She's Talking!

I might not be able to understand what she is saying, but by golly she is saying something! It started last night when I was getting her ready for bed. She started making noises and apparently she liked the sound of them so she kept making them. Then she made more and different noises. It was so adorable.

Then this morning at 7am (ugh!) I heard her grunting in her crib over the monitor. So I turned on the TV (the one hooked up to the monitor, you can turn the screen off but still hear noise) and watched to see if she was really going to wake up. Then, she started doing it again! Jabbering away! Occasionally she would suck on her hands a bit, but then it was back to talking. So after she had breakfast I went and changed her and guess what? Yep, more talking! So when I put her in her bouncy seat I thought I would see if we could have a conversation, here is what happend.....

I think she just might be the smartest baby ever!! :)

A video

Here's a little clip of what our little princess has been doing. If you think it's boring that's ok, but she is pretty freakin cute!!

So far away!

Allison will be 2 months old in 6 days! How crazy, has it only been that long?? We have settled into a routine that feels so normal, like we have been doing it forever! She sleeps most of the day waking up 2 times for about 1-2 hours and then is usually awake for most of the evening until bedtime. We have made bedtime much earlier than it started out to be, it was about 11pm but now is usually 8:30-9:30pm.
(the title comes from what is below)
At about 6 weeks of age I started putting her in her crib in her room for her daytime naps instead of the bassinet in our room. I figured I should get her used to sleeping there and the camera monitor is set up in there so I get to watch her now too! It's so much fun! After a few days of naps there I thought we could put her to sleep in her crib and after she woke up for her nighttime feeding we could just put her in her bassinet until morning. Oh, I guess I didn't mention what a fabulous sleeper at night she is. She really only wakes up 1 time during the night, somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 and then she sleeps until about 7:30 or 8am when she gets up. It's really just for my convenience that I don't put her back in her crib, but I think that day is quickly approaching. The first night we put her in the crib I felt like she was sooooo far away! All those crazy mommy fears that go through your brain! But, alas we stuck with it and I trust in God to keep us all safe and snug!

Something else that we are doing differently is diapering. We are still using cloth and still using our good old prefolds and covers, but I ordered some pocket diapers recently and I think I have fallen in love with them! Bum Genius and Happy Heineys are the 2 that we got. Besides being funny names, they work amazingly!! So easy to use and cute to boot!

Recent developments: Allison's hands are not tightly balled fists anymore! She opens them and brings them together. She is also batting at her toys! She loves the toys on her bouncy seat. I took some videos, but I'm a dork and they are all sideways! (I take them on our camera b/c we don't have a cord to hook up our video camera. sigh, I'll try again!)

She is also scared by noises much easier now. The dogs barked the other night when she was eating and she freaked out! It took her 5 seconds to breathe she was crying so hard! Well, I guess that about it for now!

Sporting the bow and the Jordans. (A kid at school bought the shoes for me/her!)

That precious smile!

This is seriously the only picture of me with Allison taken in the last month! Jason loves to take pictures before everyone is ready, so I actually posed crazy b/c I knew he was going to take it. dork! (me and him!)

Blowing bubbles is also something she has become very good at!!

Sideways again, sorry. Anyway, on her play mat that she has grown very fond of!

Weeds....

growing like one....

Well our little baby is officially 11 lbs! She is growing and changing all the time. She started batting at her toys today. Just thinking about all the changes she will go through over the next year makes me want to stop time and keep her a little baby forever! But everyone says they get more fun as time goes by, so I guess we will hang on for the ride.

She will be two months in 9 days. I have to go to work in a month :( I know my mom will enjoy the time with Allison, but I sure am going to miss her! It has been so incredible to be home with her these last 7 weeks. I know my job lends itself to many more days off than most people, but I'm going to miss my baby!

Cloth Diapers and baby carriers

I just wanted to share a little something with any of you that are interested in doing cloth diapers! It's a contest to win a great starter kit and you don't really have to do anything special to enter. See here Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies

Here's another contest for an amazing assortment of baby carriers Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

The 4th of July

Well Allison had lots of fun "firsts" this last weekend. On Thursday night we went to the city park here and watched the fireworks. She slept through every last one of them, then woke up after it was all over!

The next morning we got up and went to the City Parade and watched Jonathan march with the band. Again, she slept.

Then we loaded up and went to the cabin for the rest of the weekend. She slept the whole way there. (are we seeing a pattern?) We had a relaxing weekend and even made 2 trips to the beach! Can you guess what Allison did? Yep, slept the whole time! I got a chance to try out my new Moby Wrap and we both love it! I used it to walk to the beach both times and it put her right to sleep. I haven't used it at home yet, but I think it will work out nicely for grocery store trips, and maybe even cleaning around the house.

This week my goal is to get Allison on a schedule. She will be 6 weeks on Thursday so I figured now is a good time. Her nighttime routine is fabulous. She sleeps for a long stretch then wakes up more frequently as morning approaches. She doesn't stay awake very long in the morning before she goes down again and sleeps until early afternoon. We are really going to work on her "getting ready for bed" routine too. Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes!

Smiling and Talking

Allison was a month old on Sunday! (My 27th birthday was the day before. How in the world am I 27??) Anyway, she seems to be sleeping more lately. Nights are still going really well, she sleeps about 5 hours during the first stretch of the night and then wakes up sooner as the night goes on. But I usually only have to feed her 2-3 times during the whole night. I know I am blessed!

I have been getting out more during the day with her. We usually go to my parents house to eat lunch with Jason and then run an errand or two. She has gotten quite used to the car and seems to fall asleep just about every time we go anywhere. She used to cry everytime the car stopped, a red light, a stop sign, anything! But she has gotten over that (thank goodness!) and doesn't wake up for much of anything.

The latest and cutest things are her smiling and cooing. Last week I was changing her and talking to her and she smiled at me, when she was awake! Up until then she only smiled in her sleep (which is still pretty cute) but now she smiles on purpose at you! And yesterday, I got it on tape! (sorry in advance for all my blabbering in the video, and Jason came home at the beginning so that's the background noise)

As you can see from the video she likes to play with her tongue. She has been "blowing" bubbles with her mouth too. She even made a raspberry sound the other night. I think it scared her a little! The next 2 pictures are her after eating. She is asleep most of the time but her poses and stretches are so funny! They remind me of Superman.

Something that I find funny is my feet. Here is a before (taken on 5/22) and after shot:

Until next time!!