Florida and babies

I have to start out by saying I've been a bad blogger lately! It seems like I never post anymore. I promise I'll be on here more often!!

I think we've lost another family member to the warm states. My cousin Connie is in Florida, and I have a feeling she isn't coming back. :-) She is 18 years old, and grew up in a little bitty town in Washington ( the same one I grew up in.) She just graduated from High School. Her boyfriend moved to Florida after graduation, and she decided to go visit for a while. She left last Saturday. My mom talked to her today and she loves it there. She said it's just like where I live only hotter and smaller. LOL She is going home to visit for Thanksgiving, but she bought a round trip ticket so I think she's planning to go back to Florida after the holidays. I'm so proud of her for doing this. It's always a good thing to get out of Ilwaco!!! Too many people stay there and never get to see what the rest of the world is like.

I'm sure the family isn't very happy that she left, ( I still don't think they've forgiven me for leaving) and who knows, maybe she will change her mind and come back, but I hope she has a great time first!! I know I grew up and changed so much when I moved to California all by myself.

On to my next topic of Babies. I was reading in someone else's blog about 2nd babies and how hard it is (in part) because toddlers don't sleep through the night. I don't know if I'm just lucky or if circumstances are different, but the kids I've nannied for have all slept through the night by 6 months and pretty much stuck to that. With my last 2 families that was the case, and I'm pretty sure Mason did the same. Unless they were sick or had a really bad night of teething. I'm wondering though if it's because the kids I've nannied for have all been Cry It Out babies? They are all thumb suckers as well. I'm sure they wake up at night, but they go back to sleep on their own. Bed time is also pretty easy. Do night time routine, put child in bed, say good night, turn off the light, close the door. Quiet ensues.

Amelia is somewhere in the middle. She is not a thumb sucker but a pacifier baby. Once a week or so she wakes up and needs to be snuggled before she can go back to sleep. Other than that she wakes up and finds her paci and goes back to sleep, OR she cries till we come find her paci and she goes back to sleep. I have learned the difference in her cries, she has the "i'm tired, I don't wanna go to sleep though" cry. That one I usually leave her for a few minutes, and she conks out almost immediately. She also has the "something is wrong, get in here now cry" that one makes me come running. There are others that are in between and I admit, sometimes she cries for a few minutes before I get to her. I want her to be comfortable with herself, and being alone, and I want her to be able to soothe herself to sleep. She is finally starting to be okay in her crib, she will wake up and play in there for a few minutes, a couple times lately I have gone in to check on her and I find her standing up smiling at me around her pacifier. Honestly, I think parents need to listen to their guts and to their children. Not just listen as far as is my kid smiling or crying right this second, but see how they are doing. So far I've been blessed with a pretty happy, mostly healthy child.

We must be doing something sorta right! :-)