Changing Schedules

I've made a mistake. I didn't listen to my sage older sister, who told me to be rigid about this schedule for 2 weeks, and then we'd be good. Instead, I modified it yesterday when I could not get up at 7. Ug. Today we got up at 7 and even though we were out all day, dad brought Alyssia home for her morning nap and I brought her home for the afternoon nap. We just goofed at getting dinner finished and the bedtime routine started in time. It's almost 9 and she's still up. She's trying to go to sleep, but having a hard time. Daddy is in there now trying to help her. Aw.

Alyssia has been an army crawler for some time now. She almost never does a proper crawl. Today, however, she crawled half way across her room, on her hands and knees, with her belly off the floor. Supposedly, according to her doctor, it doesn't matter how they crawl, as long as they're doing something. All the same, it was nice to see her doing something different and enjoying herself. Last night was a little difficult. Daddy put her to sleep the first time and it took him an hour of put-down, put-down to accomplish it. I went to bed around 11 and then she woke up at 11:30 (of course). I waited for a little while to see if she would settle herself down, but she was escalating so I went in. Then she was up again at 4:30. It took a good 40 minutes to get her back down, so when 7 a.m. rolled around, she was still sleeping and I was too tired to get up. So we slept until 9:00. Probably a big mistake because now she's off her schedule for the whole day. To compensate, I skipped the morning nap and took her for walk in the neighborhood instead. Poor little thing was so tired by the time I put her down after lunch that she could hardly keep her eyes open. I hope she gets a good nap. We'll see how this change in schedule affects bedtime.

So she took a 2 1/2 hour nap and then at bedtime, she was WIRED. So we went for another walk, which seemed to relax her a bit. I got her down pretty easily around 8:45. That's much later than she's supposed to go down, but hopefully we'll be back on track tomorrow.

Big News

Yesterday, for the first time ever, Alyssia pulled herself up to a standing position while she was inside her play yard. She wanted me to come get her and I was busy doing something and telling her I was on my way. When I turned around, there she was, standing up, little fingers clinging desperately to the gate. I think she was too upset to notice that I praised her for doing something new, but she definitely has a new skill. She repeated it in the bathtub last night--not a good place for standing. Maybe all this pick-up, put-down stuff is making her stronger and more independent. My mom just sent Alyssia the nicest toy. It's a giraffe that encourages babies to pull up and stand to play. I think she's going to love it.

She also said "down" yesterday for the first time. And she said it more than once. She was in her highchair and wanted to get down, so she looked at me and repeated "down" two or three times. She emphasizes the "w" sound when she says it. So cute. This is Alyssia and her friend, Samuel. We went to their house last month when my sister and niece were in town. They have the nicest little beach park near their house and we all went there to play. The kids loved it.

The Diligent Hand Shall Rule

Alyssia has made SO much progress. She slept from 7 until 7 last night!!!! She woke up twice (once at 1 a.m. and once at 5 a.m.) and cried for about 30 seconds and then went back to sleep by herself!! No mommy intervention needed. Going down for the morning nap today was pretty easy too. It only took me about 15 minutes. I walked out when she was still awake. She uttered a few weak protests and then fell asleep 10 minutes later. The afternoon nap was a bit more of a challenge for some reason, but eventually she did it! I'm so excited about the night sleeping--it's like winning the lottery. 11 months of no sleeping will change your perspective on the importance of things. The ONLY thing you care about after going through this is sleep! Two nights ago when I was trying to make my exit from the nursery, I thought if a coreographer could watch me, she could come up with a very entertaining ballet. Escaping the nursery at night used to require a very delicate dance--testing every floor board before putting my full weight on it, lifting my hand from the railing of the crib with utmost care and caution not to make even the tiniest sound, timing my exit with the swell of the orchestra playing away on the night-night CD so the violins would mask the inevitable creaking of the door. And then there was the leaping in the hallway. We've learned which boards creak the loudest and how to avoid those at ALL costs. I don't think I can say that I'm going to miss doing the dance. Now that Alyssia is putting herself to sleep, I wait until I see the breathing slowing and I know when she is "under," then I smile down at her, put the crib side up and walk out of the room. Easypeasy.

Making Progress

Little Miss Alyssia is learning how to put herself to sleep. I'm so proud of her. I'm half-dead, but she's getting it. The morning nap today was a total loss--we spent the whole time working on put down, put down, put down, and she never went to sleep. The afternoon nap, however, was much better. We did put down for about 20 minutes and then she rolled over and went to sleep!!! WHOOOHOOOO. It's like a miracle. Then she slept for 2 solid hours and woke up happy. Bed time was very difficult. It took me an entire hour of put down to get her to sleep, and, unlike the afternoon, she got SO angry with me for continuing to put her down. By the time she was settling in, she was recovering from the hysterics. I had to fight the "poor baby" feeling by telling myself, it will be better for her in the end when she has learned how to put herself to sleep.


There is no doubt that this method requires patience and dilligence. And there is also no doubt that I need to improve myself in both of those areas. It's hard and I'm tired and my neck hurts. But I think it's going to be worth it. My sister had great success doing this method with her daughter, so I'm going to keep at it. I don't know how long my neck will hold out, but hopefully it will hold out long enough to establish a good sleeping routine.

To everyone who has posted comments--thanks. I can't figure out if there is a way to respond individually to you, but I have appreciated everybody's comments!! Keep it up!

The Most Challenging Job

Ok, so I feel like the worst mother on the block because my baby is 10 months old and STILL not sleeping through the night. Reading the baby whisperer book will make you feel like a complete failure if this is your situation. Who had time to read it before now?! Also, I'm wondering what the deal is because I just read in this book that all babies by 8 months are pulling up to a standing position in their cribs. Alyssia is almost 11 months old and not pulling up to a standing position. Should I be worried? This came up because I'm reading the section on pick-up, put-down for getting a baby to sleep. I think parenting is a lot more involved than some people think. I admit, before I was a parent, I had no idea it was going to be this hard.

Without a doubt, this is the most consuming job I've ever had. People ask me if I miss my "real job"(being an ALJ). I never hesitate when I answer. NO WAY. Being Alyssia's mom is so much more challenging for me than being an ALJ. She's different every day. She's learning something new every 5 minutes. She is busy, busy, busy. By contrast, after the initial training period and with few exceptions, the ALJ job tended to be the same thing over and over AND OVER again, to the point where I could rattle off my opening spiel in my sleep and usually predict the kind of testimony I would hear. ("I wasn't drinking." "OK, I was drinking, but I wasn't drunk!" "Ok, OK! I was drunk, I was totally drunk, but I wasn't driving!, I swear!") After a year and a half, this can get a bit tedious.

Here I am in my office the day of my swearing in. I was 6 or 7 months pregnant. I don't know why, but they didn't swear us in until we had already been doing the job for 9 months. That was a very proud day. My mom and dad were in town for the occasion and four of the Wrights (Bishop, Mother Wright, David and Angi) were with us too. I think they were all proud of me that day. Ben took us out to our favorite restaurant afterwards. I miss some of my colleagues very much. I was privileged to be sworn in with some great people. I think they are all still there, plugging away!

The next picture was taken at a reception given in D.C. by the National Association of Women Judges. Ben and I attended the dinner when I was 7 months pregnant. It was a very nice evening. My mom made me both of these suits. She's so talented. The night of the reception, I received so many compliments about my suit. (Thanks mom!) It's nice to actually feel pretty when you are that big!

So, this mothering job is more challenging to me and, in my estimation, it's more important too. My old office has 60+ judges making sure drunks don't have licenses and negligent people don't operate day care centers. Alyssia only has one mother! I'm so glad I can be home with her now.

I left the job when Alyssia was 6 months old.

Obviously, finances are tighter than they used to be. Ben is working so hard though, and really, God has blessed him so much that his business seems to be growing every day. Maybe one day when she's older, I'll go back to being an ALJ or doing something else in the law, but for now, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Furthermore, at the end of a hard day at the MVA, I never got a nice sloppy kiss from any of the people whose licenses I confiscated. I probably get 20 unsolicited kisses from Alyssia every day! What a glorious feeling!

Oh The Sleeping Woes

Alyssia is almost 10 months old. She still is not sleeping through the night on a consistent basis. This has become very trying, to say the least. We were doing well back in May, and then she got sick and got off her schedule, then we went to Chicago and she was not in her own bed and still recovering from the cold, and not sleeping. Since we've been home, she really hasn't gotten back in the groove. Mommy is SO tired. I'm feverishly reading the baby whisperer book to try to figure out how to help this baby sleep. The other challenge we're having is eating. She loves bacon and grapes. Everything else is questionable. Every meal time, I offer her lots of different choices. Sometimes she eats well, but not that often. I'm a little concerned, except that she seems plump and happy. We'll see what the doctor says the next time we're in for a visit.

Here are some photos from the Chicago trip.

Let the Blogging Begin

I've been inspired to start blogging by my niece, Veronica. She's only 18 months old, so I figure I can do this!
This is Alyssia Faith. She is our miracle baby!! In this picture, she's about 8 months old. She was born August 1, 2006, after a long and arduous labor and natural delivery. WHOOOHOOOO! She was totally worth every ounce of pain suffered. She makes us laugh every day and is a living testament to the faithfulness and goodness of God.














This is me, holding our first daughter, Chloe Victoria. She was born August 18, 2004. She had a diaphragmatic hernia and pulmonary vein stenosis. Despite a valiant effort by Chloe and the doctors, she left us for heaven when she was only 2 months and 20 days old. We still miss her every day.




It took us 10 years and in vitro to conceive Chloe.




Alyssia, on the other hand, just happened. And what amazing timing. We found out we were expecting her one week after the first anniversary of Chloe's death. God really is awesome.








The three of us recently went to our favorite restaurant in Little Italy in Baltimore for dinner. The people at the restaurant told us when we left that the staff had voted and decided Alyssia was the cutest kid they had seen, without a doubt.