Pictures finally!

No, my computer isn't fixed but Brice took the camera to school and made a disk for me so now I can share all our news properly. Yay! Now where to start... I think I'll just get some pictures up and write what goes along with them.

I mentioned earlier that Alaina is crawling...

...and getting stuck..

...and sitting...

...and has a tooth (you might have to click on the picture to make it big enough to see the tooth--spit is shiny in pictures! Her second one is just breaking through the gums but I don't have a picture of that yet)...

...and eating solids...Alaina likes baby cereal but she's not so sure about fruits and veggies!

My Grammy Quinn sent me this cool puree thingy that I LOVE! I made a bunch of baby food with it: apple, pear, apple and pear mixed, and butternut squash. I was going to make yams too, but I forgot the thing was in the oven after I pulled out the squash and turned the oven off. I didn't realize the sweet potato was still in there until the next day!

Alaina's tongue is extraordinarily long. At least she got something from me!

Her brother sure loves her and Raelin can make her laugh like no one else can. Alaina thinks Raelin is hilarious!

Alaina is always full of smiles. Even when she's tired and grumpy she smiles.

Look at her go! I'm not sure what happened to the picture quality of this one, but this is one muscly girl! She's about 5 months and one week here. Maybe 5 months and two weeks. I'll have to check.

Ryker's birthday was on July 7th; he wanted a helicopter birthday. Here's his cake:

He got lots of nice things for his birthday and we had lots of family around: Mimi and Papa were in town and so were William and Angel and Liam. Uncle Jesse came back from Canada just in time, too. And Grammy and Granddad came, of course. So we had a fun get together with dinner and yummy cake (I thought the cake was a bit disproportionate and goofy-looking, but it had lots of pudding in it and it was tasty!) and presents and helicopter toys.

This is the gift Brice and I put together for him--his own work bench, complete with real tools and everything. The tools capable of doing the most damage are chained to the bench so he can't destroy the house. He's really enjoyed it and spent a lot of time out there hammering away. We thought an outlet might help him learn to control himself (thanks, Grandma, for the idea).

Birthday kisses

Granddad trimmed this tree just for Raelin. She loves to climb trees so Granddad cut the limbs leaving 8 inches or so for Raelin to climb to the top with. She got scared/stuck and Brice had to go up and coach her down. She fell out of a tree yesterday (don't worry, she's fine. Just a couple scrapes). That's the first time that's happened but probably not the last.

Uncle Jesse was only in town for a few days before he was off to Alaska for his next great adventure. We're taking care of his dog while he's gone. Lady and Cooper are having a blast together!

So, we had a (fortunately) short-lived problem with Ryker peeing in inappropriate places like his room and his sister's back. So after the third time it happened, Brice and I were trying to figure out what to do. In a fit of frustration I said, "If we can't trust him not to pee in his room, maybe he should just sleep in the bathroom!" So here he is asleep in the bathtub.

We went to Scofield the other day to collect some things and my dad and I were sitting in the yard making dinner and watching the kids when Brice came walking out with this:

My dad said, "Whoa, no way! Now that's impressive!" For any of you who don't know my dad, that's a big reaction! But apparently they usually move these things with a crane...

Pretty Raelin

Ryker has come down with a case of geeby smiles for pictures to match Raelin's.

And last but not least! I got a puppy! I wanted one for my graduation present/birthday present (back in April), but never got one. Until now. Brice's mom got her for me (I helped a little with graduation money I'd been given. Thanks Jack and Sue and Grammy Quinn!) when she was out for the Fourth and Ryker's birthday. The puppy was 8 weeks old when I got her and she's 10 weeks old now. She's a strange mix: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mixed with Rat Terrier. Kind of an odd combination, but she's been great. She's got the short hair and the spunk of the rat terrier, and the features and cuddliness of the spaniel. Her name is Zuma and we love her! I never thought I'd be one to like a little dog, but I'm really enjoying it! Easier to train, take places, control, catch, and clean up after, and lots cheaper to feed. And she doesn't take up the whole bed. But she's got some sharp little teeth!

I didn't catch any pictures of this, but when we were in Scofield, she went with the kids and my mom to walk around a little and she found a patch of cactus! My mom (who's allergic to dogs) carried her back to us with big chunks of cactus stuck to her whole belly from chest to tail. She was so good about it (and my mom was a trooper for carrying her despite her allergies). She held as still as she could as we plucked out all the spines. She didn't like it when we had to get the ones out of her armpit and she yelped and squirmed. But then she slept for the rest of the day and now she's as good as new.

Raelin loves her to death and I often have to fight her to hold my own puppy!

The first time Alaina saw Zuma she laughed and laughed!

I don't know if I can move this video to the crawling part of this post without losing it, so I'll just leave it here. Alaina's got her own way of crawling, but it's effective! She's just started to alternate hands in the past two days instead of doing the fish flop.

Boring!

Another post without pictures. I know, boring. Sorry. One day we'll get our computer fixed. Until then, HELP! Alaina is having the hardest time sleeping! Or rather, I'm having the hardest time getting her to sleep. I don't want to use the cry it out method. I did it with the other two and there has got to be a better way. Plus, Alaina won't cry it out ever. She's too mobile (She sits, she crawls, she has one tooth and is cutting a second one, and she's on a potty strike--see other blog for more on the potty strike). I can't tell you how many times I've come in to find her on her hands and knees keeping herself awake but with her tired little head drooping. Or stuck with her legs between the crib bars. It's pitiful. I usually rock her to sleep or something, but there are days where trying to soothe her to sleep three times a day is just asking too much. That's how I know what the cry it out method would yield. She is so resistant to having help falling asleep (she arches, screams, flails, then calms just long enough to get almost asleep then we do it all again). For some reason, blowing on her face helps sometimes. I think it makes her close her eyes, and if her eyes are closed, she's more likely to sleep (duh).

So how do you do it? How do you get a 6 month old to learn to just GO TO SLEEP!? Why does it have to be a battle? Why does she fight it? You'd think I would have learned this with my human development major, but my infant development class was a joke. Plus, I've read 100 books on parenting anyway and I want something different. Alaina's such a happy baby, full of smiles and giggles, but when it comes to sleeping she's a totally different baby. I just want her to learn to fall asleep peacefully, but I don't know how to do that. No matter what I try, she never falls asleep peacefully. If she's overtired she will, but if she's overtired then she's been grumpy and fussy for a while already so that doesn't count as peaceful. We generally have a nursing, swaddling (but it's getting too hot for that and she's too wiggly), rocking, singing, white noise routine, but it's not helping. I want a simple, 3-4 step plan that works without making her cry and takes less that 15 minutes. Maybe I'm picky, but I'm just not into taking her for a walk every night and every naptime or going for a drive three times a day to get her to sleep. I don't want her to run the household due to her picky sleeping issues. I don't mind holding her or cuddling her, but I don't have an extra half hour to invest in getting her to sleep every time she needs a nap and I don't like fighting her to get her soothed. I need her to just calm down and fall asleep when she's tired. How does one go about teaching this? I guess, in the end if all the things I try don't work and she's going to cry anyway I might just have to resort to the cry it out thing. Oh, bother.