Hello World!

Kayla is just doing great these days! It is starting to feel like things are changing everyday - including her looks. In the last week it really feels like the world has started opening up to her. She notices peoples faces a ton and loves smiling to get people to smile back. She is "talking" more, especially when voices are high pitched. She is starting to notice the towys on her gymini and on her bouncy seat. She has started batting at them. We hung a monkey over her changing table and while I changed her diaper she accidentally got a hold of it and hung on for a while - all the time smiling at it. She is also more aware of noises and love music. She gets a big grin on her face when I start to sing to her. She sure thinks that mommy and daddy are pretty funny. She is getting so strong. When you lift her up, she flexes her legs muscles and stand straight up. Her head is very strong and she looks around when you have her on your shoulder.

On the sleep side of things, I had a few days there were she was great in terms of sleep. She would sleep 4-6 hours, eat, go right back to sleep and then sleep again for about 3-4 hours - let me tell you heaven. But, if I've learned anything so far as a mom - no two days are the same. I think as the world opens up to her, it is harder for her to sleep and harder to go back to sleep. But, most nights are okay and I think I'm adjusting to the sleep deprivation. I function fine on very little sleep. The main thing that seems to be affected is my memory (did I already write about this?) - but that provides some good laughs for mom and dad. We went back to having her sleep in her bassinet rather than the car seat. We have the bassinet at an angle though. I think she probably sleeps better in the car seat but we wanted to start transitioning her. Usually for the 6/7 am feeding I bring her into bed to eat, but other that that she seems to be sleeping okay in the bassinet. For naps she still sleep in the car seat or her bouncy chair, or the bobby. As she notices more, it is hard to get her settled. She seems to sleep much better at night after a bath, so we have moved baths from twice a week to every other day or every day. She seems to really like them and sleeps deeply after them.

Her head is starting to get strong enough to try some new toys. The picture below is her in her bumbo - it works fantastically for sitting her up. I think in a few more weeks we can try out the exersaucer and door way bouncer - but we'll see, there is definitely no rush!

She's been on the Zantac for a few weeks and we feel like it is helping. She still spits up but it isn't nearly as much and projectile spit up is much less now. She also very rarely cries out in pain now. We'll try taking her of of it at 4 or 6 months since that is when she we hopefully have grown out of it. Until then, we just do lots of laundry and always have a burp rag on hand. We've gotten more comfortable with the pooping situation as well. Today she actually pooped two time and the last time she pooped was Sunday - that is incredible for us because for a few weeks, the time between BMs has been 6 or 7 days. Whether she is getting more regular or this is a fluk, we are getting more comfortable with the situation. We confirmed in two different books that what the doctor told us about the pooping situation is normal. She doesn't show signs of constipation and the pain she was experiencing really seems like it was the reflux and not that intestines. When she goes now, she just grunts alot :) The only issue with her pooping about once a week is the amount that comes out. When it happens, it is a BLOW out and you can't really predict it. This morning, she was cooing in her bassinet so I put her on the bed to talk to her and play with her. Well, I smelled somthing and realized she had blown out through her sleeper and onto our sheets and mattress cover!! Oh the fun of babies!

It really is a lot of fun! I just love that she is interacting more. It is so fun to introduce her to new people. We try to go with the flow and make decisions based on what feels right to use - no necessarily what we read in a book. We just think she is beautiful and full of personality.

Things are kind of busy with us but we have to make the most of the summer! We had my mom two weekends ago and my dad's familiy last weekend. In two weekends we head to sunnyvale and the weekend after that we go to Vegas, then our friends the Krafts will be in town! So fun and so busy.

Hope all is well with everyone!