Happy New Year!

I'd like to share a few of my favorite Christmas pictures as the holiday season comes to a close...

Christmas Eve party girls

Working on musical skills with Dad

Our little elf bundled up for Christmas Day

All of these presents are so exhausting!

Happy Birthday Momily!

We may be celebrating Mather's birth all the time, but today we celebrate Emily's as well. Happy birthday Em!

Merry Christmas!!!

(Mather's hanging out in her brand new Christmas stocking, hand made by Emily and our friend Adriane.)

Tree decorating

The family gathered around the Ransom homestead for tree decorating Friday night. Things started off well, but Elsa and Mather lost interest and decided to nap instead.

Tummy time!

Because of the very legitimate fear of SIDS, Mather always has to sleep on her back. However, in order to develop her neck muscles and stimulate the crawling instincts, she needs supervised play time on her belly. We call this Tummy Time!

Daddy time

Even though I've been going to work everyday, I still get plenty of quality time with Mather. When I get home we sit together and sometimes read!

Cabbage Patch Kid

We got this HUGE cabbage in our farm box today. I couldn't resist...

Fashion Show

Mather wanted to show off all of the hats that people have made for her!

Emily's co-worker Mardi asked her sister Georgie to make Mather a hat.

Daniel's co-worker Julia Gardiner made this stylish number.

The mother of Grandmather's friend Dorothy crocheted this hat and a blanket.

Meghan Ritchie crafted this adorable hat and matching blanket.

One month!... and she slept on her own!

Today is Mather's first lunaversary!

The big development of the day (so far) was a solo nap. You may say to yourself, "A solo nap, why the heck is that a big development?!"


For the past two weeks, Mather has only been able to sleep while settled into the Moby Wrap (daytime naps) or nuzzled against my chest after nursing (nighttime snoozing). Occassionally, she has been willing to sleep next to me on the bed after nursing, nestled into the crook of my arm.

This routine started when we'd get Mather to fall asleep in our arms and then try to transfer her over to her basket (after waiting the recommended 20 minutes so that she was more deeply sleeping) and within 2-3 minutes she'd start crying in protest of her perceived abandonment. We are not big fans of the "Cry It Out" approach to sleep training. So, we'd pick up our crying (yet tired) baby and try myriad soothing techniques to no avail. Eventually, we'd give in and I'd nurse her back to sleep, even though she wasn't technically hungry. At that point, instead of trying to move her to the basket, I'd just let her lay on me until she woke up for the next meal (2-3 hours).

After about two nights of that routinue, we cut out the attempt to get her to sleep in her basket. Now I just feed her while sitting up in bed, then she and I fall asleep. Needless to say, this means I'm not sleeping very well.

So, the solo nap this morning is a very big development. I am encouraged that Mather is taking the first step towards a more independent sleep habit.

Before we know it, she'll be sleeping through the night all by herself and these days will be a distant memory!