Trick or Treat?

Rebecca has one more trick to add to her bag. She can hold her head up oh so high when she is on her tummy. She has really gotten good at it. This morning she held her head up for at least a minute. Our next trick that we will work on is holding something in her hand. We are practicing, but she doesn't quite have a "grasp" on it yet. Ha!

BOO! Happy Halloween!

Bag of Tricks

Rebecca has three new tricks.

She can blow bubbles.

She can suck on her hand. At times she almost has her thumb in there. It won't be long.

My favorite trick is that she is sleeping longer at night. She has gone up to eight hours. She does not do this every night, but I will take it when it happens. I would like to thank the Swaddle Me blanket for this trick. The Swaddle Me is a sort of wrap that swaddles baby oh so tight. We did not use it for a while, because it just seemed cruel to wrap them up so. But other moms were raving about it in my Mommy and Me group. They were right. Rebecca sleeps so much sounder and she seems to really like being swaddled so tight. So for all you new mom's out there, I suggest the Swaddle Me blanket.

Visitors

We have had a lot of visitors this past week. Last Sunday, Daniel, Stephanie, and Ellen Searcy came up from Griffin, GA to visit. Ellen just turned 2 in July, and she is too cute! She really liked Rebecca until her mom held her. Ellen was also good at talking to Rebecca in Rebecca's kind of talking. Rebecca is very vocal. She makes all kinds of sounds. Sometimes it is just grunts, sometimes it sounds like a whale. Sometimes a horse, but most times she growls. We call this her monster voice. Rebecca was on the floor growling, and Ellen would growl right back at her. It was quite funny.

On Monday, Ellen and Julie Comeaux came to visit Rebecca. Julie was not too interested in Rebecca, but she loved her bouncy seat.

Nannie finally came back to Atlanta. She could not believe how much Rebecca has grown and changed in just two weeks. The reason Nannie came back to Atlanta so soon was to pick up Denise and Mae. They flew into Atlanta from Canada to see Rebecca and to go to Mississippi for a few weeks. Mae turned two in June. She is adorable and is talking up a storm. She was not too sure what to think about Rebecca. She would not get too close to her, so getting a picture was kind of hard. Mae hated when Rebecca cried, and she would say, "No baby Becca!" Hopefully she will warm up to her more when we see them again at Christmas.

Today, John Tugman and Jamie Ratliff came over to watch the Tennessee game. Tennessee lost, but Rebecca looked super cute in her TN pajamas.

Rebecca is becoming more alert each day. We are still having good nights and bad nights, but mostly good. She slept for 6 hours straight one night. She is getting really good at pushing up and lifting her head when she is on her tummy. I will try to get a picture of her doing this, but she is too fast. She is amazing!

Undecided

I can not decided what to title this blog entry. The choices are 1 Month, Straight A's, or Chunky Monkey. Let me explain. Yesterday, Rebecca turned 1 month old. I can not believe that it has already been a month. Time is going by so fast. It seems like only yesterday we were at the hospital ready to take our little one home. Now we are home watching her change and grow each day. The following two pictures were taken on 9/11 and then 10/11.

We had her 1 month check up yesterday with Dr. Knox. (For those of you who do not know, the Run Away Bride is the receptionist at the pediatrician's office.) Dr. Knox said Rebecca is doing great. She has a bout of baby acne, but the doctor said it was normal and would go away in a month or two. He also said that she must love to eat because she is growing and growing. She is now 10 pounds and 9 ounces, (She was only 8.5 when she was born.) which is in the 90 percentile of babies her age. She has also grown taller; she is now 22 inches long which is also in the 90%. Her head circumference was also in 90%, so she got straight A's across the board. Mommy and Daddy are so proud. She is our little Chunky Monkey.

After a rough morning, Rebecca came home and slept all day long. I went in her room to check on her and found her like this. Oh my gosh! I could just eat her up. Look at the little rolls in her thighs.

I must run. My baby is hungry yet again!

Weekend Update

Rebecca has started a new trend. It goes like this...good night, bad night, good night, bad night. You get the idea. I only realized this trend Saturday, so after a good night on Thursday, I had no idea that Friday night would turn out so bad. Friday day went well. Rebecca woke up every 3 hours, ate, played, and went to sleep. Papa came over to see her before he left for the beach. I got a nap. John came home from work early. We ordered pizza and a movie. Rebecca started to cry. (I am not sure if she is going through a growth spurt or what, but it seems like in the late afternoon and at night, she wants to eat every hour and a half to two hours. Then in between feedings she cries unless you hold her and walk and bounce at the same time. If she happens to fall asleep while you are holding, walking, and bouncing, you can not put her down or she will wake up and you have to start all over again.) This went on until 12:00am. Finally I was able to put her in her crib and go get in bed. However, she was back up at 1:30 wanting to eat. Usually at night, she goes right back to bed after she eats, but not this night. At 2:30 I had had it. I normally do not like to wake John up at night since he has to get up for work, but since it was Saturday morning at this point, I did not feel bad handing Rebecca off to him. John worked his magic and got her back down about 3:00. She was back up at 5:00. You get the point. It was bad. To make things worse, this behavior went on all day yesterday.

Our friends, Mandy and Brad, came over yesterday afternoon to watch the Tennessee/Georgia game. They have a 3 month old, Ella; so I did not feel so bad having a screaming baby. They were actually laughing at John and I as we did the hold/walk/bounce. They said they went through the same thing with Ella. Now Ella is a doll. She just sat and watched the Volunteers. She swung in Rebecca's swing, she played on the floor. She did not make a sound the entire time they were over at our house. They are proof that things will improve. We will not be holding/walking/bouncing forever.

As for football, it was a very good day. Tennessee killed Georgia, which is always fun, especially if you live in the state of Georgia. After the TN/GA game, LSU played against Florida. Rebecca slept in my arms throughout the entire first half of the game. It was not a great first half; LSU was losing. At half time it was time to feed Rebecca, and after she ate, she fell fast asleep. John and I are no dummies, and while we really wanted to stay up and watch the rest of the game, we were exhausted. We knew we better get sleep while we could.

Rebecca slept until 1:30. When I heard her cry, I jumped straight up and grabbed her. Then we headed to the nearest TV to turn on ESPN. There on ESPN with the game day crew was Les Miles, LSU's coach, and Glenn Dorsey, a player. LSU fans were cheering in the back ground. If I had not had a hungry baby in my hand, I would have been cheering as well. LSU beat Florida! And to make things better, USC lost to Stanford. Now, LSU is the undisputed #1 team!

Back to the baby... she went right back down after the 1:30 feeding and slept until 5:45. It was a great night. And today, she has been great. She is back to her eat, play, sleep schedule. John and I are even thinking of taking her to Piedmont Park and to eat at Park Tavern. Hopefully things will go well. And hopefully Rebecca will break the trend of good night, bad night. Otherwise, tonight we are in for a "treat".

I have attached some pictures of Rebecca sleeping and playing. I have also attached a video of Tummy Time. Rebecca really likes it sometimes. She is great at kicking her legs and lifting up her head. She is getting so strong. In the picture of her sleeping in John's lap, notice how her hand is on his. How sweet is that?

Rebecca smiling!

TUMMY TIME!

birthdays and anniversaries

Yesterday was John's birthday! We had a great time celebrating. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant with John's parents, Amy, Sid, Lucy, and Caroline. Rebecca was an angel. John and I were very nervous about taking her to a restaurant again. Last Friday I was going a little stir crazy, so John and I packed up Rebecca and went to eat Thai food. Bad idea! Rebecca is not a fan of her car seat or going out in public! She cried all the way there, at the restaurant, and all the way home. Needless to say, experiencing that again was not top on my list. But I knew that with her Mimi, Papa, and Aunt Amy at the restaurant with us, we had lots of reinforcement. Of course, she slept the entire time. Why weren't we that lucky when we went out by ourselves?

Actually, we have been very lucky. At night, Rebecca is a very good sleeper. She wakes up every 3 to 4 hours to eat, but she usually goes right back down. However during the day, she only takes little cat naps. 30 minutes here, 15 minutes there. But come 4:00, she is out again until about 8:00. She even sleeps through her late afternoon feeding. About 8ish each night, she gets a little fussy, but usually we can get her fed and back to sleep by 10:30. This baby is totally throwing off our sleep habits. Anyone who knows John knows that he loves to go to bed early and wake up early. That is how he got the nickname Old Man Kimball. I, on the other hand, love to go to bed early, sleep late, and take a long nap each day. I guess you could just call me lazy. Well, not anymore.

Back to the birthday party... Rebecca missed it all. After the restaurant, we all came back to our house for cake and presents. Caroline and Lucy had a great time playing with a sleeping Rebecca. Fun was had by all!

Tomorrow is the 7th anniversary of John and my first date. This is not a day we celebrate, but it is easy to remember since it is two days after John's birthday. It is crazy to believe that we have been together 7 years. Time flies when you are in love and having fun!

I would like to end this post with a shout out to my friend, Meg. She is being induced this Friday. Meg and her husband, Ben, did not find out the sex of their baby. They also have not shared the baby's name. (See, it could have been worse for those who thought John and I were horrible not to share Rebecca's name.) Best of luck, Meg. I will be praying for you! I can't wait to hear about Baby Harris!