Week 11 - Clara's first laugh videos

So today Clara surprised me with her first big laughing spree. She has been giggling for quite some time now and today started to really laugh and simply crack herself up. I started shaking one of her rattles while she was sitting on my lap after she ate. It startled her a bit and she seemed to like that. First, I started crying and was reminded why I am dreading going back to work. Next, I called Andre so he could hear and finally I took video. I've shaken this rattle many time before and she's not responded to it other than looking at it, and maybe cracking a smile. We've been packing for our NY trip today so we're not showered and she has the ugliest bib on, haha, of course. I'm sure that's not what you'll notice while watching the video anyway.

In week 11 she has done many new things along with laughing. She purposefully pushes her pacifier out of her mouth and back in with the back of her hand and sometimes with her hand holding it. She stares at my jewelry and is paying close attention to detail. She hits her toys (I think by accident still) in her gym and realizes her hands are hitting them. She is loving splashing in her bath, she is almost too big for it and I'm not sure what to do next since she can't sit up on her own yet. If we make eye contact while she is eating we both start smiling big, this is amazing, except at night when she wants to start talking to me instead of eat. Every time I talk about her routine I jinx it however, the more she sleeps the more she sleeps and the more she's awake the more she stays awake. There is no "keeping her up during the day that puts her to sleep at night." The days she sleeps most she sleeps best at night. When she has trouble napping she also has trouble sleeping at night. Her usual routine is to nap a few times a day, usually an hour here and there. It's obvious when she gets tired, she gets very cranky and her eyes get red, she also starts to suck on her pacifier in a particular way in attempt to soothe herself to sleep. Sometimes I need to put her in the sling to help her and sometimes I can just lay her down. She does need to be swaddled, when she is tired she wants to rub her eyes with the back of her hands non-stop which keeps her awake and she pushes out her pacifier. On a good day she is out by around 7 and will stay asleep until 12 or 1. Then after a quick feed she is back to bed and up again around 4 or 5. She will usually toss and turn from 6 to 7:30-8 then wake up when it's light, sometimes not. She is always ready for a nap (short or long) by 9:30 -10. Some naps are 40 minutes and some are three hours. The girl needs her sleep, when she doesn't get it she is a cranky pants and needs to be held and walked around. She loves her mobile so I can leave her in her crib for about 30 minutes here and there, she smiles as soon as I wind it up. She plays in her gym for 30 minutes sometimes up to 45 minutes or an hour. She is such a good girl.

We are feeding her from a bottle during the day and I'm breast feeding at night. During the day she throws a fit when I try and breast feed. I wanted to cut her off from the bottle to get her to go back to just breast feeding but we need to give her two bottles a day to give her the acid reflux medicine. She spits it out if you put it right in her mouth, it has a horrible taste. So it's been quite complicated to make sure I'm pumping enough during the day to keep my supply up for her, then feeding her on top of it, just extra work that takes lots of time. Trying to pack it all for NY is not fun, just our feeding materials alone with the pump take up half a suitcase. It would help a lot if she would just eat from my breast so I don't have to worry about pumping while traveling because in order to keep up with her needs I need to pump every three hours.

We are looking very forward to visiting my family in New York. I'm very nervous about sitting still on the plane for so long and I hope she doesn't get sick. We have lots of warm clothes and even a snow suit from Siobhan so I think we are as ready as can be! We will see! I can't wait for Clara to meet her Great Grandma Clara at 101!!! So awesome!

This is the second video I took. She started laughing harder, I got a few seconds of it in this video but of course she did it much more and even harder off camera. I love you Clara Feger, I have rewatched this video all day, you make me the happiest mommy!

 

 

 

This was the first video I took. Don't mind my voice...I hate hearing myself, but it's totally worth it.