the Paladinos

Gabby Update

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 by Michael Paladino

Just wanted to provide an update on Gabby's progress.  She can sit up pretty well when we position her but will still topple from time to time.  She can't quite pull herself up into a seated position yet, but she's working on it.  As far as crawling...it seems like we're close.  She has been lunging and reaching a lot more but just hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of how to propel herself forward.  She's got two bottom teeth that we can feel and just barely see the beginnings of, so we expect those to break completely through sometime this week.  She's eating pears, carrots, bananas, applesauce, and all sorts of other goodies which has been fun to watch.

She's more and more fun everyday and more and more spirited which is surprising for two people who are both pretty laid back.  Looks like we're going to have a job on our hands.   Enjoy the pictures!

Gabby doing her impression of Mommy
Gabby doing her impression of Mommy

Just chillin
Just chillin'

Where
Where's Gabby? (Thanks to Cousin Arleigh for the camo outfit)

Playing with Hudson
Playing with Hudson's toys

 

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, We Are Free At Last!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007 by Leslie Paladino

As most of you know we have been swaddling Gabby every night for the past 6 months.  You're probably saying swaddling a 6 month old sounds crazy.  You would be correct.  We have been trying to break this habit since Gabby was 6 weeks old but it has never worked in the past.  Gabby's sleeping has fluctuated quite a bit in the past few months and had finally gotten to the point that she wasn't even taking naps during the day. 

This last weekend we decided would be the Big Breaking Weekend.  We have read and heard that in order to get some babies to sleep at night you have to let them cry without going in to pick them up so they can learn to self soothe.  Having tried everything else we decided to try the crying it out approach for a few days and see what happened.  It sounds cruel but it really wasn't that bad.  She never cried for more than an hour before falling asleep and by the third night she was sleeping through the night and taking two 2-hour naps a day.  We are all in a much better mood now and doing wonderfully.  What a blessing!

Semi-Swaddled
First attempt at breaking the swaddling habit was leaving one arm out.  May 2007

Breaking out of swaddle
Breaking out of swaddle

This is how Gabby sleeps after this weekend
This is how Gabby sleeps after this weekend