Happy Mother's Day

I feel that it's only fitting that I post an update about Alaina on Mother's Day. How far we have come from a year ago when I was "technically" a mother, but didn't really know it yet! To say that that little girl has changed my life would be an understatement. She's four months old now, and I still don't think I understand the many ways that my life has changed forever. But one thing I do know is that being a mom is better than I ever expected it to be. And apparently it shows....Just last night at dinner, Philip and Christopher were talking about how they can *see* a change in me that's happened only since Alaina has been in my life. I already know that I smile more. And apparently I *glow* more too. But who wouldn't smile more when they had an adorable face ready to smile right back? And who wouldn't glow when they got to look forward to watching that cute kid explore and learn new things each and every day? I tell Alaina often that she is the best baby I've ever had (I don't want her to be too full of herself, after all). And she truly is the sweetest, most easy going baby I've ever known. On this day and every day I am so lucky to have her in my world. :)

Now for the Alaina update - The last time I posted was about a month ago when I went back to work and Alaina went to daycare for the first time. That's still our weekly routine, and it seems to be going well (other than the stuffy nose that Alaina just can't seem to shake that I know is the result of all of those snotty kids touching her!).Ever since Alaina was born I've been telling her that she's not allowed to get bigger...not allowed to grow up. But seeing her learn how to do new things is so exciting. Just a few weeks ago, Alaina gave me several gifts for my birthday in the form of new things that she learned how to do. All along, I've been blowing raspberries at Alaina with my tongue (at least that's the best way I can describe it), and I swear she started sticking her tongue out at me when she was only a few weeks old. Well, she surprised the heck out of me on my birthday weekend when she started actually trying to blow raspberries back at me (see a video here). That same weekend she found her feet, and ever since she's been waving them in the air and grabbing at them with her hands. I don't know why that is so adorable to me, but it really is (maybe because I love her feet so much?). She also rolled over from her stomach to her back a few times while we were doing "tummy time." She hasn't quite gotten the hang of that one yet, but I know it's coming.

This weekend, I decided to introduce Lainey to "real food" in the form of rice cereal. We had a REALLLY long week, and I got very little sleep, so I guess I was hoping that giving her some solid food would help her sleep through the night as the legends go. Alaina was doing great in terms of sleeping....going to sleep around 9 ish and then getting up once to have a quick bottle and go back to sleep. A week or so ago, she started waking up sometime between 12 and 1, again in the middle of the night, and then between 6:30 and 7 to get ready for school. I think the reason she started getting up again was because she hasn't been feeling well, and - at least according to her daycare teacher - she wants a bottle because that's what she uses to comfort herself right now. I guess that makes sense, huh? The only problem was that I was going to bed WAY too late, and I would end up having to wake up again an hour or less after I fell asleep. Not good. So back to the cereal thing. I bought a box of rice cereal, and got all excited to give her her first taste on Friday night. We got her all set up in her fresh-out-of-the-box highchair and got the cameras and iPhones ready to record the event. She looked confused before we even started, but when I tried to put some of the cereal in her mouth, the confusion turned into anger! She did not want that strange stuff in her mouth! I think she accidentally swallowed a little bit of it, but I'm glad we didn't lay down tarps all over the kitchen and put on our haz-mat suits like Philip and Christopher thought we might need to because it was a total non-event. Oh well. We'll try again in a week or so.

Today, Philip and I were in Babies R Us looking at the amazing amount of stuff in the bottle aisle when I noticed that some of the sippy cups are "rated" for kids 4 months and up. Alaina just turned 4 months this week, and she's been showing interest in holding her bottle for a while now. Sometimes when she holds it she guides it toward her mouth, and other times she violently shoves it in the other direction :) But pretty much anything she gets ahold of goes in her mouth, so it's hard to know if she understands what she's doing or if it's just a reflex at this point. Anyhow, I put a few ounces of formula in the sippy cup and showed Alaina how to hold the handles and she did great! I know she liked chewing on the rubbery part of the cup that goes in her mouth, and she was very good about guiding it in there. I think she may have actually gotten some formula out too (sippy cups have amazing "technology" these days that allows the kids to hold them upside down without dripping any liquid, but I think they have to actually suck on them to get liquid out). At one point she did turn the cup upside down and start licking the bottom of the cup...but she's learning!