6/52

" A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013. "

Chloe, my beautiful little sleeping beauty. Every time I put her down for a nap or bedtime she grabs all of her " babies " and brings them into bed with her. I remember how much I loved my stuffed animals when I was a young child, so seeing this in Chloe just completely melts my heart! There are no words to describe the feeling that comes over me when I notice little bits of myself in my daughter, it is truly humbling and never ceases to amaze me.

Linking up with Jodi for the 52 project.

She Will Move Mountains

Let her sleep

for when she wakes

she will move mountains...

I am so in love with this quote and my beautiful girl! 

The Only Way To Sleep

You do know the the only way to sleep is with your butt in the air right?!

Sleeping Beauty

Instagram Photos @ beforeverlovely

Daughters Are a Gift

A daughter is one of the most beautiful gifts

this world has to give. 

-Laurel Atherton

Our Nap Time Solution

Lately it feels like all I write about is nursing and sleeping so I apologize in advance for another one of those posts, but we have made a lot of progress in the nap time department so I'm excited to share how that's been going!

A few weeks ago I started really focusing on the difficult task of getting Chloe to sleep on her own in the bed. Chloe has always been an amazing napper but only if she is sleeping on my lap, and as much as I love holding my sleeping baby and watching her peacefully dreaming it was starting to really drain on me. I felt like I had no time at all to myself, which is something I desperately needed.

It was important to me to take this process slow with Chloe, to ease her into taking naps alone, to go about this change in a gentle manner. Letting her cry it out just wasn't something we felt comfortable doing with her and so that was never an option for us. One afternoon during Chloe's nap time I decided to bring her into the bedroom to snuggle and hopefully get her to fall asleep. I noticed she wanted to nurse so I decided to try nursing her while the both of us were laying down on our sides. I have tried side-laying nursing quite a few times in the past and could never get the hang of it so I just gave up trying to do it. For some reason though that afternoon Chloe and I finally got it and after a few minutes of nursing my sweet Chloe was fast asleep. As soon as she unlatched I quietly got up from the bed and snuck out of the bedroom. Chloe slept for a couple hours that afternoon and woke up full of smiles and snuggles for me!

Since that afternoon a few weeks ago Chloe now takes two naps everyday in the bed all by herself. As soon as I notice her getting sleepy we head to the bedroom to cuddle and nurse, and every time Chloe falls asleep without any fuss. There are no tears shed, Chloe doesn't feel scared and alone, no  feelings of guilt on my part, and both her and I are getting exactly what we need, a nap for Chloe and time alone for Mama!

This is the first big obstical we have overcome with Chloe, and to be perfectly honest I'm really proud of myself. I'm proud that I followed Chloe's cues, that I made this process as gentle as possible, and that I didn't give up even though there were more times then I can even count that I wanted to.

It's incredibly reassuring to see the reward in the end - a happy baby!

On Sleep

Right now Chloe is taking a nap in our bed all by herself, and I have to admit that its so nice to have some time alone! Don't get me wrong I love looking down at my sweet baby sleeping peacefully on my lap, seeing her in dreamland melts my heart every time, but to finally have time to myself is amazing, to get things done, to move around freely!

Getting Chloe to take a nap all by herself isn't an easy task though and so times like these don't happen very often. Last week Chloe took at least one nap by herself almost everyday and a few times Mike and I were even able to get her down for the night and spend time together just the two of us. On most nights we usually all go to bed together, before the only way to get Chloe to sleep was by nursing or rocking her, now I'm able to nurse Chloe till she's sleepy and then lay her in bed with us. We play quietly for a little while and then our sweet little baby falls soundly asleep while holding both of our hands ( Chloe loves holding our hands while she falls fast asleep which is seriously the sweetest thing ever ).

I would say the older Chloe gets the easier it is to get her to fall asleep by herself but then we have weeks like this one were it feels near impossible to put Chloe down for a nap (expect for today). I am learning to be patient though and to follow Chloe's cues. I know she feels safe and secure sleeping on my lap and so we are basically taking this process very slowly to ease her into learning to sleep alone.  Chloe is such a happy baby and I know that doing it this way is worth the sacrifice. I know once day Chloe will be a kid, she wont need me as much and so I want cherish these times right now were my baby needs so much of me.

On My Heart: Co-Sleeping

-- Read article here: Co-sleeping Ad. --

I'm sure most of you have seen this co-sleeping ad which has been all over the internet recently. Basically the ad is stating that co-sleeping or bed sharing is just as dangerous to your baby as if they were to sleep next to a knife. I feel like the people who created this ad are very misinformed on bed sharing and that when done safely can be such a wonderful thing. We share our bed with Chloe and have been doing so since she was about a month old. We as a family love it, Chloe feels safe, we feel safe having her so close to us, and I am able to attend to her needs quickly. Not everyone is going to want to bed share, and that's totally fine but if you are going to bed share it's very important to do it safely.

Here is what I see wrong with the picture above:

:: The baby in the ad above is sleeping on its side rather then its back.

:: The bed looks to be very soft and the sheets and comforter look to be very fluffy and heavy.

:: The baby's head is resting on a pillow.

Here is how we safely bed share:

:: Chloe always sleep on her back

:: Our bed is firm 

:: We use thin bed sheets that are pulled tight across the bed

:: Chloe never uses a pillow

:: We each use our own blanket

:: I never fall asleep with Chloe on me or cuddled up next to me. We each have are own space to sleep in

Bed sharing is not for everyone but if it is something that you are interested in please do your research and practice safe bed sharing. Nothing is more important then the safety and well being of your baby!

On Pumpkins, Baby Gym, Meet Up Groups, and Sleep

Fall is finally here and I am loving it! This is by far my favorite time of year (oh and also spring of course)! Mike and I are so excited to be spending Halloween with Chloe this year. We decided we're not going to dress Chloe up in costume this Halloween but we are going to take her on a little adventure in a few weeks to Bob's Corn and Pumpkin Farm to have some fun outside and to pick out three perfect pumpkins to take home and carve! I love doing stuff like this as a family and having Chloe here with us makes it that much more special!

In other news, can you believe that in just 8 days my sweet Chloe is going to be 4 months old? Time is just going way to fast these days! We decided that this would be the perfect time to enroll Chloe in her own little gym class. Last Tuesday we had our first introductory class at The Little Gym, Chloe and I had the greatest time! Chloe's class is called Bugs(how cute is that) and the age range is from 4-10 months old. Chloe is the youngest in her class but there is this adorable little boy who is just a few weeks older then Chloe, and my daughter seems to have a little crush on him, she was holding his hand and even trying to show off in front of him!!

The class is 45 minutes long and packed with so many great activities for babies and parents to do. Our teacher was so fun, encouraging, and great with all the babies. He seemed to really love his job and was very knowledgeable on child development. Overall I felt that the staff was very kind, energetic, and helpful! My favorite part of the class was when we put all the babies in the middle of this big colorful parachute and all the mommies grabbed an end of the parachute and walked slowly in a circle while singing a song, it was so adorable seeing a bunch of babies laying and sitting together in the middle of this big parachute! I think Chloe and I are going to have a lot of fun in this class, and that we're really going to learn a lot together. I also hope that my daughter and I can make some really great friendships with the other babies and mommies!

Also just recently I joined a Mommy and baby group on the website Meetup. We haven't gone to any of the groups meetups yet but we are really excited to. I'm really hoping that Chloe and I will make some great friendships. I definitely think its important to have some adult interaction from time to time otherwise I will probably go crazy just talking to a baby all day!

Oh and some other wonderful news in the Lang household is that Chloe has been sleeping great this week!! She either wakes up once around 4 in the morning to nurse and then falls back asleep till 8:30 or 9 or she will sleep through the night and wont wake up till 8:30 or 9 in the morning!

It's so wonderful to be getting some sleep again!