It's a Christmas (in August) miracle!! KH has started sleeping longer stretches through the night and has (gasp) moved to her crib!!! The first night she slept next to me in bed for 7 hours straight, she woke me up numerous times kicking.  I didn't think that was all too fair, so I figured I'd try out the next night in her crib.  She either would sleep, or she wouldn't.  2 options.  Either of which, I was properly prepared for.  For 7.5 months she slept with me, waking up anywhere from ever 45 minutes to every 3 hours.  What's one night of a trial run?  She slept.... 8 hours in her first stretch in her crib!!! I was ecstatic.  Of course, you know, I woke up every 2-3 hours as my body has been trained.  I'd wake up, freak out, check the monitor to make sure it still worked, turn the volume up extra high to get the feedback to make sure it really was working, then try to get back to sleep after my minor moment of insanity.  Okay, okay, it was more a major moment of insanity.  What do you expect?  I was sleeping without her in my bed for the first time in 7 months and the first time not in my room ever!  Since then, it's been a back and forth limbo.  1 night she woke up every 3 hours like clock work.  I thought I was going to die.  It's amazing how you can follow a routine for 7 months, then after a few days of change, you have no idea what was involved in that initial routine.  We'll call that "parenting."

Anyway.  She's not sleeping all the way through the night.  She's usually up, at minimum, by 5 am to eat.  She then goes back to sleep until around 8ish.  I went from sleeping...  I just sat at the computer watching my cursor because I couldn't quantify it.  I didn't really sleep.  I was tired.  I slept walked through days.  Now, I feel like a new woman!!!

On a less exciting note, my milk stash is going away.  Sad day, sad day.  My pumping sessions have gone from 4-5 ounces per pump, to 3ish or so ounces per pump.  It's disheartening.  I still have a supply in the freezer.  I haven't counted in a while so I can't say for sure exactly how much.  I am definitely not going to have a starving child in the next day or 2.  Speaking of my kid eating, we've now tried sweet potatoes, avocado, peaches, carrots, pears, lemons, and limes. She loves to eat!  Don't get me wrong, she still loves the boob.  Nothing is going to change that right now.  However, she's an explorer.  She's gone from scooting around to crawling from one end of the room to the next in a matter of a few minutes.  My baby girl is growing up so fast!!! Slow down time!!!  I guess that's what's supposed to happen.  Babies grow, mom's get sleep, blogs get written... Well, maybe that last part is unique in and of itself.

Texas heat has caused a bad reaction on me.  I'm exhausted.  I'm going to have to end on that note and head to the sack.  G'night all.  Until next time!

How did no one warn me about fingernails?  Holy cow those things hurt! Everything's all good and well in feeding land until she starts squeezing.  Then, as I sit there cringing, I wonder how quickly I can get to the clippers.  On the other side of the room.  On the dresser.  Do you know how long that takes?  Then, you grab the clippers and have to keep the 7 month old distracted long enough to clip 1 nail.  10 is out of the question in one sitting.  1 nail at a time over a 48 hour time frame to keep them from causing extreme agony over and over again. Who would've thought something so minute would cause so much difficulty?

Also, I'm getting kicked in the face, jaw, neck, forearm, hand, etc. while breastfeeding. It's becoming an every time occurrence. KH is a mover and a shaker.  When I look at the growth expectancies and where they should be developmentally, she's always one step ahead.  I blame that giganto head of hers that's so full of brains.  Anyway, breastfeeding is becoming a fun act.

Tonight, while doing the night feed, she decided she would start niplashing all over again.  I'm pretty sure I've talked about niplash in a prior blog.  It happens when she's feeding as normal, then all of a sudden turns her head, taking my nipple with her and breaking the latch in a loud smack.  Doah!.  Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how to combat this particular instance.  During this feed, she would be eating fine.  Eyes closing, hands open in normal position, awesome latch.  Then all of a sudden, boom!  She jerks her head, niplashing.  The first time I thought she saw/heard something out of the ordinary.  However, she latched right back on.  Less than 2 seconds elapsed.  All was going well and after about 2 minutes, BAM! Niplash again!  Same scenario, less than 2 seconds and she was back on.  For anyone reading this who has never experienced niplash, it's not pleasant.  Painful is a decent explanation, but not quite the perfect one.  I decided to take it away from her.  I said, "Ow," as I usually do when she does something while eating that causes me pain.  No effect.  After a few more minutes, she did it again.  I tried taking it away.  I said, "Ow," picked her up, and put her on my shoulder.  She cried and cried and cried.  After about a minute (seemed like 5), I let her back on.  Within a minute, same thing.  Son of a &^^%&*($!!!  So, I switched boobs, thinking that may help.  Nope.  Not. One. Bit.  She kept doing it over and over again, no matter how many times I took it away.  This all occurs on the Boppy pillow. I took her to her normal co-sleeping place and she had no problems.  In less than 10 minutes, she was asleep.

Whoever said breastfeeding is easy was, in my opinion, a joke.  No part of this has been easy.  It's been awesome, don't get me wrong, but very difficult.  I know we'll overcome this hurdle.  I just have to figure out how.  I'll let ya know when I get there.

Completely unrelated, I went to the Great Texas Balloon Race this past weekend.  Completely awesome!!!  Here's a bit of what I saw.  Hope you enjoy this completely unrelated photo op.  Until next time!