daily diet. For us, I started buying Kefir, supplements and more plain, Greek yogurt. A healthy gut means a healthy life.
- She’s nearly impossible to change (diapers and clothes). She’s constantly kicking her feet and trying to flip over. It’s like I’m wrestling an alligator.
- Margo grunts and growls like a true animal. It’s the funniest thing. Growling is like, her noise. She does it all of the time. I’m currently calling her “Monster Margo”.
I think that covers most of her 6th month. I remember with Mia thinking that as each month passed, it was better than the last. With Margo, unfortunately, I can’t say that. Each month continues to bring us new challenges. Sure, one might improve but it gets replaced with another. I love my baby completely, but, there are days when I’m smitten with her and days when I’m wishing she was a year old already. I don’t like feeling this way, but it’s the truth. Every day I have to dig deep to find patience, understanding, sympathy, strength, calm, perspective and grace. It hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure.
I really hope that Margo’s 7th month brings us both more sleep. Even if it’s just one extra hour a night. I’ll take it! I’d love for her to officially learn to sit up unassisted. And again, I’m wishing that the nasty spit-up will end.
Margo, you’re making us work. I still love you, always. Just like I tell Mia, I love you every second of every day, even when I’m frustrated or mad or sad. I may not like your behavior, but I LOVE YOU…no matter what. Mama’s here, baby girl.
A Belated Merry Christmas! 2015
Ugh, it’s driving me a little crazy how behind I am with blogging. I have a lot to document and catch up on, and I’m pretty certain I’m forgetting so much already. Can you guess what one of my New Year resolutions is for 2016? And yep, I’m like 1 out of 100 people who still make resolutions….and fail to keep them but that’s besides the point. Anyways….
This year, there are 4 of us who are hoping your Christmas was thoroughly enjoyed by all and we hope you get to celebrate the ringing in of the new year. As for us, we’ve got zero plans to actually go anywhere this year since we’ve got an 8 month old and 3.75 year old who don’t stay up until midnight so they’re a major buzzkill….but…..you better believe I’ll be enjoying some champagne after their bedtime along with something sweet and fattening. Maybe actually finding our first, official babysitter should be something on 2016’s resolution list. My, that would be swell. The evenings/nights out possibilities are endless and I’m honestly getting a little overly excited just thinking about them.
Our Christmas went by in a flash. I’m impressed with myself for getting almost everything done in a timely manner. The girls’ gifts were purchased and wrapped without me having to pull any all-nighters or even having to face crazy crowds at the stores. I baked only enough cookies for us and Santa this year rather than my old tradition of baking dozens for friends and delivering them. I think that tradition is just on hold, though, until the girls are a little older and are better at helping and delivering. And I didn’t stress out over planning and slaving over a special Christmas dinner. Hosting Thanksgiving was enough for me, so I just simply made some homemade pancakes on Christmas morning. Also, we didn’t host people at our house at all which was a first. It was just us 4 (well, and my brother who came by to deliver Mia’s gifts) and it was so nice not having to also get the house clean and presentable on top of everything else I had to do with my one-woman-show. I’m telling you, things were mellow! I was actually able to just relax, take my time and enjoy the holiday and my family. Success!
The only downside was that I was sick! Like, pretty miserable sick. I was coughing like crazy, stuffed up, blowing my nose every 10 minutes, sneezing, feeling super sinus congestion and head pressure. Yet, I still had to carry on like usual. That’s the hardest part about being sick as a mom. That and having the other adult in the house, Dominic, down for the count too. He was also sick, but not as bad as me. Luckily, the girls were cool but Margo did become super snotty a few days later.
This was the first year that Mia (3.75 years old) comprehended all of the ins and outs of the holiday. I think anticipating the moment when she saw that Santa had paid her a visit was so much more exciting for me than when I was a child, anticipating Santa. Oh, the joys of motherhood and experiencing the magic of everything through a child’s eyes. And a magical Christmas it was (*patting myself on the back*).
By the way, Mia totally made out like a bandit with how many gifts she received. I remember thinking how maybe I didn’t get her enough gifts, but then while in the garage wrapping, I came across a giant bag that I had forgotten about which was full of toys and clothes that my mom had bought for her and saved there for me to wrap. In the end, Mia definitely ended up getting more toys than one child should get. I just hope she doesn’t remember the amount because you know she’ll be expecting the same or more next year. Not gonna happen.
Our biggest gift to her this year was the Leap Frog Leap Pad Tablet Platinum with a few games. She’s been asking for a computer like Mommy’s and Daddy’s for months now, and we decided that this particular “computer” is completely designed for educational games and learning, so we went with it. And of course, she loves it. I was also excited about giving her a ton of books that I bought at a consignment sale for only $1-$2 each and a CD player from that same sale. She loves reading and music and is one happy, well read, dancing little girl.
Margo will be a little over 1 1/2 next Christmas, and we need to start saving our money NOW for gifts for two girls. I’ll definitely be combining both of their names on gift tags to save me a little money. Sharing is caring, kids.
A few other activities to note here that we did this year was I created our first advent calendar of activities that we did each day with Mia. I’ll blog about that separately. And Dad helped Mia sprinkle “reindeer food” on our driveway on Christmas Eve and again, he sneaked over to a nearby friend’s ranch to scoop up some horse poop to scatter on our driveway as “reindeer poop” for Mia to discover the next morning.
All photos here are from a photo session we did ourselves, also using a tri-pod when needed, and taken in the mountains about 35 minutes from our house. Heading back up there for some day-usage is also on our family list of New Year resolutions. Hopefully I’ll get around to posting about all of those as well.
Happy New Year everyone!!!! Here’s to accidentally writing “2015” on everything for another few months! ;)
Hi there, it’s been awhile!
Well that was a long break from blogging. Unintentionally, might I add. That’s always the case with me when it comes to this space. Life just gets busy and the blog is the part of our lives that takes a back seat to everything else until things slow down.
Not really sure what brought me here today, since things haven’t really slowed down at all! The kids aren’t even napping now, which is when I usually do my writing/posting. Mia is in the garage with Dad, catching her first glimpse at some really old trains that used to be his as a kid. He just brought them over from his dad’s house today and she’s stoked. Margo is content, for now, and in the living room in her designated baby space. I actually hear the beginnings of what could be fussing, so I’ll make this quick.
I just felt the need to chime in and say that we’re all doing well and to give a few quick updates on what’s been going on:
- I’m getting more sleep!!! For the last few weeks to almost a month, Margo has decided to sleep through the night about half of the week. The other half, she wakes up in the 3 o’clock hour for a small feeding and dozes right back to sleep until morning. Hallelujah! Total
gamelife changer right here, folks. - I’m gaining weight. Noooooooooo!!!!!!!! I hate it, but it’s true. With the sleep schedule I had with Margo’s craziness for months, I had zero extra energy for any kind of workout routine. I attempted it a few times but was just too damn tired for it. Now that sleep is actually happening for me, I’m ready to start shedding some pounds. A lot of pounds. Like, the same amount that my 3 1/2 year old weighs. I’ve been wearing a lot of oversized clothes and I’m so happy that cold weather is here so I can hide in layers and my husband’s sweatshirts.
- I’m trying to get back into photography, which is both frustrating and exciting for me. For whatever reason, my editing process is so slow and I’m struggling with things like white balance and skin tones. I took on a few paying jobs for some family photo sessions (which I was actually really happy with) but they took way more of my time than I thought they would. I’ll be looking into actual classes/workshops because I know I’m not doing something right. Could be the way I take pictures or could be my editing work flow. But I’m glad to be getting back into something I love.
- We hosted our first Thanksgiving at our house for a total of only 6 adults, but I had to pre-test each recipe since I had never made any of it before and Thanksgiving is kind of a big deal and I didn’t want to screw anything up. This took up a lot of my time, for sure, but we were all happy with how the day/evening went.
- I made our first advent calendar for Mia this year. It’s full of activities for us to do each day, all having to do with Christmas and the holiday season. This is such a great idea in theory, until those days come when the activity designated to it involves me having to actually shower and leave the house for an afternoon. Then I’m like…dammit. Damn you, calendar.
- My laptop (Macbook Pro) decided to take a crap on me in the middle of editing photo sessions! Out of the blue, the display began having seizures, basically. It looked like the images were shaking violently, horizontal lines completely covering the screen and would eventually turn to black. This happened every time I used Lightroom, so I hoped it was related to the program. I later witnessed the same issues while using the internet, but mostly when random ads would pop up or video was being used. I’ve called the Apple tech support hotline about 4 or 5 times now, and each time they’ve attempted to instruct me differently to solve the problem. The last guy said, “if this doesn’t work, then you’ll need to schedule an appointment and head into a location to have a tech look at it.” So that’s where I’m at. With 2 kids, I haven’t had the time to dedicate to this, so I’ve been without my pride and joy. Luckily, I was able to get Lightroom on my husband’s desktop and finish out my sessions there. He’s less than thrilled that I’ve been butting into his computer time. I miss my Mac :(
With my “mom brain”, that’s all of our happenings that I can think of as of late. We’re all looking forward to Christmas, especially since Mia (age 3.66) is fully comprehending this whole holiday season. The downside to this has been that she also fully expects to receive every single toy that she’s seen on commercials. The funny thing is, for months she’s been asking for all of them. “Mommy, come quick! You have to see this! I want that toy!” I, of course, stay put and tell her that she doesn’t get everything she wants. Now that it’s Christmas, I’m wishing I had paid attention a little more to what she wanted! In her Christmas letter to Santa she was very vague and just said she wants the toys from the TV. What am I supposed to do with that?! That came back to bite me in the ass. But honestly, I’m not too worried about it because I don’t plan to over spoil Mia with lots of gifts. I don’t like how commercialized Chirstmas has become and I don’t want Mia to attach herself too much to material things. I’d rather us gift each other with experiences and activities and memories, which is why I implemented the advent calendar this year. She’ll get some toys to open, a few being from “the commercials”, but I will also be including educational gifts, crafty crap and things the whole family can get in on, like games and puzzles.
I hope all of you have been enjoying Fall, like Mia has (clearly, with the images below). It’s almost at an end and I’m hoping that winter here in California actually brings us some snow in the near mountains. Mia’s yet to experience the stuff for herself. A snow day would be awesome. And to all of you moms out there (some Dads, too) who are the ones running all over town to prepare for Christmas, slow down. Enjoy the kids, enjoy your family, focus on good times rather than good sales. If the holidays are stressful for you (which they’ve been for me the last few years, I get it…I really do), then you’re doing something wrong and need to approach this time differently. Just my opinion I guess, but duh, it’s the right one ;)
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all! With how long it’s taken me to update this space, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me again until the new year. So, HAPPY NEW YEAR to you, as well!!! Much love!
Another Handmade Halloween
Happy Halloween, all!
This holiday is one of my favorites and I’m so stoked that I get to re-live my fond childhood memories of it through my own two kids. I can’t decide which is more exciting, experiencing Halloween as a kid or watching your own children experience it year after year.
If you know me or have been following this here blog, then you know that I love to create. This season, my most popular posts (thanks to Pinterest) are my “No-Sew Baby Owl Costume {DIY}” (see Margo’s costume below) and “6 DIY Halloween Costume Ideas + 3 Bonus Ideas“. These are jam packed with handmade costume sweetness from over the years, and this year I’ve continued this passionate hobby of mine with yet another handmade Halloween!
I’ve been neglecting this space here for awhile now, mostly because I’ve been busy putting my family’s costumes together. I’ve been knee deep in feathers, burning my fingertips off with my hot glue gun and cutting and tying off tulle. It looks like a colorful party explosion in my vacuum cleaner, that’s for sure.
Our costume theme this year is “Birds of a Feather.” I’m a flamingo, Mia is a peacock, Margo is an owl (which was Mia’s very first costume from 3 years ago) and Dominic is a bird watcher. Mia had a party at her preschool today so I was able to snap these photos of my girls in costume:
When Mia finally saw her entire costume come together, she gave me the biggest hug and told me how excited she was for Halloween and that I’m “the best Mommy in the whole world.” She tells me this often, but I can always tell when she truly means it and this was one of those moments. This made all of the work worth it. I love surprising her with my creativity and making something for her that is unique and special, made with love.
I’ve yet to photograph us all as a family or even myself or my husband in costume. Stay tuned for that. My goal is to set up a tripod before heading out to Trick-or-Treat tonight to snap some shots of us together. Also, stay tuned for a DIY post on how I made both my flamingo costume and Mia’s peacock costume. No sewing is needed which are just the kind of projects that I love.
I hope you all enjoy your Halloween and this really fun time with your kids. Be sure to go over safety rules with them before taking to the streets, keep a close eye on them, take pictures and have a blast!
I can’t wait to see all of the other great costumes out there tonight. Which reminds me, if you’ve used my DIY tutorial on how to make an owl costume or have been inspired by any of my other costumes over the years, I’d love to see photos! Email me at MomistaBeginnings@gmail.com. Feel free to ask any questions on putting them together, too. And one last request: If you’ve handmade yours or your kids’ costumes, like ever, leave a link to images or your own blog posts below. Share your talents, spread the creativity! Thanks guys, Happy Halloween!
