I don't think you'll hear us say "Audrey is a great sleeper" for a while. I think we've jinxed ourselves. Seriously, what happened to our good little sleeper? Let me clarify. She still
loves her naps. goes down without a fuss, sometimes even runs to her room and waits for me to put her in her crib. it's amazing!
Bedtime is a whole other thing these days. I think somewhere along the timeline within these last few months, we've become pushovers about bedtime. there. I admitted it. I am a pushover. (the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one, right?!?) Audrey, the poor little thing, has been teething hard core (the upper incisors, all four molars and the bottom cuspids. and yes, I had to look up those names in her baby book) since her birthday, so for the last three months I've taken pity on her and if she cried at bedtime, I would go in and try to soothe her, or hold her until she fell asleep, or even take her on car rides to get her to fall asleep at night. All the while, thinking I was helping her, because we thought she was in pain. (which she was...by the obvious hands/fingers constantly in her mouth, her chewing on my shoulder, etc.) I would give her tylenol or use baby orajel, but she would still cry and cry. I thought I was doing the right thing...and maybe I was, but it seems we've created a monster.
It's been very frustrating lately because she still takes naps like a champ but when it's bedtime, she acts tired, and will lay in her crib quietly for (sometimes) 30 minutes and then just start screaming in pain (or so it seems.) So I thought to myself..."maybe she's sleeping too much during the day!" She's at the age where most kids go down to one nap, so maybe she's ready for it! Yesterday we tried it and she made it until 11:30 and then slept 2 1/2 hours! I was really excited about it! She started acting really sleepy a little before 7, so I gave her her milk and put her in her crib and she was silent until 7:30...then the screaming started. I let her cry for a little bit so I could decipher what kind of cry it was and it sounded like the "I'm hurting" cry, so I held her for a little bit, gave her some tylenol, got her calmed down and then laid her back in her crib...just to have her scream as soon as I was gone. and this went on until 8:15. She wasn't going to give in. My mom just happened to be coming over so I could go to worship team practice, so I told her to just entertain her until she seemed tired. My mom told me she finally laid her down at 9 and she cried (really hard) for about 7 minutes but then fell asleep. It's so frustrating to me because I know all the signs she was giving me, telling me how tired she was. I think she got over-tired and fought through the sleepiness until she was wide awake again. This has happened a couple of times during the last few weeks and it's wearing us out.
so...where do we go from here?
I think we're going to probably stick with a morning and afternoon nap for a while. There are some days that 2 naps are not possible and we'll get through those days as they come. but for the most part, it seems like she still really wants and needs that morning nap for some reason. I'm going to start limiting her morning nap to an hour and her afternoon nap to 1 1/2 hours, just to make sure she's not sleeping too much during the day, so she's tired at night. I'm also going to re-cement our bedtime routine so she really knows that it's time to go to bed, which means I'll have to stop being a pushover and let her just cry it out. We'll still go in and check on her at certain intervals, but I won't try to assist her in falling asleep (like car rides) anymore.
*sigh...*
does anyone else have any great advice? I've heard that going to one nap can be traumatic and is quite a process...so I'd love to hear how others got through it and what helped them. if you read my blog but don't like to leave comments, just email me...that would be great!
thanks for reading and thanks for the advice... :)
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We're due May 23, 2010, just 6 days after Audrey's due date...how crazy! Thank you, God, the gift of another child. We're already looking forward to the blessing this child will be. We are so excited about this new addition to our family!! 
then...yesterday morning, Audrey and I were out playing on the swingset and in the middle of one of her squeals of excitement, I heard our neighbors outside again. Sure enough, they were whispering to each other, so I just acted like I didn't notice them. Then they yelled out to me, "hey, we have some more stuff that we don't want to pack up but don't feel obligated to take it, really. We just don't want to have to take it with us if we don't have to. Would Audrey want a little picnic table and a slide?" I got the feeling that they were feeling bad for offering me all their stuff, but in reality, we LOVE hand-me-downs! 
I tried to pay them for everything, but they wouldn't hear of it. They said it was a big help to them just to be rid of them. With being so busy trying to move, they hadn't had time to advertise to sell them and they knew Audrey would love all of the stuff as much as their girls did. What sweet neighbors. We'll miss them.
We can hardly believe that you are 16 months old! Where has the time gone? The other day mommy was looking at some pictures from last summer (btw, it seems like a lifetime ago!) and it truly is amazing how fast you have changed and grown into a little girl. It seems that each month gets better and better with you. We don't know how it can, but it always does.
You are a very active little girl! You are running almost everywhere you go! You love to climb!! Anything that you can figure your way onto, you do it: the couches, the rocking chair, mommy and daddy's bed, your booster chair, the kitchen table, your stroller, the fort at Nana and Papa's, your slide, the swing outside, and the handles on the oven. You are fearless, which scares us sometimes, but you usually find a safe way down from where ever you are. And even if you do fall, you only cry for a few short seconds and then you're back to playing!
You still LOVE playing outside. Your new favorite thing to do outside it pointing at airplanes as they fly over, which happens a LOT. You stop whatever you're doing and look up until you find it, then say "oooo" as you point with your little finger up at the plane. it's so cute. You still love your swing and exploring in the backyard. Of course, you still love tormenting Walter by taking his bone and making him chase you around to get it back. You get so excited when he plays along with you! 
Speaking of dogs, you've recently learned to make the sound a dogs makes! well, kind of. Since Walter hardly ever barks and he sniffs you all the time, we've taught you to sniff through your nose! it is seriously one of the cutest things you do! You're so adorable with your little nose scrunched up and your eyes squinted. Here you are trying it in the car:
Lately you've become a picky eater. We keep offering you lots of kinds of food, but you're not very adventurous with what you'll eat. The foods you'll always eat are cheerios, bananas, oatmeal, crackers, cheese, applesauce, pears, apples, watermelon, dried fruit, biscuits, pizza crust, muffins, beans, mac and cheese and chicken (and dessert if we let you.) We hope that you'll get over this soon! (What we don't understand about this, though, is that you'll eat Walter's dog food and dirt/mud when you're outside...)
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