Giggles and Raspberries

This weekend Steve spent a lot of time teaching Beia how to blow raspberries—the sound you make when you purse your lips together and blow. Not only did Beia find this endlessly entertaining, but she also was endlessly trying to replicate the effect with varying degrees of success. Most of the time it looked like she had rabies because of all the foam she was creating—a result of blowing through all her drool. At least this is a new sound for her...one that should be the foundation for "B" words (like Beia)!

Happy Days (are Here Again)

Last night went much better than the previous two—leading me to believe that perhaps Beia could sense that Steve was returning home that evening. And so Beia's regular sleeping habits returned as well—waking once at 3am to feed and then at 7am to get up for the day. After she was fed and changed, Beia was happy to spend some time playing with Dad. Here she's lying on our bed smiling while Steve makes funny faces and noises at her.

Good Morning

Steve has been out of town on business since Tuesday morning. This means I have been a single parent for the past two evenings. Going in, I thought that bath time alone would be the biggest challenge. It turns out that bath time was the least of my concerns. It was what followed the bath that was stressful. Rather than waking once in the middle of the night to feed, Beia woke up THREE times on Tuesday night. YIKES! Not fun and quite tiring for me. Last night she woke twice. Not ideal, but better than Tuesday. Somehow though, Beia always wakes up happy and smiling in the morning. She's lucky she's cute.

No Laughing Matter

As we've mentioned before, Beia loves the changing table. So when faced with an unhappy Beia (the Angry Squirrel), we will occasionally go to the changing table to see if we can turn her mood around. The best is when we can get her to start talking, because then we can get her laughing. We've discovered that there are certain faces or noises that she reacts best to and will send her into a fit of giggles. Here's the latest thing to get her laughing...

Supermodel : Four Months

This weekend we paid a visit to the pediatrician for Beia's four month visit. Overall it was a smashing success, despite the unhappiness later in day (a consequence of the two vaccination shots Beia received).

Dr. Marcus was very happy with Beia's physical progress as well as with how social she was during the visit—Beia did a lot of talking and was generally very active. The doctor commented on her leg strength while Beia was busy kicking at Dr. Marcus's stomach. Beia also showed off how well her head control is coming along by doing a very good tummy time execution.

Beia weighed 12lbs 9.6oz (27th percentile) and is now bigger than Dibi! She is 25.25" (81st percentile), so she still has a bright future as either a supermodel or basketball player. Our next visit isn't until six months. These next two months will be the longest we've gone between doctor visits, so it will be interesting to see what develops.

Four Months

Today the bean turns four months old. While she's still so little, it nevertheless feels like we've come a long way from when we first brought her home from the hospital.

Thankfully, breastfeeding is no longer much of a challenge—except now we need to get Beia to focus on eating rather than looking around. She's discovered her surroundings and is often more interested in what's to see than what there is to eat.

She's also starting to put herself on a regular sleep-eat-play schedule. We no longer have long periods of sleep during the day, but usually two or three hour intervals when we can spend some time playing together. Whereas Beia used to hate tummy time, she's now quite good at it—occasionally entertaining us by rolling over (tummy to back) one way or the other. As her head control has developed, she is also expressing an interest in sitting up. Just this week, we have started sitting her in the boppy pillow so she can practice holding herself up. Come night time, we've settled into a bath routine that gets her to sleep by about 7:30pm. She usually doesn't wake again until around 3am, so this gives Steven and I time for dinner together—as well as time to workout, watch tv, or finish us some work before heading to bed by 10pm. After the 3am feeding, Beia usually will sleep for another three or so hours until it's time to get up for the day around 6:30am. Daylight Savings Time has thrown us off a bit, but not too badly.

Beia is also proving to be Chatty Cathy—moving from gentle cooing sounds to having full fledged conversations and laughing. We're not sure what she's saying, but she obviously has a lot to talk about. She has also discovered the pouty lip look and already knows how to use it.

This weekend we have her four month appointment where she'll be weighed and measured. We are taking bets again on how much she'll weigh, as that was one of our first concerns with her. It's not an issue now, with her muffin top hanging over her diaper, but it's still fun to speculate. We're hoping for a solid 12lbs.

March (in Like a Lion)

These past few days Beia has enjoyed both her first snow day and her first picnic. On Friday we were treated to a winter wonderland--best enjoyed indoors. Convenient, since Beia does love to sit on the window ledge and watch the street below. We dressed her in a polar bear themed outfit (thank you Aunt Beth and Uncle Rob) which seemed appropriate for the day. We were just happy that the outfit made it through the entire day without any mishaps (read: spit up or poop explosions, necessitating an outfit change).

Then this weekend the temperature shot up into the 50s, and we enjoyed a walk along the piers. We brought along a picnic lunch to eat while Beia napped in her stroller. It was a bit chilly but beautiful overall. We're hoping for more picnics now that the days are getting longer and, hopefully, even warmer.

Wonder Woman

In an effort to keep Beia entertained (and quiet), we've taken to moving her around the apartment. We often "stand" on the window ledges and watch the cars drive by below. Or we go visit Beia's friend Beia in the bathroom mirror. She seems to like Beia a lot. When we don't feel like walking around, we play Wonder Woman. Beia loves the high vantage point ... And Steve tries to remember to keep his mouth closed, lest any drool dribble down.