The last few days

So today Mira rolled over THREE times. From her belly to her back. I think I can safely say that she has that one down. I'll try and get a video of it soon. With my NEW VIDEO CAMERA. For Mother's Day, Brian (and Mira) got me a very nice new video recorder. It's so tiny, not much larger than a cell phone. And the quality is much better than the camera that I had been using. So once Brian gets my computer back to functioning, I'll be uploading some much better videos. Brian's been really busy doing the end-of-semester cramming, which will thankfully be over tomorrow. I appreciate and respect Brian's desire to go back to school, but now that there's a baby involved... boy do I like having him home right after work. (He's taking evening classes for now. So on the nights that he has class I don't see him till late. Those days can get long.)

Tonight Mira was really fussy due to gas. I get so frustrated when that happens because I feel helpless. When it's really bad (like tonight), she won't nurse; bouncing, rocking, sitting, standing none of that helps; distractions like toys, lights, music, paci doesn't work for more than a second. So eventually we went on a car ride. That worked well, but I was really tired while driving so maybe not the safest solution. Oh well. Sometimes a mommie's gotta do what a mommie's gotta do.

Friday, Brian's boss let his team leave work early for a group trip to see Star Trek. Janice (Brian's mom) was available to babysit so that I could go, too. So that was nice. Plus the movie was awesome. Then on Saturday, my mom offered to babysit so that Brian and I could go on a date for Brian's birthday. So we went to dinner and another movie (we saw Wolverine, which was good, but not as good as Star Trek). Then Sunday, Mother's Day, Janice and Kevan (Brian's sister) and Javi (Kevan's S.O. and professional chef) came over to our house and Javi cooked for everyone, which was scrumptious as usual. Then Janice watched Mira while Brian and I went and did some shopping. Brian got a new set of golf irons with his birthday money.

So in one weekend Mira was babysat 3 times. It was nice to have time to just be a wife and have a date with my man, but at the same time... I actually felt like I didn't get enough time with Mira. I think mostly what I missed was breastfeeding her. She took more bottles this weekend alone than she had in the entire month prior. I was a little surprised at how I missed those feedings. Holding her so close, nourishing her, quiet and peaceful... I guess I really LIKE it. Huh.

Anyway, so I promise my next post will be less wordy and more pictury (is that a word?). I know how everyone loves to see the cuteness. (And I have no illusions about anyone hanging on my every word.) ;-P

Excuses.

I haven't forgotten about my blog. It's just that Brian has been troubleshooting my computer. So it is in pieces on the floor. Not really an improvement, I said. But Brian insists that patience will be rewarded. So yeah. I don't like blogging from my laptop. So there's my excuse.

Yay, new toys!

Mira's aunt Marcy sent us a box of hand-me-down toys. The coolest thing was this little floor mat. Mira spent 15 minutes playing with it. (For those of you who wouldn't know, 15 minutes for a baby to play with one thing is a long time.)

This last picture is Mira's "Thank you, aunt Marcy!" face.

Grabby. And ZOMG peek-a-boo.

So over the past few days (maybe a week), Mira's been waving her arms with more purpose. She's actually reaching for things now. When she manages to grab something, she'll usually pull it to her chest or mouth. So I set up some of her mobiles to have things hanging from them so that she can practice grabbing.

I am absolutely shocked how quickly she made progress in this department. I can see improvement over a matter of hours! Her movements are still jerky, but more and more, the obvious purpose behind the movements is coming out. Like the way she grabs her blanket to play peek-a-boo. I posted on this earlier today, but wasn't able to get video this morning because all I could do was stand there in stunned silence and gape. But I put the blanket in her hands again this afternoon, just sort-of hoping not really knowing if she would repeat the action. But when I got the blanket into her hands she did this little huh-huh kind of laugh and then started in with the peek-a-boo. By the time I got the camera running, she was already beginning to tire of the game, so she looks sort-of ho-hum about the whole thing. She even yawns toward the end. Like, "Yeah, I can peek-a-boo, Mom. Get over it." But anyway here it is: proof that our baby is able to initiate the game of peek-a-boo at the mere age of 3 months.

ZOMG peek-a-boo!

This morning Mira and I were up early; she only slept 7 hours last night. But since we were up early we got to have a quick breakfast with Brian before he left for work. We sat Mira in her chair to sit at the table with us while we ate. (We always eat this way. I'm a big proponent of family meals, especially dinner. So we're teaching her from an early age that families eat together. Anyway...) She still had her blanket draped over her in the chair. She picked up the blanket and VERY DELIBERATELY brought it up over her eyes and then dropped it back down to her lap. She did this over and over until Brian caught on that she was initiating peek-a-boo with us. Wow. And when we started saying "peek-a-boo" to her, her face lit up with a huge smile. It was incredible; I would not have thought her to be capable of that at only 3 months old. I think I need to start giving her more credit; she constantly surprises me with her accomplishments.

So but here's the bad news: I didn't catch a single second of it on video! GAH! Hopefully she'll do it again soon...

Baby activity web site

Just found this site and wanted to post it for future reference. And for anyone else interested.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_lets-play-weekly-activities-for-your-babys-first-year_1501475.bc

Tummy time progress

Yesterday Mira had great progress in her tummy time. She was pushing up a lot on her arms. Several times she got her knees up under her butt. I was surprised by her progress because just earlier that same day, we did tummy time and had no significant improvement. Maybe she just had less energy before or maybe she finally decided this tummy time business was something worth doing. Either way, it made me happy to see her trying.

I really hope she learns to crawl. I've known several kids that never learned to crawl: they either find a different mode of locomotion like scooting or rolling or they just go straight to walking. But the funny thing is the *reason* that I want her to learn to crawl. You see, she has all these little outfits with cute things on the butt. Like ruffles or an embroidered flower or insect. And really, how can you truly showcase those outfits without a crawling baby??? How petty is that?

And I leave you with this: just a cute video that I took last night.

Eek! My baby!

I was going through the photos on my camera and came across this one that I didn't recognize. I'm sure Brian took it because I know I didn't. My thoughts as I saw the picture: "Oh that's kinda cute-- wait, is she just sitting there in that window sill with no one holding her??? That window's right over the tile! SHE COULD HAVE DIED!!!* .... Whoa. Overreaction much?"

*True, the window is over tile, but it's like 6 inches off the ground. Paranoid? Yes.

Mira smiles with her... nose?

Mira's been doing this funny thing where she smiles by squinching up her nose. Observe.

Normal smile:

Squinchy-nose smile:
And then there's this. Not sure what that is...

Doorway bouncer

Yesterday was another long day of Mira not feeling good and needing lots of reassurance. When Brian got home he could tell that I was feeling depleted. And really the problem was that my patience was all used up. Which is actually a hard place for me to get to; I normally have an abundance of patience especially with children. Anyway, Brian told me to get out of the house for a bit to rejuvenate. So I went and sat at a coffee shop and read for 2 hrs. When I got home, he had folded some laundry, done the dishes, fed the dogs, and given the baby a bath. What a man! And I felt totally refreshed, so that was nice.

Today Mira is feeling a little better (thank goodness), and so I thought we could do something new and try out her doorway bouncer. She liked it for about 10 minutes. Just long enough for me to snap some super cute photos. Getting her in and out was kind of a trick, though... guess that takes practice. The little feet never seem to go where you want them to. And just when you think you have it all lined up perfect, she kicks or squirms and then it's back to page 1. Silly girl. Anyway, I finally got her in it and bounced her up and down a few times to show her what it was all about. Her eyes got really big (if you've met her you know just the way they do), and then she smiled up at me. So I let her go at it while I grabbed the camera. She didn't really do much bouncing on her own; I think that will come with practice. But as she kicked her feet against the floor she turned herself around and swung back and forth a little. I don't think that she recognises that she can control her movements in it just yet though. But yeah, definitely something that we'll have to do again.