She Laughs!

This has just been an amazing week, albeit tiring too. She is rolling onto her stomach, still working on getting back to her back which means lots of crying/whining coming from her bedroom at night and during naps, but it's an exciting milestone for her! Then she started actually eating and swallowing food when we feed her with a spoon. She loves bananas and she liked squash too. Lastly yesterday I was just laying wither her on the bed and she started to laugh, at first I didn't think anything of it then it hit me! OMG she is laughing like really laughing! So I took a video, it's just too cute. You can't help but smile and laugh when  you watch this it's contagious!

The Way It's Going

Note it is 6am, I have been awake since 4:30, laying in bed and I finally decided to just get up and have a few minutes to myself before the little lady gets up for the day.

So I'm just going to say it, I am really proud of myself! I am a genius, I am tooting my own horn here, because the sleep training is working. We started the night routine, bath bottle bed, at 10 weeks old, yes 10 weeks, just shy of 3  months old. Step one, get her to understand it's time for bed. Step 2, get her out of the co sleeping habit. This was a little harder, we had to do a few things to trick her into thinking she was in bed but she was in the crib, and for a few weeks I still slept in her room with her. She was in her crib me in the bed. The next thing, getting her out of the habit of falling asleep with the bottle in her mouth and wanting that sucking association to be able to fall asleep on her own. Everything I have done is for her to slowly be able to fall asleep on her own, **SO when she wakes in the middle of the night she can put herself back to sleep** this is the key! But it is hard, still during naps she wakes up crying and I admit I still give in and giver her a little bottle but then she keeps on napping. At night though I do not do this. We put her down by 7pm and when she is put to bed that's it, no running in at every whimper. She has been sleeping on average anywhere from 6-9 hours without waking up. Last night though she woke up at 12:45, not the usual 2am, but I fed her nonetheless, fully aware that she would wake 3 1/2 hours later out of habit not hunger (cause I gave her a big bottle at 1am). So today at 4:30am she woke up and I heard her whining a bit, and I let her whine, and she fell back to sleep and that is why she is still sleeping right now. I guess the whole thing is, like my friend just talked about on her blog, if you want to change/wean think about changing your habits not the babies. Our babies just respond to us and then their habits are based on ours. So, instead of running in every 3 hours to feed Elsa, I stopped. I had to use the 'whine it out' method but she has NEVER screamed and cried, it's more like she is voicing her opinion to us. All the small steps I started doing 8 weeks ago all came together in the last week before Jonas got home. Now I am happy to say we(Jonas and I) are sleeping in the same bed again, and getting much longer increments of sleep. Quite a change from when he left a few weeks back.

The cutest thing is now that Elsa is older I leave a soft blanket in the crib and she crabs it and rolls around with it and nuzzles into it and chews on it and I think that helps her fall back to sleep to a bit. She also chews on her hands and fingers like they are covered in sugar or something! I mean her 2 little bottom teeth are sharp and she chomps away on her hand and has little red marks. She still a little young to grab her teethers and hold them in her mouth, she doe sit once and a while but that connection and movement isn't all developed yet. Oh well it doesn't seem to bother her so I won't let it bother me.

So what else is going on....Jonas has been home for 5 days, we've barely spoken as he went right back to work and has been so jet lagged he falls asleep at 8, but last night we finally had a little time to  chat before we fell asleep at 10. This Sunday is Mother's Day in Sweden, so Jonas and I are going to celebrate together, and I have arranged for my Mom to keep Elsa for the day. Jonas and I NEED this day to reconnect. We have not had a day without baby since she was born and I feel even more disconnected since everything happened with his Dad and his Mother is his priority right now. So Sunday we are going to start at the Ritz Carlton for brunch and then head into the Santa Cruz mountains for some wine tasting and whatever else we decide to do but we cannot go bananas and buy a ton of wine!!  I want to do that at the Midsommar Picnic at Gustafson Winery  and are going to be there with our friends Amanda, Scott and Calvin. All of their wines are so good and it's such a small and quaint winery. We have already booked a hotel room in August as we are going to go back since we are wine club members, and enjoy the Vintners dinner with yummy food and wine pairing. It's a small exclusive event and the perfect way to celebrate my birthday. So needless to say I will not be getting pregnant again until after that and after our trip!

I booked our tickets for our trip this Fall to Denmark and Sweden. I am looking forward to this trip in a way, even though it isn't for the happiest of reasons. First we are going to stop in Denmark to visit my relatives. We happen to be in DK when our cousin Mie has a big birthday so there is going to be a big party at a small inn somewhere in DK for a night, that will be fun. And I can't wait to introduce little Elsa to my Aunt Rudy who turns 81 this October. She lost her only son to Cancer last fall and is still in mourning and taking many trips with her husband Bruce, to stay busy. And of course she is spoiling her granddaughter, Astrid, who just had her confirmation. I guess bringing little Elsa back to both my family who suffered the same kind of sudden loss from cancer and Jonas's family who just lost Kurt, will be a good happy time because you can't help but smile when you look at her, she is just so cute!

Speaking of cute I can hear her playing in her crib. That is how I know she is ready to get up for the day. It is 7:15am, perfect timing!

Back room pics

So this back room has always been Jonas's office/cats room and I never really attacked the design of it just let Jonas do what he wanted. I love this wall color now, coastal vista by behr. The white doors trim, shutters all really pop against it along with the silver and white frames I put up with pictures of his dad and mom, Elsa etc.. Anyhow he loves it and that's what matters!

updates

Elsa in her "spaceship" jumper toy thing from Auntie Amanda! She is getting the hang of it!

Ok so I realized I haven't done a real post in a while, funny how time kind of just flies bye these days. So Elsa is just growing mentally physically vocally! I can't even remember how she was when Jonas left 22 days ago, I'm sure when he gets home tomorrow he is going to be blown away by her! He has missed her so much, but he is also dealing with the aftermath of emotions since his Dad passed so it should be interesting, but at least he can hug and kiss his little baby girl to get a smile on his face.

So while he has been gone I have been working on the back room, our sort of office, I painted it and developed a ton of pictures and bought a mish mash of silver and white frames that really pop off the blue/gray walls, it's so much nicer than the boring color it was before and it didn't cost much to do the small things I did. I also just kind of rearranged some furniture yeah...so without giving too much away, I am looking forward to the "big reveal" for Jonas. Once he gets home I'll post some pictures.

The other thing I've been working on is Elsa and her sleep! All the small steps I've taken since she was 10 weeks old are paying off! (and the books say you can't start sleep training til 4months BULL SH*T) First it was starting a bed time routine, then it was getting her to sleep in her crib, not in bed with me or the swing. Then it was getting rid of the sucking to sleep association. That means setting her in her crib still awake without the bottle or a pacifier, although she hasn't been interested in a pacifier for some time now, thank goodness! I don't want to have to fight her to get her pacifier out of her mouth in 2 years. Also she started getting her teeth, so bottles can increase cavities in toddlers if they go right to sleep after eating. But anyhow the cry it out method/whine it out I call it because she never really cried really, was when I would set her in her crib after she finished her bottle and leave her for the night. She had to learn to fall asleep without the bottle, and I can say that I have accomplished that! Now, she goes to bed without a fuss(usually) and sleeps up to 7 hours now before waking for feeding. But then she wakes 3 hours after that which she really shouldn't so I'm going to have to break that habit and that again is just letting her lay in her crib and whine til she falls back to sleep. It takes 2-3 nights of this and she gets the idea. So I've been getting more sleep, which is good. The problem is getting this child to nap! She really fights naps at home, she'll snooze in the car or in the stroller but she really needs to get a good nap in during the day to sleep well at night. So that is the current challenge...

Ok hope everyone is well!

POLL-Who does she look like now?

 Me?
 
or Jonas?

Finally At Peace

Jonas's father finally passed today after a downhill battle with an aggressive cancer that spread through most of his organs. Jonas has been in Sweden with his Mom and Dad the last two weeks and will stay on for another 10 days. The irony is the two weeks they were supposed to come visit us, is when Jonas flew over instead and now his Dad passed today the 10th of May, when his parents were to return home. In a way Kurt returned home today anyhow, in the quiet and comfort of their home, with his closest family next to him. It is a relief all around to know that he is not suffering anymore.

It's very sad to see such a young person lose their fight to cancer, like him at 62, or like my cousin in Denmark who passed in October at 53 from brain cancer. I'm sad that Elsa didn't get to meet her Farfar, but I never met mine as he passed long before I was ever born.  Because of technology though Kurt did get to see Elsa in the flesh on Skype on Monday.

I feel far to young to be experiencing the loss of a parent yet, but it sure does make you stop and think about what is important in life. Are losing those extra 10lbs really so devistatin? Do we really need a new car, big house and lots of designer labels? Absolutely not. Life is too short! The most important thing in life is Family, the laughter and happiness it can bring.  Nobody loves you unconditionally like your parents. It's the most important and special relationship we have.

Now that I am a Mom, I think about my baby and her life all the time. I know she is going to have strife, get her heart broken, be stressed, get in trouble, sass me, fail a test, get a speeding ticket, be friends with people she shouldn't, etc...it doesn't upset me and I don't worry about it, it's part of life and growing up, we all have to learn our lessons right? I mean I continue to learn everyday!! What I do worry about is being able to financially provide her with a good education. I worry that I won't be a good enough teacher when it comes to money, how to handle it, how to make it grow, how to invest wisely. This is how successful families thrive. They teach each generation how to manage their finances and sometimes you have to make hard decisions to make sure you stay the course, so you don't have to work at 70 years old in a retail job while your arthritis pains you and you have no other means of getting by. I mean I worked with some of these women at Nordstrom, and it is SAD. I don't want to see my kids blow their inheritance because I didn't teach them the value in smart investing, saving etc..

Anyhow, I digress. Kurt Tegnerud you will always be in our thoughts. It is because of Kurt that Jonas is the amazing man he is today. It is because of Kurt that Jonas can fix everything in the house, catch a fish, ski a mountain, drive a car, build a deck, sail a boat and the list goes on and on. And the circle of life is that Jonas will teach our kids these things and so on and so forth. So go to your Angels, be with your heavenly family watch over us and you will always be in our hearts and minds. Hoorah, Hoorah, Hoorah!

Family

It's so cute watching the men in my life play with Lilla Elsa or should I say big Elsa!? She is growing like our vines!

The vine!

It's growing out of control! But at least I feel like we are gaining some privacy! 

ca-RAY-Zeee

So I've been trying to sleep train Elsa for the last week to fall asleep on her own without her bottle in her mouth, this also will help her fall back to sleep on her own in the middle of the night. I wanted to break the bottle in mouth habit before her teeth came in. She has been going down pretty easy, sleeping decently, but she's been drooling, and her fingers are always in her mouth, and last night she woke up more fussy than normal, now I know why!!!??  BOTH of her bottom incisors suddenly appeared today, I mean broke skin/gum sometime in the last 24 hours I guess. WOW, I am still in shock, I really didn't think I had to worry about teeth for another few months, since the "normal" time for 1 tooth to "cut" is 6 months, but BOTH bottom teeth at 15 weeks old?? Holy Moly...my baby is growing too fast!