pictures

Written updated post, pictures to come later today!

Wow! Who knew how busy life would get once you have a baby! So many things have happened since I posted last. Ilya just turned 5 weeks old today - we are past the one month mark and she is already wearing 3 month old clothes! She is growing more long ways than width wise but is definitely beginning to fill out more! She is beginning to get more of a personality every day. On the 17th of June, during our 3:00 feeding time...I was exhausted, sitting in my green rocking chair feeding Ilya. Afterwards she was wide awake and I kept thinking to myself that this was going to be a long night and I would never make it back to sleep! She just kept staring at me and then all of the sudden gave me the biggest smile in the whole world, the kind where her eyes light up and her cheeks get a red glow and her mouth takes up her entire face! My heart melted and all of the sudden it didn't matter what time it was in the morning or how tired I was. All that mattered was that I was holding my little girl and she was smiling at me! I told her that I would stay up all night long if she smiled at me like that all night. It made it all worth it. Ilya seemed to smile from the minute she was born, but this was different...I can honestly say that this was the first "real" smile I have seen. It was awesome! I tried to wake up Sean but he was out! She finally smiled real big for Sean on fathers day (she was saving it for him).
Speaking of sleep, I have been so impressed with Ilya. She LOVES to sleep. She has slept the entire night through 3 times now. The only thing is that I never know when it is going to be...and after she does it I think she might sleep the entire night the next night only to be awakened between 3 and 4a.m. But even then she only wakes up once during the night and for the most part goes right back to sleep. I guess she takes after me in that respect. It is quite amazing. I asked the pediatrician if this is o.k. and she was amazed. She said that if she will sleep then let her sleep. Her weight looks great so there is no concern and I should take advantage of it.
Since she has passed the one month stage I am beginning to ween her off of the bassinet and into her crib. We just started today. For her naps I am going to lay her in her crib to see how she does. If everything goes well then I am going to let her sleep tonight in her crib and keep the monitors close by. I am a little sad but at the same time I know that if I wait too long then it will be hard to keep her in the crib. I asked Meggan (my sister) when she stopped using the bassinet and she told me a month...my mom gave me the suggestion to try it out first and see how it goes. So far she loves the crib! I laid her down after we played and she just looked around and made little noises and then went right to sleep like always.
We are beginning to get into a routine around here. We begin our day at 7:00a.m. with her first feeding, then we play by rocking and talking to each other, listening to music and sometimes dancing around the room. After our play time I put her down for a nap. According to the book Baby Wise she is supposed to sleep about an hour and half to an hour and forty five minuets. I wake her up at 10:00a.m. and feed her again. This time I read to her while she is feeding and then we take our bath for our play time. After the bath she lays down for her nap. Then we feed at 1:00p.m., by that time Sean is home from teaching summer school so he likes to play with her and then lay her down for her nap. She feeds again at 4:00p.m., 7:00p.m, and her last predictable feeding is at 10:00p.m. After 10p.m. we lay her down and then let her wake up on her own. She usually wakes up between 3:00a.m. and 4:00a.m. but the last several nights she has switched to between 4:00a.m. and 5:oo a.m. (this is if she doesn't sleep the entire night, but she has only done this 3 times so I don't count on it).
I have been desperately wanting to take her out for walks in her stroller but the weather has been crazy resulting in thousands of mosquitoes. I tried one morning and it was too much for us to stand. And then it is scorching hot in the afternoon so we are locked inside. Sean said that we can start trying for the evening. I'm hoping we can start that tonight!
Overall, motherhood has been wonderful. There are times when all I feel like doing is crying but then I look at her as I hold her and everything is worth it. She is such a blessing and I can't imagine life without her!
Last but not least, Sean and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary! I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing man. He is everything I have ever prayed for and I look foreward to many more years!

She's so tiny!

"She's so tiny!" everyone says. . . And she is.

But something happens when you say "GoGoGadgetLEGS!"

She's as long as her tall daddy's arm!