Wiggle Worm

Friday morning I got quite the surprise. It was about 6am and I woke up to Evangeline’s typical slightly fussy cooing noises that she makes to let me know she’s awake and ready for a fresh diaper and breakfast. I took a peek at her in the monitor before getting up just to make sure she was fully awake before I went into her room. (Side note: We got a video monitor as a gift when Evangeline was born. It’s one of the coolest baby gadgets we were given and it definitely made the transition to sleeping in her crib so much easier on us. We love to peek on her and many times we’ll catch her kicking her feet or thrashing her head from side to side. Don’t ask me how the girl doesn’t wake herself up!) All this is pretty routine, except this time I was confused by what I saw. I could see Evangeline in her crib in the exact same spot that I put her down the evening before, except for the fact that she was turned a full 180 degrees. Her head was where her feet usually are, and her feet were where her head usually is!

How on earth could she have done this on her own?! Sure she wiggles a lot but how could she turn herself a full 180 degrees without waking herself up? How did she not hit her head on the side of the crib? How is she in the exact same spot I laid her down in, just flipped around?!

I woke Jeremy up. He was just as surprised at her new position as I was, but he thought it was funny. I just couldn’t make sense of how she could have done this on her own! Did I wake up in the middle of the night to feed her, lay her back down that way and just forget about it? Nope. I always put her head in the same spot. We have a sheet protector there in case she spits up so I never put her head anywhere else. And Jeremy was sure he didn’t move her either. But someone had to have moved her. There was no way she could have moved this much on her own, all while fast asleep. Then I remembered we had slept with our bedroom window open for the first time since the fall.

I started to panic. Someone must have come into our house and moved her. I was convinced! So I made Jeremy get out of bed and search our house for the intruder. No surprise, he found nothing. I’ll blame it on the fact that I was still half asleep and a little delirious. Not to mention, I have a strong track record for being a worrywart and thinking of the absolute worst-case scenario.

Looking back, I now realize how ridiculous this was. I guess our little girl really is quite the wiggle worm!

3 Months Old Already?!

Well, they were right. Every single person that told me “It goes by so fast!” or “They grow up so quickly!” was right. And of course, I knew they would be. All you have to do is compare a newborn to a one year old. That’s a lot of growing and changing to take place in 12 months. In fact, there probably is no other time in our lives that we grow and change that dramatically in one year. And although I was given fair warning, no one could have prepared me for how it feels to watch my tiny little baby grow and change so fast! I am so thankful that I am able to stay home with Evangeline. It seems like every day she is learning and adding something new to her bag of tricks! And although many of these “tricks” that make me so proud of her are actually just typical baby development, I wouldn’t want to miss a second of it. I used to think I might get bored or go stir crazy as a stay-at-home-mom, but so far it’s been just the opposite. This is the most fun and exciting job I’ve ever had. (Of course, this wouldn’t be an honest representation of being a new mom if I didn’t mention the fact that I’ve also never been more sensitive, emotional, or had more anxiety then I do these days!)

Evangeline will be 3 months old on Saturday and yes, it went by fast! So, since this is the first time I’ve blogged since she was born, I thought I’d post her monthly photos and a few of her “tricks” to get caught up. I’ve been taking her picture every month in the same place (on the rocking chair in her nursery) with her stuffed elephant and a banner to mark her age so we can watch her grow. I’ve also been writing down the things she is doing each month for her baby book. 

The First 4 Weeks:

Evangeline - 1 Week Old

• You are a very smiley baby. You first smiled at us in the hospital the day after you were born.

Your very first smile!

• When you were first born, you had the most incredibly smelly gas. I had to apologize to the nurses in the hospital a few times because of how stinky our room would get! 
• You love to sleep and have already teased us with a few long stretches. You slept for seven straight hours one night when you were 4 weeks old! Most nights your longest stretch of sleep is 4-5 hours.
• You rarely cry when you wake up in middle of the night for feedings. You just lay in your bassinette and make grunting/fussing noises until I wake up.
• You love taking a bath. You are alway so calm in your tub and you don't even seem to mind when we pour water over your face. Sometimes it makes you wiggle but I'm so surprised it doesn't make you cry!

Bathtime

• When you were 3 weeks old, you rolled from your belly to your back 4 times in a row.
• You get the hiccups at least once every day. It’s one of the cutest things in the world and it doesn’t seem to bother you a bit.
• When you were 3 and 4 weeks old, every night without fail you’d spit up while you were sleeping. Many times out your nose! This really freaked me out because you’d do it while I was sleeping too. I was always afraid you were going to choke and I would sleep right through it. Thank goodness this only lasted two weeks!
• You don’t love being in your car seat awake, but you love riding in the car. It puts you right to sleep.
• You don’t like to be swaddled with your arms down. Every time we swaddle your arms in, you fuss and fight to move your little fists up to your face. I call you my little Houdini because no matter how tight Daddy swaddles you, you still find a way to break those arms out! Once you get them to you face you start to cry until we loosen your swaddle enough for your arms to come all the way out. You usually fall asleep with your arms straight out to your sides or with hands right up by your face.

Sleeping with her arms out and her legs up!

1 Month Old:

Evangeline - 1 Month Old

• Your eyelashes grew longer and seem curlier. You are such a pretty baby!
• You’ve become quite a burp'er. It's pretty shocking he huge noise that comes out of you.
• You had your first ride on an airplane at five weeks old. We went to Seattle to visit family and you got to go to your first wedding. You slept the whole way there and only cried during landing on the way home.
• At five weeks old, your eyes started lightening from a very dark grey to brighter grey-blue w/ more texture.

Check out those dark blue eyes!
I can't wait to see what color they end up.

• Also at five weeks, you started tracking with your eyes when daddy moved a book that had black & white pictures in it.
• When you were six weeks old, you started sleeping in your crib at night and for at least one nap a day.

You're alway such a happy girl in the mornings,
wiggling away in your crib.

• At seven weeks, you started cooing and responding with sounds. Daddy and I love to make noises and watch you mimic us.
• Your hands have found your mouth! You love to suck on your fists. Sometimes you’ll wake up in the morning and the sleeves of your jammies are soaked!
• You grew out of your newborn sized clothes at seven weeks. I was sad to pack up your tiny little clothes, but was so excited about the adorable things we had in the next size up. Picking out your outfit and getting you dressed is one of my favorite parts of the day! 

Packing up the old to make room for the new.

2 Months Old:

Evangeline - 2 Months Old

• You slept over 9 hours at night when you were nine weeks old and 11 hours at eleven weeks. You sleep through the night just about every night now and I am so thankful for that, even if that means you'll rarely nap for longer then 45 minutes!
• You've started squealing when you get excited. Daddy and I do all kinds of silly things to get you to squeal and it works every time! We love how it sounds and can’t wait for you to learn how to laugh.
• Now your hands have found each other! You like to play with your fingers and are getting good at grabbing, batting and even kicking at toys that dangle above you on your play mat.
• You love to sit up and can pull yourself up into a sitting position with just a little help.
• You noticed your feet at ten weeks. You can’t reach them yet but you like to stare at them and wiggle your toes. You get such an intense look of concentration on your face when you do this. We think it’s hilarious!

So focused on those toes!

• You rolled over from your belly to your back again. You haven’t done that since you were three weeks old. Being on your belly sure makes you frustrated though. You kick and grunt and fuss until we finally roll you over onto your back. Then you are happy as can be!
• At ten weeks you started sucking your thumb. I can’t believe it! It’s so cute when you do it, but I sucked my thumb until I was waaaayyy too old so I hope this doesn’t become a long-term habit. I try to replace your thumb with your paci when I can, but you definitely seem to prefer that thumb. (You are stubborn too, just like momma!)

Lovin' on that thumb!