Silly Girl

Wow!! I never thought a child could be considered hyper until they were much older... however, today, Kemble was SO hyper! That's the only way I can explain it! It kind of started this morning when I gave her rice cereal again for the first time since the allergy and she was laughing and smiling and talking the whole time, although I just contributed it to her being so excited to be getting bites again! Then the rest of the day she would laugh and talk through every bottle, which is SO unlike her - typically bottle time is serious business that she refuses to be distracted from. We went to Target and she was either happy or napping the whole time, then we went on a walk when Stephen got home, and she was calm and happy until she fell asleep, but when we got back and she woke up, she was so hyper, just kicking and squirming and talking just to hear herself talk. Don't get me wrong, it was precious and we loved watching her be so giggly and fun, but it was just a new experience for us for her to be such a ball of energy to this extent! And this is coming from a little girl who is ALWAYS happy!!

Anyway, she took her last bottle tonight around 8, which is a normal time for her, and she was talking and not paying attention but she managed to polish it off. Afterwards, she did spit up a bit more than usual, which we figured was because she was squirming and kicking and being silly, but she was happy, so happy and hyper that we didn't know how we were going to get her to go to sleep! Quickly, she turned into a majorly fussy girl. She'd had a much later nap than usual, so it didn't seem like she was just extra sleepy or fighting her sleep, you could tell something was bothering her. She spit up through her nose once, which has never happened before, but I know when I've thrown up and had it come up my nose - I definitely feel yucky for a while afterwards, so that may have contributed. However, as usual, she was chewing and biting on anything she could get to her mouth, and I just feel like she is really showing all the signs of sprouting that first tooth. I think maybe she wasn't eating as well because the pressure of sucking was hurting her little gums, and although she was happy, it just caused her to be distracted from it or not as into it as usual. Anyway, after about an hour of fussing (and finally, a dose of Tylenol), we finally put her in bed, and after about 15 minutes she fell asleep.

This is the first night since she was a teeny newborn that we've struggled with fussiness to this extreme or just struggled to get her to sleep. Sometimes she is too happy to sleep, and occasionally she'll fight it, but it never escalates like it did tonight. It made me worry about my sweet girl. I did finally give her the Tylenol thinking it was obvious something was hurting her, and hoping that whatever it was would be fixed with the magic stuff. I've only given her Tylenol twice before, and I hate to medicate her if it's not necessary, but I think it definitely did the trick tonight.

While getting to sleep is usually not too much of a problem, lately she's been struggling to stay asleep sometimes! It happens during naptimes and again in the wee hours of the morning, starting around 4 or 5 am. She wakes up about every hour and instead of just tossing and turning for a second and drifting right back off, she tosses and turns, and whimpers, and fusses, and fidgets, and tries to find her paci and reaches for her stuffed animals and ends up sideways or even with her head down and her feet up on the inclined part of her bed (scary!). However, as soon as I get in there and replace her paci and give her her stuffed animal, which she promptly smothers her face with, she immediately is back asleep, for another hour or so anyway.

I want my good sleeper girl back!! I don't know if it's the teething, or if it is something else, but I just hope that she gets back into a good pattern of sleeping and being able to soothe herself back to sleep like she used to, so she gets good, solid rest. And Momma too! I think the time change soon might help, because with it getting light so early I think she may be thinking it's time to wake up a little earlier.

On the other hand, other than this minor sleeping issue, and the fussing tonight, we are just so amazed at how much she grows every day, both physically and developmentally. Everyone told us how fast it goes, but we didn't realize how fast! She is just talking and trying out making new sounds all of the time, laughing, blowing bubbles, getting her hands into everything, and trying to pull up anytime she has anything to pull up on! This girl loves to stand up and if you extend your hand to her, she'll use it to pull herself up to standing. She's so strong! What a miracle to watch our little one grow!

Why don't babies come with a little print-out option to tell us exactly what's going on in those little bodies?! :)