Puppy Love

"Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret."

Thinking about unrolling all the toilet paper

She absolutely loves this dog! When I bought it, I envisioned her laying her head on it just like this. She frequently takes a break from playing to hug him. We say "Love on your pup," and she hugs him. So sweet!

Helping me take her clean diapers off the rack

My mom has been here since last Tuesday to visit and help me while Ryan was out of town for a few days. I had 3 moles removed Wednesday and will have two more taken off tomorrow. The mole on Raegan's leg is in almost the exact same spot as one I just had taken off.

Raegan has still been waking in the night and crying for someone to get her. Lately these little night visits have extended from an hour to three hours Wednesday night. She wakes up crying and wants to be held. When I hold her, she lays there so calmly, but takes a long time to fall asleep. Once I get her to sleep, she often wakes up when I put her down. Needless to say, I do not enjoy these night visits as much as she does, and I decided things have to change. She's at a typical age for separation anxiety, and maybe it's worse at night because she's never away from us during the day since I'm home with her. I try not to be in her face all day, but she knows I'm there. Anyways, I did some reading online and found two main solutions: let her cry it out (CIO) or go to her room, lay her back down, stay next to the bed, then slowly move farther from her bed each night. CIO should take 2-3 nights and the weaning method at least a week. I decided to get it over with and let her cry. My mom and I psyched ourselves up for a hard night. I was just as worried about her caving as I was about myself. Raegan woke up at 12:40, just like the night before, and started crying. She cried hard for about 15 minutes, then took a break for 7-8 minutes. I thought "That wasn't so bad!" Then she cried again. She cried off and on for about an hour, then fell asleep until 7am. She woke up so happy the next morning and played in her bed until we got her up. That night I was ready for round two of crying, but she only stirred a couple of times and went back to sleep on her own within 5 minutes.

She's been eating like a little piglet the past few days. She tried yogurt this week - an instant hit. She eats a 4 oz. container in one sitting. She's been eating peaches in her oatmeal, a fruit blend (to sneak in bananas), sweet potatoes, avocados, and squash with applesauce. She also had egg yolk and dry pancake when we went out to breakfast. She's getting better with grabbing finger foods but half of it ends up in her lap so we still have purees, too.