2011 is a big year so far!

Wow. So much has happened in the last two weeks since I haven't posted that I hardly know where to begin. Well, let's start with Emily. Emily had been getting up many many times throughout the night for several months now. It was pretty awful. Jim and I would take turns being up with her and usually the person on duty got absolutely zero sleep and was pretty frazzled the next day. So basically for months we have been walking zombies always trying to catch up on the nights we were "off duty" but sometimes feeling even worse (because after a while it's just impossible to feel anything resembling human or functioning). Now before you think we're sleep wussies here (and maybe you still will, who knows) we would put Emily to bed between 7-7:30pm and she would be up at 10pm, 11pm, 12am, 2am, 3am, 4am and then up for day at like 5am. I mean seriously. It was insanity. So it turns out we were making one humongous mistake. We would feed her. We thought she was waking up because she was hungry. We thought we needed to shove a bottle in her mouth and that she kept waking up because she needed to eat. Well, after months of this and having it get worse and not better we finally decided enough is enough. We started "sleep training" her which essentially meant that we were both resolved to not feed her and let her cry, although while trying to soothe her and comfort her and let her know we were there for her, all night long if needed. The very first night, we comforted her and she was not real happy but she slept a bit more and did not get up every single hour to eat. The second night of it she only woke up once all night long. And, since then she now only wakes up once (around 4-4:30am) to eat. Jim can get her back to sleep after that feeding but so far I can't so it still is tough to get up that early with her but man, what an incredible difference to actually get a solid stretch of sleep between 10-4am!!! It's made a ginormous difference in our world! So, yay emily and yay us!! PROGRESS!!!

Emily is also trying to master the art of standing up by herself. She will hold onto something (an ottoman, her music table, whatever) and then let go with one hand and slowly try to let go with the other. A few times she has balanced herself without leaning on anything. It's been a fascinating process to watch her go from crawling (back in November when Grammy was here) to pulling herself up, to balancing and trying to let go. I feel pretty sure this kid will be walking by 9 months if not sooner!

As for diet, Emily is eating like a champ. This morning she had cheerios, banana pieces and yogurt for breakfast! And, just within the last week we have seen her pincer grasp develop. She is also eating sweet potatoes, pears, and apples and puffs. And occasionally we have given her a roll or a mini-bagel to chew on which she seems to really love! Emily also sat in a highchair out at a restaurant last weekend and did really well with it. She has been sitting in a high chair at home for a few weeks now but that was the first she'd done it out so we are excited by the possibilities that opens up for this family that loves to go out to eat!

Now Sophie is also going through some monumental changes herself. I was going to start Sophie on Potty Boot Camp next week but of course, because she is ALWAYS one step ahead of me, Sophie asked me if she could use the potty and wear big girl panties this week. It was out of the blue and she hasn't wanted to sit on the potty in a long, long time so I had to run with it and we officially started potty training that day. She had about 5-6 outfit changes - all before even going to school that morning but all in all she did really really well. Of course, there have been accidents but there have also been many successes. She loves the thrill of triumph and of course the maniacal jumping up and down and screaming and parading and many treats that happen with each successful use of the potty. We haven't let her leave the house without a diaper on and we're not ready to do bedtime without a diaper but I'm hoping by next week we will start down that path too. The princess finally decided SHE was ready and we couldn't be happier. It's just too cute to see her little bummy in the big girl panties with no diaper bulge anymore. What a big girl!!!!

Sophie just seems to have changed so much in the last few weeks. She kind of had been going through a very emotionally turbulent time there for a few weeks. Now, I'm wondering if she was making this big developmental leap because truly she seems to have matured or something in the past few days and the fact that she wanted to start using her potty and wear big girl panties is well, HUGE, right?

So anyway, that's what's been going on here. We're sleep training and potty training and it's exciting and crazy and wonderful and exhausting all at once. Yay!!