Oh missed nap time, how I loathe thee

I have many favorite things about being a mom, one of them is seeing before my eyes how quickly Em learns new things, or masters things she was learning just a few days or weeks ago.  I think one of my least favorite, is
a cranky overtired baby.  We went to my cousins' baby shower today and it started at 11:30 and as long as we sleep in a little like we did today, she takes her first nap around noon.

She slept a bit on the way there, it was about a 30 minute drive, and she slept a little in my stepmom's arms at the shower, but any amount of sleep in a non super comfortable position might as well be little to no sleep.  She's perfectly comfortable sleeping in the carseat or someone's arms, but my girl likes to stretch, so I don't think she gets a real quality sleep.  And the noise in the room didn't bother her, she can sleep through a nuclear bomb if she wanted to (she gets that from her daddy, I was putting furniture together last night just a few feet away from him and he never even flinched, even when I was hammering) but with all of those new people to look at and the presents and the decor of the room, it was a lot of stimulation.

So we headed home around 2:30, we stopped at the cemetery first since we were out that way and I took her to her grandma's grave and her great grandma and great grandpa's graves.  She's been out there a couple of times already but she's always been sleeping, so today was the first time she got out of the car and I took her to the graves.  We got home around three, and all afternoon I tried to get her to sleep again but no go.  She and I did fall asleep on the couch for about 30 minutes but then she woke up crying so I gave her a bottle around 7 and she fell asleep in my arms.....sleeping so soundly and peaceful, but as soon as I put her down she woke up.  So then I tried her in our bed, thinking maybe just a different atmosphere might help....nope.  But she seemed content so I tried making dinner, but we had another plastic bowl vs. the stove incident....long story.  I decided cooking dinner in a stove where plastic just melted may not be the best idea, so I was going to go out and pick up dinner.

I was hitting a drive thru, so I decided to take her with me and go for a bit of a drive first to get her to sleep.  Between the drive and the long wait to get the food, we must have been out for about 45 minutes to an hour.  I have a loaner car from the dealership right now so I don't have a mirror to see her in the backseat, but as we pulled in the driveway she was quiet.  I got out, opened her door and bam, she's staring at me with her big doe eyes.  Ahhhhh!  Why is this child not sleeping yet?

So I let her play in her activity mat while we ate dinner, then she was fussing for a bottle again so I fed her and finally, blissful sleep.  She did wake up some when I put her down but she was able to entertain herself peacefully for a few minutes until she fell back to sleep.  This was after 9pm.  Good God I thought she would never go to sleep tonight.  Not all that late, but considering I had been trying to get her to take a good nap since 3pm it felt like forever.

So back to my favorites.....she's doing so much better on her tummy time.  She's still not a huge fan, but I got her a new toy that plays music and lights up that she can watch during TT and she's now up on her forearms instead of face planting and squealing around on the floor.  She can even wiggle, kinda of like the same motion a snake might do to make herself move; I think she might crawl around 6 months.  We'll see.  I can't wait for it, but I can.  I'm so excited to see her crawl, I'm so proud of everything she does, but then she'll be mobile, and I can't run downstairs and put in a load of laundry and come back and find her in the same spot once that happens. 

She's doing really well with standing, she rarely even has to sit anymore.  As long as I am holding her hands, she likes to stand for quite a while.  I usually stand her on my lap, or on the couch in front of me, so the other day I bent over and held her hands while she stood on the floor.  It was sooooo cute seeing her standing on the floor, she looked so tiny way down there and it looked funny for a baby of her age to be standing on the floor.

She also really likes her paci at naps and bedtime.  She doesn't always keep it in but it helps relax her so she can fall asleep, and honestly I don't give a crap about breaking the habit later on.  She's only allowed her paci for sleeping and I think it's pretty natural to need things to help get you comfortable to sleep.  I cannot sleep without some kind of white noise.  She only really likes her tommee tippee pacis.  She's so funny, she likes to pull it out, and then try to get it back in.  She hasn't quite mastered getting it back in yet, she always end up putting it in sideways and chews on the plastic around it.  When she pulls it out, she clearly wants it out but she's still holding on tight with her mouth, so it "pops" when she yanks it out.  It reminds me of the baby on The Simpsons.

In some ways I miss the newborn stage a little.  She was so tiny and adorable...but she's still adorable but she is much more fun now.  She laughs and smiles all the time, her personality is starting to show through.  Nothing makes me happier than seeing that smile or hearing her laugh.  During diaper changes I give her raspberries on her tummy, and I act like I'm going to bite her neck and I keep switching sides and she just laughs and laughs, it's so freaking adorable.  When she hasn't seen me for a while, like in the morning when I go in to get her I am greeted by a big smile.  One of these days my heart is just going to explode!