I love getting a peek into what other people buy at the grocery store, how much they spend each month, etc.  I thought it would be fun to show a typical week of groceries in our house, especially now that Alma is definitely making her mark on the grocery bill.

I generally shop at three stores:  New Seasons, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods.  This weekeend, I wasn’t feeling well, so we just did one grocery trip that will hopefully get us through the entire week.  I almost always end up going to the grocery store 2 or 3 times a week, but I *think* we got everything we needed this time.

our grocery helper

We went to Whole Foods, since I like their produce the best, and they have a wider selection of vegan options.  Here’s what we bought and how we’re planning on using the food:

Produce:

• organic spinach – Andrew’s lunch salads & tofu breakfast scramble, green smoothies for Alma & Kim
• fair-trade bananas – green smoothies & Alma’s snacks
• organic apples – snacks
• conventional brussels sprouts – will be roasted for two dinners
• organic carrots – will be roasted for two dinners
• organic bell peppers – lunches for Kim
• organic grape tomatoes – Andrew’s lunch salads

We will also pick up some fresh produce at the farmer’s market on Wednesday – usually some leafy greens, strawberries, and whatever else looks good.  We’ll probably also need to pick up another bunch of bananas.  Since we had Alma, we have definitely been relying on frozen vegetables for the bulk of our veggie intake.  In addition to this fresh produce, Alma also gets her fruits and veggies in the form of puree pouches, which she still loves, and freeze dried produce (especially peas, corn & mango!).

Frozen:

• soy-free chickenless nuggets – dinner for one night
• organic broccoli florets (2 bags) – dinners for three nights (two recipes)
• organic mango chunks (2 bags) – green smoothies
• organic mini-waffles – Alma’s breakfasts

We just discovered these chickenless nuggets, and so far, they are my favorite brand.  Yes, they are pretty processed, but it’s fun to have once in awhile.  We always buy a lot of frozen broccoli.  It’s our go-to vegetable, and Alma (usually) gobbles it up.  We also had a lot of frozen veggies in the freezer (more broccoli, beets, butternut squash, mixed veggies, peas & corn) which we use to mix things up.

Refrigerated:

This is where a good portion of our grocery bill goes.  In this haul, we have:

• organic unsweetened vanilla almond milk (2) – breakfasts, green smoothies
• coconut yogurt (three 6 oz cups) – Alma’s breakfast
• almond milk yogurt (two 6 oz cups) – Alma’s breakfast
• soy yogurt (one plain, one vanilla) – snacks for Andrew and Kim (one tub each per week)
• organic tofu – Andrew’s breakfast
• organic tempeh – Andrew’s lunch
• field roast sausages – dinner for two nights
• roasted garlic hummus – lunches for Kim
• tofurky breakfast links (2 packages) – breakfast for Andrew and Kim
• daiya cheddar cheese slices – lunches for Alma, and sometimes Kim
• vegan cream cheese (2 tubs) – breakfast for Andrew, sometimes Alma
• tempeh bacon – breakfast for Alma
• seitan bacon – breakfast for Alma (trying this new variety to see if she likes it better, but we won’t be going through both bacons this week)

We don’t usually go through two almond milks a week, but we stocked up since Whole Foods had a good price.  I have plans to start making my own breakfast sausage and vegan cream cheese in order to cut back on some of the processed soy products (which we are phasing out).  I am getting over a bad cold though, so we stuck with the easy stuff this week.  I also usually make my own hummus or bean dip for my lunches, but again, I didn’t have the energy to make a batch this weekend.

Cereal/Bread/Snacks:

• organic O’s – Alma’s breakfast and snacks
• muesli – Andrew’s breakfasts
• dave’s killer bread cracked wheat – breakfasts & lunches for everyone (will most likely pick up another loaf towards the end of the week)
• organic fruit & veggie pouches (4) – Alma’s snacks
• peanut butter cookie larabars (3) – Alma’s lunches or snacks
• organic candy drops – for Kim (not a usual purchase, but I’ve had a dry, scratchy throat and sucking on hard candy helps, since I can’t find cough drops that don’t have menthol in them)
• dark chocolate (2 bars) – for Andrew (and I’ll probably sneak a few bites)
• granola – Kim’s snacks (to go with yogurt)
• organic animal crackers – Alma’s snacks

Shelf-Stable Goods:

• unsweetened hemp milk (2) – Alma’s milk
• organic unsweetened plain almond milk – for a dinner recipe
• organic garbanzo beans (2 boxes) – for pantry
• organic cannellini beans (2 boxes) – for next week
• cous cous (2 boxes) – dinners
• cashew butter – Alma’s smoothies
• organic peanut butter – general meals & snacks
• blackberry jam – general meals (breakfast toast & pb&j’s)
• organic maple syrup – breakfasts, baking
• annie’s salad dressing – Andrew’s lunch salads
• vegan bacon bits – Andrew’s lunch salads

Some of these items (like maple syrup, nut butters, etc.) will last us much longer than one week.  These are things we only buy once or maybe twice a month.

Beverages:

• stumptown coffee – Kim & Andrew
• sparkling soda – Andrew

I don’t drink anything other than one cup of coffee in the morning, water, and the occasional glass of almond milk.  Andrew drinks a couple sparkling sodas every day.

Non-food items:

• emergen-c – trying to fight off this cold!
• hair gel – Kim
• toothpaste (2) – one for Andrew, one for Kim (we don’t like the same toothpastes)
• sandwich bags
• prenatal vitamins – Kim (no, I’m not pregnant.  I still take these since I’m breastfeeding, but I usually buy the Trader Joe’s brand to save money)

Dinner Menu:

• Monday: chickenless nuggets, cous cous, broccoli
• Tuesday: vegan alfredo broccoli pasta bake (already had the pasta in the pantry)
• Wednesday: field roast w/ cous cous and roasted carrots & brussels sproutes
• Thursday: leftovers
• Friday: leftovers
• Saturday: eating out

(Usually, we only have one dinner that is more of a “prepared” meal, but this week we bought both the chickenless nuggets and field roast sausages.  Again, this was just easier because I didn’t have the energy to really meal plan this week.)

The total cost of these groceries was $267.  A little higher than usual.  Typically, we spend around $200 per week on groceries for the three of us.  The total excluding the non-food items was $219.36.  We budget $800 a month for groceries (which includes the non-food items), but we almost always go over!

I would say this was a fairly typical week for us.  Our grocery bill has gone up a little for a couple reasons.  One is that Andrew is trying to bulk up.  He’s been lifting weights at the gym a lot, and is trying to bump up his protein intake.  Another reason is that I started drinking coffee again, so instead of going through one bag in two weeks, we need to buy a bag every week.  Also, Alma is eating more!  Still not a lot, but much more than 6 or even 3 months ago.

It has definitely been a challenge to find more time in the kitchen to cook from scratch.  I know this would cut down on our grocery bill significantly, but I’m just not sure when I would fit in the extra kitchen time!  Alma doesn’t like me to be cooking or doing chores for more than about 20 minutes (whether Andrew is there to play with her or not), and I’m too exhausted to do any prep work after she goes to bed.  If you have any suggestions on how you save both time and money in the kitchen, I’d love to hear them!

I plan on doing another post like this after I’ve figured out some ways to cut back on our grocery bill and reduce the amount of some of the more processed foods.  I think it will be an interesting comparison!

There’s no denying it:  Alma has fully entered toddlerhood.

12, 13, even 14 months still seemed like numbers that belonged to a baby.  But 15 months?  My little girl is growing up!  I mean, just look at this photo – how did she get so big?!

Here’s what we’ve been up to this month:

Sleep:

This month, we’ve had both the worst and best sleep since we started our parenting journey.  The first half of the month was terrible – difficult to nurse to sleep, more night wakings – which were also difficult to nurse her back to sleep, and painfully early morning wake-ups.  We decided we’d had enough, and no one was getting enough sleep.  So we sleep-trained Alma, and it was the best decision!

Now, Alma sleeps through the night, with only a rare check-in from us (maybe once a week?).  Since we started sleep training a few weeks ago, I’ve only had to nurse her in the middle of the night a few times, when she really seemed to need it.  She has only gotten up before 6am a few times.  It’s usually around 6:30, which is so much better than 5:00/5:30!  She wakes up happy, smiley, & snuggling with her baby doll.

Her sleep schedule changes slightly from day to day.  Typically, it’s something like 7:30pm-6:30am, and a nap around 11:30/12 for 2-3 hours.

Eating:

I would say overall, her eating habits have slightly improved this month.  You can read this month’s Munchkin Meals link up for more details on what she’s been eating.

whole (peeled) apples are a new favorite

She has gotten really efficient with using utensils.  She can pretty much handle bowls of yogurt and applesauce (or anything with a similar consistency) on her own.  Sometimes we help hold the bowl, or scrape down the sides of the bowl to help her get the last bites.  She’s still working on her fork technique, but she can often get bites herself.  We tend to help her a lot more with the fork, but she loves using it.

Since we are pretty much night weaned, she nurses 6 times a day: first thing in the morning, mid-morning, before nap, after nap, mid-afternoon, and before bed.  A lot of these sessions, she only gets milk from one side (she’ll nurse on both, but she doesn’t sit still long enough to get a let-down from the second side).  Sometimes we’ll have an extra session if she’s feeling particularly grumpy that day (major teething going on) or has bad fall/bump.

sleepy morning nurse

I’d love to cut out the mid-morning and mid-afternoon feeds, but she always asks for them (and often even asks for more an hour or so later), so I’ll let her drop those when she no longer asks for them.  I’m not in any rush to wean, and I’m glad she’s still getting breastmilk.  I can tell my supply is gradually dropping.  It will be interesting to see how long we make it!

Development:

(I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging about Alma’s skills in these ‘development’ sections – I just want to remember these milestones!)

So many developmental leaps this month!

Her language skills are just skyrocketing.  She identifies all the major facial features (‘eye’, ‘noh’ – nose, ‘mau’ – mouth, ‘tsth’ – teeth).  She also can point to her ear, head, and hair when asked, but she has a hard time saying those words.  Other new words this month: ball (baow), bus (buh), rock (raw), flower (fwowah), ow, banana (a-na-na), ah-choo (when we sneeze), more (moa), water (wah-ru), open (oh-pu) apple (ap-uh) and snack (nnah).

She can say her name (Ah-ma), but I can’t remember if that was this month or last. She also has a few sounds that she consistently uses, but I’m not sure what they mean yet.

Of course, she will try to repeat just about anything you say to her, but those are the words that she clearly has associated with an object or activity.

She is a great climber, and just recently figured out how to scale the couch and chair in the living room.  She climbs the playground equipment like no big deal, but I still follow her closely, since she isn’t completely aware of sudden openings or drop-offs.  She practices jumping several times a day and can sometimes get both feet off the ground.  She learned how to kick a ball this month, as well.

oh my

And for perspective, some of the challenges we’ve been having:

We are seeing a little bit of toddler-trantrums developing.  If she doesn’t get something she wants, she often drops to the floor, crying and rolling around.  Very dramatic.  Right now, they are relatively short-lived, thankfully.

She also has some undesirable behaviors when playing with other children.  When toy-sharing goes wrong, as it often does amongst babies and toddlers, she tends to lash out by pulling hair, grabbing clothes, or pinching.  Obviously, this makes me feel like a terrible parent when it happens in public, but it’s just the stage we’re in and most parents are understanding.  I stay close to Alma when we’re hanging out with other little ones so I can intercept when needed.

On the other hand, Alma gives hugs and kisses freely and loves to gently pat babies on the head (and of course, identify their facial features!).  It just doesn’t take much for a gentle head pat to turn into a curious (or mischievous) hair-tug!

alma has lots of hugs & kisses for us, too!

Alma received this hand-me-down kitchen set from a family I nannied for, and she loves it!  She isn’t yet into the ‘pretend play’ stage, but she loves to open the doors, take the racks out, put things in and take them back out again, and carry all the pots, dishes, and play food around the house.  She does pretend to drink out of the cups, but I’m actually not sure if she’s pretending, or just hoping maybe something will be in there

The kitchen is still in great condition despite being over 6 years old, and we were very thankful for the generous gift!

Alma got two more teeth in this month – her 8th front tooth, and her first molar!  (As of today, one day after turning 15 months, she has a 10th tooth – another molar!).  I can feel two more molars, and two canines that are so close to the surface.  I would be surprised if they didn’t break through this month.  At the time I wrote her last months update, she had 7 teeth.  It’s crazy to think that she could have double the amount in just two month’s time!

(Edited to add:  Alma had her 15 month check-up 1.5 weeks after she turned 15 months.  She weighed 21 lbs 10 oz (55%) and was 32.75″ tall (97%).  Still our long and lean, healthy little girl!)

Schedule:

A typical day at 15 months looks like this:

• 6:30am – wake-up, nurse
• 7:30am – breakfast, then play
• 9:00am – nurse, then head out to indoor play park/library/play date/take a neighborhood walk
• 11:00am – lunch, then nap routine (brush teeth/diaper & sleep sack/nurse/read book-optional, depends on how sleepy she is/snuggles)
• 12:00-2:30pm – nap
• 2:30pm – nurse, then play & afternoon snack
• 3:30/4pm – walk to park
• 5:00-6:00pm – nurse, then play with dad
• 6:00pm/ish – dinner, then bath every other night
• 7:00pm – bedtime routine (diaper/pjs/nurse/brush teeth/get in sleep sack/read 2 books/good-night song & snuggles)
• 7:30pm – asleep or falling asleep

Posts:

• moving update
• day in the life: 14 months
• sleep training: ferber method
• april review; may goals
• munchkin meals: 15 months

I’m looking forward to all of the new things Alma will learn this month.  We have so many things planned for the summer: music classes, swimming, play groups, (potty training?), and as much outdoor play as we can fit in.  I’m so happy the weather has warmed up – Alma could spend all day outside!

Alma will turn 15 months old on Saturday, so I’m rounding up

This month has been more of the same.  A few bites here, a few bites there.  Some days she chugs 8-10 ounces of coconut/hemp milk, other days she barely drinks 3 oz.  Still nursing, too.

cheese!

Recently, we decided that we were going to change things up a bit with how we offer food to Alma.  Up until now, we have offered her balanced meals, composed of three or four foods. If she refuses more than one of the items we offered, or only nibbles, we will keep offering her (healthy) foods until she either eats more, or it’s very clear that she is just not interested in eating.

Now, I’m well aware that this a recipe for creating a picky eater, and that we are ‘training’ Alma to expect to be offered such an unnecessarily wide array of foods at every meal.  But I have been so worried that either her weight gain would drop if we didn’t diligently try to offer her food until she ate, or that she would start waking up at night even more.

I’m not sure exactly what has changed for me.  Maybe because she is sleeping through the night more often than not, I feel like her food intake wasn’t as big of a factor in that as I thought.  Or maybe I’m just tired of making her so many different foods at each meal, with so much going to waste.

In any case, we’ve decided that we will offer her one meal at each sitting, still containing three or four foods, and she eats what she eats.  She can have as much as she wants of any items offered, but we won’t give her something else if she doesn’t eat one, or more, of the foods we offer (even if it’s the “main” part of the meal).

We will continue to offer her meals and snacks on the same schedule as we do now, but we will control snack portions, so she is not spoiling her meals.  Right now she eats breakfast, a morning snack (usually on the go), lunch after nap, an afternoon snack, and dinner.  (I’m considering trying lunch before nap, and just having an afternoon snack after nap, but that’s another issue.)

So, here’s a look at what Alma ate today – the first day of our new routine!

Breakfast:

• almost whole container (6oz) blueberry coconut milk yogurt
• 2 slices tempeh bacon (cooked in a generous amount of olive oil)
• a few slivers of a ½ slice toast with vegan butter
• ¼ cup freeze-dried banana

Morning Snack:

• Fruit/veggie pouch (pea/pear, I think)
• ¼ graham cracker

Lunch:

• several bites (maybe 3 tablespoons?) quinoa mixed with canned lentil vegetable soup
• one bite daiya jack “cheese”
• 1 tablespoon freeze-dried peas & corn

Afternoon Snack:

• ½ small banana (I know, banana again.  I was trying to do some dinner prep, and it was the easiest option for me)
• a little bit (2-3 tablespoons, maybe?) of O’s cereal

Dinner:

• ¼ cup vegan mac&cheese
• about 1 broccoli floret (ate the top of one, and most of the stalk of another)
• spinach-chickpea nugget (this recipe made with vegan cheese and oil & spices instead of broth)
• a few bites of applesauce

**I will admit that I ended up letting her dip her spinach-chickpea nugget in ketchup to get her to eat it.  I’m not ashamed, it was worth it to get some more veggies in her!

She also drank about 7 oz of coconut/hemp milk, and nursed 6 times.

I’m curious what has worked for other toddler parents – are you strict about only offering what is on the menu, or do you make your child a different meal if they don’t eat the first one?  Do you allow them an unscheduled snack if they totally refuse any food at a meal, or do you make them stick it out until the next scheduled meal?

Looking forward to checking out all of the other links on Brittany’s site!

such a great helper!

It was hectic, stressful, and Alma became increasingly fussy the days leading up to the move, but we got through it!  We love our new place, and I plan to start showing some photos soon.  Probably just room by room for now, since some rooms aren’t fully put together yet.

We spent the first half of April packing and cleaning, and the second half of the month unpacking and exploring our new neighborhood.  We hosted our first overnight visitors at our new home (my dad & step mom) this month, as well.  Despite the busy-ness of moving, I was still able to connect with some other mama friends, and Alma got to have several play dates.  The weather took a significant turn for the better this month, so we have been spending a ton of time outdoors.

Oh, and the biggest thing we accomplished (other than moving), which wasn’t planned necessarily, was sleep training Alma!  More often than not, Alma is sleeping through the night, but we still have one or two nights per week where she needs us to check in on her.

Onto May goals!

1. Work through the 30-Day Shred program:  I still love working out on my elliptical, but I’m starting to feel the need for more strength training.  Just out of curiosity, I want to see what kind of physical changes I can make in a month by doing a daily 30-day Shred workout.  Now that my workout area is in the basement, and not right outside Alma’s bedroom, I have no excuses for fitting in a daily workout!

2. Plank-a-Day challenge:  I’m joining my mama friend Lindsay’s ’plank-a-day’ challenge for the month of May.  I’ve never regularly done planks, so I think it should be a fun, new activity to work into my routine.

3. Read 2 books:  In April, I started reading World War Z by Max Brooks.  I plan on finishing that, and starting/finishing another (TBD).

4. Finish setting up Alma’s room:  I purchased some wall art and a little wall mounted shelf for Alma’s room, and I really want to get those hung up to make her room a little cozier.

5. Finish setting up our bedroom:  We finally got the bed frame put together, but that’s all we’ve done in our bedroom.  There are still a few partially unpacked boxes cluttering up the floor, the curtains haven’t been hung (we have mini-blinds, so there is some privacy), and there is nothing on the walls.  I hope to get our room all put together this month.

6. Set up Alma’s area in the basement: We need to order an extra wide gate to close off the bottom of the stairway and my workout area, so Alma can play downstairs.  We also need to put together Alma’s climber, and bring down a few toys for her.

7. Buy new rug for living room:  I’ll have to see how much flexible income we have this month, but if we have a small chunk, I’d like to purchase a new area rug for the living room.

8. Get new curtains for the basement: There are two areas in the basement that need curtains (one to hide some built-in storage shelving, and one to close off my workout area.  I purchased some basic curtains from Target last week, but they look really drab, so I want to exchange them for something with a lively pattern.

9. Finish hanging up random wall art/shelves:  We have a few things to hang up in the bathroom and living room, and a few other items that we need to find a place for.

As you can see, most of the items have to do with getting the house put together.  That’s basically my goal this month!  Every time Andrew and I have moved together (this is the 6th place we’ve lived in since we started living together just over 6 years ago!), I have always been anxious to get set up and make the space our own, so I usually have everything up within a few weeks.

Now that we have Alma, we just don’t have as much spare time (or energy!), so things are going a lot slower.  Also, the weather has been gorgeous, so it’s hard to find the motivation to stay inside and do house chores!  It’s put together enough so that it does feel like our home, but all the same, my goal is to finish up all those little tasks this month.

May is one of my favorite months, and it has been fun to look back on my blog and see what we were up to at this time last year.

Last May:

• Alma was 3 months old.
• We finally got to ditch the formula supplements!
• I started thinking about what Alma’s vegan diet would look like
• I started my post-partum fitness plans (and while I didn’t stick to my original timeline for weight loss, I am down about 20 pounds from last May)
• We transitioned Alma from sleeping in her cradle by our bed to her crib in her own room, and I worked on cozy-ing up her room a bit
• We took our first family road trip, and Alma visited the Oregon coast for the very first time

then….

now

I’m looking forward to seeing what the month brings us this year!

After over a month of progressively worse night time sleep (for all three of us!), we decided try out sleep training to help Alma have a more restful night of sleep.  Of course, I was desperately needing more rest, as well!

Why Sleep Training?

Alma and I both enjoy nursing to sleep.  It’s peaceful for her, and frankly, just easy for me.  For many, many months, that has been working well for us.  She’d nurse to sleep most nights, wake once or twice a night to nurse again, and go right back to sleep.  A little tiresome for me, but something I could sustain.

Lately though, she started not falling back asleep after her night feedings, and only sleeping if we rocked her for a long time or let her sleep in bed with us.  Even then, she’d often just want to play, and since we don’t sleep very well with her in our bed, bed-sharing is not a long term option for us.  After more than a month of this, I decided it wasn’t just a phase anymore.

While it makes me a little sad to give up that sweet time of nursing Alma to sleep, it just hasn’t been working as well.  I get the feeling that she needs to know exactly how bedtime goes, every night.  Not nurse to sleep one night, then fall asleep on her own the next if she wasn’t tired enough to fall asleep nursing.  I can’t explain how I came to the conclusion that it was time for sleep training – I just knew!

back when co-sleeping was the norm. she took up a lot less space then!

The Method

I looked into a lot of different methods, and based on what we’ve already tried (a lot of ‘no cry’ methods) we decided on the progressive-waiting approach from Dr. Ferber.  I read his book, Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems and once I briefed Andrew on the method, we got started.  I won’t summarize the approach, because I think if you are really interested in using this method, you should check out the book.  It is much more comprehensive than the overviews you’ll find online.  This post is a good overview if you want more information before buying the book.

I know there is a lot of controversy about sleep training methods that allow crying, and honestly, I wasn’t sure if this method would feel right for us.  I definitely felt more comfortable trying it out now that we have a video monitor, and I can see what’s going on (did she bump her head on the crib?, is she laying down trying to sleep or standing up? etc.).

At over 14 months into parenthood, I can confidently say I know Alma’s cries, and I would never allow her to cry alone hysterically, or when she was physically hurt.  I am also not interested in letting her cry herself to sleep without ever checking on her to reassure her.

So the Ferber method, laying an awake child down to sleep and checking in on them (without picking them up) at progressively longer timed intervals until they have fallen asleep on their own, seemed like a good option for us.  Alma has fallen asleep on her own, without us in the room, several times before, so I knew she could do it.  The problem was that I was never very consistent about it.  This method provided us a detailed, but customizable, plan to carry out.

End Goals

Before we started the program, I thought about what my goals for Alma’s sleeping were.  Here’s what I came up with:

• Able to fall asleep without crying, or only mild protesting
• Attach to a lovey/doll
• Bedtime before 8pm (ideally 7pm)
• No night wakings that require a parent (with the exceptions of travel, illness, & teething)
• At least 10 hours of sleep at night (ideally 11)
• Average of 13 hours of sleep total (nap + night)
• Wake-up time after 6am

(This is just what I hope will happen on a normal, average night.  I expect many nights throughout her childhood where she will be sick, or have a rough bout of teething, and will need one of us to comfort her during the night.  Obviously, we will be there for her, and I do not expect her to have uninterrupted sleep every night for the rest of her life.  Also, this list isn’t based entirely on what I want her to do.  They are goals based on what I have observed about her sleep needs over the past year.)

So, after our first week of sleep training using the Ferber method, I made some charts to show our progress.  I divided them into three categories:  bedtime, night wakings, and nap time.

Bedtime

Here’s what bedtime looked like this week:

Definitely progress here!  The first night laying her down awake was the hardest.  Of course, there was really no way of telling her that we were switching things up.  After I nursed her before bed, though, I told her that we were all done with “nah-nah’s” and she would have some again in the morning.  Even still, the most she ever cried at bedtime was 7 minutes.

Just to be clear, she was never crying heavily or hysterically.  Most of the time, she was snuggled up on her stomach, trying to fall asleep – not standing up shouting for us.  It really seemed like she was just learning a new skill, and figuring out the new routine.

She went to bed around 7:30 most most nights, which works for me.  Except for the first night, she slept at least 10 hours each night, often closer to 11.  Around night four, I noticed the beginning of an attachment to her baby doll:

Manhattan Toy Stella Doll

Night Wakings

This is the progression of night wakings:

	Time of wakings	Time falling Asleep	Time Crying	#of Checks	Longest Sleep Stretch	Morning Wake-up
Day One	12:55am	55 minutes	30 minutes	4	4.5 hours	6:20am
Day Two	3:53am	26 minutes	20 minutes (mild)	1	9 hours	6:55am
Day Three	3:54am	60 minutes	15 minutes (mild)	1	about 8.5 hours	6:00am
Day Four	1:56am	26 minutes	11 minutes	0	6.5 hours	6:00am
Day Five	none!	n/a	0	0	10.75 hours	6:20am
Day Six	none!	n/a	0	0	11 hours	6:45am
Day Seven	3:20am; 3:57am; 4:33am	10 min; 3 min; 1 min	same (mild)	0	7.75 hours	6:30am

Again, the first night was the hardest.  I definitely questioned my resolve, although, again, she was not crying hysterically.  Just upset that her usual routine wasn’t happening.  Each night was a little better in it’s own way – always less crying (except for night seven, which I’ll talk about in a moment).  After the the third night, she was able to get herself back to sleep for any night wakings, and on night five and six, I didn’t hear her wake at all.

Night seven was interesting – for some reason the temperature in her room dropped a few degrees lower than normal.  At first, I didn’t think that was the problem, because her room was still fairly warm (68 degrees).  But after an hour of frequent, light wakings, I turned up the thermostat. It seemed to help, as I didn’t hear another peep until she woke up for the day.  So, I’m calling that night a fluke

Last night (night 8 of sleep training) she slept through the night again.

All of her morning wake-ups were at or after 6am, which, while still very early, is fine with me.  Previously, she had been getting up closer to 5 or 5:30am, which was really rough.

Nap Time

Finally, we haven’t had much trouble with naps, but I wanted to keep things consistent, and give Alma extra practice at falling asleep on her own.  Just for fun, I kept track of her naps as well:

I’m still happy with her naps.  I only needed to check on her the first time we tried the Ferber method at nap time, which was the second day of sleep training.  Now, it takes her no more than 5 minutes to fall asleep for her nap, and the majority of that time, she is quiet and snuggling up with her baby.

She used to sleep closer to 3 hours everyday, but she seems to be running on less sleep overall. I added up all of her sleep for the week, and she is averaging just under 13 hours a day.  I think she could use just a little more, and hopefully when she’s consistently sleeping through the night, she’ll get there.

New Routine

All of that said, our new bedtime routine looks like this:

• About 30 minutes before bedtime, we put pj’s and nighttime diaper on and get her room ready (close blinds, turn on sound machine & fan, turn off overhead light, and turn on lamp)
• Alma and I nurse in the glider in her room
• We all go into the bathroom to brush Alma’s teeth
• Andrew puts Alma in her sleep sack
• We read 2 books together
• We turn off the lamp and say a similar phrase each night “It’s time to sleep, Alma.  We love you.  Night-night.”  We hold her while standing next to her crib, while she cuddles against us, and gives us kisses.  She says “ni-ni!” a few times as well.
• We lay her in her crib, and make sure her lovey’s are next to her.  I give her one more pat on the back, and then we leave.

Nap time is an abbreviated version of the above.  Nurse, diaper change, sleep sack, book, cuddles & sleep phrase, lay down in crib.

If we have to go in to check on her either before she has fallen asleep for the night, or for a night waking, (which we haven’t had to do since day 3 of sleep training) I pat her back and say the sleep phrase above again, a few times.  I only stay about one minute, then I leave.  She initially is very upset for about 30 seconds, but the checks do seem to help get her back to sleep faster, so I’m glad we chose this method.

Alma generally wakes up happy and rested.  She often throws her baby out of the crib when she wakes up (then signs “help” and tries to reach for her):

Alma still cries a bit when we lay her down and leave the room, but maybe 30 seconds-2 minutes of crying is as good as it gets?  At least she doesn’t fall asleep crying.  All of the crying times listed in the charts happen during the first portion of the time it takes for her to fall asleep.  There is always a few minutes of her quietly rolling around and finding a comfortable postion before drifting off to sleep.

I still consider us in the midst of sleep training.  Once we have a few more nights of no night wakings, I think we’ll be out of the “training” stage, and more in a maintenance stage.

I do think we are completely night-weaned, though!  I haven’t nursed her at night, or to sleep, all week.  I realize that my milk supply will likely lower, and Alma may lose interest in nursing altogether.  It was a risk I was willing to take in order for us all to get more quality sleep at night.  I’m still holding out hope that Alma will nurse for at least several more months, and that if she self-weans, it’s because she wants to, and not because my supply is so low, it’s not worth her effort!

So, any questions?  I think I covered everything!  I’m not claiming that this is a magical method that will work for everyone, but at this particular time in Alma’s development it was a good fit for us.  (We tried a similar version of this method when she was around 6 months old, and it felt too soon for us.)

I’d love to hear your feedback or sleep training stories, but if you do comment, please keep it friendly!

6:20am: I hear Alma on the monitor.  This was night 5 of sleep training, and she slept through the night for the first time since starting the training.  She has only slept through the night a handful of times in her life (the last time was when I wrote her last ‘day in the life’ post at 12.5 months!). Andrew changes her diaper, then she and I nurse on the couch while he makes coffee and breakfast for the adults.  Alma brings me a few books to read.

6:45am: Andrew and I eat, drink coffee, and Alma nibbles off our plates as she wanders around playing with toys.  She seems hungry, so I throw some yogurt in a pouch for her.  She needs another diaper change, which Andrew takes care of again.  Then we resume coffee drinking, turn on some music so Alma can dance, and we talk about our plans for the day.

from saturday, but she did more of this today. she is really interested in opening things, and she says “op-uh?” when she needs help

dining in style

7:45am: Alma sits down in her chair for more breakfast.  Andrew feeds her while I start in on the breakfast dishes.  I also clean up the counters, sweep, and wipe down the fridge.

8:30am: I take a shower and throw on some make-up while Andrew and Alma play. He gets her dressed for the day, as well.  After I’m done, I nurse Alma while Andrew gets ready.

9:30am: We head up to North Portland to meet up with my friend Lindsay and family at the vegan bake sale.  We grab some sweets (and a savory scone for Alma), chat and walk around the Mississippi neighborhood.  Alma is at this great stage where she is really solid in her walking, and has the stamina to walk several blocks while holding our hands.  So far, she doesn’t fight the hand-holding, but I’m sure it’s coming soon!  Eventually, we need to get back home for Alma’s nap, so we part ways with our friends.

sweets!

the pic was from Saturday, but how adorable is she walking around like a big girl?!

11:30am:  Once home, I nurse Alma, change her diaper, read a few books, and lay her down for nap.  She protests for a minute or two, but snuggles up with her baby and snoozes for a couple hours.

11:55am-2:10pm: Alma naps.  Andrew and I do a couple chores in the basement, watch a show, then Andrew writes in his journal while I start a new book (World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks) until Alma wakes up.

2:15pm: Andrew changes Alma’s diaper, then we nurse on the couch while Andrew makes his lunch.  I warm up some soup for myself while Alma plays.  She steals bites of my lunch, as usual, but is not yet ready to sit down for her own lunch.  She spends some time playing in this basket:

She’s also loves wandering around with her backpack on. This picture is also from Saturday, but I had to include it!

the pack is a present from Grandma & Popop!

3:00pm: I make some lunch for Alma, but she is not very interested.  She eats a few bites of this and that, but tells me she’s all done.

3:30pm: I clean up her lunch, and Andrew gets started on putting our bed frame together.  I start making zucchini muffins for her lunches this week, but have to pause since Andrew realizes a screw is missing from the bed frame.  After making plans to walk to the hardware store, he stumbles across the part, so we each get back to our respective tasks.

Alma does a great job of entertaining herself in the kitchen & living room while I cook.  At first she thought the whole thing was boring.

But then I introduced her to the tupperware drawer, and she spent a good hour taking things in and out and trying to put lids on.  After she lost interest in that, I brought out some paper cups, and she took them into the living room where she lined them along the window sill, then stacked them together again.  Who needs toys?

4:45pm: Alma is finally losing steam, and asking to nurse.  At this point, the muffins are done cooking, and I’ve started in on dinner.  I’m at a really bad stopping point, so I do my best to keep Alma happy for a few more minutes.

5:00pm: Alma has had enough, so Andrew takes over dinner for a bit while I nurse Alma, and have some snuggle time with her.  After 10 or so minutes, Andrew and I switch, and I finish up dinner while Alma and Andrew read books on the couch.  I remember that she doesn’t have any clean pj’s, so I quickly throw her clothes in the wash.

5:30pm: Dinner is cooking in the oven, and Alma desperately wants some time on my lap.  I let her comfort nurse again, and then she plays with an app on my phone (it’s called Sound Touch and she loves it!), and we read more books.

6:20pm: I transfer Alma’s clothes to the dryer, then we all sit down for dinner.  Alma is only mildly interested in what I made (Tempeh Sheperdess Pie from Veganomicon) but she pounds a zucchini muffin happily, and requests applesauce (app-uh?).

7:00pm: Alma runs around the house for a few minutes after dinner, while we clear the table.  After 10 minutes or so, we head into her room to put fresh-from-the-dryer pj’s and nighttime diaper on.  We nurse in the glider in her room for a few minutes (lately, she has only been wanting one side per session). Andrew picks up her toys in the living room while she’s nursing.  When she’s done, she is very excited to brush her teeth.  It used to be a struggle to get her teeth brushed, but now that we put a dab of toothpaste on her brush, she loves it!

We head back into her room, put her sleep sack on, and read her two books.  Then we give her hugs and kisses, turn out the light, and lay her down.  She cries for a minute when we leave the room, but I watch on the video monitor, and she snuggles up with her Baby Stella.  She is asleep within minutes!

7:45pm: Andrew and I work together to clean up the massive kitchen mess I made.  Small kitchens get dirty fast!

before…

after – better, but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that our small kitchen will always look a little cluttered

8:30pm: Finally time to relax.  We go down to the basement to watch a show and eat some of the sweets we scored from the bake sale. I wash another load of laundry, as well.

9:30pm: I’m exhausted, so we start getting ready for bed.

10:00pm: I take one last peek at Alma on the video monitor, then drift off to sleep myself.

6:45am: Alma has slept through the night again!  She’s never slept through the night two nights in a row, so I’m feeling like this sleep training is definitely paying off (I am working on a detailed post, and will finish in a few days!).

A typical day in early toddlerhood!

I definitely think this weekend flew by too fast, but Monday is here, so we’re making the best of it!  We have a lot of play dates and meet-ups scheduled this week, and the weather forecast looks promising for lots of outdoor play.

Have a great week!

We made it through moving weekend, and we are still in the process of unpacking (though mostly done with that), baby proofing, and figuring out the flow of the new space.

So far, we are really loving our place and feel like we made a great decision.  The neighborhood is very walkable, and we are sandwiched between two beautiful parks with great play areas for Alma.  We’ve stayed close to home this week, but tomorrow, Alma and I are venturing out to play at the community center and to a meet up for families in the neighborhood with children close to Alma’s age.

weeee!

finding tunnel snacks

We haven’t baby proofed the basement yet, but Alma is loving the fact that she has (almost) free range over the upstairs.  She likes to play in her new room, especially while I’m doing dishes, and she pops into the kitchen after a few minutes to check on what I’m doing and give me a quick hug.  So cute!

she insisted on doing this several times

alm’s favorite corner of her room

We are also in the midst of sleep training her.  We are on day 3, and it’s going really well.  Alma’s night time sleep got really out of control (moving and teething were factors, but it has been progressively getting worse over the past month), so we decided to “Ferber-ize” her.  She is responding very well to the the progressive-waiting method, and already we are seeing significant improvements.  I will write more in detail about it soon! (Speaking of teething, she has two teeth since we moved!  The last of the 8 front teeth, and a molar poking through!)

pre-sleep training:  resorting to co-sleeping so our neighbors don’t hate us

I can’t wait to show pictures of the new place, but we still need to hang up our wall art & photos, and put a few more finishing touches on.  Oh, and unpack a few more boxes

Coming up this week:  a day in the life at 14 months!

fun with chopsticks!

my happy girl

Sleep:

We definitely had some sleep disturbances this month, particularly in the past week.  I suspect teething troubles, but who knows.  I think most of the month, she was waking up once a night to nurse, as usual.  Lately, it’s been twice, and at really odd times, like 11pm or 12.  The week before last, she was sleeping in until 7 or later, and this week, she’s been up before 6am on quite a few mornings.  She’s never been very consistent with her bedtimes or morning wake-ups, so I guess I’m not surprised.

rare car nap on our road trip this month

I don’t know if it’s just now catching up to me that I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in well over a year, or if something else is going on, but I have been really tired lately, and finding it very difficult to get up and nurse her in the middle of the night.  I’m thinking that if I still feel sluggish after we get through our move and settled into our new place, I’m going to start trying to night wean her in hopes that she will sleep through the night if I’m not nursing her.  I need to look into some gentle methods for night-weaning, because I don’t want to cut her off cold-turkey.

The one nap a day is going pretty well.  Last week, she had several days where she barely took a 2 hour nap (more like 1 hour 45 minutes), but most days it’s 2.5-3 hours.  Almost always at least 2 hours.  It depends on how many hours of sleep she got during the night.  Since she’s been getting up early this week, she’s making up for the lost sleep by taking 3 hour naps. It always works out to around 13-14 hours of sleep total.

Eating:

Alma’s appetite hit a record low this month.  Which, of course, worried me, so I took her in for a weight check this week.  She was just slightly off her curve, but just barely, so it’s not really a concern (she was 21 pounds 4.6 ounces).

She hasn’t been interested in her usual favorites, except for yogurt in the morning, and the fruit/veg pouches that she likes.  To save money and have more control over what goes in the pouches, I bought some reusable pouches off Amazon (I purchased EZ Squeezees brand).  So far, so good!  She’s been eating her morning yogurt out of them, and she actually eats twice as much yogurt than when she’s eating it with a spoon.  We still give her plenty of opportunities to use a spoon/fork and bowl, though.  For more about Alma’s food lately, here’s this month’s munchkin meals post.

Despite not eating very much in general, she seems to be enjoying vegetables in their solid form more.  Roasted broccoli and cauliflower are favorites again, after being shunned for months.

broccoli!

Alma is still nursing around 6-8 times a day, including one or two night feedings.  I’m feeling like my milk supply is diminishing, though, so I’m not sure how much longer we’ll last.

Development:

The biggest change in Alma’s development this month has been her language.  She is very interested in words, and tries to repeat everything we say.  A sampling of new words this month: “oh no” and “no no no”, “open” (uh-peh), “water” (wah-ru), “eye”, “wow”, and she even tries to say “i love you” (only if we say it first).  She also knows the sounds of a lot of animals, even when we don’t make the sound first.

Of course, she understands much more than she can say.  If I ask her to find her shoes, she will get them and bring them to me to put on.  When we ask her if she’s tired (even if she’s not), she rubs her eyes.  And when I mention anything about going on a walk, she runs over to her stroller, smiling.

Alma is just getting to the stage in her development where she can enjoy some playground equipment.  Just in time, too, since the weather is finally taking a turn for the better.  We spend several afternoons each week at one of our neighborhood parks.  Alma loves to be outdoors, like most toddlers, and takes full advantage of the open space.  It’s one of my favorite activities to do with her, as well.

from winter hats to sun dresses!

We tried out a potty chair a few times this month.  It’s too early for any formal potty “training”, but a few times a week, we let her go diaper free, and if she starts to pee, we sit her on the potty.  She’s gone a few times, and even had a BM a couple times as well!  Then she started to get upset when we put her on the potty, so we haven’t pushed it.  We just have it in the living room, and only try it when she is showing some interest in sitting on it.

After a 4 month break, Alma finally got another tooth in this month!  Her third bottom tooth, making a total of 7 altogether.  I think the fourth bottom tooth is soon to follow, then we will be entering first-molar territory.  Speaking of teeth, she does not enjoy getting them brushed, so we have to do quite a song and dance (literally) to get them clean.

Alma is such a ham.  She loves to fake laugh.  She tosses her head back, closes her eyes, scrunches up her nose and says ‘ah, ah ah’.  It’s not her most flattering look, but it’s pretty hilarious.  Sorry for the blurry pics, but it looks something like this:

Lastly, one of my favorite new things is that Alma has become so snuggly!  Alma gives me so many hugs and kisses throughout the day, and she likes to nuzzle her face in my neck or on my cheek.  It is just the sweetest!  She is 100% a mama’s girl, but daddy gets a lot of smooches as well.  She loves to grab a book and crawl in the lap of anyone willing to read to her.  She also has a lot of love for her baby doll, who recently became a favorite toy.  The other day, Alma insisted on taking her along for a walk, and cuddled her to the park and back.

Schedule:

Her schedule is not really much different from her 13 month update.  She wakes anywhere from 6-7am (sometimes a bit earlier), takes a nap around 11-11:30 for 2.5-3 hours, and is in bed by 7/7:30pm.  She nurses when she wakes up, around 9am, before and after nap, around 4:30pm, at bedtime, and for one or two night wakings.  We usually go to an indoor play park or have a play date in the morning before her nap, and after her nap and lunch we take a walk to the park most days, or run an errand if needed.  Besides the fact that she doesn’t sleep through the night, I’m pretty happy with our routine!

indoor play gym

I plan on writing another ‘day in the life’ post again this month.

Posts:

• munchkin meals: 13 months
• first birthday photos
• transitioning to one nap
• moving
• march review & april goals
• easter 2013
• munchkin meals: 14 months

I’m looking forward to seeing what month 15 brings us!

In addition to food and coconut/hemp milk in her sippy cup, Alma breastfeeds 6-8 times a day.  I don’t think she is getting much from me.  I’d be surprised if I was producing even 10 ounces a day right now, but it’s hard to tell because I don’t pump anymore.  Her nursing sessions are very short, and sometimes she’ll only take one side per feeding, so I definitely feel like there is some natural weaning going on.  We’ll see how long we last!

Back to food, though.  Here’s a typical day of meals and snacks for Alma (who turns 14 months old this week):

*The times are not always the same everyday.  It just depends on when she wakes up.  Today it was early!

Breakfast (6:30am):

• 5-6 ounces almond milk yogurt
• 1.5 pieces tempeh bacon
• offered cheerios, but wasn’t interested
• 1 ounce coconut/hemp milk

I bought some reusable pouches, even though it’s kind of late in the game to be encouraging pureed foods.  But some days, it’s all she’ll eat, so I wanted to have more control over what goes in them.  Breakfast has been a struggle lately, so I decided to try giving her yogurt in one of the pouches while she plays.  It seems to be working out really well, and she ends up eating more yogurt this way.

pic from the other day

I think the issue is that she is hungry when she wakes up, but she also is feeling very energetic and wants to move around.  So she eats just enough to fill her tummy a little, then wants to get down and play.  This way, she can walk around with her yogurt and play.  After about 30-60 minutes, we sit her down in her high chair and offer her some more food.  Usually tempeh bacon and some kind of grain (toast, cheerios, etc.).

Snack (10:30am):

• some cheerios (ate in the car on our way home from a play date)
• a few swigs of a fruit pouch

Alma usually eats more at this snack.  Closer to a full fruit/veg pouch and some kind of cracker.  She’ll usually drink another few ounces of coconut/hemp milk by this time, but she didn’t this morning.  She napped from 11-1:45.

Lunch (2:15pm):

• few bites hemp veggie burger
• few bites daiya vegan cheese
• a few peas
• offered pb&j but wouldn’t eat
• sips of coconut/hemp milk
• almost the rest of her fruit pouch from morning snack

Lunch is our biggest challenge around here.  She just doesn’t seem to want a midday meal, no matter how or what I offer.  Obviously, I can’t force her, so as frustrating as it is sometimes, I keep it positive and she eats or she doesn’t.  Usually the latter.

goofin off

my little ham – she is fake laughing

Afternoon Snack (4:00pm):

• sweet potato/corn/apple pouch
• few bites of graham cracker
• a little coconut/hemp milk – she’s only had 2 oz total at this point, but usually it’s more like 4 oz.

On our walk home from the park, she sucked down a pouch.  I’m not thrilled that she’s eaten most of her calories via some kind of pouch today, but I also know that she is in the process of getting a few new teeth (including her first molar).  It might just be what’s most comfortable for her right now.

Dinner (5:45pm):

• about 1/4 cup Mjadra from take-out (lentils, rice & caramelized onion)
• a few broccoli florets
• a sliver of pita bread
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 1/2 oz. coconut/hemp milk

She usually eats a decent dinner.  The last time I ordered Mjadra from our favorite Lebanese restaurant, she went to town on my dinner.  This time, I ordered a side of it for her, but she wasn’t as interested.

people-watching out of the window

I’m surprised that she only drank just over 3 oz of coconut/hemp milk today.  Especially because my supply has been feeling so low (I don’t hear as much swallowing, and sometimes I don’t seem to have a let down at all for some sessions).  She usually takes at least twice that amount.

So, veteran mamas, I know every toddler has different calorie needs, but does this sound typical to you?  See any areas where I could make some changes that may encourage an interest in eating?

Thanks to Brittany for hosting another round of Munchkin Meals.  Head over to her blog, A Healthy Slice of Life, to check out all the links and see what other kiddos are eating.

Coming up soon – Alma’s 14 month update!

This year, however, we had fun celebrating Easter.  I’m not really sure what the point of celebrating Easter is if you are not religious (which we are not), but I guess it’s just for fun?

Since we strive to live a vegan lifestyle, there were no animal eggs involved in our celebration.  I did introduce some plastic eggs to Alma a week or so before Easter, so she could play with them a little bit.  She had fun trying to pull them apart, and take them in and out of baskets (great practice!)

And of course, she had to put the basket on her head!

I kept her Easter basket simple:  I used a basket we had on hand, and filled it with a Jellycat brand bunny, a Tomy egg toy, a few fruit pouches, and a bunny book.

Alma enjoyed opening up her basket.  She took things out one at a time, and explored them individually.  Of course, the first thing she recognized were the pouches, so we opened one up for her right away

Then while Andrew took her upstairs for a diaper change, I placed 5 of the plastic eggs around the living/dining room.  It was a really guided activity, but Alma had fun.

She immediately figured out what to do with the eggs when she saw one.

I filled the eggs with little snacks, like Veggie Booty, Annie’s bunny grahams, freeze dried mango, and dairy-free yogurt melts.  She sat on my lap to enjoy the spoils after the hunt.

She enjoyed playing with eggs and her new toys for the rest of the day.  I consider this her first “real” Easter, and it was a great one!

simple Easter outfit