New Home

July 31, 2015

I feel like I move every year. Moving seriously sucks. It's an even bigger pain when there are children involved or someone is pregnant. We have officially moved into our new place. It was an extremely slow and tiring process. We didn't move far from our old place so we moved a little at a time. We downsized by quite a bit. We went from a 4 story, 3 bedroom to a 2 story, 2 bedroom. The reason for this downsize: the old place was just way too big and we're hoping to save more money now so we can buy a home in the next few years. Buying a house = no more moving. It's tough going from such a big place to a much smaller place, but I like it (less to clean). I got to get rid of a lot of junk and the new place is real cozy. We're expecting baby #2 in January so that will be the other challenge. We will be putting both kids in one room. I'm hopeful about it, but I'm also quite nervous. Their room is quite spacious, so I've had a fun time arranging and decorating it. I'm about 75% finished with their room. I've got tons of pictures and art I still need to hang up. Here's a sneak peak of what one side of the room looks like right now.


My favorite thing in the room: the diaper caddy. Gotta love Ikea.


We've introduced Erin to the toddler bed. As expected, she doesn't love it...yet. We don't want to rush her, but we want her to get used to it. Hopefully it won't take too long for her to want to sleep in it..every night. There will be another post soon going into detail about transitioning to a toddler bed.

Lots of changes for us, especially Erin. New home, new bed, soon she'll be diaperless and then she'll be a big sister!




Current Parenting Challange: Nightmares and Night Terrors

July 22, 2015

Erin's a pretty sensitive little lady. I have to watch what I say and how I say it, because sometimes she takes it the wrong way and she gets upset or sad. She gets startled easily and she's pretty fearful. She's a jumpy gal. We started noticing the nightmares at a pretty young age. I'd say the nightmares started at around 9 months. Erin would wake up very upset unable to go back to sleep. Sometimes it would take hours for us to finally get her to go back to sleep. We didn't think much of the nightmares because it's pretty normal for kids to get them. But, at around 16 months, Erin started experiencing something much worse than nightmares. She would wake up crying endlessly, kicking and screaming, thrashing around in our arms. We just thought she had had a terrible nightmare and was just having a really hard time getting over it. At times it would get frustrating because we couldn't understand why she was so upset. But when it happened again, we knew it wasn't just a nightmare. A night terror is a "sleep disruption that seems similar to a nightmare, but with a far more dramatic presentation." "During a night terror, a child might suddenly sit upright in bed and shout out or scream in distress. The child's breathing and heartbeat might be faster, he or she might sweat, thrash around, and act upset and scared." A big difference between a nightmare and a night terror is that a child will remember their nightmare, but will not remember a night terror (which is a relief). As I was researching more about night terrors, I found out that it was pretty uncommon in kids under the age of 2. Of course that concerned me. So I started asking family and friends if their kids had experienced them and some said they did. I'm wondering if night terrors are more common than people think.

Erin doesn't experience these night terrors every night (thank goodness). But they do happen from time to time (a handful of times so far) and it's been a real challenge/struggle trying to help/comfort Erin the "right" way. The best thing to do is to continue letting the child experience the night terror without waking them up or disturbing them. Even if these night terrors last up to 30 minutes (which they do for Erin), the best thing to do is just sit with them and let it run its course. It's parental instinct to want to comfort and hold your child if you see them in distress. But, we noticed that Erin would cry or scream even louder when we'd say her name or try to comfort her. What happened every time Erin had a night terror thus far was... we'd run over to her room, pick her up and try to console her, ask her if she's ok or if something hurts, tell her everything is ok, walk around with her, show her her favorite toy, offer her a snack or some milk. All of these things were a fail. NOTHING helped the situation or made it pass any faster. In our attempt to "help" Erin, we ended up making the situation worse. It's so heartbreaking seeing your kid scream and cry and not be able to do anything about it.

Some thoughts:
  • There's no way I can keep Erin from ever doing or seeing something scary. Hopefully as her as she gets older and her brain matures, she'll have less nightmares. But for now, right before bed, I won't let her watch anything that's too stimulating for her.  Sometimes Ken and I get a little nervous when we take Erin to Disneyland. We aren't sure how she'll respond to some of the things she sees. She's still scared of a lot of the things there. We always hope for a nightmare free night the days we do go.
  • Be Patient. The last night terror Erin had was over a month ago. I'll have to keep reminding myself that there isn't anything I can do to help with night terrors. I must remain patient and strong. 
  • Getting plenty of sleep usually helps prevent nightmares/night terrors. Early bedtimes are something we try our very best to be consistent about. 
On a more positive note...can't believe we'll be celebrating Erin's 2nd birthday next month!





New Summer Hairdo

July 7, 2015

I did it! I cut my hair short (it's not that short, but it's short to me)! I even got it colored. I was pretty tired of my long hair and this terribly hot summer wasn't helping. I can't remember the last time I've had it this short. Thought it was time for a little change. Loved how it turned out! Thanks to Genie at e2beauty!


In other news..Erin's hair is finally getting some length! I'm still waiting for it to get much longer before I give her her first haircut. Hopefully her hair will get nice and thick once its cut. She's got some thin hair. At the moment, I'm able to tie a little bun with the hair she has now. See below:


I'd consider this pretty monumental :) 

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