Monday, June 29, 2009

month 4 recap

Wilhelmina Grace is 21 weeks old. A I sit here on the glider gliding and typing (one-handed) she's sleeping peacefully on my lap. It's hard for me to believe she's already 5 months old. It's true what they all say, that time flies with a babe and before you know it their poopies will stink and they'll be borrowing you jewelry. I think that our choice to have me home with her (S.A.H.M.) has turned this whole parenting thing into an alternate-reality kind of experience. I'm totally immersed in her world. Baby bubble. Poppy lives here with us, but he somehow manages to make it to work every weekday for 9 or so hours.



Mina's personality is showing more every day. I know she's not the Dalai Lama (because the parenting book on the back of our toilet has a checklist in it) but she has this amazing depth and peace to her. When she's not fussing. A few people have commented on her peaceful vibe, her calm joy. This is when she's not crying, mind you. She's a normal, healthy baby who is getting used to a growing body - so she cries sometimes. Luckily the happy smiling laughing peaceful times are more frequent than the crying times.




week 17
At her 4 month Well Baby visit Mina weighed 16.5 lbs (95th %), height 25 inches (75th %) and head size 42 cm (75th %). All is well. Healthy baby!




week 18
Poppy left for 4 days on a business trip. Mommy & Mina socialized with friends and went to the zoo. Mina laughed a lot and started making some cute pterodactyl-like noises of joy. Quite screechy and silly. She wants to stand a lot, supported of course.




week 19
Mina rolls over more often and really seems to enjoy being on her tummy. We all went on our first family road trip vacation to Cambria for a long weekend to celebrate our 1st anniversary. We stayed in a quaint cottage, took nature beach walks, saw sea lions, visited fairy gardens, went to Harmony, tasted wine in Paso Robles and renewed our vows on Summer Solstice while also celebrating Father's day.


week 20
So much in one week! Mina likes to scoot around on her belly, sort of worm crawling - pushing with her legs but not using her arms. It's adorable. She's found her feet and toes and assumes Happy Baby yoga position often. Usually during diaper changes. She's officially teething and has started making raspberry noises while blowing bubbles with all the extra saliva. She wants to either stand or sit upright, with our help. Mina is in a rush to stand up and sit up. She loves book time with Poppy and has started to help hold her board books and even helps turn the pages. One evening she reached over to grab for her books on the nightstand when it was time to read! I hope we are raising a bookworm. :)


Monday, June 1, 2009

month 3



Things are just getting more and more fun with our darling little duckling... At 3 months old Mina is way more interactive and entertaining. She graces us with lots of smiles and laughter. Her personality is really starting to shine through, one minute smiling then the next she is bashful and shy. Playing it coy and working us, that wise little imp! She has gotten to be more regular in her sleeping habits which makes all of us a lot happier. We are co-sleeping with her in our bed, and quite often she sleeps 8 hours with only a diaper change and/or a feeding snuck in there somewhere.

At 12 weeks Mina found herself in the mirror... well, she found a cute baby in the mirror. I think it will take a little while for her to figure out that cute baby is her. She flirts and smiles at this cute baby. We find ourselves spending lots of time in front of the mirror with her, dancing and singing and carrying on. It makes her happy, which makes us happy!

She started really holding her toys and rattles 13 weeks. One of her favorite things is her "Precious" little pink lovey blanket a friend of ours gave her. She holds it and chews it and licks it and loves it. That thing always has a gooey wet corner.... She also loves her Haba wooden toys and Sophie the Giraffe, the natural latex teether toy (not teething yet. whew.)

Drool. Lots and lots and lots of drool. We started using bibs to absorb all that drool. She makes bubbles with the drool. That's kinda cute. Otherwise the drool is really not much fun. But at least she's not spitting up quite as much as she used to.



14 weeks was Mina's first concert, Stan Ridgeway at the South Pasadena Art & Eclectic Music Festival. She rocked out.




Mommy celebrated her first official Mother's Day. Poppy and Mina took Mommy to Real Food Daily for lunch. A darling little boy bravely came over to the table and wished Mommy a happy first Mother's Day. It was so sweet! Then Poppy watched Mina so Mommy could sneak off to get a Thai massage.

At 15 weeks there are lots of grabs and reaches for toys and things. She scratches at her new dandelion garden vinyl wall art beside her changing table, trying to grab the delicate flowers. She started squirming a lot and arching her back, especially in her Boppasan chair.



Her Uncle Bill and Aunt Trish came to visit for Memorial Day. Mina learned about high end high heels and upscale cowboy boots from Aunt Trish. It was fun hanging with the family. Uncle Bill took some great snaps with his fancy camera.



At 16 weeks she rolled from her back to her belly on the bed!! It was easy for her because Mommy was next to her, so the roll was slightly downhill... She does Tummy Time regularly which helps her strengthen her neck and back muscles, preparing her for the strength to sit up and crawl. We are in no rush for the crawling or walking. Not at all.



We've started to try to implement some sign language into our conversations with Baby Miss Mina. Change, Milk, Happy, Light and Cat are a few that we've gotten comfortable with. Both Grandmothers gave us books and dvds on the benefits of communicating with your infant/baby using sign language. Oh, and we've also been reading to her every night. She loves her time with Poppy as he reads to her about 10 rubber ducks, goodnight things, hopping on pop and animal moo baa lalala sounds.