A Few of My Favourite Things

Now that the colicky days are past (knock on wood), I am loving our jolly happy baby. From the beginning Esme has been pretty easy to amuse. But now that the evening scream-fests are over and Esme has taken to her crib and is sleeping so much better, she is a joy and a delight.

My absolute favourite thing is picking her up from her naps. Even before her eyes have adjusted to the light and are able to be opened again, she is smiling so big that it is hard to tell if it's the overhead light or her own beaming smile that is making her squint. It tugs at my heart in ways I can't even describe.

Smiles across the room also light up her face. When I'm eating breakfast at the table and she is playing in her exersaucer, Esme will take regular breaks to look up at me across the room and smile. Her smile gets so big it turns into a giggle and she can't contain herself. She stands tall and flings herself as if she wants to get closer (don't worry she's safe in the exersaucer). It makes me laugh out loud which gets her going even more.

Esme's soft and very ticklish belly is another favourite of mine. Start by blowing raspberries just to the right of her belly button and soon she is laughing so hard that just leaning down towards her belly, without actually making contact, starts her giggling again.

At night we can tell when she's getting tired enough for bed because she gets a little bit hysterical. She will laugh at the littlest things. Once she gets started it is hard to stop and we don't want to. We all end up laughing until our sides hurt. There is nothing as cute as a baby laughing as hard as they can.

Love grows and grows. Laughing babies are a very sweet thing.

Of Swimming Pools and Kung Fu Panda

Summer is here for real and finally Esme is getting a taste of swimming (literally). Some church friends have a pool and Esme got to experience swimming in a full size pool.

After the initial shock of the slightly chilly water, she loved being able to splash to her heart's content (even though we made her wear an African explorer pith helmet.. jk ;) ).

Drying off was fun too. Mostly because she loves being released from her clothing.

We got her a cheap kiddies pool to try out as well. I quickly realized that until she can sit completely unsupported, this pool will not be much fun for us unless one of us wants to suit up and sit in the pool as well. That adventure will be for a hotter day when any form of water is calling our name. Still we got some pictures and she liked the toys around the outside of the pool.

Esme loves water wherever she finds it and so does her cousin Gray. Even in the sink. Esme loves it even if it sort of ruins her cousin's fun (just a little bit).

Happily playing in the sink.

See that look which says "Grandma did you HAVE to let her play with my faucet?

"Excuse me Esme that's my water."

"Okay, whatever. Let me get my cup in there."

It's okay though. They really do love each other.

Sometimes I think Esme has a bit of the superhero in her. She is starting to bear a striking resemblance to Kung Fu Panda. Tell me if you agree. :)

Other times she strikes a ballerina / gymnast pose. Now that she's found her feet and toes, she loves to grab them during diaper changes, eat her toes, then release them and do a combination move that involves the splits with perfectly pointed toes (not yet documented on the camera).

Hard to believe that it was 5 months ago today that she blessed us with her presence. Time flies. We sure do love you Munchkin!

Beach Day

Pictures of the beach trip mentioned in my previous post.

Sleep Training is no fun but the beach is :)

Well, we hit rock bottom with Esme as far as sleeping went.

She had been sleeping through the night (I've now learned that sleeping through the night for newborns is defined as 5 hours of sleep in a row). Then just before her four month immunizations she got a bit sick with a cold / tummy bug and sleeping became less consistent. Obviously her immunizations didn't help the situation, nor did our subsequent trip to Calgary for the July holiday weekend. 

We got home and were getting less than 40 minutes of sleep at a time  and she wanted to eat every two hours. She would sleep for an hour to an hour and a half at a go after feeding but for me, it translated to less than 40 minutes of sleep (if I could even get to sleep before she was up again). I've discovered it might be the '4 month regression'. 

Whatever you want to call it something needed to change. So we have started the process of training her to go to sleep by herself. No rocking, no walking, no soother... just her and her crib and sleep. Also, just one night feeding and only if she really needs it. Rough and very hard on me. But hopefully this will be good for us all in the long run. More sleep equals happier parents and happier baby.

Luckily sleep training is coinciding with Esme's total mastery of rolling from back to tummy and all the various combinations of that. She can flip over to her tummy and she prefers sleeping that way. We let her do it because we can't stop it and we just watch carefully on the monitor for breathing. Yesterday she managed to wedge her leg through the slats in the crib and then slept contentedly for a 3 hour nap. 

On the flip side, summer has finally hit the Okanagan. YAY! Esme had her first beach day yesterday. We just watched the people and she played with her cousin, Gray. No time in the water yet. We'll save that for when Alain can join us too.

Pictures to come! Time to get off the computer and go out in the sunshine with a cold drink since my baby is awake :)