Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Alaina at 2 Months Old

Dear Alaina,

How have you been here for two months already? I don't know if it's because you're my third baby and your brother and sister keep me so busy, but time seems to be going by more quickly with you than it did with Aubrey or Jude. One advantage of being the third child is that I know only too well how fast babies grow up, so I feel like I'm enjoying your babyness maybe a little bit more than I did with Aubrey or Jude. Of course, I loved them just as much as babies, but I was so excited for them to reach new milestones. With you, I'm in NO hurry. Having a completely helpless little infant is a lot of work, but in the blink of an eye, you'll be a rowdy toddler who wants nothing to do with being held by Mommy. I'm reminding myself of that on days when I feel like I can't put you down. I love everything about you from your fuzzy little hair to your darling little toes. I love that you're my tiny baby.

This past month, you have changed so much! You went from being a sleepy newborn to an alert little baby! You still have some "newborn" left in you, but you are awake a good bit these days. You love to look around when you're awake, and several people have commented on how alert you are. You're also smiling more and more, and it melts me. The other day, I walked by a mirror as I was holding you, and you noticed your reflection. I stopped and let you visit with the baby in the mirror for a while. You kicked your legs and just smiled and smiled. I don't blame you for smiling at that baby... I can't help but smile when I see her, too :) Along with smiling, you also coo and make precious little noises. You seem like you're just dying to talk to me, and I love those little sounds.

So far, you've been an easy baby. You do like to be held when you're awake, so that makes it hard to get anything done, but thankfully you take great naps. You have done so well sleeping in your crib, and I think transitioning you to your own room so early turned out to be a really good thing for you. Apparently, the pack n play just wasn't comfortable for you! You seem to love your bed, and you've been sleeping from about 9PM-6AM in your bed for the past several weeks. We never hear a peep out of you after putting you in bed. You were up last night at 4AM, so I don't know if that will be your new thing or if it was just a fluke. Even if you start getting up at 4 every night, I think you're doing SO great in the sleep department, and I'm incredibly thankful for that! You take a short morning nap in your bed and a good afternoon nap while Aubrey and Jude are napping. The evenings are a little tricky. You get tired, but I can never get to you take an evening nap in your bed. So you usually fuss in the evenings until you fall asleep in my arms for a short nap. You still sleep in your Miracle Blanket, and I don't think we'll be getting rid of that any time soon. You don't sleep longer than about 10 minutes at a time if you're not swaddled.

You're still a great nurser. I feed you on demand, but if you're asleep longer than 3 hours, I wake you up and feed you. Since you've been going so long without eating at night, I just want to make sure that you're getting enough to eat during the day. If we're at home, you eat about every 2 1/2 hours during the day. When we're out and about, you're fine going 3 hours without eating. You're just very laid back and go with the flow right now. I can't wait to see if your personality changes or if you'll always be an easy going girl. You also take bottles really well when I need you to. You've had 3 bottles so far, and you took them like it was no big deal. Mommy really appreciates that, and it would be great if you could keep that up! :)

You are a growing girl! You weigh about 11 pounds. You wear a size 3 month clothes, although some of your newborn dresses still fit. You are wearing a size 1 diaper.

You're not really a fan of your swing, bouncy seat, or carseat. You will sit in them for very short periods of time, but then you just cry. Like I already mentioned, you just prefer to be held ;) You like your pacifier, but you don't usually sleep with it. I give it to you when I'm trying to get you to sleep, but it almost always falls out of your mouth before I even put you down. You like to pick your head up and look around when I'm holding you on my shoulder. You have good head control, but Mommy always forgets to do "tummy time" with you. You're not a fan of being on your stomach, so I'm thinking it wouldn't go over too well. Lately, you love it when I hold you where you're facing outward. You just like to see what's going on!

Alaina, you have so many people who just love you to pieces. Aubrey and Jude are two of your biggest fans :) Having you as part of our family feels so right. Every time our family grows, I'm just so amazed at how God gives us just the right baby at just the right time. You are already such a special, important part of this family, and an amazing blessing from the Lord. We love you dearly.

See? Lap baby :)

Mommy

3 comments:

Ashley said...

Can I just be honest? Sometimes I seriously forget that you have three kids!? I have no idea why.....I was studying these pictures of Alaina because I feel like I need to get to know her - ha!! xoxo

Jennifer said...

What a sweet girl! I love that last picture... it looks like she is trying to figure out what you're doing!

I love reading about your three blessings!

David Howie said...

I took the pictures this month, and she was screaming. So I had to give her the paci to calm her down. I got the camera all focused and jerked out the paci to get one picture of her not screaming. So "trying to figure out what you're doing" is really "why the heck did you take my paci, I'm going to scream again now."