It's been a busy few weeks, and I've been having a hard time updating this blog now that I've gone back to work.
2 weeks ago, we went on a family trip to Atlantic City. It was our first hotel experience with Emily and I was surprisingly happy with how it went -- at first. Atlantic City is about a 2.5 hour drive from our house. As soon we got home from work Thurs night, it was a race to get everything ready. We had to pack up all of Emily's stuff, pack up our own stuff, feed her a bit, clean up, etc. All so we could hit the road as quickly as possible. We didn't end up leaving the house until close to 9pm, and I was glad that Emily was doing okay with her pushed back sleep. The car ride down to AC was pretty awesome. Emily just fell asleep in the carseat with literally no problem. Within 20 min of driving, she was out. Sy and I quietly munched on mcdonalds in the front while Emily slept and we thought to ourselves, this is awesome. When we arrived at our hotel, Sy went ahead to check in so that Emily wouldn't be exposed to too much light while we checked in, so I stayed with her in the car so she could sleep a little more. She woke up somewhat when Sy closed the car door, but she was able to fall back asleep. When it was time to get to the hotel room, Emily woke up and was curious as usual. We quickly set up her pack n play in the hotel room and immediately dimmed the lights and I did our night time routine of prayer, song, and a little rocking. At this point, it was around midnight, so she was pretty tired. After I put her down, Sy and I hid in the bathroom to wait for her to fall asleep. And she fell asleep pretty quickly! Maybe like 20 min! We crept quietly back to the room and crawled into bed to sleep. It was a huge success!
The next day was pretty great for the most part. We had breakfast in a restaurant and Emily ate pretty well in her high chair and gave me a chance to eat myself as she munched on a roll. After breakfast, we took her back to the hotel room and got her ready for a nap. It was again - very smooth sailing! I did my usual routine, Emily fell asleep within 20 min, and I quietly laid in the bed doing phone stuff while I waited for her to wake up. After she woke up after about an hour and 20 min of sleep, we got her ready to go hang out at the pool.
Emily LOVED the pool! She was a little apprehensive at first and clung to my neck. But soon after she realized she was safe, she had a blast! She was all smiles and loved splashing with her arms. On top of that, she was a natural! When I held her somewhat horizontally, she would kick her little feet in a paddling motion and would smile so happily. It was a really great time in the pool! I did notice though that Emily seemed to be getting progressively a little sicker and sicker with a runny nose that seemed to become more frequent. I had had some suspicion that maybe she was getting sick the night prior. I hoped it wasn't going to be a big deal.
After the pool time, we brought Emily back to the hotel to wash her and nap her again. Washing her was tough in the shower since she was so slippery. And then this is when the trouble began. I did my usual nap routine and put her down and that's when the hard crying began. Emily wailed at the top of her lungs and was standing up in her crib begging us to take her out. At one point, the hotel staff knocked on our door repeatedly to the point that I answered it. Turns out someone reported us and thought we had left a baby in there unsupervised. It was so embarrassing. We realized that Emily was just not gonna sleep, so we would just have to keep her awake for the rest of the night. We figured eh, no problem. She'll sleep later tonight.
We went to dinner, Emily was again fine during dinner. And finally, around 8pm, we brought her back to the room to get ready for bed. Everything seemed fine. We drank milk, we changed her diaper, we changed her clothes, etc. By the time it was bedtime, it was closer to 9pm. I did the usual night time routine and we snuck off to the bathroom again to wait for her to fall asleep.
Emily cried HARD. She was screaming at the top of her lungs. She was standing and begging for us to come and get her. Sy and I were sitting in the bathroom unsure of what to do. I was mentally freaking out listening to her cry - worrying that she was scared out of her mind - being in a foreign room and her parents are just gone. After about 20 min, I went out to go get her. She was nearly inconsolable. I rocked her for a semi-long time and then put her back down in the crib while she was drowsy. In the past, she would just drift off into sleep. Instead, it became full on wailing again as she freaked out that we abandoned her again. After a short time, I went back to go and get her, and this time, I rocked her until she fell asleep in my arms. Then I waited for her to get into a deep sleep before I put her down in the crib. My arms were KILLING me. Emily is heavy now - at least 18 lbs. It had been at least 20 min of holding her. I was feeling numb and tingly. When I put her down, I ever so gently lowered her into the crib and it was a success. Emily was asleep. By this point, it was nearly 11pm. After we felt that Emily had officially fallen asleep, we crawled into bed exhausted. Unfortunately, about 40 min later, Emily woke up crying hard again and Sy and I couldn't believe our eyes. This has never happened to our little girl! She's usually such a good sleeper! I got up to rock her and my arms were so weak already. I tried to rock her in a sitting position. But Emily just wouldn't fall asleep. She laid in my arms fidgeting and fidgeting for close to 30 min. I was so exhausted - physically in my arms and legs, but also sleepy. Finally, Sy came and tagged me out. He then rocked Emily for another 30 min and then she finally fell asleep. He carefully lowered her into the crib and slept. We thought we were in the clear. But the rest of the night - Emily literally woke up crying every hour. Sy and I got the worst sleep of our lives being woken up by her all night long. But who cares about that - our poor girl must have been so tired and exhausted if she woke up crying all night long.
Finally, morning came. I was more than excited to pack up and go home. And so began Emily being REALLY sick. Her nose was like a faucet. Her nose couldn't stop running. She grew miserable from us constantly rubbing her nose and face. We went to breakfast and luckily, she was good so long as she had bread to munch on. (On a side note, the chef of the restaurant fell in love with Emily and wanted to give her a treat. So he got fresh made donuts for the whole table bc of Emily. That girl is earning her keep by getting us free stuff!) Finally, it was time to go home. We were so scared of the 2.5 hour car ride. Emily was already so sick. She could potentially hate the car and we would be stuck for so long. But instead - Emily performed a miracle! She fell asleep pretty quickly in the car- maybe within 10 min? And then slept for 2 HOURS!!!! It was the best possible scenario! 1. She was exhausted from the worst night of sleep she's ever had. So she really needed the rest. And 2. She didn't have to hate the long car ride! We were so thankful for her miracle sleep!
That was like the craziest 48 hours we've ever been through. We had some big highs and lows, but at least we survived. Since then, Emily is still recovering. Her sleep has been poor for over a week now. She still wakes up several times throughout the night - just crying out in her sleep and then falling back asleep. We don't know what's up with her. Is it teething? Is it still this cold? But either way, Sy and I haven't had good sleep with her for almost 2 weeks now. We're both so tired all the time.
In terms of fun developments, Emily has become a talking machine! She is learning words at such a fast pace, that it's incredible to watch! While she can't pronounce most things, she's getting close to the consonants, syllables and intonation. It's pretty amazing! She pretty much mimics everything we say now, so we have to start being careful around her! The most fun thing has been the ability for us to somewhat communicate with her. She can say bba for bbang (bread); ch for cheese; meh for mool (water). So now when she whines and points, we can just ask her what she wants, and she'll tell us! It's pretty amazing! She can kind of say ddalgee (strawberry), apple, ah chagowuh (oh it's cold); ah ddooguhwuh (oh it's hot); neh (yes). Her clearest words are mama for food/bottle; kkakka for snacks; umma for mom and appa for dad. Yesterday, she learned how to say hamee (grandma) and now she's constantly asking for her grandma. On another side note, Emily now looks for people. When I was at work and Sy was home with her, she would make him walk through the house and look for me and say umma over and over. Emily always asks for appa when I'm watching her. And now I hear she calls out for hamee. It's pretty crazy to see how cognizant she's become. She's so aware of everything and truly understands us. I can't believe what a person she is becoming. But on the flipside, it also kills me that she is now aware of when we leave her and she misses us. I hate that, and it breaks my heart to have to leave her to go to work. I truly worry about when we find a nanny and she feels like we abandoned her with a stranger. Sigh, that's a whole different issue that I just can't get into now.
Emily learned how to do "no no no" by wagging her finger. She's also starting to dance a little - she waves her arm when music plays. Lastly, every once in a while, she'll stand up and stand by herself for like 2 seconds before she grabs ahold of something. While I don't think she's going to start walking soon, it's definitely coming.
Emily's eating has gone back to normal and she seems to be eating fine again. She definitely has learned what she likes and doesn't like. She will spit out what she doesn't want, and point at what she wants. But at least it's not 100% rejection anymore! Furthermore, Emily has finally learned to drink from a sippy cup! After weeks of rejecting all sippy cups and only wanting to drink from open cups (which are SUPER messy), she finally figured it out and drinks plenty of water now. I'm so proud of her!
