Thursday, October 21, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Be our guest!
We had our first post-sleep schedule visitor this weekend! Now that Kelly is back at home playing with her own little ones (Calvin and Anne) I will admit that I was a little nervous about Savannah being willing to nap and maintain her good track record for sleeping through the night, with another person in the house. I was afraid that I would be distracted from watching for tired signs and that more noise would make it harder for Savannah to stay asleep. I was SO wrong! She slept great! I must thank Kelly for limiting her trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night and apologize for any anxiety I created for her about making noise.
Kelly and Savannah got on as well as as Kelly and I do. As a veteran Mama of 3.5 years she provided some new entertainment that Savannah really enjoyed (keep-away while lying on her back, which made her giggle almost to tears, and singing all the verses to wheels on the bus, many of which I had forgotten, and some "new" ones).
Savannah is getting closer to crawling every day. Her legs are getting stronger as she uses my hands to push off and move forward. She is also getting quite dextrous with her pacifier. She picks it up and looks at it to make sure it is at that right angle and can aim it directly into her mouth with either hand. She can also pass it between her hands as of the last few days, which I read is a milestone for 6 month olds! Last Thursday she even located her paci in her crib all by herself and got it into her mouth. I know it won't be long before we are trying to take that pacifier away, but for now we are super impressed with her growing talents!
One of her cute new habits is to open her arms wide when she is on my lap facing me like she's ready for a hug and then I let her fall into my chest and she wraps her arms around me. She also does this very cute thing where she reaches for daddy when she wants his attention, and if she's close enough, say when we are lying in our bed with her, she will tap his back or his face, which ever she can reach. Speaking of faces, she has also gotten into the habit of grabbing face parts; noses, eyes, mouths, which is cute but sometimes painful. I'm going to have to teach her the phrase "That hurts!" soon, and that my hair is not a rope to pull me closer or hold herself up with!
Kelly and Savannah got on as well as as Kelly and I do. As a veteran Mama of 3.5 years she provided some new entertainment that Savannah really enjoyed (keep-away while lying on her back, which made her giggle almost to tears, and singing all the verses to wheels on the bus, many of which I had forgotten, and some "new" ones).
Savannah is getting closer to crawling every day. Her legs are getting stronger as she uses my hands to push off and move forward. She is also getting quite dextrous with her pacifier. She picks it up and looks at it to make sure it is at that right angle and can aim it directly into her mouth with either hand. She can also pass it between her hands as of the last few days, which I read is a milestone for 6 month olds! Last Thursday she even located her paci in her crib all by herself and got it into her mouth. I know it won't be long before we are trying to take that pacifier away, but for now we are super impressed with her growing talents!
One of her cute new habits is to open her arms wide when she is on my lap facing me like she's ready for a hug and then I let her fall into my chest and she wraps her arms around me. She also does this very cute thing where she reaches for daddy when she wants his attention, and if she's close enough, say when we are lying in our bed with her, she will tap his back or his face, which ever she can reach. Speaking of faces, she has also gotten into the habit of grabbing face parts; noses, eyes, mouths, which is cute but sometimes painful. I'm going to have to teach her the phrase "That hurts!" soon, and that my hair is not a rope to pull me closer or hold herself up with!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Baby talk
Friends and family, you will soon be able to predict the quality of Savannah's naps by the frequency of my posts! It has been a few days since we've had one over 45 minutes. There seems to be a consistent break in her sleep cycle then and she is only sometimes successful at getting herself back to sleep. The fact that she has that skill at all is pretty amazing to me, since at 34 I have trouble getting myself back to sleep. She either makes a quick yelp followed by silence and 30-45 minutes more rest, or a quick yelp followed by cries for someone to come save her from the dark room. Sometimes I sneak in and pop the pacifier in her mouth, sending her back to land of zzz's, but according to our sleep class instructor, I'm supposed to refrain from doing that so she can further her self-soothing progression. I'll have to ask my parents if they always helped me back to sleep, thus making me the restless sleeper I am today. But back to Savannah, when she wakes up rested all we hear is her quiet chatter with herself..."ahhhh.....gooooh......baaaah". We love waking up to her baby talk in the morning and hope that she doesn't mind that we lie in our room and listen for as long as she sounds like she is still enjoying herself.
Yesterday, when Rick and Savannah were on the couch enjoying some "Daddy-Time", he hollered for me to rush to the family room. Savannah was scooting her way up his body as he laid there, almost crawling. She's not quite there yet, but with a little something to push against, daddy's body or a rolled up towel behind her feet, she can get herself more than 6 inches along. When she's on her tummy in her crib she usually moves herself 90-180 degrees before the morning, which is getting problematic given the small variance between her height and the width if the crib. She has also started to recognize objects in front of her, especially her pacifier, and is reaching for them. She can't quite hit the tail on the donkey with her swats at the object of the moment yet, but her hand-eye coordination is pretty close, within a centimeter or two. Her favorite things to grab right now are her pacifier and a little green teething ring that makes a funny wet tennis shoe noise when she bites it. She also has a wooden rattle that she likes from Granny and Papa-G, but we have to watch her close with it be use she has wacked herself to tears before. I guess there is some benefit to those soft plastics made in China!
Yesterday, when Rick and Savannah were on the couch enjoying some "Daddy-Time", he hollered for me to rush to the family room. Savannah was scooting her way up his body as he laid there, almost crawling. She's not quite there yet, but with a little something to push against, daddy's body or a rolled up towel behind her feet, she can get herself more than 6 inches along. When she's on her tummy in her crib she usually moves herself 90-180 degrees before the morning, which is getting problematic given the small variance between her height and the width if the crib. She has also started to recognize objects in front of her, especially her pacifier, and is reaching for them. She can't quite hit the tail on the donkey with her swats at the object of the moment yet, but her hand-eye coordination is pretty close, within a centimeter or two. Her favorite things to grab right now are her pacifier and a little green teething ring that makes a funny wet tennis shoe noise when she bites it. She also has a wooden rattle that she likes from Granny and Papa-G, but we have to watch her close with it be use she has wacked herself to tears before. I guess there is some benefit to those soft plastics made in China!
Friday, October 8, 2010
4 month stats
Every morning the neighbor across the street fires up his diesel engine (he's got to go to work!) and so far Savannah sleeps through it pretty well. I guess I'm becoming a little obsessed with tracking the noises she can sleep through. This morning I found out that the jingle of my necklace over her crib is not one. Silly me! Poor daddy has to tip toe by her door (by my request) so that the squeak of the floor doesn't rattle her, but I can run on the treadmill in the room next to hers and she stays soundly asleep. I don't want to become one of those mom's that is wacky about every sound, and I know she needs to learn to sleep through some noise, and I also want to make sure she doesn't become part of our sleep deprived world of adults as she grows up!
We get comments every where we go, from neighbors on our morning walks, other new moms in my mom groups, and strangers at Starbucks, about how smiley snd happy Savannah is. At first I took it for granted...why wouldn't she be? After months of consistent feedback I've come to feel very lucky that she has this demeanor, as it's obviously not the case for every baby. She definitely has her fussy times, and she hates to be in the car for any length of time after 5:30 right now, but at her 4 month doctor visit 2 days ago, she smiled through tears at the nurse who had just administered her immunization shots. I'm sure she was just letting us all know that she didn't blame us for the pain.
Speaking of those shots, Daddy had a really tough time with the wide-eyed look Savannah had when the needle went in. I had recently had my first "Mommy why did you do that to me look" a few days ago when I scratched her with my watch so I was a little less bothered, but the look and accompanied scream that that scratch invoked did a number on me at the time. What are we going to do the first time she scrapes a knee?
Just for the record, Daddy and Grandma are trying to get me to promise that Savannah will not get a car for her 16th birthday. While I'm very supportive of their reasons, I'm just not willing to commit to that decision at this time, and I'm hoping that by then the driving age is18 :).
4 month visit stats:
Weight: 15 Pounds 5.5 ounces, 75th percentile
Height: 26.25 inches, 97th percentile
Head: 43.2 cm
Overall, Dr. Laura was very impressed with her development, level of activity, and of course, her smiles.
Strange how they give you the height in inches and the head circumference in centimeters. Do they not want me to compare the two? :)
We get comments every where we go, from neighbors on our morning walks, other new moms in my mom groups, and strangers at Starbucks, about how smiley snd happy Savannah is. At first I took it for granted...why wouldn't she be? After months of consistent feedback I've come to feel very lucky that she has this demeanor, as it's obviously not the case for every baby. She definitely has her fussy times, and she hates to be in the car for any length of time after 5:30 right now, but at her 4 month doctor visit 2 days ago, she smiled through tears at the nurse who had just administered her immunization shots. I'm sure she was just letting us all know that she didn't blame us for the pain.
Speaking of those shots, Daddy had a really tough time with the wide-eyed look Savannah had when the needle went in. I had recently had my first "Mommy why did you do that to me look" a few days ago when I scratched her with my watch so I was a little less bothered, but the look and accompanied scream that that scratch invoked did a number on me at the time. What are we going to do the first time she scrapes a knee?
Just for the record, Daddy and Grandma are trying to get me to promise that Savannah will not get a car for her 16th birthday. While I'm very supportive of their reasons, I'm just not willing to commit to that decision at this time, and I'm hoping that by then the driving age is18 :).
4 month visit stats:
Weight: 15 Pounds 5.5 ounces, 75th percentile
Height: 26.25 inches, 97th percentile
Head: 43.2 cm
Overall, Dr. Laura was very impressed with her development, level of activity, and of course, her smiles.
Strange how they give you the height in inches and the head circumference in centimeters. Do they not want me to compare the two? :)
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Baby sleeping
This is officially Savannah's 4th month of life and our second week of working on naps in the crib. How can it be that a baby can sleep through the garbage truck operating in front of the house but not my spoon stirring milk into my coffee cup? Surely one of life's unsolvable mysteries, but I'm not complaining.
This past week has had the following milestones:
Savannah can insert pacifier into her own mouth when handed the correct side
We had our first dinner guest post commencing SJ's 7:30 bedtime. Savannah went down and slept through our refrained chatter. Thanks for your cooperation Keith Wolf!
SJ rolls from back to front on her own with ease
Sitting upright to drink her bottle, only reclining to drink at night. Even mommy has trouble sitting up that straight!
Starting to sleep through the night (7:30-7:30)
Sucking her thumb instead of all her fingers
Here comes the recycling truck...sleeping through that would be too much to ask and SJ's nap has already lasted 75 minutes. Here comes mommy to the rescue! Wait...a quick check on the video monitor shows she's found her thumb and is back to resting. The thumb sucking has been very cute. Her little pointer finger rests on the top of her nose. I hear her talking now.... She usually wakes up so happy. Our little dream baby!
Soon it's time to eat and take care of SJ's business (poo poo) and then we are off to new mom group!
This past week has had the following milestones:
Savannah can insert pacifier into her own mouth when handed the correct side
We had our first dinner guest post commencing SJ's 7:30 bedtime. Savannah went down and slept through our refrained chatter. Thanks for your cooperation Keith Wolf!
SJ rolls from back to front on her own with ease
Sitting upright to drink her bottle, only reclining to drink at night. Even mommy has trouble sitting up that straight!
Starting to sleep through the night (7:30-7:30)
Sucking her thumb instead of all her fingers
Here comes the recycling truck...sleeping through that would be too much to ask and SJ's nap has already lasted 75 minutes. Here comes mommy to the rescue! Wait...a quick check on the video monitor shows she's found her thumb and is back to resting. The thumb sucking has been very cute. Her little pointer finger rests on the top of her nose. I hear her talking now.... She usually wakes up so happy. Our little dream baby!
Soon it's time to eat and take care of SJ's business (poo poo) and then we are off to new mom group!
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