Notes on Baby: An April Update.

She is absolutely the most amazing person! We get to enjoy this every single day...I'll blame the lack of writing on all of the fun I am having with Whitney Paige.

This video was shot in Chicago. I had a work conference a couple weeks ago, so Clark took a couple days off and brought Whitney Paige. It was nice to see them at lunch and have dinner with them each night! Certainly made the time go by faster. WP was a very good girl, except for the sleep routine in the hotel. We found a couple tricks--sleeping in her car seat, and one night sleeping with us (typically a no-no in my book, but getting kicked out of a hotel at 11:00 pm didn't sound fun either!)

April has been a very busy month for Whitney Paige Connley. She has learned to crawl and pull herself to stand. She has also found a way to self-soothe, so we no longer rock her to a full sleep every night. This alone has been the best accomplishment we could have had. So I will start with that.

We had been experiencing several weeks of midnight wakings. She wasn't hungry, and wasn't overly fussy, she just woke up. She would fall asleep pretty quickly as we rocked her to sleep, but, the minute we put her down, she was WIDE awake. Erg! Clark and I were both getting pretty frustrated, since we knew she was capable of more hours of sleep.

We had a doctor's appointment and I told him the news and he suggested a couple things, one of which--no more rocking to sleep. She needed to learn to self soothe. The first night I tried this, she cried a long time, which was terrible! However, she eventually went to sleep while I rubbed her back. The next night she was fine. I did rock her for a few minutes but not to sleep. I also gave her a burp cloth to chew on-which helps her sore gums. The funny thing is, that is now her self-soother. She now chews on them to fall asleep. I have walked in to get her in the morning, and she has the cloth in her hands-even after rolling around in her crib. I am a little nervous about creating a habit with these things, but, her being able to self-soothe is important. At least it's not her thumb! I can always take away a blanket (or burp cloth!).

Crawling...The other big milestone this month! She had been on all fours for most of the month of March. And honestly, she was quite mobile through an army-man crawl of sorts. There is no possible way to describe her movement: she would sort of move both hands and one leg, then sit up and do it again. Inch by inch, she got where she wanted.

However, a couple weeks ago, Aunt Ashley, Karleigh and Kaleb were visiting. They spent a day with her and by the end of it, she was a crawler! Within a week, she is all over the place, and even pulling herself to stand. Here they are! Not crawling, but, still a wonderful picture of her and her new friends.