Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Finally! Some time for updates.
From age three months to four months, Natalie really developed her motor skills. She no longer just lays around eating, sleeping, and pooping but interacts with things. The first three pictures show her playing with her gym. On the gym was a Lamaze dog I had gotten for a baby shower present, Natalie's crinkle ball (a favorite) and a blow-up ball from her Ocean Wonders play mat. Her gym was also on her tummy time mat (a brightly colored quilt I received from one of the members of John's church). Now, the gym is attached to a boat shaped holder with a mat inside and has not only her Lamaze dog but now a Lamaze dolphin as well. Her crinkle ball is also sometimes hung on there but a lot of times, it's left loose for her to play with when and where needed. She definitely enjoys playing with it though; she bats the toys around and chews on them.
Here, we had caught Natalie grabbing ahold of the quilt that hangs over the back of her crib. She will do this during her changings sometimes although most of the times these days, she spends her diaper changings rolling over. I'll let her lay on her tummy without any clothes and she seems to like this alot; it seems to help her mobility as she makes attempts to crawl by trying to get up on her knees. It also helps to air dry unless she pees on the bed like she did this afternoon.
John got the idea of putting the boppy in Natalie's crib. We had never really used it because it never fit right (it doesn't go around me too well) so I was using a pillow instead. But Natalie really liked playing around with the boppy while it was in her crib. It's practically bigger than she is but she kept on wrestling with it.These days, there are plenty of things for Natalie to do. John brought up her exersaucer so she plays in that. She also has her swing and that gym thing I mentioned earlier. She has her Ocean Wonders play mat and her bouncy seat which now has toys on it. And she still has tummy time on her blanket with a few toys to play with on there like her crinkle ball and her Lamaze turtle. Most of the time though, she spends cuddling with me and nursing or napping.
Diaper changes are getting a little easier these days as she doesn't have quite as many poopy diapers. She will still have the occasional blow-out though which makes for some dirty laundry. That should go down though as we went up to size 2 diapers, at least until she gets too big for those. We're getting Seventh Generation diapers for the moment as it was almost cheaper to get those than any other diapers from the Co-op and John prefers the chlorine free diapers.
It's amazing to me how fast Natalie is growing. No longer is she the helpless little newborn I brought home from the hospital. She's now developing her own personality, squealing and grabbing and everything else babies her age do. Everyday brings with it the potential for her to do more and interact better with the things around her. She's just a delight to be around.
Breastfeeding is going great. Once I got past that period of pain that lasted just a little past Natalie turning three months, breastfeeding became everything I had heard it was supposed to be and more. I'm no longer taking ibuprofin and for that I'm greatful. I'm able to lay down with Natalie and nurse her here and there although I'm still not really able to co-sleep as I'm just not the greatest sleeper myself. However, one of us sleeps in the room with Natalie so she's never alone at night if she wakes up. Most of the time though, she sleeps though the night at least five or six hours and sometimes even longer, up to nine hours on occasion. Now, if the adults can actually get to bed when the baby does, everyone will sleep great.
Natalie can be a little grabby during nursing sometimes, either grabbing a handful of breast or pulling on her hair. I recently purchased a nursing necklace. The link is on this page if you want to check it out. Mine includes rubber duckies which Natalie LOVES. If I'm wearing the necklace and she's sitting on my lap, she will grab the duck and put it in her mouth. I'd love to learn to make my own necklaces though, not because I wish to sell them but just to play around with different designs. I've made necklaces before (some very pretty ones too that I'll have to take pictures of and post on here) and I enjoy coming up with the designs and patterns. Making kids necklaces would be an extension of that and at some point, I can also teach Natalie how to make them. Getting the materials is not easy though. Some of the beads are just hard to find but I've been checking out e-bay and that's been productive at least.
Well, that's the news for now. A lot has been going on but it's hard for me to find a large enough chunk of time to actually update. I never even got into the trip to John's friend that we made almost a month ago now. It was a disaster though so I probably won't go into it. Suffice to say, we probably will not be taking anymore out of town trips with Natalie until October. Then again, with the gas prices the way they've been, that's probably for the best.
| posted by Janeen at 6:33 PM
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Tami of BrooksGroth had this to say:
Just wanted to quickly tell you how much I adore the photos of Natalie -- it's so fun seeing them do new things! :-)
We have to get together and talk about cloth diapers soon. Also, putting some prefold diapers down when you change her can let her air out without risking getting other things wet and causing more laundry!
I'll email you soon! --Tami
