12 weeks.

try·ing
-verb
to attempt to do or accomplish: Try it before you say it's simple.

try·ing
   /ˈtraɪɪŋ/ Show Spelled[trahy-ing]
–adjective
extremely annoying, difficult, or the like; straining one's patience and goodwill to the limit: a trying day; a trying experience.

I can see why people say that English is the hardest language to learn. You have one word that means two completely different thing. Both definitions are totally applicable in our circumstance. The first...trying to get through everything. I put Avery on a routine and she's been doing well with that. We transitioned her to her crib and she did well for about two days. Then the spurt started. She used to just get up at 2 and then sleep until 6. For some reason she woke up around midnight and didn't go back to bed until 4am. Then woke up again at 5 and 6. This threw us for a loop because she had been getting up just once a night since she was 2 weeks old! It's been about a week since this started. She's still getting up twice a night but it's for shorter periods of time. We've been told it's her 3 month growth spurt probably coupled with the crib transition. Now that things are getting better in the sleep department, we're going to throw it for another loop by going to Oregon for the weekend! Hope she does better with the travels than she did with Oakhurst.

Things coming up:
- Weekend in Oregon, meeting Jason's family.
- Day at the races.
- Going back to work :(, Avery is going to daycare.

Roadtrip

Over the weekend we venture to Oakhurst for my stepsister Christina's wedding. We were nervous at first about traveling with Avery and weren't sure how to go about it. She does well in the car, but during the day she sleeps in it or she'll get cranky because she's so hot in her carseat. It wasn't until a coworker of Jasons suggested going at night that we had even thought about it. We figured it'd be the best option. We could feed her, start on our merry way and by the time we got up there it would be time for her to get up and take a bottle anyway.
So Thursday night we left. I managed to drive straight pretty much to Fresno before Jason took over. We arrived around 1am and unpacked all of our crap. So much crap traveling with a baby!! I quickly changed into my jammies, fed her and laid her in a borrowed cosleeper on the floor. She was out so quickly and slept till 6:30!! I let Jason sleep until 9, then we were off getting ready and went to visit my dad at his property. It was nice staying there, relaxing, having Avery spend time in the outdoors and nap some more. She was pretty mellow with all the family and friends, being passed around and oo'd over. Then Friday night hit.
I was able to get her down pretty easily once we got back to the house. I wasn't able to do my routine of giving her a bath before bed, but she still went down fine. We stayed up helping out with last minute wedding stuff, chatting and reminiscing until about 10:30 and decided to go to bed. Then she wakes up at 11:30. It took me about 5 minutes to get her to go back to sleep, not too bad. But if you know me, you know that once I wake up I have a hard time falling back asleep. I finally do, then she wakes up at 12:20. What the heck?? Again, this time it takes me about 10-15 minutes for her to fall back asleep. I don't feed her b/c I know she's not hungry when she'll usually last until 2 before a feeding. This time I can't get back to sleep. Then she wakes up at 2 like clockwork. I ask Jason to do the feeding since I really hadn't slept at all at this point. He does but unfortunately it's so dark in the room that he had to turn the light on that was right next to me. It was kind of counterproductive. For some reason she would NOT stay asleep!! So from 2-4:30 we proceeded to take turns trying to calm her down and get her back to sleep. It was not fun. I was so incredibly tired that I was laying on the floor, shhing her to sleep while also crying because I was so utterly tired and frustrated. We finally got her to sleep and then she woke up again at 5:30 which is fairly typical. I didn't even try and get her to go back to sleep. I just put her in bed with me. She fell back asleep and I kinda drifted, barely, until it was 6:30 and I had to get up to get ready for the wedding. I was so incredibly frustrated.
The wedding went great. Once I was up and doing things I forgot about how tired I really was. I got a lot of compliments on my makeup, which was great because 1) I did it myself and 2) it covered up the dark circles :). I'll try and post pictures but blogspot hasn't been letting me post images. Not sure why.
All in all it was a great trip. The way back was very trying as both Jason and I had limited sleep. I was only able to drive for about an hour. I was nodding off so didn't find it too safe to drive my family home.
Ok, let me try pictures..

Naptime and Stats

The beginning of last week I started "Operation Naptime" because we have been having problems with solid naps since Day 1. I'd get her to take a 2 hr nap here and there, but that would be like once every week and a half. Other than that, I'd get these 30 minute cat naps here and there. I realized that most of it might have been due to being busy and out and about...which I know is my fault. Also it was due to me not recognizing her cues. So my neighbor let me borrow "The Baby Whisperer" book and I have been trying to employ most of the methods the past two weeks. Initially it was hard because I'd get her to nap almost an hour, but then she wouldn't go back down. Nighttime made me nervous at first because we used to feed her and put her straight to bed. The book suggests feeding her, then doing some type of activity, like a bath, and then putting to bed. Since we have been doing this we have had NO problems putting her to bed. Whoo hoo! Small victory!! Also since using the techniques we've been able to get on some sort of nap routine (not schedule, routine). Mama has also been doing a better job at recognizing when she is tired and putting her down. Go me! All in all, with doing this, she has been so a pleasant baby! Her witching hour has seemed to decrease and all is happy in the land :).

Avery had her two month appointment today. I have to say I was a bit nervous for her because I knew she'd be getting shots. It was so hard spending time with her in the office w/ her all cute in her diaper, smiling at me, knowing that she was about to get poked by some ginormous needles....and I'm not kidding, these needles were huge!! I was amazed at how great she did. She had 3 pokes and cried for about 2 minutes. She let me dress her, put her pacifier in, and within 5 minutes she was asleep. We're trying the first nap now so hopefully she gets the rest she needs. As far as stats here goes:
Weight- 11lbs 10oz
Height- 22.75 inches
Head- 40.5

Doctor said she looks great and she has no reasons to be concerned. There's a little greyish blue spot on her elbow that she's had since birth that she might like me to get checked out after the next appointment if there's any change.

2 months!

Man time is flying! Seems like just yesterday we brought little Avery home. Now it feels like she's a tank! How can such a little thing grow up so quickly? As far as stats, I won't have those until next week at her 2 month appointment, but the scale at home says she's almost 12 lbs! Crazy to think she's packed on 5lbs in 2 months!
So yes, she's a good eater. No worries there. For all accounts she's a good sleeper too. We had a few days of a sleep schedule of 9-4:30 and then going down after, not waking up until 7 or 8. We thought we were in heaven! Of course, it didn't last long.
My main mission for this week is to establish some hearty napping. I tend to be a go-go person. I like to do errands, I like to be out and busy. Being housebound is not my forte. However, for the sake of my child and her need for sleep, I have to sacrifice some things. I'm trying to be housebound for most of this week in order to institute some healthy sleep patterns. Thanks to my neighbor Shera, she let me borrow "The Baby Whisperer", which yesterday I quickly leafed through the main points in order to start full fledged this morning.
Having been up since 3:30, I was looking forward to Avery sleeping in bed with me until 10, but I knew I'd regret it later. I got her up at 7 and have been going diligently with a schedule. So far so good. We'll see how she does through the night too.
Some other accomplishments she has done: smiling and cooing. It makes the screaming fits and 2am diaper changes worth while. She's got the cutest smile and saying her "oooo's", and it often shows when you're most frustrated. The other night I was desperate to get her down for bedtime. Usually in our desperation, we just put her bouncer in her pack n play and shake the heck out of it. She's weird, she loves to have her head bobbing in her bouncer...she falls asleep so quickly! So...there I am, an hour and a half into her bedtime routine, hovering over her, shaking the heck out of her bouncer, and she's just sitting there smiling at me. She's too cute to be mad at. I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling back because I didn't want to stimulate her to stay awake.

Family-hood is great. It's fun going out with her and getting smiles from people about "oohh, how cute the baby is", etc. I am now starting the 3rd of my 4 months of maternity leave. I was granted an earlier schedule of 7-3:30 at work, which should help a ton w/ commute and overall happiness at work, but at the same time I'm not looking forward to going back. I will miss seeing her smiling face all day, getting the hugs and coo's from her. There is a small part of me that looks forward to adult interaction :). I'm not counting down the days though.

Things we're looking forward to this month:
- Traveling to Oakhurst for Christina's wedding.
- Her 2 month appointment.
- Day at the Del Mar races.
- Doing a supervisor training in Riverside.
- Flying to Oregon to meet Jason's family.