Bye-Bye Bottles (18mos)

We may be a year late according to her doctor, but we have finally broken Alice of the bottle. 

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately for us, Alice never took to a binkie. I say "unfortunately for us" because it has made life harder on us for sure. If Alice was whiny, she wanted a bottle to soothe herself. Because she mimics her big sister's mannerisms, she wasn't too big on self-soothing, and instead she would just stand there and scream. After about ten minutes, I'd cave in and give her a bottle. My sanity can only take so much screaming.

Cheeeeeeeeeese Face.

I blame the binkie-less 18 months on her "tight tongue." No, not a tongue tie, but a tight tongue. I was told when she was just a couple days old that she had a tight tongue. That it wasn't anything to have surgery for, because it should work itself out over time. However, the simplest of things was/is a challenge or not possible at all. Nursing, binkies, popsicles, suckers, and now certain words. It's getting better over time, but very slowly.

She loves the cheese face. Haha!

Anyway, back to dropping the bottle. 

Happy baby. <3

My childrens' doctor is big on dropping the bottle at six months of age. I wasn't ready at that time. I was very overwhelmed (as I still am), and I didn't think I could handle sleepless nights. Okay, okay, my nights were already sleepless most of the time, but I didn't want it to get worse. So, I kept her on the bottle. At nap and bedtime, and then if she was inconsolable. 

Cheese face while eating a cheeseburger.

But I started to feel guilty. She was growing fast and acting like a big girl, but yet she still had a bottle. I think the last straw was when we took her to breakfast with Santa and we forgot her sippy cup. We had a spare bottle, so we used it. Here, she was sitting on her own, eating on her own, but she had a bottle to drink out of. Yes, it wasn't the norm, but I was embarrassed. I wondered what people were thinking. So I told myself then, that when opportunity knocked, I was going to take advantage.

She does the funniest things.

So one night, I happened to see a cup with a lid for a straw in the cabinet when I got Emma her bedtime sip of water. I thought to myself, "I'm going to have Alice drink as much milk out of this as I can, and eat as many cheez-its as she can, and see if she will go to sleep with a full belly." Low and behold, she ate seven cheez-its, drank about half of the cup of milk, fussed for about 30 seconds and went to sleep in my lap. 

Loves her "Mo-Mo."

It took 5 nights, and 4 of those nights were ROUGH to say the least. But, it worked. She is bottle free! Knock on wood, she doesn't even ask for it anymore. We don't know what each night will be like, so that's kind of stressful, but all-in-all, I guess it's going pretty well.

My rough and tumble girl. <3

My baby girl is slowly turning into a big girl!

Alice's 18 Month Appt:

Weight - 29lbs 4oz (97%)
Head - 47.5cm (78%)
Height - 33in (75%)

Christmas Season 2016

Boy, am I glad Christmas is over. Every year I start way too early because I just can’t wait, so by the time Christmas Day gets here, I’m just ready to open gifts and be done with it. I was going to rip down the lights and tree on Christmas evening, but I held it together and will do so through the week up until New Years. The sooner the better.

But, while I’m totally over the holiday (so over it that this Christmas post is way late), I’m still gushing over all of the cuteness it brought. Here are my favorite moments and pictures:

Summer Vacation - Coming Soon!

Well, it's official, this Momma took initiative and planned out her family vacation. It will be early summer, and we will be going to sunny Gulf Shores, Alabama. 

------------------------------------------------------------

My family and I have never been to Gulf Shores before. I've been to Florida more times than I can remember, but this will be something new for all of us. *Yes, my parents and cousins are going with us as well, and I'm super excited about it!

Before children, the hubs and I didn't make it a point to travel. We never really had the money to, or if we did I was being frugal and chose not to. Then, once we advanced in our careers (after kids), we decided to plan yearly trips for our girls to see the world; we will stick to the US until they're older and can appreciate what the world has to offer. Check out our Spring Training trip HERE.

Since we've mapped out the travel (we're driving), and we have our house booked, now it comes down to the fine details... like what to wear. Haha! I'm not one to buy new clothes for vacation, but this year I just so happened to catch the new year Lilly Pulitzer clearance sale. And if you know Lilly, then you know that the prints are bright and VERY summer-y. So, I guess you can say I've started on my vacation wardrobe. 

I've also started to check out the local happenings in Gulf Shores. I found a few places to go, but I could use a little help from those that have been there. They have a petting zoo, a water park, some state parks, a recreation type place (go-karts, etc.), and some historic locales as well, but nothing that screams excitement. We will probably spend a lot of time on the beach, but it would be nice to have family-type fun in mind as well. And restaurants!!! We will eat at the house a lot, but I still want to go to a few top-notch eating establishments!

That all said, for me, this vacation is just to relax. I'm not going to plan out dates and times for any of our trip (other than check-ins), so hopefully that keeps it very relaxed and we can decide day-to-day what our plans are. I'm thinking beach time, board games and maybe even some late-night movies. Casual. I don't want to come back exhausted; I want to come back recharged.

So, June can't get here soon enough. I could really use a vacation right now, but, it'll have to wait. In the meantime, I will daydream about those gorgeous beaches and rolling waves.