Growing Up

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here and I've really been meaning to I'm just too busy taking care of Alexis or just too tired. But at the moment she is sound asleep, taking a little nap so I thought I would update.

Alexis is 4 months now and she is getting bigger and bigger by the day. She's still pretty tiny compared to other babies her age but in my eyes she's grown soooo much. About a month ago she weighed in at 9 lbs. We have her pediatrician's appointment on Tuesday thank gosh! I feel like it's been forever since we last saw her pediatrician. I just have sooo many questions for Dr. Brown so I'm glad we finally get too see her again. The one thing I'm not excited about is that Alexis gets her next round of shots at this visit and I know how heartbreaking it was when she got them the first time around.

I started a routine with Alexis 2 weeks ago and it's working out marvelously. It's not a super rigid routine but it's consistent. I'll feed her, play with her and talk with her, then she'll play on her play mat for like 40 minutes and then we'll have some tummy time and she'll nap and we pretty much do this throughout the day every time she wakes up. In between all that we'll go out and take a walk to the mailbox. Also at around 10pm I give her a bath with all her bedtime stuff and feed her and change her and she usually goes to sleep, wakes up at 11:30 for another feeding and then she's out from midnight till 6 in the morning and then she eats and gets changed again and goes back to sleep for another 3 hours before getting up around 9 to start her day. Sometimes this routine isn't completely solid because we'll have to go out and run errands and things like that but when we have a normal day when we don't go out it works really well. Daddy and I are both extremely excited that she is sleeping through the night, because that means we are too :)

Alexis has started to drool a lot, which started about a month ago; we think she is teething. I haven't seen any hint of a tooth yet but all the drooling tells me that it may be coming soon. We bought her some teething toys to chew on but she doesn't care for them that much, I think it's because they're cold; I'm sure once her teeth come in she'll appreciate them.

The best part of her getting bigger and older is that now she has started to smile, laugh, and attempt to talk that she hardly ever cries anymore. She makes the cutest noises. I can't wait for her to actually speak. I'm hoping her first word will be momma or dada but you never know.

Tummy time isn't working out so great with Alexis. She doesn't really enjoy being on her tummy and we've been trying to have her do tummy time everyday so that she can learn to roll over. She hasn't done it yet. One thing she does love to do is crawl on her back, she uses her legs to push herself on her back. I'll put her on her play mat while I'm in the kitchen cooking or cleaning and periodically look over at her in the living room to make sure she's ok and I'll find that she went from being right below her toys to almost on the carpet! She has some strong legs. Now we just need to get her to use her arms and legs to roll over.

Her hair is getting longer, but we haven't cut it. I think it looks really good, it's not unattractive long or in her face long so when it gets to that point I think is when we'll have her first hair cut.

We haven't gotten her ears pierced yet. But I think within the next month or two is when we're going to get it done. I can't wait to find some cute little studs for her.

Non Alexis related. I found a second job working at a school with kids that have Autism. I had to get a physical and do a background check and a ton of other things. I've done pretty much everything so I'm just waiting to find out when orientation and training starts. I'm really excited to start working in an environment that will give me some fulfillment in helping others. What's awesome about it is that it's Monday-Friday from 8:45- 2:45, and I get time off during Thanksgiving and Christmas, it isn't paid time off but it's nice to have it. I can still work at BJ's some nights with this schedule too. Derek works from 4-1 so our schedules line up perfectly so we don't have to take Alexis to daycare. so the days that Derek doesn't work nights I'll be working at BJ's and also during the days on the weekends. Once Derek goes back to school we might have to have her in day care for 3 hours maybe twice a week but at that point she'll be 6 months and it still won't be for too long. I'm glad we found something that would work for the both of us.

I'm just so happy to have Alexis. I love her more than anything and I can't wait for her to keep growing. I really love all this mommy/parenting stuff.,