Rice Cereal Goodness

Last week at Maya's doc appointment we were instructed to start giving her Iron-fortified Rice Cereal. This was very exciting!

About the same time Maya started getting curious about things going in my mouth while I was holding her, especially drinks. The first time she reacted, I was drinking from a small glass and she got really excited and head-butted the glass! I laughed a little and then she was reaching like crazy for the cup (I may or may not have let her have a tiny sip). Since that day she always wants to share with me. I knew she was ready to try eating like a big girl.

Holy heck what is that?!

She ate it like a champ! The only problem was the size of her spoon. A smidgen too big for her tiny baby mouth.

No funny faces to record, but it's nice to know that she is not picky (yet). And yes, I know her bib is on "backwards". I asked her which side she wanted, and she got pretty excited about the one you see.

Little Chef

I already have a very wonderful kitchen helper.

Every morning Maya helps me make Ryan's lunch. I tell her about everything I'm using and what I'm doing. She rests her little head on my cheek and watches.

At dinner time she loves helping me cook. I tell her, "Time to make dinner, Maya!" Any fussing ceases and again she rests her head on my cheek and watches.

It is one of my favorite parts of the day, and I've gotten pretty good at doing things one-handed just so that I keep my little chef in my arms.

4 Months

My little Maya is now 1/3 of a year old! I remember when I was four months pregnant and anxious for the next few weeks to go by so I could find out if baby was a girl or boy. I would have been happy with either, but I was so excited when she typed "GIRL" on the sonogram (and kind of surprised - boys seriously dominate in Ryan's family).

Maya had her 4-month check up and she now weighs 11 lbs 9 oz. She is in the 5 - 10%! She's a little girl, just like her mom. The appointment went really well. She is a healthy baby whose brain development is perfect!

This month has brought several new accomplishments.

(Sitting unassisted is not one of her new talents.)

She started going all night without a feeding. She usually still wakes up a couple of times, but I just give her a binkie now. Hopefully her internal clock will realize soon that it's pointless to wake up until morning because she isn't going to get anything until then anyway.

She is on a more solid schedule, which I love. She goes down at 8 PM and wakes us up at 6:30 - 7 each morning. It's so nice to be able to predict the days now, and there is something kind of fun about seeing the sunrise every morning. Kind of.

We started an official bedtime routine. Ryan feeds Maya from a bottle for her last meal of the day. We take her upstairs and put her in her jammies. Then all three of us lie on the floor, with Maya in the middle, and we read stories. Maya loves her stories. She gets very expressive with her face as she looks at the pictures. It is such a sweet time for us all. Then she gets wrapped up and put in her crib. Most nights she cries a little, but she typically falls asleep within 10 minutes.

I love this photo. She is eyeing the toy ball on the couch like, "Interesting..."

She rolled over!! I was SO excited. Honestly, I was a little upset at myself for not being more diligent with her tummy time and I kind of thought I had ruined her. But suddenly she could lift her head really high (she does a killer Superman pose), and then one day she just rolled over! Still working on mastering the mini push-up though.

She reaches for toys and gives the soft ones loves.

And something new has happened to me, too. My hair... it is starting to shed. Immensely. As in, it is EVERYWHERE. I have been wearing my hair up a lot more lately because I'm getting tired of finding my hair on my arm, in my water jug, in Maya's hands, on the kitchen table, in the laundry, etc. They weren't kidding when they talk about post-pregnancy hair loss! Maya is it worth it though.

Happy Spring everybody!

Aaahhh... sleep

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you may recall that at Maya's 2-month appointment the doc told her, quite plainly, that she was to start sleeping through the night within the next 2 months. Of course, this was more my responsibility than hers, but it was nice to not feel like I was the one he was pressuring.

My instructions were simple: feed her less and less each night until eventually I don't feed her at all. Just give her a binkie and quietly leave, and soon she will not wake at all. My thoughts were something to this effect: Yeah right! She will cry all night! But I guess that's the point?

So I started trying it. And you know what? It was hard not to give her full feedings! Usually I would get distracted because I bring my phone with me so that I will stay awake. So I tried stop taking my phone. Then I would fall asleep. But about a week ago I decided it was time to get tough on myself since her next appointment is rapidly approaching.

I took my phone, but I was much more attentive to the clock. Her feedings were getting shorter and she wasn't crying! After one particular night, I told Ryan that when I went in to get her up to feed, her eyes never opened. That was somewhat intriguing to me, and I told Ryan that I thought she was almost ready to go without eating.

That night she woke up at 12:30 AM (she goes down at 8 PM). I got up and thought, "Let's do this." I gave her a binkie and left. She fell asleep without a peep. She woke up again at 2:45 AM. I was feeling gung-ho about my new game and tried it again. She fell asleep again without a peep! She woke up again at 4:00 AM. By now I knew I was just playing with fire, but I had to keep trying. She did it again! She finally woke up at 7:00 AM, her normal waking time for the day. I was so excited!! The next night we tried it again, and she only woke up once, and promptly fell back to sleep after I gave her the binkie. The next night was the same. And last night she slept all night without waking up until 6:20 AM.

(That last paragraph would drive Ryan nuts - way too many details!! Ha!)

Now I hate to jinx my awesome luck, but I feel confident in saying that Maya can now sleep through the night! And it was SO easy to do! (I just knocked on wood.)

I wish upon a star that all of our babies are that easy to sleep train!

Easter Weekend

This past weekend was pretty perfect.

The weather is starting to really express the fact that it is now Spring. 

We have a cute little park in our neighborhood (that has a bouldering rock! Ryan is excited) and we decided to take a little walk with Maya to sit on the swings and enjoy the sun. We made sure to cover her in sunscreen. As much as I love peeling things, I do not want sweet Maya to get a sunburn! I would feel awful.

As you can see, Maya did not seem to get as much pleasure from swinging as we did! She sure was content though. I imagine she will grow up to love the outdoors and someday I will have her begging me to take her to the park (can't wait!).

Later that day we ran a few errands. Maya is pretty much the most chill baby ever. We were gone for about 4 hours, and she didn't get cranky at all - even though she more or less missed a nap. Ryan and I go on and on about how blessed we are to have her kind of temperament in our first baby.

Easter morning we got up bright and early (I literally watched the sunrise from my chair in Maya's nursery) and went to church with my family in Fort Collins. It was really nice to see friends from that ward. We realized it has been a whole year and a half since we moved to Erie! It is so amazing how quickly time passes while you're living life.

After church we came back to my parents' home for a tasty lunch and Maya took a nice long nap.

After her nap we took some family Easter pictures. I love how much Ryan is in love our daughter. He is so hands-on with her. I am truly blessed to have such a great husband to be the father of my children.

 

I'm a little in love with Maya, too. She is the joy of every moment during my day.

And judging by her sweet kisses and hugs, I'm pretty sure this darling girl loves us back!

I love these shots of Maya with my parents! They're pretty great with her!

Maya also got her first Easter basket! She loved the bunny inside! 

For dinner we joined Ryan's siblings. We had tasty food and good conversation. We always enjoy getting to spend time with them.

And just to prove that she DOES smile (I don't know why it's so hard to get her to do it for the camera)....

Ryan was playing with her. She loves her yellow giraffe from Grandma Carolyn!

Happy Easter!!