12 weeks old

I can't believe that 3 months ago I was seeing my little Leah for the very first time. It is so bittersweet to watch her grow. I have been having many teary eyed moments recently. I was holding her and realizing that when she was born the length of her body was about the width of mine. Now her head to waist are that same length. Why can't this time last a little longer. She'll have many more years to be "big" so I want this time to last. I am truly cherishing every day with her despite my house needing some attention. I figure I will always have a house to clean, but I will not always have a baby to hold. Speaking of holding, this past week Leah has decided that she needs a little independence. She doesn't want to be held as much which breaks my heart. She loves to be laying on her activity mat or the floor with some toys. She coos (quite loudly some times) and smiles and has a great time just wiggling and looking around. She still wants to be held in the evenings and when she is tired so I still get my snuggle time. She is amazed by the sight of her hand. She hasn't figured out she has 2 of them yet. Her eyes are filled with wonder as she watches her little hand move around. Life is so good!

We had Christmas/3 month photos taken on Saturday. Go to http://www.appearphotography.com/, click on find your photos, children and families, then Leah to see them. Lori did a fabulous job. I don't even know how to choose. At first, Greg was not very excited about the whole photo shoot. He really doesn't like taking pictures. He told me he did not understand what the big deal was about getting the pictures made. After viewing the photos last night, he said it was all worth it. Leah did pretty well. She had her moments, and I'm amazed Lori was able to get the shots she did. Leah can and does smile more that she did that day, but she was so mesmerized by the lights and the camera that we couldn't get her to smile much. We are going to have so much fun with future photo shoots.

Here are a few more pictures that I took. They don't even begin to compare to Lori's.

Leah with her Gran and Grump.
Our little family
I could just eat her up!

11 weeks old

Oh what joy Leah brings to my heart. I can't say enough about how much fun it is to be home with my little girl. She is so sweet and her little personality is just blooming. She melts my heart every time she smiles. She has found her voice and likes to make really loud noises now. It is so much fun to talk/read to her and listen to her coo and smile. We took her to church for the first time, and she slept through the first half of Bible study. Greg took her out to give her a bottle for the second half. She is loud eater and doesn't take the bottle very well.

The bottle....what a challenge. We had to give her a bottle when we first got home because of her jaundice. That only lasted 1 week. After that she was not given a bottle for quite some time. Here lately we have been trying to give her a bottle so that I can leave the house for more than 2 to 3 hours. It has not been going very well. She fights it! We have made investments in many bottles. She took the cheap ones the best, but that's not saying much. We have been trying to give her practice each day with just an ounce, but it seems more like torture. Then yesterday I got to thinking about what type of nipple was on the bottle. She doesn't like the silicone pacifiers. She takes the latex ones. I thought maybe that would be the case with the bottles. So I made a little trip to the store and got a bottle with the latex nipple. When I got home she was ready to eat. I warmed up the bottle gave it to Greg, and she took it with no problems. I could have kicked myself. I'm just thankful to know what works now. I feel better about leaving her with Greg or my parents and knowing she won't be screaming while they try to feed her.

Greg's parents came for the day on Sunday. It was nice having them here to spend some time with Leah. I know she had changed so much since they last saw her.

Here are some pics from the past weeks.

First time to go to church.

Trying on her shoes which are much too big.

They are only a size 1.

Her first Christmas tree. She loves to look at the lights, but that day was more interested in sleeping.
Her first snow. As you can see, she really didn't care about the snow.

Grandmama and Granddaddy

10 weeks old and Happy Thanksgiving

Leah was able to experience her first Thanksgiving day this week. She got to meet all of her cousins and her great grandmommie. She did very well for the 2 hour trip down and back. She was so good while we were there. I thought she may be fussy since she was not used to being around that many people at once, but she was just happy as can be. She actually slept most of the time. On Saturday, she rooted for Alabama during her first AL/AU game experience. I know Greg will make sure she gets to watch many more AL games.

She is smiling more often now. I finally was able to get a picture of her smiling. Most of the time she is just so captivated by the camera that I can't get her to smile, but she was just so happy that AL won the game she could not contain herself.

Go Bama!

Thanksgiving Day

Getting to meet her great aunt and cousins.

2 months old

Really? Two months has already passed? It does not seem like it has been 2 months since Leah was born. When I was waiting for her, 2 months seemed to go by so slowly, and now time flies by. Leah got her vaccinations on Wednesday. It was pretty pitiful to watch. She screamed through it, but once the last injection was complete she fell asleep. She was so deep in sleep that it concerned me a little, but by the time we made it home she was awake. The doctor gave us a prescription for prilosec because the zantac just did not do the job for her reflux. So Wednesday night we started the new medicine, and then the night turned out to be awful. At about 7pm she started screaming and could not be calmed down. I have no clue what was wrong. Thursday and Friday night were almost the same except she wasn't screaming it was more just really fussy. I'm thinking it's colic, but who knows. She has been okay the past 2 nights, but she just wants to be awake. I don't know when my child is ever going to go to sleep before 11pm. I guess she just likes being a night owl.


Even though the nights might not be what I would like, we are still enjoying having her so much. It's so fun to watch her follow Greg when he walks in and out of the room. She it so cute when she smiles that big gummy, open mouth smile. She makes the cutest little noises when she sees something that excites her. What a joy to watch her grow even though I wish she would stay little.


I have not been very good at taking pictures this week, but I did get one of her chillin' on her boppy.

Eight Weeks Old

We had a challenging but good week last week. Leah and I made out first trip out to Walmart. I used my baby bjorn to carry her, and it was a great trip. She slept most of the time and was very content when she wasn't asleep. The challenging part came on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. For some reason, she did not want to go to sleep until midnight. I didn't realize it was a pattern until Thursday night. Tuesday night I thought she slept too much during the day, Wednesday night I thought it was just gas/acid reflux issues, and then Thursday I realized we were making a habit out of this. So Friday I spent the day keeping her awake when she needed to be awake and setting up nap time when she needed to nap. Friday night she slept about 7 hours. It was great.

My mom came here early Saturday morning to spend the weekend with us. My dad and Greg were both going to be out of town Saturday night. We had a great time. Mom had not seen Leah smiling yet so she was thrilled to be able to see that. My brother and his wife spent some time with us Saturday. That afternoon we went to Hobby Lobby to get Leah a Christmas tree for her room. I'll post pictures when I get it decorated. She loves to look at lights so I think she will enjoy it.

My heart is so full of joy. God has blessed me with a beautiful baby girl, a wonderful husband and loving family. I have more than I deserve!

Here are a few pictures from this week.

This dress was made by Mrs. Herron (Dana's mom).
Leah and her Gran.
They talked for hours this weekend.

Sleeping with her dad. I took this picture and then

woke Greg up because I was afraid he would drop her.

Seven weeks old

Leah is really starting to have a little personality now. She is smiling more and beginning to make some cooing sounds. We went for our first shopping experience to the Summit with Dana and Addie Grace. Let's just say it did not go as well as I had wished. She decided that riding in the stroller was not her style and wanted to be held the whole time. So I pushed the stroller and held her. We also seemed to spend most of our time feeding the girls. We did venture out for another shopping trip at the end of the week which was much more successful thanks to Baby Bjorn. I love that thing. We had a great time! Leah got her first real bath this week. We had been bathing her with her lying on the countertop because she was so little and wiggly in the little tub. Her face at first was hilarious. She did not know what to think, but she loved it after the initial shock. Well, I must run now. She is waking and demanding to be fed!

Leah and Addie Grace

Six weeks old

Leah is growing too fast for me. She weighs a little over 8 pounds now. She is much more attentive when we talk to her. She has started smiling occasionally in response to the goofy things we do to try to get her to smile. She doesn't seem to know how much joy we get from her smiles or she would do it much more often I'm sure. Greg and I had our first night out Friday night. Mom and dad came over to keep her. She did very well and only had a little trouble figuring out the bottle. Actually, it just took time to figure out which bottle she liked. Seems she likes the really cheap ones better than the pricey ones. I had more trouble than she did. I hated being away from her. I kept calling mom and dad to make sure everything was okay. I'm sure they got tired of me calling, but appeased me each time.

We had some fun this week trying on some hats that my mom's friend had made. Leah also sported her halloween bib and "costume" while passing out candy. The skeleton on the onesie glows in the dark, but I couldn't get a picture of it.