I’m already seeing so much growth and so much change in this little girl. I’m grateful she’s healthy and growing, but could we maybe just slow down a little?She seems to have really opened her eyes this week! She makes eye contact and is trying so hard to focus her vision and take everything in. It’s been so much fun to see her “waking up”, not to mention, she makes the funniest little expressions.
She isn’t actually smiling (although I feel like sometimes she wants to, and just can’t yet), but her sleepy little grins are still heart-melting.She’s still the sleepiest baby we’ve had so far. If I don’t wake her up to eat during the day, she typically keeps on sleeping for hours at a time. She is a fast nurser when she’s awake, but she gets drowsy so easily that I’m constantly rubbing her back, stroking her hair, and gently blowing air on her to keep her awake and eating. I’ve still been trying to make sure that she eats every two hours or so during the day, because it seems to make a difference in how well she sleeps at night later. She generally wants to nurse nearly all evening before bed, so we’ve just been spending a lot of nights relaxing and watching Netflix.Nighttime sleep is still completely random. She goes to bed the same time we do (which has been between 11 pm and midnight lately), but how often she wakes up keeps changing. We had a few nights in a row where she woke up around 3 am, then 5 am, and then 7:30 am or so, and I thought maybe that was going to become a pattern. However, the next night, she was up every two hours or less, and then the next two nights, she slept about 6.5 hours straight. She is still really great about eating and then going right back to bed though, so I’m definitely not complaining!We had our first family shopping trip this week- to Target! Nella slept through the entire thing, so I’m not even sure she knows she went shopping.
She also had her first Sunday at church! She was an angel and didn’t cry once. I loved introducing her to everyone (and showing off her adorableness, of course)!
I also attempted to take some newborn photos this week. Turns out, it’s pretty hard to get this done with a 2-year-old and 4-year-old jumping around, and once they were napping, Nella was awake. Whoops. I might have to try for a few more shots here in the next couple of days.We’ve been having fun watching all the silly faces she makes, partly because she reminds us so much of Kaya as a baby. She holds her arms the same way Kaya used to, and even makes what we used to call the “bird face” (on the right). Michael has affectionately nicknamed her “Bird 2.0” (Kaya was the original “Baby Bird”).Her sisters are still as infatuated with her as ever. If she’s crying, Kaya will run over to her and say, “Aw, I think she needs her big sister!” Kaelyn loves pointing out (quite literally) all the different parts of Nella’s face, and she gives kisses and “hugs” (which really means putting her head up against the baby’s) constantly.We all love our little Pumpkin so very much (and I still am obsessed with these lips)!