Christmas with Aydin

Aydin's first Christmas was so much fun.  She really seemed to enjoy it and did so well with all of the activity and driving.  We spent Christmas morning with my family and then drove up to Arvada to spend the afternoon with Jesse's family, then back down to my parents house for the rest of the evening.  She had so much fun tearing the bows off her presents and chewing on wrapping paper; I don't know why we even bought any presents for her, but she loved all of the books and toys that she got.  As wonderful as Christmas always is, I think having a baby to share it with makes it so much better.

Update

So at her 4 mo. appointment the doctor said that we need to start her on cereal. I know everyone has a different opinion about when that should happen, but I'm kind of on his side considering how fast she's growing. We gave her some rice cereal for the first time a little over a week ago. The first time and the next few times were pretty messy to say the least. I don't think any of the cereal actually made it to her stomach. It was everywhere!!!! But she LOVES it. She is doing so much better now; she eats pretty much all of what I put in her mouth. She still thinks it's funny to blow bubbles and spit just when I put a mouthful in which is a mess, but I kind of think it's funny too.

Also, she started rolling over last Monday. She goes from her back to her stomach, and we can't hardly keep her on her back anymore. She will roll over and then look at us with this huge smile like "did you just see that!?!" She is pretty proud of herself, as are we. We were wondering if the thunder thighs might hold her back, but nope. I have some video of it, but I haven't had time to figure out how to get it on here, so I'll try to work on that tonight and add it later.

She is starting to really like Abel now. He is a little (I mean a very little) bit more interested in her, but she lights up when he walks by and she'll reach out for him and grab his fur. He just watches her and waits until she's done abusing him with her loving hair pulling. They'll be the best of friends....someday.

Nap time is going to be in her crib from now on ) : and we are on our way to working on a transition from bassinet to crib at night too. I think we might try that next week. So sad, but she is getting way to big for the bassinet. She can't really stretch out like she likes to do in the morning anymore. I love having her sleeping next to me at night, but it has to happen sometime. I was just hoping we might have a couple more month of that left, but she's running out of room.

And now for a little news about someone other than Aydin: I am a college graduate FINALLY! I finished my last course about a month ago and grade are finally in the books. That felt like it took forever, but it is such a relief to be done.

Christmas Tree & ER Visit

I'm still coming off my "scared mom" adrenaline high and I can't sleep so... Aydin had her 4 month check-up today; perfectly healthy, size of a 6 month old, shots, and all... 4 hrs. later she started wheezing. It started happening just when she got excited, but by nine she was doing it a lot. I called a friend from church who is a nurse and when she heard Aydin breathe she suggested a trip to the ER. I know the ER is just like a doctor's office that's open late, but the thought of having to take my baby there was so scary. Of course by the time we got there she was miraculously healed, smiling, cooing, and very excited about meeting all of the nice nurses and doctors. We got her all checked out, perfectly healthy with just a low, low, low grade fever. No idea what caused the wheezing (cough.shots.cough) I don't know.. she's not sick AT ALL what else could it be?

Anyway... we went out Sat. to cut down a Christmas tree. We got a great picture of us all bundled up and ready to go look for one...found the best tree ever...tried to take a picture...the batteries are completely dead...great. Anyway here it is, and now I know why people don't choose the cute scrawny ones; half of our ornament are too heavy. So we have a very droopy tree, but I still love it!!

1st Thanksgiving

We went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving this year. Aydin was in a great mood the entire time. Amazing food + happy baby + family = a great Thanksgiving Day! She is so funny lately; she has found her voice. We have had a few laughs, and she "talks" all of the time. I tried to get it on video a couple of times, but she just looks at the camera and smiles (and stops talking) I'll keep trying though, I'm bound to catch her off guard some time.

Picture Post

Finally sucking her thumb!!!

this could be SO bad

This seems like a good place to ask for advice so... I tried to give her a bottle for the first time last night. Tried again this morning. When I put the bottle in her mouth she looked at me like I was crazy, and then made the most disgusted face. She wouldn't even close her mouth. It doesn't help that she would never take a pacifier. Did anyone else have this problem? What do I do. I really want to see the new Bond movie (and enjoy it without a crying baby sitting with the guy next to me!) HELP!

Halloween Costume

I LOVE this costume. My mom made this for her in one night. She was the cutest little caterpillar. She had a ton of fun and got a lot of candy for mom and dad. Actually, I think she hates Halloween now after like ten costume changes and the party at the church. She hasn't been feeling well and all she wanted to do was go to bed. She is so congested. She has been sleeping in her car seat to keep her more upright. We've tried saline drops, and the snot sucker. Any other suggestions?

Teddy and Diapers Post

We went through my baby keepsakes box last weekend. Fun, fun! I should actually post some then and now pictures of a couple of my favorite things, it is quite funny. Anyway, that teddy bear was my first teddy bear. I thought it would be fun to see what she thought of it (it has been washed!)

Also, we... I have been using cloth diapers for almost a month now. It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be, not bad at all. We still use disposable diapers at night, and when we're out, but at home the cloth ones are easy. Jesse still hates the idea. He usually gets to change her after he gets home from work, and I have yet to see him bring her out with a new cloth diaper on. He's going to run out of excuses though: "Oh, I didn't think you wanted her to go to bed in one (6:30 P.M.)," "Weren't you going to run to the store with her?," "I couldn't find any (huge basket full right under the changing table)," and the best one... "I thought I would give her legs a rest, you're going to make her bowlegged!" Actually I am a little worried about that last one. Do you see how far apart her legs are? That can't really happen can it?

Heads Up

Milestone

This is a baby who just, for the first time, slept through the night... kind of. For those of you whose kids were sleeping through the night at 3 weeks this small celebration might seem a little much ( ; but I'm excited. There is this lady at church who I swear is magic. She just has a special touch. You put a crying baby in her arms and in minutes (s)he will be asleep. Anyway, yesterday at church I mentioned to her the conversation with doc. from the last blog, and that we were up to about 3 hrs. in between meals now. Yada, yada, yada... she looks at Aydin and says "you don't need to be eating that much." Like magic this is how our feeding schedule proceeded: 3.5 hrs. in between, 4.5 hrs., 3.5 hrs., and (drum roll......more drum roll.....) 6.5 hrs.!!! Unfortunately that chunk of time was from 8:30 pm to 3:00 am, so guess who was wide awake after her 3:00 am breakfast. Oh well, still excited.

Shots

Aydin had her 2 month check-up yesterday. With that comes her first round of shots. This is what she did all day after the appointment. She hasn't slept this much since the day she was born. I think we had maybe an hour total of awake and alert time all afternoon and evening. Poor girl! And below: I had to put her in it one time. Jesse LOVES it ( ; I think I will probably be asked not to take her out in public today with that on.

P.S. At her check-up she weighed 13lbs. 5oz., and was 24" long. She is >95% for height and weight right now. Doc. says she's "thriving." We also had a discussion about sleeping through the night. He says if I increase the time in between feedings during the day, she might eventually forget about that midnight feeding. Does it look like my daughter has ever forgotten about a feeding? Oh well, I think she's perfect.

2 Months...What?!?

She's 2 months old now. We are having so much fun together. She is staying awake more in the daytime, which makes it hard to get anywork done, but she smiles so much now and has started really "talking"to us. She met a new friend last Sunday. One of my friends from church delivered her baby boy last Saturday night. He is so cute! Work is going well. I'm getting about 3 hours a day in. Sometimes I wish I could get a little more done, but I wouldn't give up working at home for anything right now. I mentioned to Jesse the idea of sticking with this for a while rather than teaching next year. I have been going back and forth on it a lot, but I love staying here with her so much. I'm leaning toward just keeping my sub license current and doing that here and there.

Yeah, those jeans are 3-6 month size. She really is growing fast. As of Monday she is 12 lbs. 8 oz. We go to the doctor next Monday for her 2 month check-up. I'm nervous for her for shots.

She has outgrown her baby bath tub. We would put it in the kitchen sink and fill it up a little bit, but the last time I did she kicked water out all over the kitchen floor. I had put ground oats in the bath, and Abe would wait for her to kick so he could lick the spots up off the floor. Anyway, we had to go buy this gigantic plastic baby tub that goes in shower. It takes up a lot of room, but since we don't have a regular bathtub this was about our only option.

We have been using the shower sprayer to rinse her off. It is so funny. I think she really likes it, but she is always surprised at first.

Abel is becoming more fond of her now. I am pretty sure he still wishes she was never born, but we're getting there.

We got to go to a Rockies game last weekend. The traffic there was so bad that we didn't make it until the 5th, but it was still fun.

It was fan appreciation night so there was a firework show after the game. It was amazing, probably one of the best shows I've ever been to! And it just happened to put her to sleep somehow which was icing on the cake ( :

Weekend Away

Over the weekend we were able to go up to Divide to spend some time with my Grandparents and Jesse's brother and his family. We got up there Thursday night and didn't have to leave until Sunday afternoon, so it was a nice longish getaway. Before I write anything else, the reason we went there: Levi and Jesse were bow-hunting for elk. Hunting for deer at Golden Bell Camp would be like murder. The deer there will eat out of your hands. Hunting for elk.... we'll just say, "better luck next year, or better buy deer tags!" Anyway, we had a good time and it was so nice to get out of the house. This was our first trip out of town since the kiddo was born and with her, Jesse's mom, and the dog riding along it seriously looked like we had packed for a two week long getaway.

The cousins with their matching outfits that we found at a thrift store, what are the chances.

6 weeks old now. Things she can do: She will just stare at you for forever, she is so attentive and she just looks right into your eyes, she smiles like crazy, and she has started cooing back at us and some of them sound like they are just on the verge of becoming giggles (I can't wait!!!)

This turtle is the first thing I've knitted for her!

1 Month Old

I absolutely cannot believe that she is already a month old. This 1st month has gone by so fast it has kind of been a blur, but so much has happened in that one month that it seems like it should have been much longer. We went in on Monday for Aydin's one month check-up and she is doing great! She weighed 10 lbs, and was 22.5 inches long (8 lbs., 20 inches at birth). She is growing, growing, growing. She is starting to really fill out now with thunder thighs and a double chin, but lucky for her at her age that just means she is a healthy baby. She is also really starting to smile a lot. She started to smile a week ago, real smiles not gas... I'm sure of it!! Here are some pictures from her 1st month.

Aydin's 1st hike

1st trip to the zoo; the baby giraffe is only two weeks old.

One of the many smiles that are not the product of gas.