Gnarl slurp grunt

Lately Crystal has been crying whenever I don't let her grab food from my plate. I've given her a couple bites of oatmeal puree, but lately I've been letting her gnaw on some carrots. I think that I like the idea of letting her explore the texture of adult food and practice biting and chewing even though she hasn't any teeth. Don't worry, I keep a close eye on her and I won't give her something that she can totally fit into her mouth. It would be a plus if she is getting some nutrients from licking and biting the outside of the food, though, as she's not yet 6 months old, she doesn't need to actually ingest it.

Wet Grass

Crystal is 5 months old now. I am still breastfeeding her. Instead of cutting her off when she's 1, I kind of like the idea of letting her wean herself or stop whenever I'm pregnant again after she's 2. I hope that I won't be throwing up as bad during my next pregnancy because that was the worst.

I tried sleep training for one day and decided that I really love holding the baby all of the time. The sacrifice of hurting back is way worth the sweet closeness that I get in return. :) And, seldomly, if I put her down in an exact place at the exact moment and cover her with the blanket in an exact way, she'll dose off on her own. This has worked only a couple times so far but I'm eager to see her gently learn at her own pace how to fall asleep.

We've stopped looking for houses. Partly because the tax credit deadline has passed and partly because of our fear of being tied down. Also, I really love it in our small apartment in Greenbelt. I know that we can't live there as Crystal gets bigger, but I would like to move to something that's a lot like it where there are beautiful walking paths and a grocery store and bank within walking distance.

Speaking of the outdoors, Crystal seems to be fussy all the time unless we go sit outside and then she's the perfect angel. Lately, we've been spending a lot of time outside but the mosquitoes are killer, so I have to wear long sleeves and pants while we're out in the heat.

Momentarily Sits

Pretty good for a 4-month-old! She's also moving around a lot on her back and comfortably rolling in both directions!


Crystal's new sound that she's been working on is: loud gasping. I'm sometimes wonder whether she'll make herself pass-out while breathing like that. She does make herself cough though. Last week's sound was: constant raspberries.

Since church made Crystal not get enough napping and she was less happy, I've lately been trying to be more diligent about following her nap schedule and bedtime.

I've also just started using sign language with her so that she'll be able to tell me more easily in a few months when she's hungry, tired, sick, etc. Yay! Fun!

I'm planning on not going back to work full-time. But, they might let me keep working part-time from home until my replacement is hired in a year or so.

We're resuming the house-search this week. We're visiting three 3+ bedroom houses in Lanham/Riverdale/Hyattsville for around $100K.

Sleeping Crystal

4 1/2 months now. She had a 2-month-long break from rolling and now she is reliably rolling again; still just from front to back though. I recorded a video but my internet speed won't allow me to do anything else on the internet if I were to upload it for a few hours.

Crystal is so full of energy all of the time that it's still difficult to get her to sleep when she's tired. The only thing that will calm her down enough for bed time is to hold her while walking around. Otherwise, she transforms into a irritated banshee, squealing at the top of her lungs. With how big she has gotten, it has become increasingly difficult to constantly hold her. Lately, I've only been holding her for 5-minute increments before putting her back down to sleep/play.

Ever since before she was born, I was considering using Ferber's "cry-it-out" method when she would be old enough for it. Now, I think I'd rather continue what I'm doing, which is the walk-her-around-until-her-eyes-are-droopy method. This way, she doesn't ever cry all day and all night and she still gradually learns to go to sleep on her own as she's still awake when she's put to bed. She is also able to go to sleep anywhere, which is helpful when we're not at home. Maybe when I'm older and have more children I won't have the energy for carrying her around all of the time, but maybe I will have, with the experience, found easier ways to do it all.

I also don't want to let her cry herself to sleep because when I do let her cry it out after I'm too tired to comfort her anymore, I eventually pick her up anyways, try feeding her and learn that she's actually hungry and not just cranky. So, I don't want to make the mistake of trying to make her cry herself to sleep when she's actually hungry. Again, by the time I have more babies, I may be better at recognizing hunger before the crying starts. I can read a newborn's hunger cues but not a 4 month-old's.

She has pretty good naps: 8-9am,12-2pm, and 4-6pm. I'm pretty happy with the night-time wakings for the most part, as I'm only awake for a short time while I nurse her and she goes straight back to sleep. She is still waking up every 3-4 hours or so. Apparently My own sleep rhythm seems to have matched this because I woke up last night around 12:30 only a minute before Crystal woke up to eat. Though, I've always tended to wake up multiple times throughout the night anyways even before I was pregnant: nightmares, stress, snoring, who knows why.

One thing that I wish is that Crystal would go to sleep before 9 pm so that Steve and I can stare into each other's eyes, hold hands, and say sweet nothings to each other each night. Oh well, I guess that we'll have to remember to do these things while half-ignoring the baby or wait till Saturday.