Wants vs. needs

I want this. Actually, I probably need this.

Right now.

And I really want these.

Lightly salted please?

Thank you.

Lunch time

Today while I was emailing my missionary brother Jordan I snapped a few photos of Mercedes eating her lunch. I meant to only take a few but of course couldn't stop snapping.
I was asking her to give me some of her tortilla pieces but I guess she thought I was wanting a kiss. Here she's giving me her open-mouthed kisses. I just look like I'm going to eat her.

Yummmmmm.
Chewing...
...and chewing.

Showing me her food. (Not intentionally).

Then came the apples with prunes. Now that she knows how to feed herself finger foods she gets mad whenever I try to feed her with a spoon because she wants to do that herself too.
Thank you aunt Jo-Jo for giving me the idea of letting her play with her own spoon during the feeding. Now my child won't starve.
Later when Mercedes was done eating she was playing on the floor and tried to get some Chereos she found. I need to sweep that area.

Sleep "revised"

WELL, it has been a continuous battle BUT we had some success! Last night we put our exhausted Mercedes down to bed at ten after six. She began to cry, and cry, and cry. I'm telling you I never was one who wanted to use the "cry it out" method. It always seemed mean to me. I HATE hearing my baby cry. It kills me and half the time I begin to cry too!

After weeks and weeks of getting bad sleep Taylor and I have become exhausted and Mercedes has become so too. No matter how hard we would try to rock her or bounce her to sleep she would fight it. Basically things were getting extremely difficult and with her strong-willed personality she was determined to stay awake. Taylor and I have been going back and forth on what to do but we finally decided to stick with this and see if letting her cry more would produce better results. The fact was, even when we rocked her or bounced her to sleep she still wasn't sleeping good, she was getting sleep deprived and so were we.

Last night we let her cry like I said. It was TORTURE but Taylor and I both felt this is what we needed to do because she wasn't going to sleep otherwise. We decided that at an hour we would go in and comfort her. At exactly an hour there was no more crying and she was sound asleep. We were so relieved! Then the real surprise came when I awoke the next morning and realized... We slept through the night. We ALL slept through the night!!!!!! This was the first time in months!!! Mercedes didn't make a peep until she woke up at almost 7:00 a.m. She slept for just short of 12 hours. And I don't think she has EVER done that in her life. I am so happy to say that we had some sleep success, and I know that it's probably not going to be perfect from here on out but we had a good night and we all slept great!

Sleep

As new parents we struggle and strive to do what is best for our children, hoping that we are making the right decisions especially when we feel like we have no idea what we're doing. I bring this up because we are fighting the war of SLEEP with Mercedes. I love my baby, I've always loved holding her and rocking her or bouncing her to sleep. Well, now she's almost 9 months old, getting big and I'm getting exhausted. Taylor and I can no longer keep up what we've been doing to put her to sleep and it is time to change. Ah change. We're also learning that change can be a hard thing for babies. I've gotten tons of great advice from people, I'm reading the most recommended book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and we're making the change to teach her to fall asleep on her own, which will hopefully lead to longer naps and sleeping through the night. She started to do pretty good a couple of weeks ago but then she and I went to Utah and that threw off our progress. We've started over and her falling asleep at night has been pretty good. Last night I put her in her bed at 6:40 p.m. when she was tired and fed and she went right to sleep without a fuss. Success!! But then this morning she would NOT go down for a nap. She spent about an hour in her crib crying on and off. Whenever she wasn't crying and I would peek in to see if she was sleeping, I would find her sitting up playing with whatever she could entertain herself with. Ugh. After that hour she was so worked up and not wanting to sleep that I finally just got her up. An hour or so later I tried again. I even walked her to sleep because I had had it. I laid her down as she was dozing off and she got right up and started crying. She's still crying in her crib as I type this. I am tired! I know we'll make it through this and we'll figure things out but I just have to vent! I thought parenting would be easy! Ha ha.

Newness

After months of online shopping and wishing, we finally got a jogging stroller!!!! We found it on Craigslist.com for $40 and it works just great. The shade has some tears but it's fixable and everything else works like a charm. I took Mercedes out for a run Friday and Saturday and we both enjoyed it. So happy to finally have one!
Maybe we're later than usual but something new that Mercedes has learned to do is feed herself with the new foods she's learning to eat. I think it's opened both our worlds.
Life with a baby is exciting. :)

Weekend in Utah!

Last Thursday Mercedes and I flew out to Utah for the weekend to visit family and friends. We kissed Taylor good-bye and boarded the plane. I was a bit choked up, I don't like being away from Taylor.
This was Mercedes' first airplane ride! Unfortunately it was right during her normal nap time, and although it was only an hour and 20 minute flight, she was a handful. She never screamed her head off (thank goodness) but she wasn't very happy either.
Well, except for this photo. She finally fell asleep the last ten minutes of the flight.
Mercedes got lots of time with her only cousin Alex. They were very cute together. Alex is two and a half hears older than her. These two actually remind me a lot of Addison and I. (My big brother, and Alex's dad, for anyone who doesn't know).


This is Mercedes' "Look at that doggy!" face. We were in my best friend Lacey's car and their dog was in the back.
All growing up Lacey and I would talk about our futures. Going on walks down the River Trail with our babies was one of them.
It was amazing and almost surreal knowing we were actually doing that.
Here I'm holding Lacey's 3 week old baby boy Maddix. He was so precious!
Mercedes loves being outside.
If you can click on the picture to make it bigger, I think Mercedes' face in this one is just great.
I had to get a shot of the babies in the car together! So cute!!
I stayed with my brother Addison and sister-in-law Ana. I love these guys.
Brown eyes! I decided a monkey costume would be perfect for Mercedes since we're always calling her our "little monkey."
She thought Alex's room was the best place on earth. I decided I need to get her some real toys. She finds those much more interesting than her baby toys.
Here we took Halloween pictures of Mercedes, Maddix and Lacey's sister-in-law Larissa's baby. We all played softball together in high school. Funny what the future brings! The baby girls were a bit concerned with Maddix who wasn't very happy.

The three of us and our babies! Love.


I kept trying to get a photo of Mercedes interacting with Nala Lacey's dog but every time I snapped a picture Mercedes would do something else. She loved the dog though.
This was Sunday morning after we woke up. I love her morning face.
These ones are for the grandparents in the Ukraine. :)


I loved spending time with Addison and Ana. I miss them greatly in California.
Best friends!
I love my big brother.

Mercedes and I had so much fun in Utah! Thank you so much guys for letting us come and stay with you and be with you for the weekend! And thank you Taylor for making it happen! It was a blast!