16 weeks

Time is flying again!  We're 3 and a half months in, and doing fine!  My Mothers Day present from Brian was a video camera, so expect to see more videos of the cute things I observe her doing every day.

I have to say that is the best thing about being home with her all the time--I get to see her milestones myself (give me this one, working moms--it's so hard to find positives when you really want to work but can't freaking get hired anywhere!).  This week she definitely discovered her feet.  She's not grabbing them quite yet, but she was using them to kick at her toys on her activity mat.

I did warn you about the videos--this one was actually done with my regular camera, since I couldn't find the video camera in time.

She also spends a lot of time now studying her feet when she's sitting on my lap, and I know it's just a matter of time before they find their way into her mouth.  Speaking of mouths, she still hasn't quite figured out how to get her toys to her mouth consistently.  She gets it every once in a while, but then doesn't really repeat the action.  She is able to get both hands to her mouth, and whenever she gets a hold of my hand, it goes straight there as well.  She's so close to figuring it out with her toys.  I thought for sure she was going to be a lefty, since at first that was the only hand that grabbed things and that she sucked on, but now she spends equal time with each, and maybe even more with righty.  I guess it really is too early to tell!

One of her other cute new games it to play in front of the mirrored closet door in our bedroom.  This started when I would put her on her tummy in front of the mirror when I needed to get things done upstairs.  She quickly discovered that there was a baby who lived in the mirror, and that baby was pretty cool.  Then she noticed that baby's mommy who looks suspiciously like her mommy.  And occasionally, when she's really lucky, there's a black kitty who comes through that looks very much like Zoe.  And occasionally Zoe gets a bit too friendly!

And here's one where Zoe isn't washing her head (I did warn you about the videos, remember!):

One slightly less positive thing is that I am a bit worried about her weight gain.  I post regularly to a Facebook group, and one post recently was a poll on how much your baby weighed.  Gabby was easily in the bottom 3 of over 100 babies, and many of the babies who weighed more were younger than she is.  I bought a baby/toddler scale from Amazon and have been weighing her every couple of days.  She's holding steady at 10 lbs, give or take a couple of oz (that seems to depend on diapers and if she's just eaten).  Everyone says she looks really healthy, and is very proportionate (not super long and skinny, but rather short and skinny).  Plus, she's certainly eating enough and making the requisite number of diapers as a response.  She's a very happy baby, and extremely alert when awake, so I probably shouldn't be so worried, but I am a mom and that's apparently my job now!  She doesn't have her 4 month appointment until June 18, so I guess I just get to worry until then!  I'm pretty sure the pediatrician is going to say she's OK, but still suggest starting rice cereal then to get her weight up a bit.  That's fine with me--I'll do whatever I need to do to make sure she's healthy!

One other annoying, although somewhat cute, thing she does is fight her naps tooth and nail.  She seems to get tired around an hour and a half after she wakes up from her previous nap, but she really fights going down again hard.  We have a routine in which I swaddle her with one arm out, then put a paci in and bounce her for a few minutes until her eyes are closing and then lay her down in her Pack N Play.

Like so

Usually, once she's lying down she'll stay down for at least 1 sleep cycle, but she really fights to stay awake while I'm bouncing her.  She usually starts crying when I put her in the swaddle, and she really won't stop until she falls asleep.  She really reminds me of my sister (hi Amy!)--Amy would always fight hard to stay awake too, and we figured it was because she didn't want to miss anything.  If we get out of the swaddle routine, I really have trouble with her.  For instance, we met my friend Susan and her son Jackson at a park for lunch and a concert the other day, and Gabby just would not go to sleep.  She was obviously very tired (and it was well past her naptime), but she fought so hard to stay up, because we were outside and there were so many things to see!  She eventually crashed while eating, and I was able to put her down for 30 minutes or so.

Proof

She gave me a pretty long nap after we got home, but she was really tired from missing the first one, and fought to go down for that one!  It's cute when I think about it, or talk about it with someone else, but really not so cute while it's happening!

On the job front, nothing new at all.  I have a UOP class going right now, and another starting June 5 and July 24.  I'm really grateful for them--it helps to be able to interact with grown-ups for a couple of hours a day!  I am also thankful for the Facebook group--they are a great group of women, and really understanding about my freakouts.  I actually posted there that I was worried about Gabby's weight, and everyone who responded was really encouraging.  I'm so lucky to have them!!  It's also been great to have my friend Stephanie on maternity leave for these past few months, and Susan being home a lot as well.  Additionally, one of the moms from the Facebook group lives in Sacramento, and I've been able to meet up with her as well.  This is the only way I'm staying sane right now.

We're actually doing a penpal exchange with the Facebook group.  I haven't gotten a very good picture of the first gift (an adorable yellow outfit with a huge bee on the butt), but we got a second gift today:

Why yes, that IS a Star Wars burp cloth, wipes box and a tiny Darth Vader toy

I love these ladies!  In addition, the mom in Sacramento, Elisabeth, made Gabby this bib:

Don't mind the tired eyes--it was naptime

She's also wearing it in the above photo.  It's so cute!

And to end, yet another video of my favoritest baby in the world, and the cool new sounds she makes.  It was shot in the kitchen, so please excuse the sound of the fan from the stove in the background.