Just Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of our baby girl. I'll try to keep the commentary to a minimum since the pictures speak for themselves. As you scroll down, the pictures are in order starting from older to newer. Enjoy!

Straining to sit up on her own

(By the way, she is finally outgrowing all her neutral/boyish looking clothes. Now it's pinks, purples, flowers, hearts, etc. from here on out-yeah!).

Imitating her dolly

This was a toy of Noah's when he was a baby.

Hanging out at Mission Bay with her friend Martin

Bye-Bye Swaddle

Those of you familiar with the book/DVD "Happiest Baby on the Block" probably know the 5 S's for calming a crying baby: Swaddling, Shushing, Swinging, Side-lying position, and Sucking. Well, since she was born, our little Keira, bless her heart, has needed all 5 strategies to help calm her crying and settle into restful sleep. In particular, she has needed to be tightly swaddled every time she was going to go to sleep, whether it was for a nap during the day or going down at night. Well, we reached a BIG milestone this past week because Keira is no longer needing to be swaddled to sleep! We started last week (mostly because she was outgrowing her blankets) and the last 7 nights she has fallen asleep well (except for 1 night that took her a while to fall asleep and stay asleep). Also, she has been able to sleep for long stretches during the night (about 5-7 hours at a time, which is considered "sleeping through the night"--woohoo!). We are so proud of our big girl!

Here is our little peanut at just 4 days old.

And here is our big girl at 3 months, 1 week--unswaddled!

Keira's First Swim Class

A friend of mine has been taking her 6-month-old son to a Mommy & Me swim class and she invited us to come. The swim school offers a free introductory class, so we decided to check it out. Here are the pics of my little swimmer!

When the kids first get in the water, the instructor pours water on their head to help them get used to having their hair and face wet. Keira got startled when the water was poured on her head, but she didn't cry.

Here we are with the other kids, waiting our turn for "big swims."

During "big swims," I moved Keira back and forth in the water while saying, "One, two, three, ready, go!" When I got to "go" I handed her off to the intructor, who then did the same thing and she came back to me.

Finished with "big swims" and on to the next thing.

We sang various kid songs while moving around in the water, such as "Ten in the Bed" and "Wheels on the Bus."



Here we are practicing arm strokes. I held Keira's arms out so she could touch the lane divider as if she was swimming.




Here we are going to the wall to practice the safe way to exit the pool--elbow, elbow, tummy, knee.

Safely getting out of the pool! Then, one, two, three, ready, go! and jump back into the water! Notice the doll in the background--Keira looked just like the little doll with her light-colored hair, white onesie, and Little Mermaid swim diaper!

Tummy time on a kick board?? Neither Keira nor I knew quite what to make of this one, but she went along with it!!

She was cracking me up on the kick board! Notice that she is having more fun sucking on it than anything else!



Practicing floating on her back. The intructor is trying to get her to look up at the star fish so that she'll lie back a little more.

Swimming around at the end of class. She is yawning in the picture; she was very tired by this time!

Proud mama with her little swimmer. Keira did really great! She didn't cry at all and although she didn't smile either, she seemed to enjoy the water and was mezmerized by all that was going on during the class!




She was one exhausted little girl at the end of class. She fell asleep before I even started the car to head home!

Fun!

Keira has been growing and changing so much over the last few weeks. She is such a joy and it is so fun to see her develop day by day. Of course, I am extremely biased, but I am certain she is getting cuter by the day (see pictures below for proof!). :)



This week, Noah has been gone on a backpacking trip to Jasper Canada. Although Keira and I have been missing him, we have been blessed to have each of her Grandmas here to help us out and keep us company.




Okay, let's just get to the good stuff--pictures!

Keira loves playing with toys! Here is one of her favorites, Mr. Caterpillar!

Here she is discovering her lamb. She has lots to say to him!

Besides discovering toys, Keira has also discovered her hands. She loves to suck on her fists, but in this photo she is actually sucking her thumb.

Posing with her new ballerina bear. She's also wearing her cute pink dress, in preparation for the tea party...

Keira's first tea party, hosted by my mom's best friend who came to visit us.

Hanging out with Grandma Sheila!

And hanging out with Grandma Debbie!

P.S. Pictures from Keira's first swim class to come...stay tuned!

Two-month update

Yesterday Keira turned 9 weeks old and to celebrate she had a doctor appt and got her first round of vaccines. Ouch! Some celebration, huh? Thankfully, she did really well! She cried for about 30 seconds when she got the shots and then she whimpered for a few minutes while we concluded the appointment. She fell right to sleep in the car and once we got home, I fed her and she was her usual smiley self. After a long nap, she woke up smiling and seemed to be feeling well the rest of the afternoon. She went to bed earlier than usual and overall just seemed more tired (no fussing though). This morning she woke up with a slight fever (99.8), but Tylenol took care of it right away and she's been a happy girl throughout the day. Like yesterday, she just seems more tired than usual. Thanks to all who prayed for her (and me!). The whole process has gone better than I thought it would!

Here is our brave girl, sporting her band-aids on each thigh.

Aside from the shots, the rest of her check-up went well. She now weighs 10 pounds and she is just shy of 24 inches long! According to her doctor, she is tall for her age and she is "just perfect." We think so too!

Here are some more recent pictures of our little angel:

Her favorite pasttime


Taking another bottle from Daddy. Notice the huge towel bib.
Daddy does not like to make a mess!

Fun with Mommy




Just being cute




Demonstrating her fencing pose (this is a newborn reflex)




Irresistible cuteness

Milestones

Keira is about 7 1/2 weeks old now and she continues to grow and change. We are so thrilled with the new milestones we are experiencing with her! She is exploring her world a lot and seems to be more aware of all the exciting things going on around her. Not only that, but she seems to be growing out of her fussiness (minus that nighttime wind-down period), which makes for much more pleasant and fun days for mom and baby!

Check out some of her milestones below:

She gazes at our faces now and smiles a lot!

Here she is taking her first bottle from Daddy. She fussed a bit, but eventually drank it!

We go on daily walks in the stroller and she rarely fusses now!

She is noticing her toys and will smile at them! So cute!!