Mom, Where Did This Elephant Come From?

Almost from birth we've had this blue elephant hanging on Sara's car seat to give her something to look at when we go for a ride. She's made brief note of this in the past, but hasn't paid it much attention until yesterday. We went out for several errands in the afternoon and I sat in the back with Sara for some of the drive. For the first time, she really seemed to notice this little elephant hanging up above her. She stared intently at it as it swayed with the motion of the car and then began to smile at it and talk to it. I played with the elephant to move it around and it pulls down and vibrates back up too. Sara was so fascinated with this thing and it was really fun to watch.

She has continued to do well when we go out and about and really loves looking around at new scenery and people. She also naps well in her car seat as long as she isn't strapped down too tight, so we loosen the straps when we get out of the car to keep her happy. Things went well yesterday until I fed her in the car while we were out. For whatever reason, she decided to give the bulk of her meal back to me during her burp and I was soaked with breast milk. Of course I wasn't smart enough to have brought a change of clothes, so we had to go home before our next stop. On the way Sara continued to spit up her meal until she and the carseat were soaked. She didn't seem sick and was quite happy the whole time, but just couldn't keep the food down for some reason. I wondered if the motion of the car was making it worse, but it's hard to tell when she can't tell you what's going on! I fed her again when we got home since I figured her stomach was pretty empty and she kept that down just fine. It took a while to get us all cleaned up after that though!

Our crib intervention is continuing and things are starting to improve at least for now. I am still not letting her nap in the swing during the day and she's getting a bit better in the crib even though she still doesn't like it too much. We started putting her down in the crib at night two nights ago since Andy had Friday off. We are letting her go to sleep in the swing and moving her to the crib once she's been down for about an hour hoping she'll be sleepy enough to stay there happily. The first night was fairly rough and we had to get up frequently to put a paci back in. She only made it from about 10pm to 1:30am before she was too upset and we put her back in the swing for a bit. She woke up around 4:30 to eat and we put her back in the crib after her meal. That lasted about two hours before she got upset again and we put her back in the swing until she was up for the day. It was tempting to leave her in the swing last night to avoid the lack of sleep, but we wanted to be consistent so we put her in the crib again at about 10pm. We had to get up twice in the first hour or so to put a paci back in, but then a miracle happened and she slept just fine until 3am when she woke to eat. I even tip toed to her room around 1:30 to make sure she was ok, and she was sleeping soundly! We put her back down in the crib after her feeding and the crazy kid slept in there again until she was ready to get up for the day around 7:30. It was like a whole new kid sleeping in that crib last night and we're hoping that this will stick and she'll be fine with it now. She's still been a bit cranky about sleeping in there for her naps today, but she is a bit better than she was yesterday morning. We're hoping she's finally getting used to laying in her crib and will sleep good in there soon!

Sara is continuing to change so fast these days. She's growing like a weed still, so we bought her some 3month size clothing yesterday. I bet she'll be in those right on time if not a bit early as she is completely filling out her 0-3month clothes now. Just in the last week Sara has become so much more vocal and continues to try to immitate us when we talk to her. She's also making a lot more noise when she plays and is "talking" to her toys now. Her head strength is still improving and she can hold her head steady for a few minutes at a time. She's begun kicking more and now kicks the ball hanging from her activity mat. She also is gaining more control over her hands and brings them to her mouth to suck on quite a bit now.

Sara has also surprised Andy and I by rolling onto her side to sleep! She started moving her torso like that earlier this week and has since figured out how to get her hips up too. She never liked lying flat on her back and seems to have found a solution by laying on her side now. She's not strong enough to really roll over or anything, but she can get herself totally on her side and then back on her back if she wants. This might be why she's sleeping a bit better in the crib now - who knows!

The last bit of exciting news is that Sara took her first bottle today. We wanted Andy to give it to her so she wouldn't be confused, so I warmed up some of my expressed milk and put it in a bottle for Andy. I was concerned about her taking it since you hear some babies refuse to take a bottle, but she figured it out pretty quickly once some of the milk leaked out into her mouth. I only heated up about an ounce and a half so we wouldn't waste much if she didn't take it well, but she ate it all down. I snuck over and took a couple pictures while she was eating and they are up on the website now. I fed her after she finished the bottle so she could get all she wanted and pumped what was left when she was done. I think she's eating about 3oz during her daytime feedings and probably a bit more when she eats before bedtime. I had mixed feelings watching her drink from the bottle since I love feeding her so much, but it is nice to know that daddy can feed her if I'm out and that she should be fine to take bottles at daycare when I have to go back to work.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far - we're hoping for another good night in the crib!

Andy, Valarie, and Sara