Glam Friday

 I think it's because my favorite holidays are approaching, but I am feeling a sense of excitement that makes me want to be glamorous! Of course, I have a mom haircut, clothes that are covered in sticky handprints, and no where glamorous to be, but it's fun to pretend. On that note, these are my Glamorous Fill in the Blank Friday ... um.. blanks. Play along at Lauren's blog *the little things we do*.

1.   My favorite new blog of the moment is   I actually don't read a lot of blogs, but I've been checking out Linny's Vault lately and she makes me laugh a lot.  

2.   Something I am thankful for is how Daphne reacts when I pray with her. I just started really doing it because she just now has a bedtime routine, so I was surprised she had a reaction at all. She snuggles into my chest and is very quiet and still and when I say "Amen," she kisses me. Seriously? Couldn't be any cuter. 

3.  Something that made me laugh this week was   Daphne dancing while Jon fed her chocolate pudding. It was most definitely a happy dance.

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is   Shi by Alfred Sung. I haven't worn it in years, but I love it and desperately wish I had some now.

5.  I am excited about  Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I hope they don't disappoint .

6.  If I were a color I would be    purply magenta with sparkles. Even with this mom haircut, I have a rockstar inside .

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by   hiking in the woods with Jon.

Praise Jesus! My baby is sleeping!

A miracle has happened in our family: Daphne is sleeping through the night, on her own, NO CRYING. I mean no crying even when you lay her down.

This was a typical day for us: 

Daphne goes to bed between 9 and 10:30. If I couldn't get her to sleep by nursing, she would have to come in my bed with me until I nursed her to sleep there.

Once she was asleep, I put her in her crib where she slept for about 3 to 5 hours. Then, I would have to go get her and let her lay with me. Sometimes, I would put her back in her crib after she fell back to sleep. Sometimes, she would sleep all night with me. 

As far as naps? I just let her fall asleep whenever.

Here is a typical day now: 

Daphne goes to bed at 7:30 without being nursed and doesn't cry! 

She wakes up 11 to 12 hours later!

She naps precisely 3.5 hours after she wakes up and 3 hours again after that nap.

(She is still adjusting to not crying when she lays down for naps, but she never cries longer than 5 minutes).

How did this miraculous change take place? The Sleepeasy Solution.

I was skeptical. Daphne is 14 months old. I have tried to let her cry it out in the past, but I was a wreck. It didn't work for us AT.ALL. The methods described in the book do include allowing the baby to cry, so I had SO MUCH ANXIETY about the process. After I read the book, I was somewhat encouraged to attempt it anyway. I mean, we were tired around here, yo.

So, the first night? Daphne cried for exactly 31 painful minutes when I laid her down without nursing. Then? She slept her typical 4 hours and woke up and cried for about 5 minutes. She woke up a couple hours later and cried for 5 minutes. I let her cry, and she stayed in her crib the entire time.

The next night? I laid Daphne down. She cried for two minutes and then SLEPT FOR 12 HOURS WITHOUT CRYING ONCE.

Tonight will be night five, and she has not cried since the second night. She is consistently sleeping well. 

It's amazing. 

Of course, I highly recommend this book, however, every parent and child is different, and what works for us may not work for everyone. Also? I don't think I could have done this method when she was younger than 12 months. But, I am SO GLAD I finally did it now!

Got to get down on Friday

I am super thankful that our family has made it through October and into November and I have to say: We would not have done so without very, very generous and loving friends. I am COMPLETELY overwhelmed and humbled and grateful for the people who have blessed us so lovingly. You know who you are, friends. <3

On that note, I'm excited to fill out these blanks that Lauren at *the little things we do* has prepared for this lovely Friday! Head over there (after you read mine, of course), and fill some out yourself. All the cool kids are doing it.

1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is   finding a new Alice Hoffman book at the library and devouring it in a few days. Love her. I was CRAZY excited when I saw it on the New Releases shelf. (Side note? There was a BRILLIANT two year old in the kid section who knew all her shapes including octagon.. When the mom told me she was two, I was tempted to tell her that Daphne was five months old so she would think my baby was precocious, too...)

2.   Colder weather makes me happy and sad. I AM a contrarian, so of course, this is the case. I love the feelings associated with the weather: joy of the holidays, zeal for sledding and snowman building, romantic cuddling, etc. However, the reality is, it gets kind of scary in the winter around here. We live in a small apartment and it's like we're in the Shining sometimes.

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are  um. This shouldn't be so hard to answer. My lovely friends, the weather, and books definitely have made me happy as of late. There we go..

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose   cute flats. In fact, I probably will wear them for the rest of my life .

5.  My personality type is   I really don't know. I perceive myself to be impatient, quick-tempered, generous, out-going, and loving .

6.  I have a serious problem resisting    American Horror Story. I keep telling myself it's too dark and disturbing to watch, but I KEEP watching it. I've just gotten over being able to be in the dark when Jon's not home since the last episode, but I KNOW I will watch it again...

7.  My favorite color to wear is   peacock blue or most shades of dark purple. However, I really only wear black.

Daphne Duck

Even though Daphne didn't really understand that the best holiday ever was going on around her, I did my best to make sure she took part in some of the festivities. 

We started Halloween weekend by carving pumpkins. 

Oh, yeah. We actually started by creating this haircut. Pumpkins followed.

This is pretty much how she looked the entire time: Skeptical.

She finally got into it, but did not like the gooshy stuff on her fingers.

I WISH I had taken a picture of the finished products, and I have no idea how I forgot to do that, but suffice it to say they were the best pumpkins you've ever seen (particularly because you will never see them.)

Poor Jon had to work during Trick or Treat, so I got Daphne all dressed up and we hit the town. 

Well, really we went to her Grandma Lil's, Aunt Sue's, Honorary grandparents' Tony and Debbie's, another HGP Cheri's, and my other friend Sherry's. She was given candy, but I made a sacrifice for her nutrition and teeth and promptly ate it for her.

She didn't mind a bit.

We took her to the Kiddie Parade on Saturday, and that was fun. We saw her friend Ella in the parade and said hi, and Ella RAN over to us to hug Daphne. That was the highlight, I think. 

In other Daphne news, she is becoming more cute and intelligent every day.

Example? She says, "HEY DOE," for "Hello." Cutest. Ever.

Punkin' at the Patch

My memories are so tied to this time of year, and as a result, I feel such a strong sense of nostalgia and yearning to recreate past feelings associated with fall. So, taking Daphne to the Pumpkin Patch is one way I've tried to do that.

We didn't have time to take her last year, so this was her very first time. I'm glad we waited, because now that she is one, she had so much fun running around Marlow's, checking out the animals, riding the hayride, and especially playing on the playground.

She loves her Daddy.