Wow, where has the time gone? I can't believe that as of April 10, Gabby is 2 months old. It seems like not that long ago she was a large bump in my abdomen, and now she's on her way to becoming a functional little baby! She's picked up quite a few skills in the past month. She holds her head up like a pro--I rarely even support it at all. This is especially true when I'm carrying her. Whenever she is upright, she has no trouble at all keeping her head in place. She also can support all of her weight on her legs in a standing position. All I really do is help her balance so she doesn't topple over. She's a very strong little girl! We've recently pulled out the Bumbo chair, and she's giving me mixed reviews. I think overall it's a nice change for her from the bouncer.
This bouncer is boring
The Bumbo is nice, as long as I can still watch TV!
Gabby is very much a visual baby right now. She loves looking at lights (still--she's been doing that since birth), and finds the ceiling fans absolutely fascinating, but she's added a very strong interest in patterns and shapes. She loves to stare at the miniblinds on the windows, and really digs the contrast of the dark picture frames with our white walls. Daddy wears a striped polo shirt pretty much everyday, and she loves to just stare at the stripes. She also really likes these black and white geometric shapes that I printed out for her (http://baby.zorger.com/baby.zorger.com.newborn.pdf). I put one next to her changing pad, and she just stares at it while I'm changing her. It keeps her quiet!
Stop sign-ish one--I change them periodically so she doesn't get bored
Another thing she really loves is the television. I know, babies shouldn't watch TV; I'm making her stupid; she's going to grow up to be fat and lazy; her brain will ooze out of her ear, etc. At this point, it's actually just a bunch of moving lights to her--she has no idea what is going on beyond that. And it sure does keep her quiet during tummy time. She's even gotten to the point where she finds TVs at other people's houses and watches them there--we visited her friend Phoebe the other day, and she fell asleep while watching The Muppet movie. I think this is just a manifestation of how visual she is--if it lights up and moves, she will watch it!
Ho Ho--I'm going to be smart despite your TV!
Her interest in what she sees has gotten so strong that she hates to be in her carseat in the stroller because she can't see anything. Walks have become quite a challenge, since she doesn't want to be in her carseat, but I can't pull her out because of the fear of sunburn. Plus, carrying her is really not comfortable for me. I have a carrier that I can wear, but that doesn't really take away the sunburn danger, and she always gets really warm in the carrier, which also makes her mad. I'm really going to have to figure something out. It's pretty obvious that she gets bored sitting on the couch for too long now (everything is the same, Mom!), and while she is quiet in the car (I think because she can actually see out the window now), there are only so many places I can drive. And once we reach the destination, we have the problem with her not being able to see anymore!
How can you be frustrated with me?
Her other senses seem to be not nearly as well developed yet. She's not really interested in the way things feel, or in music or sounds of any kind, unless they are super loud (I flushed a toilet in a public bathroom stall while she was with me, and it scared her so much she started crying!). She does still talk and coo at me (as well as give me huge smiles) when she's fed and rested. She will try to pull my hands to her mouth if she gets a grip on them, but doesn't do the same to toys yet. She also still hasn't really figured out that her hands belong to her, so we still keep her swaddled at night to prevent her waking herself up, although she is starting to really fight the swaddle and we'll probably have to abandon it pretty soon. I'm not looking forward to stopping--she falls asleep pretty much right away when she's swaddled.
Nyah nyah; I'll never sleep again when you take away my swaddle!
We had her 2 month well baby appointment on Tuesday, and she's weighing in at 9 lbs 3 oz, 22.5 in long, and her head is 15.25 in in diameter. She's 10th percentile in weight, but the doctor isn't worried at all, since her weight gain since the last appointment is right on the curve. She's just a small baby! With parents like us, how could it be otherwise? I was given the OK to keep breast feeding, which is great, since it's free! On a sadder note, Gabby got her first round of vaccines. She actually only cried for a minute,
Not from the shots, but this is what it looked like
and she seems to be OK now, although the doc said that she could get a fever up to 4 days after administration. Fingers crossed that she's OK!
Here are some random shots from the month:
Brian and I think that she really looks like her cousins.
I love this squishy face!
Sleeping on Mommy while she teaches online
Watching TV with Daddy
That camera flash is so cool!
And funny!
Your camera isn't as good as Daddy's, Mommy
"Trust the Gorton's fisher-baby!" I bought her a better fitting hat, don't worry!
Apparently I'm posting every 2 weeks! It seems like a ton has happened developmentally with Gabby since I last posted. At one month, she was able to hold her head up fairly well while being carried, and was fascinated with bright lights and high contrast objects.
Now, she's not only so much bigger and stronger, she's really started to study faces more, and become more interested in toys. She will sit on my upright legs after I feed her and "talk" to me for a bit before she gets really tired and needs a nap. Here's a video I made with some really cool "words" and some hiccups:
She's also started to smile quite a bit.
The best one I've captured--I think she has my smile.
Grandma and Grandpa Romo were here again this past week, and Grandma got a couple of smiles out of her. She and Brian were tied in the smile count until Saturday when he took care of her all afternoon while I went to a bridal shower for one of our good friends. Gabby was very happy to have Daddy to herself, and showed it by giving him tons of smiles and coos.
I managed to get this great shot before I left!
Gabby still doesn't smile all the time--she must be both well fed and well rested--but when she does, it melts my heart. One of the blogs I read compared the early weeks of child rearing to being constantly waterboarded, but then one day, the baby looks you in the eye and smiles at you. Then you start to feel like the whole thing may be worth it. That is absolutely how I felt the very first time she smiled last Monday, March 19. I'd just fed her, had propped her up and was talking to her, and she just grinned at me. I got all teary and thanked her for giving me that gift. I really needed those smiles during the growth spurt that happened last week!
Oh yes, the growth spurt. Boy, that was fun. Gabby still slept pretty well at night, but during the day, fought me tooth and nail for every nap. She also ate every 2 hours, which was awesome for my poor boobs. When she wasn't eating or (rarely) sleeping, she was whining and complaining. I don't really blame her--I remember growth spurts from my teenage years, and those bad boys hurt! Achy joints, sore bones, being hungry and tired all the time, and I knew what was going on! It's got to be so much worse for Gabby, since she really has no idea why she's hurting, and also no idea why I can't just make it stop for her. I'm mom, the food giver, I should be able to keep her comfortable all the time!
Seriously
We did survive it, though, and lately my happy Gabby has been back. I know I'll have several more of these coming up, and I'm not looking forward to it!
As far as sleeping goes, Brian put her to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 (she still chooses), and she'll sleep until 2 or so. She'll then give me until 5 or 6, eat again, and then go down until 8 or 9. During the day, she gives me a morning nap of an hour or so, a mid-day nap of another hour, and then an afternoon nap of around 2 or 3 hours. She'll usually fall asleep again around dinnertime, and then we start all over again. Nighttime is spend in her crib, which she's really good about, but all naps are still spent on me. I admit that I'm not really discouraging this--I love sitting with her asleep on my chest.
Yeah, this is awesome during the day
But I'm so glad she sleeps here at night!
I do admit that her sleeping on me makes it very much impossible for me to get any sort of housework done, which means our house is pretty much a disaster. Brian isn't complaining, so I'm just going to leave it! One day, she did give me 2 hours in her swing, which let me vacuum our tile, straighten up, and do my University of Phoenix teaching for the day.
This was so nice
That was actually pretty great, and some days I do wish she didn't insist on sleeping on me so I could get some work done, but then I tell myself that she'll be pulling away from me soon enough, and I should enjoy this while it lasts. I'll most likely give it another couple of weeks and then transition to putting her in the crib or swing to nap. Better to do it young than wait!
Yeah, she's not happy about my plan
One last cool thing she did this week: roll over from her stomach to her back. I actually didn't get to see it--I was on the couch not paying attention--but Brian did. She's only done it once, mainly because I'm really bad at doing "tummy time" with her, but I'm really glad Brian got to see it. I see so many skills of hers for the first time that I'm really happy he has one all for himself! That being said, I really can't wait for her to do it again so I can see it!
Ha ha!
To end, here are some other great shots of Gabby from the past few weeks
