Humphreys Blog

Sleep: Nights Four, Five, & Six

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 10:47:00 +0000

So the latter half of this week has gone exceptionally well. Night four, Emmaline woke up for about 45 minutes at 2am. She cried pretty hard but fell back asleep and didn't get up until 6:50.

Night five she woke up a couple of times, cried a little bit, but never really stayed up. And slept until 7am!

Finally, last night she went to bed around 7:30. Cried a couple times, once around 9 and once around 9:45, but nothing of any length. And is just now waking up at 6am.

So overall, I never expected a week of sleep training to go as well as it has. Of course we're very cautious, but very optimistic that Emmaline's on the right track. Overall, we think this week has been a great success.

As for Ab and I, we're still on the air mattress in the family room. However, I think tonight may be our last night there, and we just may go back to sleeping in our own bed. How novel.

Family Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:46:00 +0000

So there is plenty of discussion on how to get your child to sleep through the night. There are books written about it, websites devoted to it, and pretty much everyone has an opinion on the subject.

So the past 3 nights Abigail and I have been doing what we call "family camp". Actually more traditionally it has been called "sleep training", "crying it out", etc. However since the head of our bed shares the same wall that Emmaline's crib is on, crying it out is very difficult. So we took another approach on Sunday night and setup 'camp' in the family room. Emmaline wasn't invited :)

We decided to give it 3 nights at first (although Abigail threatened all year if that's what it took). Here's how the first three nights have gone:

Night 1 (Sunday into Monday):
Emmaline cried from 10:10 till about 11:45. I'm pretty sure she hit defcon 1 during this time. This is as hard as I've heard her cry. She also woke up at about 3 but cried for only 10 minutes. She ended up sleeping until 7:00.

Night 2 (Monday into Tuesday):
Emmaline again woke up, but this time much later, 12:30 and cried till 1:30. Her cry wasn't nearly as bad as night #1. Please don't get me wrong, she brought her A game that night, but it wasn't too bad. She woke up again at 5:10, and we let her cry for another half hour and she slept till 6:40.

Tuesday afternoon Emmaline went down for a nap and wasn't quite ready to go down, she cried for 10 minutes and then took a nice little nap after that spell. This was quite a change from the week between Christmas and New Year where she cried for 45 minutes during a similar situation and never fell asleep.

Night 3 (Last night):
Abigail and I started to realize that three nights might not do the trick. So we went to Costco last night and bought an AeroBed. We're getting serious. Emmaline did wake up twice last night, but cried for only 5 minutes each time and fell back asleep. She was up for good at 5:40.

So overall sleep training is going well. I think we'll be conducting 'Family Camp' through the rest of this week and see where we are. But so far, after 3 nights we both feel like she's making progress.

Look what I can do...

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:14:00 +0000

About the only thing more impressive than me blogging twice in two days is this:

Things they never tell you at baby school

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:44:00 +0000

So I've decided there are a whole lot of things that people never tell parents-to-be before they join the parent club. Some are obvious. Others aren't. Either way, below is subset of things I've observed that no one told me.

7:45 PM is an acceptable bed time. The thought goes something like, "If I go to bed now, I might actually get 8 or 9 hours of sleep."
TiVo is a must. I mean a must (actually, my coworkers tried to tell me how great TiVo was, but I was too cheap to listen. Once I had Emmaline, I was all ears).
Building on #1 & #2, if a live sporting event goes past the above bedtime, simply TiVo it and watch it the next morning at 5:30 AM, you'll be up.
Kids don't watch as much Sesame Street as they used to. When I was a kid, that's what I watched, although that's all there was at the time. Kids just don't watch Sesame Street nearly as much. For example, I've yet to find anyone that knows about Murray & his Sheep. Which is an excellent bit. Further, the amount of cameos on that show is really amazing.
A lot of kid shows are trippy. Sesame Street is certainly not excluded. They have all these weird little short segments of stop motion photography. Then there is Yo Gabba Gabba. That crap is trippy with a capital T (this fact is also covered here).
As a parent you get peed on and barfed on a lot. Just accept it. Emmaline is almost 14 months old, and I bet we average 3 times a week for these unexpected events.
There are a lot of baths, a lot of times more than once a day. Whether the little one is dirty or not, it passes time, and they are humored, a perfect combination.

I'm sure this list will expand, but these are my observations at 14 months.

Christmas Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:01:00 +0000

I've created a picasa web album full of our Christmas pictures, you can find it here:

From Christmas Pictures

Santa, It's Not You, It's Me

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 01:20:00 +0000

Ab and Emmaline went to see Santa this afternoon. This picture:

perfectly captures the essence of our last 14 months
was no surprise to either of us
states "Season's Greetings", but I think only one person in the picture is actually thinking that.

Merry Christmas everyone, from Santa, me, Ab, and (reluctantly) Emmaline. :)

Life as a 1 Year Old

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:40:00 +0000

Life with Emmaline can be rewarding, challenging, and sanity questioning. However most of the time it's a lot of fun. She's goofy, playful and very interactive.

We took her yesterday to her 1-year-old doc appointment. She's still somewhere between 90 & 95 percentile in height, weight & head circumference. So that's good I guess. If she keeps this up, I believe I can stop contributing on her 529 account because she's a lock for a volleyball scholarship. Right?

Anyway, I seldom post without pictures, and this time is no different.

A lot of evenings you can find Emmaline in her jammies (aka a 'sleeper'). Tonight she was wearing her pink hearts. Just before this picture she was reading a book on her own which I tried to capture. When she saw the camera she tossed the book over her right shoulder and lit up for the camera...

Sooner or later she forgets about Mom & Dad and decides to play with her toys. Usually this involves the following steps:

Take the toy out of whatever container it is found in
Carefully visually inspect the toy
(Optional) Bite on the toy with your 4 front teeth
Toss it aside.
Repeat

At some point in the evening, she becomes unhappy with something. If that previous sentence sounds arbitrary, well, it is. "Something" cannot be defined, and is seldom ever the same "something". I can't quite recall what this "something" was, but certainly she wasn't happy with something...

When she's upset, one easy remedy is taking her outside to 'walk the grounds'. She and Daddy spend quite a bit of time outside looking at the trees, touching leaves, etc.

Finally, we can never forget about my propensity to make a complete fool out of myself. At some point she'll be ashamed of me. Until then, I'll continue to look like and idiot...

1st Birthday Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:40:00 +0000

Today was Emmaline's first birthday, and happened to be one of the last days of a small spell of indian summer here in Ohio. So Ab took some pics outside this afternoon.

Moo Juice

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:06:00 +0000

This week Emmaline turns 1. And with her 1 year birthday comes the opportunity to move off of formula and onto Vitamin D milk. Unlike a lot of things somehow the transition to the ol' moo juice has been a breeze. So easy, I'm almost afraid to even say it!

Our First Fat Lip

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:46:00 +0000

We went to T-town this weekend and got to catch up with our good friends Jason & Becky...

Of course we found time to hang out with the Laveys. Carter and Emmaline were able to sneak in some good play time at Nana's.

On Sunday morning, EGH & I decided to play on the couch, and I tried to take some shots while she was sitting on my stomach...

On Monday, I took the day off and we hung out with Kara, Brooke, & Carter. Emmaline was playing with a couple plastic balls while trying to crawl around on the linoleum floor. Unfortunately, she found out that the combination of the two was a bit too dangerous...

There was a little bit of blood, probably more tears than blood, and a decent amount of swelling. But she seems to be a pretty tough kid and we haven't seen a tear since. Well, at least not a tear related to the fat lip incident... :)

Halloween Lamb

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 01:22:00 +0000

We dressed Emmaline up in this ridiculously cute lamb outfit for Halloween.

This might be the best hand-me-down costume ever (thanks Emily!). Below is the best photo we took, those little nonsense ears don't quite lay down, which was perfect. Also notice what's in her hand, more on that later...

Tonight we trick-or-treated with the super-excited-for-Halloween Baker boys. The Power Ranger was terrified of dogs, the Jedi raked in the candy. The lamb just watched them, and squawked.

Regarding what was in Emmaline's hand above. It was actually an old transformer (Astrotrain to be specific, which changed into a decepticon, train (with jets) & space shuttle, but I digress...) of mine, which she loves. She's recently taken to all of my transformers. She takes each one out of the case, inspects it intently, and then sets it down, and grabs the next. Besides Astrotrain, she's also fond of the Constructicons and this halfway ghetto go-bot transporter thing.

Katie's Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Last evening Katie ~~Humphreys~~ Schriner married Michael Schriner here in Harbor Springs Michigan.

Unfortunately it rained during the entirety of the outdoor ceremony. But Katie wasn't going to let a little rain ruin her day. I was given the great honor of walking her down the aisle which was really neat. I've never had the opportunity of being anyone's 'best man', and now that I'm approaching 32 and most of my male friends are married I doubt I'll ever get that opportunity. However walking Kates down the aisle was an order of magnitude bigger deal to me.

The reception immediately followed, and quickly got loud. Not necessarily the DJ, its just that my family (besides me of course) has no concept of an 'inside' voice. There seems to be a direct correlation between the volume of the boys in the McMann family and how good a time everyone was having. Last night we were exceptionally loud.

Well, that might be some sort of record amount of verbiage that I wrote above, so I'll stop while I'm ahead and post some pictures!

Below is a pic of Kara and Brooke. I had my SB-400 with me and pointed the flash, up. Unfortunately I turned the camera 90 degrees, so the flash was pointed left of me. I thought the picture wouldn't turn out right, however, it actually turned out very nice.

Once dinner was finished, Katie told me she had an idea. And went to talk to the DJ. About 3 minutes later the DJ said that the next song was for Katie's Dad, and "Keep your hands to yourself" by the Georgia Satellites came on. What came next can best be described by this pic (shot on my camera by Todd)

The party certainly went on from there…

The last time I posted was 2 months ago

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:04:00 +0000

Rule. I mean seriously, 2 months? Do I really think I have any real readers? Doubt it.

It's 12:05 am and I should be in bed but I had to share a couple things.

I joined facebook tonight. Welcome to the intarwebs circa 2006, Brett. Glad you made it.
I made an idiot of myself last evening right after we left Bible study. The actual details aren't that important, nor for anyone who knows me is this situation at all surprising. However, after nearly wetting her pants Abigail said this:

"Sometimes, it strikes me as amazing that we ended up together. You do so many things that I've spent my whole life avoiding."

- [AEH 2008]

Nice. She avoids looking like a moron, and I excel at it.

Retreat of the Teething Monster

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:33:00 +0000

For the past week or so, Emmaline has been vying for The Crankiest Baby in the World title--she has been teething. Thankfully, yesterday, one of her top teeth poked through her gums, and she has been acting like herself again. Hooray! She cracked a few smiles and played with the toys that had been her favorites before all of this drama began. But we had to call in the professionals--the Baker Boys--to help her remember how to laugh. I'm happy to report that they were successful. We don't call them professionals for nothing; nobody does silly like these two. :)

Working on Crawling

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:06:00 +0000

Emmaline is not crawling yet, but she is working hard at learning. The fact that she can't get to toys that she eyes from across the room has really started to bother her, and she is bound and determine to get things figured out as far as crawling goes. Here is a little video I recorded of her trying to make forward progress but having a difficult time doing so. :)

Zechman Family Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Abigail) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:17:00 +0000

The Zechman family spent the 4th of July weekend at Mohican State Park. It was a great little getaway, and we all had a wonderful time. There was so much to see and do; here are a couple of the activities we enjoyed over the weekend.

Hanging out at the lodge

Rafting trip

Dinner at Malabar Farm

Swimming

Impersonating Napoleon Dynamite :)

Laughing with Nana

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:21:00 +0000

This is my favorite video clip of Emmaline that we've recorded so far. Nana was in town and the two of them were playing peekaboo. Emmaline found this to be the funniest game she has yet experienced. See for yourself.

Playing Catch-Up

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:07:00 +0000

I usually leave the blogging, like all things technical, to Brett. But he has been pretty swamped lately, so I decided to try my hand at blogging. Next thing you know, I'll be downgrading computers, right Zechmans? :)

A lot has gone on since the last post, so I will play catch-up with pictures.

Emmaline showing off her new teeth

Smiling in the Bumbo (which she has now outgrown)

Wyatt and Emmaline in Piqua for Father's Day

Mommy and Emmaline--still Father's Day

Daddy and Emmaline sitting on the porch

Swinging

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:25:00 +0000

While at a birthday party yesterday, some adults got talking about how much we still like the simple pleasure of swinging at a playground. Well, apparently that pleasure isn't lost on a six-month old either. Now that Emmaline can almost sit up on her own, we decided to try the swing at the park...

Dedication

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sat, 17 May 2008 21:03:00 +0000

Last Sunday, we dedicated Emmaline to the Lord. After church, we had a family party here at the homestead.

Emmaline and Abigail before the dedication

After the party, Brooke found Abigail's dad to be pretty fun, particularly this hang-upside-down game.

Brooke also got in on Wilson and Wyatt's favorite game, "get-me". Pictured above, she got Grammy to chase her.

One Other Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:42:00 +0000

Technologically speaking, the Humphreys have joined the early 2000s.

We now have a camera that can do videos with voice. Seriously. I know, I'm a big spender. Well, I got my economic stimulus package, and since there are cameras out there for $50 that can do this, I thought, "Hey, you can really wow her with a camera that can record voice." So I did, and Ab was wowed.

Emmaline recently discovered her toes and decided they must go in her mouth...

Emmaline at 6 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Tuesday was a big day for the Humphreys family. On May the sixth, Emmaline turned 6 months old. So on Thursday, she and Abigail went to the doctor for her six month checkup.

The doc let us know she is 95 percentile in height, and well, not "on my chart" in weight! I think we can agree that she is a healthy eater and just leave it at that. Speaking of eating, here are five or so shots of her eating peas and prunes this week. Enjoy the last one. She's a goofball.

Tony & Todd's Roadside Attractions

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:49:00 +0000

For all my readers that know Todd Gaertner (I have little way of telling, but by my count I think I have 7 readers, and probably 2 of which know this person). I was able to watch "Tony & Todd's Roadside Attractions" on WTVG 13 this weekend.

Even if you don't know Todd or do, you may enjoy the podcast version of this show. You can find it at http://tonyandtoddsroadsideattractions.blogspot.com/

(bah! requires windows media player).

The weekend in review

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:29:00 +0000

The Humphreys crew went to Toledo this weekend. Abigail was helping on the inspection of the "High Level Bridge" across the ~~muddy~~ mighty Maumee River. So it gave us all a good excuse to go up to Toledo and visit.

Emmaline wasn't all that excited about getting a bath on Saturday afternoon. Nana decided to try to give her a bottle to soothe her. Turns out, she really liked it. Also turns out it makes for an entertaining photo...
While at Mom's this weekend, I had the typical springtime chore of replacing sprinkler heads that may have gone bad*. I was working on one in particular that didn't seem to be getting the correct water pressure, blah blah blah. End of story: I was fiddling with the head while it had water going to it. The head popped off when I was kneeling right over the spray...

* The truth is, sprinkler heads don't really go "bad". They work pretty reliably. They just can't stand up to a lawn mower blade set to cut grass at 1/16".

Is this thing on?

noreply@blogger.com (Brett) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:33:00 +0000

Actually, I think the more appropriate question would be, "Is this thing even a microphone?" But I digress. It has been a long while since I last posted. And, lucky for me, I have good friends and family in my life that remind me of this.

Frequently.

Actually it has been nearly two months since my last post. Well, six weeks. And that is frankly embarrassing. Besides Emmaline and Abigail, work has started to capture a lot more of my free time than it used to. But that's acceptable; as my grandfather would say, "Having a lot of work is better than the alternative."

At any rate, you most likely don't go to this blog for the fantastic personal commentary. So, without further ado, here are some pictures.

Emmaline had just gotten up from a nap and was somewhat disheveled when I snapped this picture. But I love the way she is just wide-eyed staring at the camera with her hands folded underneath her.

A couple days later she laid on the floor while we changed the bed sheets. She thought there was something silly about clean bed sheets, so she kicked in them for a little while.

Emmaline and her Aunt Kristin at Orange Park. Emmaline looks very serious. Because she takes things very seriously. Don't mess.

Very different from her cousin Wyatt, who, well, talks a lot and takes few things beyond wiffle ball seriously.

Next order of business: a couple videos that I've been meaning to post for weeks now. The first is of Emmaline rolling over.

The second is of her in a jumper seat that friends of ours let us borrow. The clip isn't that exciting, but it gives you a glimpse into what keeps her humored, day in and day out.