Sleeping in the Crib, Teething, 3rd Doctor's Appointment

So the last time I blogged I was putting Samantha in her crib for the first night.  Well, it went fantastically.... BAD.  She slept in 2 to 2 1/2 hour increments.  At the 2 or 4 o'clock wake up I brought her back to her bed in our room and then at the 4 or 6 o'clock wake up she was back in bed with us.  And you know what, I didn't feel guilty... at all. =) 
Wednesday was another crabby day.  I was at that point in denial about her teething.  I was thinking it was another little growth spurt or the fact that she wasn't sleeping much at all lately during the day.  She started off in her bed again that night.  When we first went to bed the monitor would pick up the "air" in the room and then be silent.  I flipped out a little and panicked that it wasn't working.  So I left JM in our room and snuck into Samantha's and rubbed on the monitor in her crib. JM assured me that he heard me and that the monitor was blocking out the white noise from the room.  Samantha didn't do too bad.  She woke up a little more than normal but better than every 2 1/2 hours!  However at 4 o'clock had a bright-eyed and super smiley little girl.  *sigh*  I stayed up late that night watching Man vs Food.  In hindsight, it wasn't worth it.   So I came out to the couch and put her in her Little Lamb seat.  She chilled out, watched t.v. while I dozed.  At some point she fell back asleep and so then I went to sleep too.  We woke up at 7 o'clock to the alarm. 
Our Doctor's appointment was at 9 a.m. which is nice because Samantha is a much happier in the morning.  My favorite nurse Nae (short for Renae) brought us back and weighed Sam.  She's an older black woman that LOVES little kids.  She kissed on Sam and just loved on her.  She had placed Samantha on the table and Sam was grinning at her and then all of a sudden stopped.  Nae goes "You kids all just don't like my wig. Well, honey it ain't my hair.  *she then laughed* I don't have cute hair like you do.  All you youngin's just don't like my wigs".  Just the way she was talking to Samantha was funny but that comment made me chuckle too!  Sam loves her!   Samantha weighed in at 11 lbs and 13 oz and was 23.5 inches.  Dr. Ioffe came in and looked her over.  She rolled Samantha over on her belly to check her arm development.  Sam did everything good but then Dr. Ioffe looked at the back of her head and said "this one's head is pretty flat.  Belly time is good time."  I don't think Samantha really believes that second sentence and to prove it she started to scream.  And I mean scream.  I picked her up and caught Dr. Ioffe rolling her eyes. =) Yea..so Samantha's a little bit of a princess.. who cares? At least Samantha's mouth was wide open for the doctor to look down her throat.  Then Dr. Ioffe confirmed what I had been in denial about all week.  Her gums are pretty swollen so it's official ~ We're TEETHING.  Considering she can't keep her hands out of her mouth and her crankiness, I don't know how I was in denial for so long.

We got home today and my Mom and sister came up for the afternoon.  I had some work to do to our skylights on the roof and the yard needed to be mowed after all that rain over the last week.  Marisa was a good babysitter and put up with Samantha's crankiness.  Mom and I were in the house at one point and Mom had went to change Samantha.  Samantha was crying really loud and Mom started singing to her and guess what?  Sam quit screaming.  Huh, why didn't I think of that?  There is also something about her changing table that Samantha just can't resist.  Usually if she's cranky and you place her on the changing table it flips her mood around.  She also is in love with being outside.  Unfortunately my great helpers had to go home. 

I finally got Samantha to take a nap and she slept for about and hour and half which is a miracle compared to the past week.  She woke up mad but when I started singing to her when I was changing her diaper, she became my happy baby again.  I brought her out to the living room and nursed her and she ate with her normal appetite, which hasn't been normal for awhile.  Then it was like a fog had lifted and Samantha was her normal self again.  Wow, I didn't realize just how cranky she had been.  So around 8 I started our night time ritual.  I changed her diaper and put on her pajama's and then we sat down to rock and read a book.  Except she was so peaceful we didn't read a book we just rocked in silence.  She didn't fall asleep and looked pretty awake so I put her in her swing and gave her some pain reliever to help her sleep.  Then she actually started to suck on her pacifier! Holy Moly!  The pacifier has been a big no-no the past few days.  She soon put herself to sleep in the swing, this hasn't happened in awhile either.  Now I realize it isn't the same as putting her in her bed "drowsy" and having her put herself to sleep but it's a big step from me nursing and rocking her to sleep.  I'll put this in the victory column... now let's just see if I can get her in her crib without waking her up. 

Randomness:

I apologize for my atrocious spelling in the past couple of posts.  I type pretty fast and don't think much about spelling because 1) I usually don't have much time to type and 2) I always intend on pressing the spell check button.  Obviously I haven't pressed that button recently.

I bought this toy that Velcro's onto the sides of a crib or on the car seat.  It's a frog that has cheeks that light up and plays songs as well as a little mirror that flips around and a little rattle that flips around.  She seems to really like it, batting at it and trying to touch it.  Today before we left for the doctor's office I put it on her car seat and pressed the button (the eyes) that start the music.  A few minutes into the song Samantha started smiling at the toy!  and I (amazingly) got it on camera.  This is the first time that she has smiled at an object.  Before she only smiled at people.  A cute little milestone.

Next week JM has to go to this chemical training in Tennessee.  Yuck.  That means no Daddy for a full 5 days.  JM coming home in the evenings provides a transition to my day so without him coming home the day is going to last FOREVER.  *sigh*  We're going to miss him!