Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Baby Bea these days

It should come as no surprise that our dear, sweet, darling little Beatrice is growing by leaps and bounds...too quickly.


Here are some recent updates on Baby Bea these days:

 * She has two little teeth - on the bottom. They came at the same time and with relatively little trouble. Lots of chewing, not too much trouble otherwise. Nothing bums out Bea. She's so easy-going.

 * She is doing great with solid foods. She prefers veggies over fruit. She's getting pretty proficient with a sippy cup, and takes a bottle (although only about 2 ounces before she's over it.)

 * She loves mum-mum crackers and "puffs". She's getting very good at picking things up with her fingers, manipulating toys, etc.

* She prefers standing to doing just about anything else. She just figured out how to pull herself up to standing in her crib, meaning it is time (already?) to lower her mattress.

* She absolutely adores her big sister. And the feeling is mutual. These girls are so close, so cuddly and it's so heart-warming to watch.

* She rolls now from back-to-tummy and tummy-to-back. She's not crawling yet, but she does that cute little move on her tummy where she tries to kick her legs like they are somehow going to send her sailing.

* She's getting good at communicating. She reaches out when she wants picked up. She's got this "nnnn, nnn, nnn" that means she's hungry and a longer "ehhhhhh" when she's tired. I can still count all the times I've heard her really cry on just one hand. We have started early signing with her & will be ramping that up in the coming weeks.

* She LOVES music. She kicks her feet, flaps her arms and giggles to her favorite songs.

* Since starting with our nanny Nicole full-time because I had to go back to work, she stopped sleeping through the night. (We were totally spoiled there for several months with a 7-7 sleeper.)  She now wakes at least once a night to nurse, which is honestly a welcomed thing because I miss her.

* Lou & I talk every day about just how sweet and special Beatrice is. Developmentally, this is really the age that we remember Josie becoming "herself" and it's clear that Bea is doing the same thing now too. Her little personality is unfolding and she really is just the sweetest little thing in the whole wide world.

Sometimes, quite often actually, I catch myself looking at Bea and still finding it hard to believe that she's real. On a daily basis, I still say to her "you're here."  It was such a long journey and the pain of it all comes back strongly from time to time. We are coming up on Halloween, which is when I was first put on bedrest with her during the pregnancy. I can remember so clearly how I felt last year at this same time and wondering then if I would have a baby a year later or not. And I do. And she's perfect. And there isn't a single second of the day that I forget what an enormous blessing she is to us.

Real reading, Fake laughing

We are so proud of our big reader! Josie has been sounding out words and using inventive spelling for awhile now, but she recently crossed into reading with increased fluency and comprehension.

Here's a video of Josie reading one of her "Reading Folder" books from school. (And might I mention she is quite proud of this folder!)

Happy 3rd to Lyla!

We had a wonderful trip to Chicago this weekend to celebrate Lyla's THIRD birthday. Lots of photos to come of that soon. And just realized I never posted this video to the blog...