sweet 16

we’ve had a pretty busy week. or at least a busy few days.

gramma & grampa came for a visit this weekend.  they were in town for a nascar race that’s about 10 miles away from our house.  so The Mr. & i were luckily able to venture out of the house for dinner!  we went to one of our fave italian places- you know- the kind with the yummy bread that keeps coming.

according to g’ma & g’pa, jovie screamed pretty much the whole time was a joy.  

guess all that “joy” helped her to sleep, though. b/c she went to bed on the first try without much coddling. (??) and that was fantastic, since Dad promptly slept on the couch as we were all watching football.

sunday morning everyone got to see jovie’s new “trick”.  it’s called:  play coy with mommy.  everyone sat around her in her bouncy seat while i was eating my waffle and catching sight of her.  then she’d bust out the biggest smile.  repeat that about 15 times and we have a good morning. 

she does the same thing when i go in to get her from her naps.  she’ll raise up on her arms pretty good and peek over the crib rail (that we keep lowered…  guess that’ll change soon enough).  then she sees me and smiles and then just crashes down on her crib.  it’s so adorable.

also this past week, we had some firsts:

• she ALMOST rolled over.  i showed her a new toy and she got all the way on her side. i gave her the bareliest of barely there nudges and she promptly fell over on her back.
• she noticed her feet during a diaper change (but hasn’t noticed them since, really)
• she started to notice & smile in the mirror. i can’t tell if she’s smiling at me or her. but i think it’s at her mostly…. esp when i tickle her feet.  

yesterday we had a big day…  we went to see Dad play indoor soccer for the first time.  it was good to get out of the house and visit with my friend amy while we were there.  jovie handled the car ride and hour long game very well!  even though it was bedtime.  another night w/ no fuss going down at all.

i guess sweet 16 is a good description of her right now.  let’s hope her 17th week will be as fun.

edited to add a picture.  The Mr. is berating me for not giving the public what they come here for….

so here’s a picture of Daddy’s Girl w/ Dad in front of an autumn tree.  incidentally i believe all those pretty colored leaves have fallen off and the same tree is as green as it is in summer!

Jesus Built Her Hotrod

As mpotter has pointed out, the baby girl has been taking naps most of these days which has led to an increase in my sanity as well as taken me off “Deathwatch 2008,” a time during July and August where I questioned if I would live to see Thanksgiving. 

One funny result of said napping is that we always find her without her socks on when she wakes up.  Although mpotter attributes it to an increase in her mobility, I tend to think somehow she is listening to this, this, or this.  I’m not sure, but I do know that those songs have rocked my socks off before.

update

so, baby girl is another week older…
she was baptized on saturday, and we enjoyed having some family come down! amazingly enough, she-who-cries-all-the-time didn’t cry!
The Mr. held her while SITTING DOWN!!! and it was PAST HER NAPTIME. and then we had the audacity to poor COLD WATER on her head!!! not a peep. she chowed down on her hand the whole time. woohoo! 

we’ve taken a few more outings & she’s handling that sooo muuuuchhh betttterr. yay.

yesterday, she went back to the doctor for 2 more vaccinations. she gained a lot less weight this past month. but she’s 15 1/2 lbs. they didn’t tell me how tall she is. we have our next “real” appt at 4mos.
it was great, tho because we came home and i fed her and she slept on me. she hasn’t done that in a long time! so, for just an hour, i got my baby back.

she smiles at me, especially when i get her from a nap. that’s so much fun to watch.
and she’s still talking/cooing a lot.

for all the complaining we do about how heavy she is and she hurts our back/wrist— i’m gonna hate it when she wriggles out of me to crawl around on the floor!

let’s not forget

1. the way she makes her sigh “hoo!” ; particularly after a bout of crying.  that’s a sigh of relief!
2. the way she lays w/ her right thumb & finger(s) in her mouth, with her left hand at her head- as if she’s been stroking her hair
3. her pizza crust nose (that i miss)
4. the “eyeshadow” she was born with on both eyes.  looks symmetrical.  i see it starting to fade.
5. the upsidedown question mark looking thing on her forehead – a la spanish harry potter
6. the accidental hugs she gives me when i’m holding her on my shoulder.  she curves one arm around my neck and sometimes just gives it the slightest of squeezes.  while her other arm is wrapped around my upper arm.
7. the way she looks like a turtle when i pull her up to burp her.  “turtle turtle turtle”
8. the way she purses her lips in the tightest way when she refuses something.  (i miss that)
9. the way she makes such a cute pouty fussy frown to show she’s disgruntled.
10. making her chuckle sounds before she starts crying.  that let’s us know she’s a little wary.
11. the adorable sounds she makes when she coos.  and watching her form these sounds… the way she shrugs her shoulders & blinks her eyes to wide & cocks her head in such a way.
12. the adorable toothless grin she gives when she’s happy.  especially after a contented nap. 
13. the way her eyes startle open wide when she hears an unexpected sound (like Daddy talking when i’m feeding her & she can’t see him) .  she looks at me to say:  “what was that, exactly?”  her confusion is adorable. she usually breaks into a smile when she sees that i say it’s OK.

she’s 13 weeks old;  3 months today.

i don’t EVER want to forget this!

dozen

dozen she look cute????

so, she’s a dozen weeks old today.  and it’s still going well.

that trip to publix went fine. and we’ve been there again since.  also to walgreen’s and the bank.  today- we ventured to the BIG world of target!  we had daddy’s help.  he’s been working from home this week and she’s loved it! 

according to our scale in the house, she’s not quite 16lbs yet.  but i know by the time we go to the dr in 2 weeks, she’ll be over that. 

we did have one fiasco where trimming her nails proved to be more than we could handle.  poor little baby was very brave while she bled all over daddy’s shirt.  we, however, were not as brave.  that was very much not fun.  dern those pesky nail clippers.  The Mr. noticed they are not any different than adults’.  very sharp. and when she moves as much as she does-  wow. it’s a challenge.   and now that she’s found her hands and that helps her to sleep, we can’t use the  mittens when her nails are too long.  so ugh.

more & more smiles and coos every day.  the picture above was rare footage of her playing w/ her playgym.  usually she just watches me.  she likes the little star that plays music.  she does get over-stimulated pretty easily. so we do still need to hold her when she’s done playing.  but that’s ok.

it breaks my heart <already!> that she is growing so much. the way she fits in her carseat and carrier on me…. oh no!  i’m the one who still calls yiminy & doh “kittens”.  yes. they’re 4 years old.  this poor girl… she’s in trouble with me!!!