So funny. 

little sleeper

a break through

Hana has found a new way of sleeping. Instead of falling asleep sitting up after standing and screaming until she is exhausted, she has taken to flopping over on her tummy in a sort of fetal position and sleeping face down. She does not wake up very happy. Silly baby. But at least she has found a way to nap with out me laying down with her. She took two naps like this today. So hopefully she is finishing up with the no nap stage.

What do you mean I have to go to bed? 

Mm. 

Pesach

Saturday night was the first night of Passover. We decided to go to the big Seder at the Synagogue instead of making our own. Any time we have to go out and be out late at night with little Hana I get worried and try to figure out how we can make her more comfortable, but with a dinner that doesn't even start until her bed time we are just asking for a total baby meltdown. But all in all, Hana did very well. She loves being out even if she is tired as long as there is something exciting to see. And in this case, the other kids there more than kept her attention. She had a great time, she ate her first matzoh and played and played and finally fell asleep at midnight. And of course for the second night of Passover we went to the Rabbi's house for another Seder and Hana once again stayed up until midnight. She only cried a little, and hardly even fussed. She sat in her stroller next to me most of the evening, or played on the floor beside my chair with all her toys. She would have nodded off earlier, but those same very exciting other kids were there to keep her up. Plus since I had gotten her to take two 2 hour naps that day, she was feeling pretty good. I figured that with staying up so late the night before and having to stay up again I had to get Hana to nap as much as possible during the day. Now of course, some of you may remember that Hana is not napping lately. Well, over Shabbos Mommy discovered a fantastic way to get Hana to nap. All I have to do is lay down next to her and hold her until she falls asleep. And if Mommy is also tired that day, well, Mommy can have a nice nap too. Hurray. The only bad part is that Hana is then sleeping on my bed so if she wakes up and I'm not there she could fall off the bed, so I have to stay with her. But at least she is sleeping. The next step is to put her in her crib and I sleep in the bed next to her, and then teach her it is ok to sleep alone. Crazy separation anxiety baby. My little sweet heart. She's so cute.

Well

The no nap stage continues.
I put Hana down for bed tonight at 8pm, she wasn't exactly ready for sleep, but I just couldn't take it anymore. She has been up since 7am with only one half hour nap from 9:30am to 10am.
She cried and cried, and when she finally got quiet I snuck in there to check if she was sleeping. She was. She was sleeping sitting up. I tried as gently as I could to lay her down, but no luck. She is awake again.
Crying.
Crying.
Crying.

look at those arms 

this baby is not happy

Happy girl. 

up on the couch

Lots of standing, not much sleep

Well, the standing in the crib crying instead of napping stage continues. Hana is so interested in standing up you can hardly get her diaper on before she rolls away. She seems to wake up at around 7am every morning ready to play, and yet to sleepy to be awake. In her previous stage this was the time I would put her back in her bed and she would sleep for an hour or so, but now if I try that there is only standing and screaming. And if you put her on the floor to play she cries and whines or falls over and bumps her head because she is so sleepy. So the only option sans insanity is to hold her. Of course this can be nice, you can read to her, or rock her, or just cuddle. But really, it is very hard to do this from 7am until 11am when she is actually ready for her nap, plus she is not really willing to hold still for that long. When the nap finally happens, and we have lunch, Hana is once again an angel baby and we can go out on our walk in the park. Until around 4:30pm when the reluctant nap hour once again arrives and continues until 8:30pm, when bedtime finally takes its toll on our little girl and sleep overcomes her.

having a drink on a hot day. 

New stage

Standing is very enjoyable. Especially standing up in a crib.
Teething is not very enjoyable. Especially if you are getting seven teeth in at one time.
Napping is not happening. Especially for babies who would rather stand up and are teething, and Mommies of those babies.

Bagel 

Dear Hana,
Standing up in your crib is neither resting nor sleeping.
Love,
Mommy

p.s.
Some babies think that standing up is way more fun than taking a nap. Even when they are so tired they are falling over, they just keep getting up. You can tuck them in all you want, but once you turn your back, up they go. These babies are also called, naughty babies.

A new place to hang out. 

Things Hana likes...

pigeons
dogs
chasing Baby Cat
big bouncy balls
helium balloons
draw strings
silly faces
tags
spoons
spinning around with Mommy
singing songs with Mommy
the eensy weensy spider
tickles
peek-a-boo
grape juice
candles
mirrors
looking up in the elevator
looking out the window
pulling off Mommy's glasses
pulling off Daddy's yarlmulke
pulling off her socks
chewing on books
the tv remote
her toys
standing up in her crib
riding on shoulders
sack of potatoes
going for walks
taking baths
pizza crust
other babies

Hello every body.

More teeth

Hana now has six teeth.
Three have come in, and three have just cut through the gums.
And there are another couple that are just under the gum line but trying to push through.
Poor sweetie, her gums are very sore. She is chewing on her little teething toys like crazy, but she does not seem to have the crazy drool that many babies get when they are teething. Luckily.
So many teeth!

Standing

For a while now I've been telling Hana that when she wakes up in her crib she doesn't have to just lay there and cry, she could sit up and play instead. Well, this evening she listened. Sort of. After eating some supper and having a bath I put her in her crib and tucked her in. I went into the kitchen and was making dinner when I heard her crying. I ignored her for a while, assuming that she was just having trouble getting to sleep, but as the time went on I realized that she was definitely not sleeping and so I went in to see what was bothering her. I found her standing up holding on to the railing of the crib, tears streaming down her face. Not only had she rolled over and sat up by herself, she had pulled into standing position and was yelling for me to take her out. So I rescued her. We had some more milk and then back to bed. So far she is sleeping this time.

Hello Daddy 

A new sleeping position. 

Amazing!

picnic

Today we went for a fantastic picnic in Central Park. Daddy was able to sneak away from work and join us for a little while which was very nice. We walked up to the Conservatory gardens and looked at the flowers, and then set out our picnic blanket on the hill and had some lunch. We all ate bagels, even Hana. And then we just hung out in the sunshine. It was really beautiful. It is much nicer to sit in the park and have lunch than to sit at home watching bad Sunday TV. Hana was very well behaved. She sat on the blanket eating her bagel and watching all the other people and dogs walking by. She is such a big girl now. Hanging out having a picnic lunch. So cute.

Hana in the city

a baby's life

Our weekend

Hana is teething again. Actually she has been all along, but now that her two top teeth are trying to push through, she is actively having the symptoms and pains of teething. Thus, no sleep for anyone in the family.

Friday night we had Shabbos dinner at KJ with the usual folks. Hana was already ready for bed when we set out for the dinner at 7:45pm, so that was a great start to the evening. She did pretty well considering she wanted to sleep the entire time, and by about 10pm she fell asleep in her stroller. This is something she hasn't done since she was three months old. Hopefully it wasn't a one time thing. It would make life much easier if she would be willing to sleep in public instead of being a beast.

For Saturday lunch we had Paige and her family over and for the first time Paige was old enough to actually play with Hana. It was absolutely hysterical. Paige would go in for the taste of Hana's face and Hana would push her away. Then Hana would try to grab Paige and Paige would cry. But both girls were fascinated with each other. They had a great time tying to get a better look at each other all afternoon. Then they both fell asleep. I guess it is very hard work staring at another baby.

Can I take the car Dad?

I love warm weather

Today we went for a nice big walk. First we stopped by the Y and found Daddy sleeping in a chair in the audience of the concert hall. They were on a break and I guess he sat down and fell asleep. Poor old Daddy. He is still feeling a little under the weather. We had a little visit with him and some of the other guys from the Y, and then we walked over to Central Park. It was a really nice day and as usual there were lots of people in the park. We walked over to the great lawn which is not opened yet for the season, and then we found some swings just above it. Hana once again had a great time on the swings. There were lots of other kids swinging, but all of them were toddlers. Hana was the only little baby with socks on her feet instead of shoes. Then we walked over to the west edge of the park, and then circled back and toward home. Hana once aging sat upright in her stroller the entire way and squealed for joy every time we passed a kid, or a dog or a pigeon. She loves going for walks. And Mommy loved that she is all tired out and ready for a nap when she gets home.

Wheeee

Swinging in the Park

Swinging in the Park

More swings

Today we went to New Jersey to run some errands, and on the way we passed a lovely little park, and since it was so nice, we stopped and went on the swings. Hana had a great time swinging and making faces at Mommy and Daddy, and watching the other children at the park. Then we went to get pizza, and Hana ate the crust of my piece. She really likes food that she can hold. I just expected her to suck on the piece that I gave her, but she some how ate the entire thing. Gummed it to death. And the people at the pizza place said she was very cute, and even the bus boys were waving at her and trying to get her to smile at them. It was a very enjoyable day.

Please don't choke people Hana. 

Wheeee!

Today to celebrate the incredible weather, Hana and Mommy went for a big walk along the river and to the play ground. Hana had a fantastic time watching the pigeons and the little kids, and the babies, and the puppies at the dog walk, and the big dogs walking around, and the old people who smiled at her, and the SWINGS! Hurray. We finally went on the swings. It was super sunny and warm out so of course I tried to get Hana to wear her sun hat, but no luck. She is very skilled at taking off hats and after fighting with her for several minutes I gave up and let the sun shine right into her face. I figured if it was in her eyes she would just have to squint. And of course even though she was fussing for a nap before we left the house she did not nap in the stroller at all. As soon as we left the house she sat straight up in her stroller as if she was trying to jump right out. With all the rain and sickness lately, I guess it has been a while since our last walk, and well, the last time we went out for a nice sunny day was back in February when we went to see The Gates. So she was super excited to go out, and now that she is so big and alert to the outside world, well, talking a walk is a whole new experience. She wants to look at everything at once. Twisting and flying her body in all directions to try to get a better view of something that went past, or some bird flying away. We walked all along the river by Carl Shultz Park and then over to the big playground at 85th Street, but it was so crowded that we decided to go back to the little playground right by our house. Why wait on line for a swing when you don't have to. So we went to Stanley Isaac's Park at 95th Street and had four nice baby swings all to our selves. You can see these swings from the window of our house, which some how is comforting. I like to think of the park as part of my back yard. It makes life in the city just a little nicer if you have a park near by. Anyway, Hana loved the swings, I think we will have to go all the time now. Luckily it is right across the street. By the time we got home, Hana was exhausted. She ate and then finally took her nap. It was a great day.

Hello! 

Still going

Daddy is sick now. He came home from work on Sunday night with a fever and unlike Hana and Mommy who only had a fever for one day, Daddy still has his. Plus the stomach ache business. Poor Daddy. Also unlike Hana and Mommy, Daddy has to go to work when he is sick, so maybe that is why he is taking longer to get better. I think I will make him some chicken soup. I want to go out and take a nice walk today anyway since the weather is so nice. Hurray for sunshine. Maybe we can finally get to the park and go on the swings.

Some teeth

Can I bite this Mommy?

And then there were four

FOUR TEETH!!!
Today we discovered that Hana has four teeth.
Three on the bottom and one on the top.
The one on the top is just barely showing, but the third one on the bottom is out a bit, so it must have been there a few days with out me noticing it. Sneaky little bugger.
Besides teething and chewing on everything, Hana is feeling much better and Mommy is too.

little sweety face

little sweety face

still ill

Well, Hana is feeling much better, but poor old Mommy still has the runs. After feeling better on Thursday, Friday was back down hill. Mommy was so sad, and it was very hard to take care of little Hana. At one point I flopped on the bed with Hana next to me and I just wanted to cry, and little Hana crawled over to me, and offered me her passy. She knew I was feeling lousy and that a passy can make you feel better. After that I tried my best to make sure that she didn't have to worry about me. I love my little baby.

Tongue