Just like Gramma!

Hannah loves the phone. She loves the cell phone. Any "real" phone is the coolest thing ever! Toy phones....not so much. You can't fool her! Anyone else think she looks like her Gramma Rose in these? Haha! I think she definitely gets it form her Gramma! Love ya Mom!

Hmmmmm....who should we call?

Must have been the wrong number!

Here we are playing with Hannah's Pizza Table. She loves this thing because she can stand and play. She will even prop herself on it so she can let go and not fall down. She enjoys standing there and dancing while it sings the ABC song.
This is what I saw from my deck this morning. It's been slowly accumulating over the last five days. I think it's been about four years since we've had so much snow in so little time. The horses are staying close to their hay feeders. It's only about 10 degrees today before windchill factors. We are supposed to get down to -5 tonight. Yuck!

Geesh....today was rough!

Sleep training continued.
Auntie came in this morning and was given very specific directions as to what to do for Hannah's morning nap. I told her it was VERY important that she follow through or Hannah would get confused. So she calls me in the barn aounrd 10:30 and says Hannah has been crying for an hour, what should she do? I said, leave her alone. I could hear her screaming and I had the sinking feeling Auntie would go pick her up. So 30 minutes later I called her cell to check in and she didn't answer....after 15 more minutes I call again and no answer. By this point I'm stressing because I am thinking she's in the room rocking the baby.....So when I come in at 12:30 she's awake and playing in the living room. Auntie says Hannah cried for 90 minutes and slept for 30. Great. That stinks. So this afternoon I'm thinking is going to be a breeze because she's so tired. Nope. She was started to doze as I put her in the crib and the second I set her down she started screaming. She cried for TWO HOURS. At this point it was too late for a nap and the book says to skip the nap and put them to bed eariler if this happens. So tonight she had her bottle and went to bed about 30 seconds after laying her down. SHe cried for about half that time and was out like a light. Last night she slept from 8pm to 6:15am. I hope she does again. I have to retrain my body to not wake up at 2am, 4 am and then 6am. So hopefully I'll sleep too. I'm crossing my fingers for another quiet night!

Sleep Training and a new toothbrush!

I bought a book entitled "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. I encourage any of you with small babies to read it. Hannah has not slept through the night since she was 7 months old. We had a wind storm that knocked out power out for a week so we slept at Lou's aunt's house for the week. Hannah slept in bed with me all week. Since then she wakes up around 2am and will not settle unless I take her to bed with me. Lou usually falls asleep in his chair or wanders into the guest room because he knows bringing her to bed will let me rest some. It has been a long, long, long time since I've slept for 8 straight hours so I decided it was time for sleep training before things really got out of hand. I started with Hannah's morning nap. We rocked in her room with her bottle and her music on. She was so tired but really refused to go to sleep. So I told her it was nap time and put her in the crib. In the book it says to leave them alone and not to respond to the crying. Hannah cried for an hour and then fell asleep...on her own! This technique is very difficult to do because you instinctively want to go to them and feel extremely guilty for letting them cry. The books stated leaving them alone allows them to develop sleep skills which means they can soothe themselves back to sleep without assistance. In the long run it is healthier because sleep deprivation can lead to all types of bad things (health problems, learning problems, behavioral problems just to name a few). So we are doing this cold turkey. This afternoon I used the same practice with a bottle, music and rocking. I put Hannah down looking drowsy...she rolled over and went to sleep on her own. Tonight we had a bath, a bottle and rocked for a while. I made sure not to let her fall asleep drinking that bottle so she'd not only finish it but would go to sleep on her own. She cried for 10 minute on and off and that was it! I'm hoping we don't have any major meltdowns at 2am but I have promised myself I would not go to her until after 5:30am. I'm crossing my fingers that this works quickly. All of the testimonials in the book have been between 3-7 days for it to work with the majority being 5 days. Eventually Hannah should be able to be put in her crib for both naps and bedtime while she's awake and put herself to sleep on her own with no crying. Won't that be glorious?? Oh yes!

Now my problem is if her aunt who watches her in the mornings will follow through with this. If she doesn't, she could completely screw things up. She has a tendency to do what I ask for a day or two and then make excuses as to why she can't do it anymore (ex. can't put her in the crib for naps because she's too short to reach down there....the railing does not lower....).

In other baby news, Hannah is getting two new teeth. Both on the top, one is to the side and one is a middle front tooth. They have been bothering her so a friend's mom suggested an electric toothbrush. She said her kids went through them like crazy and they always helped them feel better. Just let them chew on them...hmmm....So I bought one of the el cheapo models for her. She LOVES to chew on it but is scared of it when you turn it on. Darn....could have saved $5 and got her a reach. ha!

Snow...

Well since yesterday morning we've had roughly 6-7 inches of snow. Then this afternoon it turned to rain. We are supposed to have a relatively clear day tomorrow followed by four straight snowy days. We don't typically get this much snow at once so this has actually been a treat for us. Lou is a little bummed because he wants to go snowmobiling but has no snow mobile. So tonight he took the 4 wheel drive quad down to a friends for some nighttime riding. He wanted me to go but I'm feeling really tired lately and think I need to hit the sack early. Hannah is breaking two new teeth in and sleep has been sporadic at best. Ohhh to be the man in the relationship who hears NOTHING at night and has lost only two nights sleep in the last 11 1/2 months! *sigh*

Good news is I went back to the eye doc today and we ordered new contacts. Pretty sad that the highlight of my day is the fact I've been put into new lenses! Anyway these are "dailies" so no more buying contact solutions and no more contact cases. Wear for a day and throw away! Doc thinks the drops helped a little but I honeslty felt the same from day one to the end of week three on them. So I can see now and have no more dry eyes. Someday......I WILL have lasiq done....someday!

Let's Get Going

"Lego" is home and snuggled up in his warm blanket. He went outside today and became fast friends with Frazee's Folly. They trotted around and then played a little halter tag. Hopefully Folly has shown Lego where the round bale is and they are munching away together. We'll see in the morning if anyone has any new kick or bite marks from their first night out together.

He just followed me home!

Well, not exactly....but I'll be bringing home a new horse this week that was given to me by another trainer. I sold a horse for her this past saturday and when I asked about "Lego" (if it fits that will be his name) she said to take him home and have fun. So that's the plan! Sealy is at the trainers learning how to be a good event horsey....and my little chestnut gelding "Sean" is doing the same. So Lego will come home and hang out in the pasture for a few months and then learn to jump.These aren't the best pics....but hopefully he'll have a bath and get cleaned up for some new ones when he gets here. I was told he's quiet and kind so I'm excited about him.

Hannah seems to be getting her appetite back after a really nasty intestinal virus. I woulnd't wish that on anyone! So hopefully in the next few days she'll feel well enough to start her sleep training....aka "crying it out." Maybe someday in the near future I'll also get 8 straight hours of sleep. I can not remember the last time that happened.

So I had a follow up with my eye doctor today. About 3 weeks ago I went in because my vision had become blurry when I wore my contacts. Turned out my allergies were really bad! Go figure! Anyway, because of my allergies, my upper eyelids were all bumpy on the insides causing a lot of irritation. So I've been using eye drops that were prescribed to me. Ever seen 5ml of liquid gold? Well I'll show you if you wanna see....that's what I call those anyway because they were EXPENSIVE. I don't know how people can get away with charging so much for 5ml of liquid. What is wrong with this picture? How much? $210 for one bottle and $130 for the other! Insurance paid $40 each. Woohoo, that helped. So my miracle drops didn't really do the jo they were supposed to do and the doc is now calling it a "chronic" issue. Meaning it will happen anytime my allergies are bad. My best option would be lasiq surgery. I WISH! Been wanting that for 15 years now! So option number two is switching to daily contacts. He gave me five days worth and I go back afterwards for another exam and to order more if I like them. So far so good. I hope this works out because my glasses give my headaches!

Happy New Year!

Lou, his Dad and his doctor left for Philly Park yesterday morning. We have a horse running there today and they also went to look at 2 or 3 horses to possibly claim. His doctor (Steve) wants to own a couple of racehorses and has been very excited to be involved in the process. So that leaves me, Sharon and Mike in the barn. Which would normally be okay but Sharon came down with Hannah's virus yesterday and was sidlelined all day. I have not talked with her yet this morning but did go out to the store last night to pick up some fluids for her.
So this morning I wake up to some seriously rumbling tummy sounds and yours truely has the beginnings of this nasty virus. Yay.....I'm trying to down some airbourne now and have lots od pedialyte (tastes better than airbourne!) so I'm hoping it doesn't knocki me out onto the couch for the afternoon. Especially because Hannah is beginning to feel better and is playing more.
Happy New Year everyone!