Four months old

It has been a while since I posted anything. Leah is keeping me quite busy now. She doesn't mind to play by herself, but she is so much fun that I want to just play with her all of the time. Although she is still little, she is developing too quickly for me! At her 4 month appointment she weighed 10lbs, 13oz maintaining her 5-10% ranking. She is rolling onto her tummy more than rolling onto her back, although she doesn't really enjoy being on her tummy. It is just easier for her. She brings everything to her mouth, and gets mad when she can't keep it there exactly the way she wants it. She has started eating rice cereal and seems to like it. The biggest accomplishment (or the one I like the most) is that she now sleeps through the night. Hopefully I am not jinxing myself by writing this.

Greg was in the Dominican Republic for a few days this month. He was recognized for being one of the top managers in the company. They do a big thing every year at some resort. We could have gone with him, but it would not have been much fun with a 4 month old. Mom stayed with us while he was away. She diligently worked on Leah taking a bottle. At the end of the week we decided to give up. Leah would take few drinks and then it was like she realized the milk was coming from an alternate source of which she did not approve. She would then just scream. It's just not worth it. Since I am not working it is really not a big deal.

While mom was here she also got Leah to giggle for the first time. It was so cute. You have to work really hard to get a giggle though. It's the oddest things that make her really giggle. Greg was moving his hands while he was talking and she laughed so much. Now he does the same thing, but she isn't interested anymore.


She is such a wiggle worm at night. I said that she was sleeping through the night, but that doesn't mean I am . Every night (usually around 4:30am) she manages to get her face buried in the bumpers so I have to go move her. She is swaddled at night, too. I thought about taking the bumpers off the bed, but she turns her head so much she will bang it on the rails. I tried one of the sleep positioners and she just took it with her. So I have now found out that I can just lift the bumpers up which gives her nose room to breath and keeps her head from hitting the rails. At 4:30 this morning she had turned herself 180 degrees from where she started and by 7 she was back to her original position in bed. I think I am going to be in some big trouble when she starts crawling!

Life is so good. I love being at home with her. My friend Dana and I are having so much fun taking the girls on little shopping trips. We usually spend as much time shopping as we do in dressing rooms nursing. I'm sure the sales attendants wonder what in the world we are doing! Leah also had her first nursery stay experience. She and Addie Grace (Dana's little one) were the only babies in the room. That made me feel good! We are attending a bible study on Tuesday mornings. According to the ladies. both girls did well.

Here are a few pictures from this month. (I've got to get the camera going!)

I love the bumbo!

Cereal is yummy!But my fingers are even yummier!

Here's video of Leah laughing. At first, it was a cute little giggle, but by the time I could get the camera it was more of a chuckle. You probably don't want to watch the whole video clip, but I don't know how to shorten it. If you do...let me know! She is watching Greg's hands.

Pictures

We received our pictures from our photographer today. These are some of my favorites. Thanks Lori Dill (Appear Photography) for great photos of our little one!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Wow how time has flown by so quickly. We had a wonderful Christmas. It was the best ever so far. We so enjoyed Christmas with Leah even though she had no clue what was going on. To her it was just like any other day when everyone comes to see her. She actually slept while we opened presents. The day after Christmas she rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time. She is reaching for things with more accuracy now. She is also making new sounds which make us laugh. She is just so sweet. It's hard to believe that tomorrow will start 2010. It's been almost a year since we found out we were going to have a baby. It just doesn't seem like a whole year has pased. God has blessed us so much. We surely don't deserve it. I hope that this year will bring much joy and wonderful blessings to my friends and family.

Here are a few pictures of Leah.

The day after Christmas. Leah is trying on her new hair flower that Aunt Dana gave her.

Leah trying out her new 4-wheeler that Grump bought her.

Gran, Grump and Leah
Our first Christmas! She just couldn't stand anymore excitement for the day.
Christmas eve...so excited about Santa.

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.